# Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is an English lullaby whose words come from Jane Taylor's 1806 poem "The Star", sung to the French melody "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman" — the same tune as the alphabet song.

## At a glance

| | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Sung in | English |
| Words by | Jane Taylor |
| First known | 1806 |
| Best for ages | 1–6 |
| Mood | lullaby, bedtime |
| Page | https://littlesongbook.com/songs/twinkle-twinkle-little-star/ |

## Lyrics

### Verse 1 (en)

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

### Verse 2 (en)

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

## How to sing it

1. Sit somewhere you can see a window, and sing the first verse slowly — about one word per second is plenty.
2. Open and close your hands on each "twinkle" to make the stars flicker.
3. On "up above the world so high", lift both hands slowly overhead and hold them there.
4. Sing the last line quieter than the one before it, and the song puts itself to bed.

## Common questions

**Who wrote Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star?**

The words come from a poem called "The Star" by the English writer Jane Taylor, published in 1806 in Rhymes for the Nursery, a collection she produced with her sister Ann. The tune is older and unrelated: it is the French melody "Ah! vous dirai-je, maman", first printed in 1761.

**Is Twinkle, Twinkle the same tune as the ABC song?**

Yes. "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", the alphabet song and "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep" all use the same French melody, which is why children often slide from one into another without noticing.

**How many verses does Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star have?**

Jane Taylor's original poem has five verses, though almost everybody sings only the first. The second verse, in which the star appears once the sun has gone, is the one most often added at bedtime.

**Did Mozart write Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star?**

No, though the confusion is understandable. Mozart wrote a set of piano variations on the same French tune in the early 1780s, more than twenty years after the melody was first published and long before Jane Taylor wrote the English words.

## Sources

- Ann & Jane Taylor, Rhymes for the Nursery (London, 1806)
- [Wikipedia — Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twinkle,_Twinkle,_Little_Star)
- https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1058356