There's a Hole in My Bucket  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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"There's a Hole in My Bucket" (or "...in the Bucket") is a children's song, along the same lines as "Found a Peanut". The song is based on a dialogue about a leaky bucket between two characters, called Henry and Liza. The song describes a deadlock situation: Henry has got a leaky bucket, and Liza tells him to repair it. But to fix the leaky bucket, he needs straw. To cut the straw, he needs an axe. To sharpen the axe, he needs to wet the sharpening stone. To wet the stone, he needs water. However, when Henry asks how to get the water, Liza's answer is "in a bucket". It is implied that only one bucket is available — the leaky one, which, if it could carry water, would not need repairing in the first place.

Lyrics

There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,

There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole.

Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, fix it.

With what shall I fix it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I fix it, dear Liza, with what?

With a straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

With a straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, with a straw.

The straw is too long, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The straw is too long, dear Liza, too long,

Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, cut it.

With what shall I cut it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I cut it, dear Liza, with what?

With a knife, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

With a knife, dear Henry, dear Henry, with an knife.

The knife is too dull, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The knife is too dull, dear Liza, too dull.

Then sharpen it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry

Then sharpen it, dear Henry, dear Henry, sharpen it.

On what shall I sharpen it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

On what shall I sharpen it, dear Liza, on what?

On a stone, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

On a stone, dear Henry, dear Henry, a stone.

The stone is too dry, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The stone is too dry, dear Liza, too dry.

Well wet it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Well wet it, dear Henry, dear Henry, wet it.

With what shall I wet it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I wet it, dear Liza, with what?

try water, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

try water, dear Henry, dear Henry, water.

In what shall I fetch it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

In what shall I fetch it, dear Liza, in what?

In a bucket, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

In a bucket, dear Henry, dear Henry, a bucket.

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hole.

Use your head, then! dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Use your head, then! dear Henry, dear Henry, use your head!

In popular culture

The song in its best-known form is referenced as far back as 1949 in W. V. Awdry's story "Thomas Goes Fishing", from the book Tank Engine Thomas Again.

Burl Ives recorded it in 1959 with the title "There's A Hole In My Bucket". In 1961 a popular version of the song was recorded by Harry Belafonte and Odetta. They reached #32 in the UK Singles Chart. In 1961 the Israeli artists Yosi Banai and Yona Atari (sister of Shosh and Gali Atari) recorded it in Hebrew. The Dutch artist Tom Manders (Dorus) has recorded it in Dutch with the title "Er zit een gat in m'n emmer".

Sesame Street incorporated the song as a comedic skit in the 1970s, with Henry and Liza portrayed by Muppets, except that instead of straw, Liza prescribes fixing the hole in the bucket "with a stick". The children's book called "This is My Bucket" is also based upon the song.

Billy Joel incorporated some of the song's tune into his song "Two Thousand Years". The song is featured in Carly Rae Jepsen's song, "Bucket", from 2008. Michael Franti and Spearhead incorporated the opening lines into the chorus of their 1994 single "Hole in the Bucket".

In the Sci-Fi television show, Battlestar Galactica Samuel Anders quotes lyrics from this machine as he is plugged into the hybrid thank.