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Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
Ten green bottles hanging on the wall,
Ten green bottles hanging on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall,
There'll be nine green bottles hanging on the wall.
Nine green bottles hanging on the wall,
Nine green bottles hanging on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall,
There'll be eight green bottles hanging on the wall.
Eight green bottles hanging on the wall,
Eight green bottles hanging on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall,
There'll be seven green bottles hanging on the wall.
Seven green bottles hanging on the wall,
Seven green bottles hanging on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall,
There'll be six green bottles hanging on the wall.
Six green bottles hanging on the wall,
Six green bottles hanging on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall,
There'll be five green bottles hanging on the wall.
Five green bottles hanging on the wall,
Five green bottles hanging on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall,
There'll be four green bottles hanging on the wall.
Four green bottles hanging on the wall,
Four green bottles hanging on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall,
There'll be three green bottles hanging on the wall.
Three green bottles hanging on the wall,
Three green bottles hanging on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall,
There'll be two green bottles hanging on the wall.
Two green bottles hanging on the wall,
Two green bottles hanging on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall,
There'll be one green bottles hanging on the wall.
One green bottles hanging on the wall,
One green bottles hanging on the wall,
And if one green bottle should accidentally fall,
There'll be no green bottles hanging on the wall.
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
"Ten Green Bottles" is one of the most familiar counting-down songs in the English language. It was first published in 1906, though it may be older, and follows a simple but addictive structure: ten bottles hang on a wall, one falls after each verse, and children count down from ten to none.
The bottles are always "green" and the falling is always "accidental" — two details that give the rhyme its particular deadpan quality. Nobody pushes the bottles. They simply fall, one after another, until there are none left. The song makes no attempt to explain the falling, which is exactly right: the point is the counting, not the reason.
Counting-down songs — like "Five Little Ducks" and "Ten Green Speckled Frogs" — serve an important pedagogical function by teaching subtraction through song. Children learn to count down from ten long before they learn to write the numbers, and the satisfying completion of the sequence — from ten to none — gives each verse a sense of forward momentum.
The song has been associated with drinking, given the subject matter, but in the nursery context the bottles are simply objects on a wall, falling with cheerful inevitability. Our recording gives the counting the energetic treatment it deserves.
