The song tells the nonsensical story of an old woman who swallows increasingly large animals, each to catch the previously swallowed animal, but dies after swallowing a horse. There are many variations of phrasing in the lyrics, especially for the description of swallowing each animal.

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly is a cumulative tale (also called chain tale). This means that the action repeats, but also accumulates during the rhyme. The kids find this technique very fascinating, and singing this nursery rhyme is great fun!

‘There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly’ describes an old lady who swallows everything from a fly to a cat to a horse.

There was an old woman who swallowed a spider That wiggled and giggled and jiggled inside’er. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly, But I don’t know why she swallowed the fly, Perhaps she’ll die. There was an old woman who swallowed a bird. How absurd, to swallow a bird! She swallowed the bird to catch the spider. She swallowed the ...

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly is a cumulative song that tells the story as funny as it is absurd of a woman who after swallowing a fly, and then a spider that has to catch the fly, ends up swallowing bigger and bigger animals, until she dies after swallowing a horse that was supposed to catch the cow.