Mary Had A Little Lamb is one of the most beloved nursery rhymes ever written.  Attributed to writer Sarah Josepha Hale the rhyme became so popular that a short time later Lowell Mason put the song to music and it has graced our lives ever since.  It's origins go back to the year 1830 and was indeed based on an actual event of a lamb following a young girl named Mary to school

Over the years the musical version of the song has evolved a bit, with the original Mason tune being adapted to many other childrens songs such as Merrily We Roll Along.  Both songs share the same basic tune and style yet tell completely different stories.  The song is also one of the first songs learned by most new musicians, due to its simplicity and ease by which it is learned on almost any instrument.  Most beginning instrument texts include Mary Had A Little Lamb or Merrily We Roll Along as one of their first song selections.

Free Sheet Music For Mary Had A Little Lamb

The music provided below is in Adobe PDF format.  Should you wish to view and edit the music a copy of the Sibelius format music notation file is also included.

Creative Commons LicenseAny arrangements written by Chad Criswell and MusicEdMagic.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.  There is no charge for these materials, but educational institutions that use them in their classrooms are asked to provide a link either in their printed concert programs or on their school web site linking to MusicEdMagic.com.

Mary Had A Little LambMary Had A Little Lamb

 
 

Lyrics To Mary Had A Little Lamb

Mary had a little lamb,
little lamb, little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb,
whose fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went,
Mary went, Mary went,
and everywhere that Mary went,
the lamb was sure to go.

It followed her to school one day
school one day, school one day,
It followed her to school one day,
which was against the rules.
It made the children laugh and play,
laugh and play, laugh and play,
it made the children laugh and play
to see a lamb at school.

And so the teacher turned it out,
turned it out, turned it out,
And so the teacher turned it out,
but still it lingered near,
And waited patiently about,
patiently about, patiently about,
And waited patiently about
till Mary did appear.

"Why does the lamb love Mary so?"
Love Mary so? Love Mary so?
"Why does the lamb love Mary so,"
the eager children cry.
"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know."
The lamb, you know, the lamb, you know,
"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know,"
the teacher did reply.

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