Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Title: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

James “JJ” Jones III was born in Phoenix, Arizona on June 15, 1999. He lived in Arizona for five years before moving to Tracy, California where he lives today. JJ has an older sister and a younger brother, and his parents divorced when he was 11. He is especially close to his mother. He attended preschool in Arizona and a public elementary school in Tracy. JJ now attends Dartmouth College as a freshman (Class of 2021) and plays football there. He is interested in studying engineering.

Contextual Data:

JJ explained that he used to hear this nursery rhyme, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, from his mother every night before going to sleep. She started singing it to his sister Jasmine as a lullaby to help her go to sleep long before JJ was born and she continued to sing it as JJ grew up. She sang it almost every night for as long as he can remember and stopped when he was about ten years old, which was also when she stopped tucking him into bed at night. Usually, it was only JJ in the room but sometimes his younger brother would be there as well. His mother would lightly hit his younger brother’s back to help him fall asleep, so if both boys were in the same room his mother would also hit JJ’s back. He recalled this memory with a laugh and demonstrated the action on me, but made sure that I knew this would only occur if his little brother was there with him. Since JJ is close with his mother this nursery rhyme and the ritual of being tucked into bed meant a lot to him and still resonates with him today because it reminds him of his mum.

Item:

The nursery rhyme “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” goes as follows:Twinkle twinkle little star / how I wonder what you are / up above the world so high / like a diamond in the sky / twinkle twinkle little star / how I wonder what you are

Transcript:

“When I think of it [the nursery rhyme Twinkle Twinkle Little Star] I usually think of taking a nap. My mom used to sing it to me before bed every night until I was probably ten or so. It was pretty short and sweet but I’d knock out before she was done singing it three times through.”

Informant’s Comments:

Sometimes his mum would accompany the song with hard taps on the back to help him sleep better, but only if his younger brother was there too.

Collector’s Comments:

I found this to be pretty typical since most kids are sung some version of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by their parents at some point in their childhood as a lullaby. However, I thought the pounding on the back to help JJ go to sleep was interesting, especially when he demonstrated on me (I immediately thought that there was no way I’d be sleeping if someone was hitting my back that hard, but apparently it worked for him and his brother). I also found the connection between JJ and his mum interesting and have a feeling that whether he knows it or not the ritual of sharing this nursery rhyme every night contributed to their close relationship.

Collector’s Name: Elise Petit

Tags/Keywords:

Dartmouth Folklore Archive