Goosey Goosey Gander,
Wither shall I wander?
Upstairs and downstairs
And in my Lady's chamber.
There I met an old man
Who wouldn't say his prayers,
So I took him by his left leg
And threw him down the stairs.






History:

Goosey Goosey Gander, even as a gibberish expression, plays on the name for a male goose gander, and makes it seem that the narrator is perhaps addressing a goose. Speaking to an creature is a familiar method in Nursery Rhymes such as Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat. The "Goosey" is as well the pet name of the mistress of King George I, Madame Schulenberg (afterward the Duchess Of Kendal). The "Gander" would consequently be the King himself. Schulenberg is referred to as such in Came Ye O'er Frae France. 

As with all nursery school rhymes, parts of it are used in various rhymes across the globe, as it is spoken from individual to individual. For instance, the final two lines are seemingly infrequently added to Ring a ring o'roses. The poem refers to Oliver Cromwell and his Roundheads. The primary line is a allusion to "goose-stepping" Roundheads who would investigate houses for Royalists. Anybody who refused to agree to Puritan habits was detained and thrown in jail. The rhyme and ghosts of Roundhead military appeared in more than a few episodes of the initial Sapphire & Steel serial.