“I Love My Love with an A”
Description
"I love my love with an A, because he's A(greeable), I hate him because he's A---, He took me to the sign of the A---, And treated me with A---, His name is A---, and he lives in A---." Similarly through the rest of the letters of the alphabet.
Notes
This probably isn't a song, since it's based on alliteration (meaning that the meter can suffer). But it is certainly ancient, and well-enough known that Lewis Carroll used it in the chapter "The Lion and the Unicorn" (itself named for a folk rhyme) in _Through the Looking Glass_. Alice uses the letter "H" and describes the White King's messenger Haigha.
Martin Gardner, in _The Annotated Alice_ (pp. 279-280) refers the business back to Halliwell -- and notes a likely hidden wordplay, in that Alice was actually doing the "A" verse, because Haigha would probably have dropped the "H" in his name (i.e. it would be pronounced "ay-yore. Any resemblance to A. A. Milne is probably coincidence). - RBW
References
- Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #667, p. 264, "(I love my love with an A, because he's Agreeable)"
- BI, BGMG667