Three Blind Mice

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Three Blind Mice is a children's nursery rhyme and musical round.

The modern words are:

Three blind mice. Three blind mice.

See how they run. See how they run.

They all ran after the farmer's wife

Who cut off their tails with a carving knife.

Did you ever see such a thing in your life

As three blind mice?

The first publication of this round is in Thomas Ravenscroft in 1609. The lyrics there are:

Three Blinde Mice,

three Blinde Mice,

Dame Iulian,

Dame Iulian,

The Miller and his merry olde Wife,

shee scrapte her tripe licke thou the knife.

There is an urban legend that this round was written earlier and refers to Queen Mary I of England executing 3 Protestant bishops. However, the earliest lyrics don't talk about killing the three blind mice, and are dated after Queen Mary died.

In several sports (basketball and hockey, for example, which have three referrees), "Three Blind Mice" is used as a derogatory phrase for poor referees. Bands also play the song to mock referees in similar cases. Such references, however, are heavily frowned upon officially by both sports as unsportsmanlike.[1][2][3]

Joseph Holbrooke (1878-1958) composed his Symphonic Variations, opus 37, based on Three Blind Mice. Also, Joseph Haydn used its theme in the Finale (4th Mvt) of his Symphony 83 (La Poule) (1785-86); one of the 6 Paris symphonies. Three blind mice was also used as a theme song for The Three Stooges and a Curtis Fuller arrangement of the rhyme is featured on the Art Blakey live album of the same name. 10cc's "I'm Not In Love" has Three Blind Mice playing in the end.