Lyrics
A tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow basket. I wrote a letter to my love, and on the way I lost it, I lost it, I lost it, And on the way I lost it.
#A little boy picked it up, And put it in his pocket, his pocket, his pocket, He put it in his pocket.
#A Tisket, A Tasket at a glance
- Country of origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Sung in
- English
- Words by
- Traditional
- First known
- 1879
- Best for ages
- 2–7
- Mood
- traditional, dancing, playful
- Last updated
- 25 July 2026
How to sing it
- Everyone sits or stands in a circle while one child walks around the outside with a basket or handkerchief.
- On "I lost it", the walker secretly drops it behind someone.
- That child grabs it and chases the walker around the ring; if caught, the walker stays "it", otherwise they swap places.
Meaning and origin
Like several of the liveliest nursery rhymes, this one is really the soundtrack to a game. In the traditional version, children sit in a ring while one walks around the outside and, on the word “lost”, secretly drops a handkerchief or little basket behind someone. That child must snatch it up and chase the dropper around the circle — so the “letter to my love” that goes missing on the way is the dropped handkerchief itself. It was first written down in the United States in 1879.
The nonsense syllables — a-tisket, a-tasket — are just there for the rhythm and the rhyme with “basket”, and the tune is one that gets around: it turns up in “Rain, Rain, Go Away”, “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” and “Ring Around the Rosie” too.
Its most famous outing, though, was not in a playground. In 1938 the young Ella Fitzgerald spun the little rhyme into a swing song with the Chick Webb Orchestra; it shot to number one and became her breakthrough and a jazz standard — a children’s ring-game turned, briefly, into one of the biggest hits in America.
Common questions
- What kind of song is "A-Tisket, A-Tasket"?
- It is a ring-game rhyme, first recorded in the United States in 1879. One child circles the outside of a seated ring and secretly drops a handkerchief or basket behind another, who must snatch it up and give chase — the "lost" letter in the song is really the dropped handkerchief.
- Isn't "A Tisket, A Tasket" also a famous jazz song?
- Yes. In 1938 a young Ella Fitzgerald reworked the nursery rhyme into a swing number with the Chick Webb Orchestra. It became her breakthrough hit, reached number one, and turned a children's game into a jazz standard.
- Why does "A Tisket, A Tasket" sound like other nursery rhymes?
- Its tune is shared with several others, including "Rain, Rain, Go Away", "It's Raining, It's Pouring" and "Ring Around the Rosie" — a simple, singable melody that many children's rhymes borrow.
