Fairies in Popular Culture Codexery

Little Bunny Foo Foo

A children's song about a bunny who bopps field mice.

The children's poem "Little Bunny Foo Foo" alternates between sung quatrains and spoken interludes.[1] Its sung sections use the same melody as the 1879 French-Canadian tune "Alouette".[1]

Quick Facts

Tune
Alouette (1879)
Melodically similar to
Down by the Station (1948) and Itsy Bitsy Spider
Mentioned in
Runaway Ralph (1970) by Beverly Cleary; The New Yorker (1970)
Statue
Bunny Foo Foo, a 35-foot leaping rabbit at a winery in St. Helena, California

Facts from the source article.

Key facts and history

A 1970 issue of The New Yorker acknowledges "Little Bunny Phoo Phoo, a character in a children's story".[2] Sometimes "bopping" is replaced with "kissing" in performances.[3] One common ending turns Little Bunny Foo Foo into a goon with the pun "Hare today, goon tomorrow".[4] This pun-ending form of storytelling is also known as a feghoot.[4]

This piece of childlore exists in numerous versions and is frequently transmitted informally.[2] In Beverly Cleary's 1970 book Runaway Ralph, the song "Little Rabbit Fru-Fru" is referenced as something sung at a summer camp.[2] A winery in St. Helena, California, features a 35-foot tall statue of a leaping rabbit called "Bunny Foo Foo".[5]

What the cited sources add

The KIDiddles lyrics show the good fairy giving the bunny three chances before turning it into a goon.[6]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Little Bunny Foo Foo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Whitman, "The Hoax Behind Little Bunny Foo Foo", The Babbler's Lexicon, February 21, 2014; Whitman, "The Hoax Behind Little Bunny Foo Foo", The Babbler's Lexicon, February 21, 2014 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Little Bunny Foo Foo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Whitman, "The Hoax Behind Little Bunny Foo Foo", The Babbler's Lexicon, February 21, 2014 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Little Bunny Foo Foo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Little Bunny Foo Foo", YouTube, 30 July 2018 }}{{cbignore (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Little Bunny Foo Foo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ""Little Bunny Foo Foo" Song Lyrics", Grandparents.com, 2008-10-02; "Little Bunny Foo Foo", KIDiddles; Hannah Heller, "Sing Along Little Bunny Foo Foo", Speakaboos }}{{cbignore, April 2009 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Little Bunny Foo Foo" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Yeah, there's a giant bunny in that vineyard and 9 animals, vegetables and antlers you'll want to stop and see", Los Angeles Times, 2018-04-01 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. "Little Bunny Foo Foo", KIDiddles. facts only, no text reused. kididdles.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Little Bunny Foo Foo (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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