How did "Mary had a little lamb" become popular blues?

Question

`"Mary had a little lamb"` had long been a popular choice for blues musicians to jam and solo on stage. Ever since watching the rendition by Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan, it also had been one of my favorites to solo blues on. Just recently I though about this: it makes sense to me that songs with context and lyrics like `"Crossroad"`, `"Johnny B. Good"`, `"Sky is crying"`, `"Sweet home Chicago"` etc. are blues. But I do not get why `"Mary had a little lamb"`, supposedly a 19th century nursery rhyme, was taken and rendered by blues musicians. Does anyone know the history or background of how this transformation is made? I would assume there is a story behind or else many of its likes such as `"London bridge is falling down"` or `"Twinkle twinkle little star"` would also be re-rendered as blues songs (but they don't, at least to my knowledge), and these are certainly more well-known than `"Mary had a little lamb"`.

Answer 1

In short, the harmonic progression of Mary Had a Little Lamb, is essentially comprised of the chords that most often accompany the 12-bar blues progression. The nursery rhyme progression in E would be E, E, This progression typically uses the chords E7, A7, and B7. Twelve bar blues in E, uses E7 (four bars), A7 (two bars), E7 (two bars), B7 (one bar), A7 (one bar), E7 (two bars).

Mozart wrote 12 variations on "Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman" (K. 265), aka, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. It is French in origin, and only later, the lyrics and melody were standardized by Jane Taylor. Joni Mitchell used most of the words and the music of "London Bridge is Falling" about the code the British government would use in the event of the Queen's sudden death. Musical tropes, harmonic, melodic, or rhythmic, are being recapitulated every day. It's kind of like other modes of communication; we all use the same words, or in this case, notes, but never run out of new things to say.