"Lavender's Blue" (sometimes called "Lavender Blue") is an English folk song and nursery rhyme dating to the 17th century. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3483. It has been recorded in various forms since the 20th century and some pop versions have been hits in the US and UK charts.
there are as many as thirty verses to the song, and many variations of each verse. A typical version, described by James Halliwell in 1849, is:
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 mine own heart, dilly dilly, that told me so.
Call up your men, dilly dilly, set them to work,
Some with a rake, dilly dilly, some with a fork;
Some to make hay, dilly dilly, some to thresh corn,
Whilst you and I, dilly dilly, keep ourselves warm.
If you should die, dilly dilly, as it may hap,
You shall be buried, dilly dilly, under the tap;
Who told you so, dilly dilly, pray tell me why?
That you might drink, dilly dilly, when you are dry.
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 of "Lavender 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 Robert B. Waltz, "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". Waltz cites Sandra Stahl Dolby as describing this broadside version as being about a girl named Nell keeping the singer's bed warm.
Here is the first of ten verses:
Both Waltz (citing Eloise Hubbard Linscott) and Halliwell have noted the song's association with Twelfth Night and the choosing of the king of queen of the festivities of that holiday.
"Lavender's Blue" emerged as a children's song in Songs for the Nursery in 1805 in the form:
Similar versions appeared in collections of rhymes throughout the 19th century.
A version of "Lavender's Blue" was featured in the 1949 Walt Disney film So Dear to My Heart, where it was sung by Burl Ives. This version was nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1949 (it lost to "Baby, It's Cold Outside" from Neptune's Daughter.) This version of the song was credited to Eliot Daniel (music) and Larry Morey (lyrics). "Lavender's Blue" was one of 400 nominees for the American Film Institute's "100 Years... 100 Songs" list of the 100 greatest film songs, which was presented on a television program of that name which aired on June 22, 2004, but it didn't make the final list.
The appearance of "Lavender's Blue" in the Disney film sparked a revival of interest in the song. Burl Ives released a record of the song in 1949, as did Vera Lynn, Sammy Kaye, Dinah Shore, and others. Ives's' version was his first hit, Kaye's version charted at #5, and Shore's version went to #1 in Australia.
Ten years later, a doo-wop / soul interpretation by Sammy Turner reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959.. Other popular artists recorded the song throughout the rest of the 20th century and into the 21st.
Burl Ives released a recording in 1949.
In 1949, Vera Lynn recorded a version of the song.
Sammy Kaye's 1949 version charted at #5.
Dinah Shore also released a version in 1949 which went to #1 on the Australian chart. It was the title track of her album Lavender Blue.
In 1955, jazz pianist Jack Pleis recorded it for his album Music from Disneyland.
In 1959, Sammy Turner released a version which reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
There was also a British single by gravel-voiced singer Tommy Bruce in 1963 which was not a hit.
The Fleetwoods recorded a version of the song.
In 1975, the song was interpreted by Leon Russell and Mary Russell for their Wedding Album. The song was entitled "Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)".
In 1983, the rock musician David Bowie sang a couplet from the song as an introduction to his song "Heroes" in the live recording of his Serious Moonlight Tour.
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.
In 1988, Broadway legend Barbara Cook recorded a version for her The Disney Album.
In 1990, 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.
In 1990, The Wiggles included 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.
In 2011, Laura Wright recorded a version for her album The Last Rose.
In 2012, Alyse Black recorded her rendition of the Sammy Turner version with her band 'Night, Sweet Pea on their album A Little Line of Kisses.
In 2016, Reinhard Mey recorded a version for his album Mr. Lee.
In 1949, the song was featured in the film So Dear to My Heart.
In 2012, the song made several appearances in the film Christmas Oranges, sung by the protagonist, Rose (Bailee Michelle Johnson).
In 2015, the song was used again by Disney in Cinderella. It is sung to Cinderella by her mother (Hayley Atwell) when she is a child and later by an adult Cinderella (Lily James) when she's locked in her room by her stepmother Lady Tremaine (Cate Blanchett). The film's score uses an orchestral version of the song at various points.
In John Updike's 1960 short story, "A Sense Of Shelter," the story's protagonist sings the song to himself.
Andre Norton's 1975 novel, Lavender-Green Magic includes the lyrics to the song, and the title of the book is drawn from the second line of the song.
In 1989, the song was a prominent motif in M.M. Kaye's children's novel The Ordinary Princess.
In 1989, the song appeared in the horror novel Walkers by Graham Masterton.
In Benjamin Britten's 1954 opera, The Turn of The Screw, the song is sung by the two children, Miles and Flora.
In Brad Fraser's 1989 play Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love, lyrics from the song are repeatedly sung by the character Benita.
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.
In the Broadcast to the Empire Christmas Night with the Stars episode of Dad's Army broadcast in 1972, Sergeant Wilson says a few lines of the song as a microphone test for the BBC Radio Christmas Broadcast.
In 2010, during episode four of season one called "I Remember Nothing" of the Australian drama series "Spirited", produced by Foxtel, the main protagonist Henry Mallet sings the song to Suzy Darling's young sleeping daughter Verity.
On the Australian children's TV show Wurrawhy, Wubleyoo and Lauren performed a song, with Lauren strumming the guitar.
In 2011, the character Freida Short sings it to Van Alden's newborn baby in the episode "Peg of Old" (Season 2 Episode 7) of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire.
In 2017, in Hallmark Channel's original movie "A Royal Winter", the children's choir sings this song which the King used to sing to the Prince when he was a boy.
