Sweet Violets

"Sweet Violets" has surprising humorous lyrics. The song consists mainly of couplets, except that the last word of each couplet, which can generally be inferred from a combination of context and the ostensible rhyming scheme, is instead cut off by the start of the next couplet or by the chorus.The following excerpt from the song is an example of the style:

There once was a farmer who took a young miss
In back of the barn where he gave her a...
Lecture on horses and chickens and eggs
And told her that she had such beautiful...
Manners that suited a girl of her charms
A girl that he wanted to take in his...
Washing and ironing and then if she did
They would get married and raise lots of...
Sweet Violets, sweeter than all the roses
Covered all over from head to toe
Covered all over with sweet violets.
- O. Williams, Amherst Point, Nova Scotia, collected by Claybe - minor edits by J. Glennie, Niagara Falls, ON

O. W. says there are more verses: "the father was going to call the..." - expected word was "cops" but the next line started with "Minister"; "doing her..." - expected word was "wrong" but the next line started with "Right".

The girl told the farmer that he'd better stop
and she'd tell her father, and he called a...
Taxi and got there before very long,
'Cause someone was doing his little girl...
Right for a change and so that's why he said:
If you marry her, son, you're better off...
Single, 'Cause it's always been my belief
Marriage will bring a man nothing but...

Sweet Violets
Sweeter than the roses
Covered all over from head to toe
Covered all over with sweet violets

The farmer decided he'd wed anyway,
And started in planning for his wedding...
Suit which he purchased for only one buck
But then he found out he was just out of...
Money and so he got left in the lurch
Standin' and waitin' in front of the...
End of the story which just goes to show
All a girl wants from a man is his...

Sweet Violets
Sweeter than the roses
Covered all over from head to toe
Covered all over with sweet violets

Sweet Violets

A classic example of a "censored rhyme" lyric, the anticipated words "kiss" are replaced by "lecture" and "legs" by "manners"...and so on.

The chorus is from the song "Sweet Violets" by Joseph Emmet, from his 1882 play Fritz Among the Gypsies - "Sweet violets, sweeter than all the roses...covered all over from head to toe, covered all over with sweet violets."

It was recorded by Dinah Shore with Henri René's Orchestra & Chorus in Hollywood on May 20, 1951. The song was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-4174A (78 rpm record), 47-4174A (single) (in USA)^[1] and by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 10115. The Dinah Shore version was arranged by Cy Coben and Charles Grean. It reached # 3 on the Billboard magazine charts. The song (in all its versions, combined) reached #1 on the Cash Box magazine best-seller chart.

It was also recorded by Mitch Miller and the Gang, Jane Turzy, and Judy Lynn. .

Numerous versions exist in which the implied lyrics are more risque.

References

Copyright 1951 by Edwin H. Morris & Company, Inc. by Cy Coben and Charles Grean