The Hidden Origins of the 'Muffin Man' Nursery Rhyme

'Do you know the muffin man?' You’ve likely heard this catchy line, but how well do you know the story behind it? Like many nursery rhymes, there are rumors swirling around its unsettling past. Let’s uncover what’s true and what’s just speculation.

Debunking the Myth of a Serial Killer Known as the 'Muffin Man'

There’s a tale that suggests the 'Muffin Man' was actually a 16th-century serial killer named Frederic Thomas Lynwood, also known as the Drury Lane Dicer. According to the myth, Lynwood allegedly used muffins to lure in his victims—15 children and seven bakers—and the rhyme was supposedly created to warn people about his deadly methods.

However, stories you read online should always be taken with skepticism. There's no historical record of a muffin-related killer in the 1500s, and there's no solid evidence linking the rhyme to any murderer. The myth likely originated from the satirical website Uncyclopedia in 2007, where it was initially presented as a joke before being taken seriously and spread across the internet.

The True Beginnings of 'The Muffin Man' Tale

If the nursery rhyme isn’t about a medieval serial killer, then where did it originate? The first published version of the verse can be found in the 1819 book Life High and Low, with lyrics that vary slightly from the modern ones we sing today:

“Do you know the muffin man, Do you know his name?

The song is said to have been sung during 'attic entertainments and cellar-balls, at disreputable clubs, and at gallows dances.' While the exact origins of the song remain unclear, it's likely that it started in these less-than-savoury adult settings.

Within a few decades, the rhyme found its way into more family-oriented spaces. In Frank Bellew’s 1866 work The Art of Amusing, he describes people sitting in a circle singing the song, with the challenge being 'to maintain a serious face the entire time. If you laugh, you forfeit.' In this version, 'Cwumpet [i.e. Crumpet] lane' replaces 'Drury Lane.' Folklorist Alice Gomme, in The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1894), mentions a children's guessing game tied to the rhyme.

As for the meaning behind the tune, it’s no more complicated than it seems. At the time, muffin men walked the streets selling muffins, which were a bread-like product similar to English muffins, not the sweet pastries filled with blueberries or chocolate chips. In London Labour and the London Poor (1851), English journalist and playwright Henry Mayhew writes that muffin men were often 'children of bakers or exhausted bakers.' Though the character in the rhyme is often shown as a baker—like in the Shrek (2001) films—Mayhew states that he 'never heard of any street vendor who made the muffins or crumpets they sold.' Now you truly know the muffin man.

The Muffin Man Lyrics

There are numerous variations of the nursery rhyme, as the verses have been modified through the years. Below are the most commonly sung lyrics of The Muffin Man.

Do you know the muffin man,The muffin man, the muffin man?Do you know the muffin man,Who resides on Drury Lane?

Oh yes, I know the muffin man,The muffin man, the muffin man,Oh yes, I know the muffin man,Who lives on Drury Lane.