This tune was a hit record for Ella Fitzgerald, in the forties, under the title 'A Tisket, A Tasket'. It was originally written as a game song. With children in a circle, the words 'I dropped it' are sung, and a child drops a handkerchief ('letter') behind another child. That child picks it up and runs around the circle and drops it behind another child. This keeps going until all have had a turn.