Lavender's Blue

"Lavender's Blue"
Roud #3483
Song
Written England
Published late 17th century
Form Nursery rhyme
Writer Traditional
Language English

"Lavender's Blue," (perhaps sometimes called "Lavender Blue,") is an English folk song and nursery rhyme dating to the 17th century, which has been recorded in various forms since the 20th century. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3483. Burl Ives's version was nominated for the 1949 Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Lyrics

Although there are as many as thirty verses to the song, and many variations of each verse, most modern versions take this form:

Lavender's blue, dilly, dilly, lavender's green,
When I am king, dilly, dilly, You shall be queen.
Who told you so, dilly, dilly, who told you so?
'Twas my own heart, dilly, dilly, that told me so.
Call up your men, dilly, dilly, set them to work
Some to the plough, dilly, dilly, some to the fork,
Some to make hay, dilly, dilly, some to cut corn,
While you and I, dilly, dilly, keep ourselves warm.
Lavender's green, dilly, dilly, Lavender's blue,
If you love me, dilly, dilly, I will love you.
Let the birds sing, dilly, dilly, And the lambs play;
We shall be safe, dilly, dilly, out of harm's way.
I love to dance, dilly, dilly, I love to sing;
When I am queen, dilly, dilly, You'll be my king.
Who told me so, dilly, dilly, Who told me so?
I told myself, dilly, dilly, I told me so.

Origins

The earliest surviving version of the song is in a broadside printed in England between 1672 and 1685, under the name Diddle Diddle, Or The Kind Country Lovers. The broadside indicates it is to be sung to the tune "Lavenders Green", implying that a tune by that name was already in existence. The lyrics printed in the broadside are fairly bawdy, celebrating sex and drinking. According to the Traditional Ballad Index, "The singer tells his lady that she must love him because he loves her. He tells of a vale where young man and maid have lain together, and suggests that they might do the same, and that she might love him (and also his dog)." Here is the first of ten verses:

Lavender's green, diddle, diddle,
Lavender's blue
You must love me, diddle, diddle,
cause I love you,
I heard one say, diddle, diddle,
since I came hither,
That you and I, diddle, diddle,
must lie together.[1]

  1. ^ I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 265-7.

It emerged as a children's song in Songs for the Nursery in 1805 in the form:

Lavender blue and Rosemary green,
When I am king you shall be queen;
Call up my maids at four o'clock,
Some to the wheel and some to the rock;
Some to make hay and some to shear corn,
And you and I will keep the bed warm.[1]

Similar versions appeared in collections of rhymes throughout the 19th century.[1]

Recordings

A hit version of the song, sung by Burl Ives, was featured in the Walt Disney movie, So Dear to My Heart (1948) and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. It was Ives' first hit song and renewed the song's popularity in the 20th century. Other hit versions of the song were recorded by Sammy Kaye and Dinah Shore.

In 1955, jazz pianist Jack Pleis recorded it for his album, Music from Disneyland.

This song became popular during the late 1950s rock and roll era when it was sung by Solomon Burke. While he did change some of the words, the lyrics are generally the same. Sammy Turner released it in 1959 and it hit number 14 on the U.S. R&B chart and number 3 on the Pop chart. There was also a British single by gravel-voiced singer Tommy Bruce in 1963 which was not a hit. The Fleetwoods also recorded a version of the song.

David Bowie sings a couplet from the song as an introduction to his song "Heroes" in the live recording of his Serious Moonlight Tour in 1983.

The song was interpreted by Leon and Mary Russell for their 1975 Wedding Album. The song was entitled "Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)".

On their 1985 UK Number One album Misplaced Childhood, the British neo-progressive rock band Marillion recorded a song called "Lavender", which had lyrics derived from the folk song and became a number 5 hit on the UK singles chart.[2][3]

The early music group, The City Waites recorded the original 17th-century bawdy broadside version of 'Lavenders Green, Lavenders Blue' on their album Pills to Purge Melancholy.

The Wiggles recorded this song on their albums The Wiggles and Pop Go the Wiggles. There are two versions of this song. One is sung by Greg Page and the other is sung by Sam Moran.

On the Australian children's TV show Wurrawhy, which is produced by Network Ten and currently airs on Eleven and formerly aired on Network Ten itself, Wubleyoo and Lauren performed a song, with Lauren strummed the Guitar.

Laura Wright recorded a version for her 2011 album, The Last Rose.

Alyse Black recorded her rendition of the Sammy Turner version with her band 'Night, Sweet Pea on their 2012 album A Little Line of Kisses.

In an episode of U.S. sitcom The Ghost and Mrs. Muir aired in 1969, British child star Mark Lester, playing a visiting English schoolboy (Mark Helmore) sings this song to regular cast member, schoolgirl, Candy, in a dream sequence.[4]

The song was used again by Disney in Cinderella and is sung by the title protagonist played by Lily James. However this song is not included in the soundtrack album.[5]

Cultural references

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1
  2. ↑ "Marillion: Misplaced Childhood". Dutch Progressive Rock Page. Retrieved June 18, 2013.
  3. ↑ David Roberts British Hit Singles and Albums, Guinness World Records Limited
  4. ↑ The Ghost & Mrs. Muir at the Internet Movie Database
  5. ↑ https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/cinderella-original-motion/id966390831
  6. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ubbQ8jYLWM
  7. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1524415/

References