Itsy Bitsy Spider

"Itsy Bitsy Spider" (also known as "Incy Wincy Spider" in Australia and Great Britain, and several other similar-sounding names) is a popular nursery rhyme and fingerplay that describes the adventures of a spider as it ascends, descends, and reascends the downspout or "waterspout" of a gutter system (or, alternatively, the spout of a teapot or open-air reservoir). It is usually accompanied by a sequence of gestures that mimic the words of the song. Its Roud Folk Song Index number is 11586.
Lyrics.
A commonly used version uses these words and gestures:
Other versions exist.
Sources.
The song can be found in publications including an alternative version in the book, "Camp and Camino in Lower California" (1910), where it was referred to as [the classic] "Spider Song." It appears to be a different version of this song using “blooming, bloody” instead of "itsy bitsy". It was later published in one of its several modern versions in "Western Folklore", by the California Folklore Society (1948), Mike and Peggy Seeger's, "American Folk Songs for Children" (1948).
Lyrics as described in 1910, as being from the 'classic' "Spider Song":
<poem style="margin-left: 2em;">Oh, the blooming, bloody spider went up the spider web,
The blooming, bloody rain came down and washed the spider out,
The blooming, bloody sun came out and dried up all the rain,
And the blooming, bloody spider came up the web again.</poem>
The song is sung by and for children in countless languages and cultures. It is similar of the melodies of the children's songs " and " in German-speaking countries.
Recordings.
The popular nursery rhyme has been covered and sampled a number of times.
Contemporary Popular Culture.
Cinema.
In the Jordan Peele film "Us" the young girl, Adelaide Wilson, starts whistling "Itsy Bitsy Spider" when she is down in the funhouse, in front of the hall of mirrors. Her doppelgänger, Red, starts whistling the same song, right before they see each other for the first time. All the doppelgängers have been underground waiting for their opportunity to go above ground, or "up the waterspout", and Red is the one that leads them "up the waterspout".
It is one of the main musical themes in the 2006 horror movie "Séance".
It was referred in two "Spider-Man" movies: in 2002, by Willem Dafoe as Green Goblin in "Spider-Man" and in 2014 by Jamie Foxx as Electro in "The Amazing Spider-Man 2".
Television.
Bart Simpson sang the rhyme in the tenth episode of season four of "The Simpsons", "Lisa's First Word". It was featured in the children's program "Dora the Explorer" and in the "South Park" episode "Something You Can Do with Your Finger". A child singing the rhyme twice can be heard in the opening of the "Criminal Minds" episode, "Gatekeeper". In the Netflix adaptation of Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events", during the middle of the episode "Slippery Slope, Part 1", during the scene where the Baudelaires escape the Snow Scouts, Lemony Snicket tells the viewers to refer the scene to the song, knowing they learned it in their childhoods. In the episode ’’Quiet Please’’ (series 8 episode 5A) of Rugrats the Rugrats are read Itsy Bitsy Centipede. A child singing the rhyme twice can be heard in the intensive care scene in Season Three, Episode One, of "Wallander", being played for Police Detective Ann-Britt Hoglund after she was attacked with a sledge hammer.
In one episode of "The Nanny", the youngest child of the Sheffield family, shy "Gracie" (Madeline Zima), musters all her courage and sings the "Spider"-song on stage during a school performance, making those gestures that accompany the song. She gets very much applauded and cuddled by Fran (Fran Drescher) who knows what an achievement that performance was for a shy girl like Gracie.
References.
Sources