Do You Know the Muffin Man?

Believe it or not, muffin men were a real and familiar sight on London streets in the early 1800s--they walked the neighborhoods ringing a bell to let everyone know they had muffins (more like today's English muffins than the sweet cupcake kind) for sale. This little rhyme about one of them, from Drury Lane, was first written down around 1820, which makes it one of the older tunes in this collection. Simple, repetitive, and easy to sing along with, it's exactly the kind of tune that has kept small children entertained for two centuries.