Traditional · Key of C · Public domain
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This chart is written in C. Tap any key above the chart to see the whole song in that key, with every chord already worked out. To stay in C with different chord shapes, play it capo 3 with the A shapes, or capo 5 with the G shapes. Singing with a group? Pick the key where the highest note is comfortable for everyone, then print that page.
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep is one of the first nursery rhymes ever printed. It appears in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, published in London around 1744, as "Bah, Bah, a black Sheep", with "one for my little boy that lives in the lane". A later printing, Mother Goose's Melody of about 1765, made it "none for the little boy who cries in the lane", a version still found in American books into the 1910s, before the kinder ending won out.
The tune is the French air Ah! vous dirai-je, maman, shared with Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and The Alphabet Song; words and tune were first printed together in Philadelphia in 1879. The stories that the rhyme hides a medieval wool tax or something darker have no evidence behind them: it is a counting rhyme about three bags of wool. In 1951 it was among the first songs ever played by a computer. Words and melody are public domain.
Three chords, C, F and G, on the Twinkle, Twinkle pattern: C on "Baa, baa, black sheep", F on "have you any", C on "wool", then F, C, G, C through "three bags full". The third and fourth lines are a little busier, with the changes landing on "master", "one", "dame" and "little boy", before G on "down the" and C on "lane". Finish by singing the first two lines again. It is short, so it makes a good warm-up before the longer kids' songs, and a good first song for learning to change chords on a word rather than at the start of a line.
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep in other easy guitar keys: key of D, key of E, key of F, key of G, key of A. Every other key is at the top of the chart.
Tap any chord for its diagram, other voicings, and the notes inside it.
In the key of C, Baa, Baa, Black Sheep uses 3 chords: C, F and G. The chords sit over the words in the chart above, and tapping a chord name under Chords in This Song opens its diagram.
This chart is in the key of C. The other easy guitar keys for it are the key of D, key of E, key of F, key of G, key of A, each with the whole song rewritten. Pick the key whose chords you know, or the one that sits best for the singers: all twelve are one tap away at the top of the chart, with capo options for keeping the open shapes.
Yes. The words and the melody of Baa, Baa, Black Sheep are in the public domain, which is why the full lyrics and chords are published here. You can print this sheet, hand it out, and perform or record the song anywhere without a license.
More animals: Old MacDonald Had a Farm chords and lyrics
All the kids' song chord sheets, each one in every key.
Further reading: Baa, Baa, Black Sheep (Wikipedia)
