“Mairzy Doats” is a novelty song written and composed in 1943 by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston.

The song was first played on radio station WOR, New York, by Al Trace and his Silly Symphonists.

[3] The song's refrain, as written on the sheet music, seems meaningless: However, the lyrics of the bridge provide a clue: This hint allows the ear to translate the final line as "a kid'll eat ivy, too; wouldn't you?

Drake joined Hoffman and Livingston to come up with a tune for the new version of the rhyme, but for a year no one was willing to publish a "silly song".

[7] The scholars Iona and Peter Opie have noted that the last two lines of the song appear in an old catch which, when said quickly, appears to be in Latin:[8] In fir tar is, In oak none is, In mud eels are, In clay none are, Goat eat ivy, Mare eat oats.