Cumulative song

On the second day of Christmas my true love sent to me Two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Three french hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

and so on until On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me Twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping, ten lords a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming, six geese a-laying, five gold(en) rings, four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.

Thence forward, the wording of each new gift is sung to the original standard melodic phrase before returning to the five gold(en) rings.

In the second line the new measure heads the list and is sung to the same musical phrase as pint pot.

Oh the quart pot, pint pot, half a pint, gill pot, half a gill, quarter gill, nipperkin, and a round bowl Here's good luck, good luck, good luck to the barley mow One version of the final line and refrain is: Oh the company, the brewer, the drayer, the slavey, the daughter, the landlady, the landlord, the barrel, the half-barrel, the gallon, the half-gallon, the quart pot, pint pot, half a pint, gill pot, half a gill, quarter gill, nipperkin, and a round bowl Here's good luck, good luck, good luck to the barley mow Alan Lomax recorded Jack French singing The Barley Mow at the Blaxhall Ship, a famous singing pub in Suffolk, in 1953.

[4][5] The Passover seder contains two Hebrew cumulative songs: "Echad Mi Yodea" and "Chad Gadya".