The rhyme is made up of quatrains , with a rhyming scheme of abcb ( with occasional internal rhymes ) , using falling rhymes ( where the rhyming sound is on a relatively unstressed syllable : de @-@ emphasising the rhyme ) and a trochaic rhythm ( with the stress falling on the first of a pair of syllables ) , known as a ballad form , which is common in nursery rhymes . The melody commonly associated with the rhyme was first recorded by the composer and nursery rhyme collector James William Elliott in his National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs ( 1870 ) . The Roud Folk Song Index , which catalogue folk songs and their variations by number , classify the song as 10266 .