Which nursery rhyme did Thomas Edison use in his first phonograph demonstration?

Thomas Edison used “Mary Had a Little Lamb” in his first phonograph demonstration.

The demonstration took place in 1877, when Edison tested a machine capable of recording and reproducing sound. He spoke the rhyme’s opening words into the phonograph and then played them back. The result was striking because no earlier widely known device had reproduced the human voice in this way.

The phonograph’s recording medium was an early cylinder, and the machine relied on mechanical vibrations rather than electrical amplification. Its success established Edison as a major inventor of sound-recording technology.

People sometimes remember the rhyme as a complete musical performance, but the celebrated demonstration is specifically associated with Edison speaking its opening line. Later phonographs became more practical for music, dictation, and entertainment.