A nonsense rhyme that borrows Robinson Crusoe's name for a jaunty chorus about a coat made from an old nanny goat. The repeated "ring-a-ting-tang" makes it a good one for clapping along to.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Poor old Robinson Crusoe!
Poor old Robinson Crusoe!
They made him a coat
Of an old Nanny goat.
I wonder why they should do so!
With a ring-a-ting-tang,
And a ring-a-ting-tang,
Poor old Robinson Crusoe!
About this rhyme
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe was published in 1719; in the novel Crusoe fashions clothing from goatskins.
This one borrows its hero from Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel, where the shipwrecked Robinson Crusoe really did make himself clothes from goatskin, having nothing else on his island to wear. The rhyme turns that resourcefulness into a joke, with a nonsense chorus of ring-a-ting-tang tacked on for the singing of it.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition