Editing Lavender's Blue

{{short description|English folk song and nursery rhyme dating to the 17th century}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox musical composition
| name                = Lavender's Blue
| type                = [[English folk song]]
| composer            = 
| image               = Diddle, diddle. Or, The kind country lovers (bod23683).png
| image_size          = 
| alt                 = 
| caption             = A 17th-century broadside version of the ballad
| other_name          = 
| catalogue           = [[Roud Folk Song Index|Roud]] 3483
| genre               = [[Nursery rhyme]]
| written             = 
| text                = 
| composed            = 
| published           = English [[Broadside (music)|broadside]] (before 1680)
| publisher           = 
}}

"'''Lavender's Blue'''" (also called "'''Lavender Blue'''") is an English [[folk song]] and [[nursery rhyme]] from the 17th century. Its [[Roud Folk Song Index]] number is 3483. It has been recorded in various forms and some pop versions have been hits in the U.S. and U.K. charts.

==Lyrics==
There are as many as thirty verses to the song, and many variations of each verse. A typical version, described by [[James Halliwell-Phillipps|James Halliwell]] in 1849,<ref name=Halliwell/> is:
<poem style="margin-left:2em;">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 [[Pitchfork|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.<ref name=Halliwell/></poem>

==Origins==
{{wikisource|Diddle, Diddle|Diddle, Diddle: Or, The Kind Country Lovers}}
The earliest surviving version of the song is in a [[broadside (music)|broadside]] printed in England between 1672 and 1679,<ref name=Fresno/> under the name ''Diddle Diddle, or The Kind Country Lovers''.<ref>See also [http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/search/roud/3483 here]</ref> 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.<ref name=TradMusLib/>

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.<ref name=Fresno/>

Here is the first of ten verses:
<poem style="margin-left:2em;">Lavender's green, diddle, diddle,
{{0|—}}Lavender's blue
You must love me, diddle, diddle,
{{0|—}}cause I love you,
I heard one say, diddle, diddle,
{{0|—}}since I came hither,
That you and I, diddle, diddle,
{{0|—}}must lie together.<ref name=Opie1997/></poem>

Both Waltz (citing [[Eloise Hubbard Linscott]]) and Halliwell have noted the song's association with [[Twelfth Night (holiday)|Twelfth Night]] and the choosing of the king and queen of the festivities of that holiday.<ref name=Fresno/><ref name=Halliwell/>
[[File:The Baby's Opera A book of old Rhymes and The Music by the Earliest Masters Book Cover 11.png|thumb|Lyrics and illustration for "Lavender's Blue" in ''The Baby's Opera – A Book of Old Rhymes and the Music by the Earliest Masters'']]
"Lavender's Blue" emerged as a children's song in ''Songs for the Nursery'' in 1805 in the form:
<poem style="margin-left:2em;">Lavender blue and Rosemary green,
When I am king you shall be queen;
Call up my maids at four o'clock,
Some to the [[Spinning wheel|wheel]] and some to the [[distaff|rock]];
Some to make hay and some to shear [[cereal|corn]],
And you and I will keep the bed warm.<ref name=Opie1997/></poem>

Similar versions appeared in collections of rhymes throughout the 19th century.<ref name=Opie1997/>

===Melody===
<score sound raw>
\header { tagline = ##f }
\layout { indent = 0
  \context { \Score \remove "Bar_number_engraver" }
  \context { \Voice \remove "Dynamic_engraver" }
}

global = { \key g \major \time 3/8 }

melody = \relative c'' { \global \autoBeamOff \set midiInstrument = "celesta"
  \repeat volta 2 { g8 d' d | d c16 b a g | }
    \alternative { {g8 e' e | e4.| } { c8 b a | g4. } } \bar "|."
}

verse = \new Lyrics \lyricmode {
  << { La -- ven -- der's blue, did -- dle, did -- dle! La -- ven -- der's green; }
  \new Lyrics \lyricmode { When I am king, did -- dle, did -- dle! _ _ _ _ You shall be queen. }
  >>
}

classicalGuitar = \relative c' { \global \clef bass \set midiInstrument = "acoustic guitar (nylon)"
  \repeat volta 2 { g8\pp <d' b> <d b> | g,8 <d' b> <d b> | }
    \alternative { { g,8 <e' c> <e c> | g, <e' c> <e c> | } { fis, d' d, | <b' g>4. } }
}

\score { \new ChoirStaff
  <<
    \new Staff \melody \addlyrics \verse
    \new Staff \classicalGuitar
  >>
  \layout { }
}
\score { \unfoldRepeats { << \melody \\ \classicalGuitar >> }
  \midi { \tempo 8=144
    \context { \Score midiChannelMapping = #'instrument }
    \context { \Staff \remove "Staff_performer" }
    \context { \Voice \consists "Staff_performer" }
  }
}
</score>
Source<ref>{{cite book|title=The Baby's Opera|page=17|editor=[[Walter Crane]]|others=engraved by [[Edmund Evans]]|year=1877|publisher=George Routledge and Sons|location=London, New York|url=https://dn790004.ca.archive.org/0/items/babysoperabookof00cran/babysoperabookof00cran.pdf|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

==Revival==
===1949===
A version of the song, titled "Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)", was featured in the 1948 [[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 [[22nd Academy Awards|1949]]. This version of the song was credited to [[Eliot Daniel]] (music) and [[Larry Morey]] (lyrics). "Lavender Blue" was one of 400 nominees for the [[American Film Institute]]'s "[[AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs|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.<ref name=AFI_400/><ref name=AFI_100/> The appearance of "Lavender Blue" in the Disney film sparked a revival of interest in the song.

Ives' version of "Lavender Blue" was recorded in December 1948 and released as a single in January 1949. As was common for pop songs in those days,<ref name=DigitalDreamDoor/> several other singers released versions at near the same time. [[Sammy Kaye]] also released a version in 1949, which charted at No. 5,<ref name=SDb_Kaye/> as did [[Dinah Shore]] (her version went to No. 1 on the Australian chart<ref name=Tsort/> and was the title track of her album ''Lavender Blue''). [[Vera Lynn]]'s version of "Lavender Blue" was issued on the [[A-side and B-side|B side]] of her single "[[Again (1949 song)|Again]]",<ref name=VeraLynn/> which reached the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine [[Billboard Hot 100|Best Seller chart]] on January 21, 1949.

===Later 20th century===
The Canadian author [[Kathleen Lines]] published a selection of classical nursery rhymes in 1954 under this title.<ref>{{cite book|author=[[Kathleen Lines]]|title=Lavender's Blue: A Book of Nursery Rhymes|year=1954|publisher=Franklin Watts|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/lavendersblue0000unse/mode/1up|via=[[Internet Archive]]|url-access=registration}}</ref>

In 1959, [[Sammy Turner]] released a [[rhythm and blues]] version produced by [[Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller]] which reached #3 on the [[Billboard Hot 100]].<ref name=SDb_1/><ref name=MusicVF/>

[[Benjamin Britten]] wrote ''Lavender's Blue'' into his 1954 opera ''[[The Turn of the Screw (opera)|The Turn of The Screw]]'', where it is sung by the two children, Miles and Flora.<ref>{{cite book|author=Philip Rupprecht|title=Britten's Musical Language|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9SNAUe8fMAoC&dq=%22lavender+blue%22&pg=PA157|date=11 February 2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-44128-5|pages=157–}}.</ref>

In 1985, the British rock band [[Marillion]] included a song called "[[Lavender (Marillion song)|Lavender]]" on their album ''[[Misplaced Childhood]]''. The song had lyrics derived from "Lavender's Blue" and became a number 5 hit on the [[UK singles chart]].<ref>"Lavender, Marillion [https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/18279726/Marillion/Lavender Lyrics.com]</ref><ref>[https://www.simplyeighties.com/marillion-lavender.php Simply Eighties]</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=Halliwell>{{cite book |last=Halliwell |first=James Orchard|author-link=James Halliwell-Phillipps|title=Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales |url=http://www.presscom.co.uk/talesparts/tales10.html |access-date=March 7, 2017 |year=1849 |publisher=John Russell Smith |location=London |isbn=978-0370012551 |pages=237–238}}</ref>

<ref name=TradMusLib>{{cite web |url=http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/bawdy-songs/002618.HTM |title=Diddle, Diddle (or The Kind Country Lovers) |author=(Traditional) |date=1674–1679 |work=Traditional Music Library |access-date=March 7, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name=Fresno>{{cite web |url=http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/FSWB158A.html |title=Lavender Blue |author=Robert B. Waltz |author2=David G. Engle |name-list-style=amp |work=Traditional Ballad Index |publisher=California State University, Fresno |access-date=March 7, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name=Opie1997>{{cite book |last1=Opie |first1=Iona|author1-link=Iona Opie|last2=Opie |first2=Peter|author2-link=Peter Opie|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes |url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary0000opie/page/265 |year=1951 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198691112 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary0000opie/page/265 265–7] }}</ref>

<ref name=SDb_1>{{cite web |url=http://www.song-database.com/chhist.php?sid=18464 |title=Billboard Hot 100 Chart History – "Lavender-Blue" by Sammy Turner 1959 |work=Song Database |access-date=March 7, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name=MusicVF>{{cite web |url=http://www.musicvf.com/Sammy+Turner.art |title=Sammy Turner Top Songs |work=Music VF |access-date=March 7, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name=Tsort>{{cite web |url=http://tsort.info/music/ks9vws.htm |title=Song artist 62 – Dinah Shore |work=The World's Music Charts |access-date=March 7, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name=SDb_Kaye>{{cite web |url=http://www.song-database.com/chhist.php?sid=25390&type=bs&from=header |title=Billboard Best Sellers Chart History – "Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)" by Sammy Kaye 1949 |work=Song Database |access-date=March 7, 2017}}</ref>

<ref name=VeraLynn>{{cite web |url=https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/550467/versions |title=Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly) by Vera Lynn |work=Second Hand Songs |access-date=April 11, 2021}}</ref>

<ref name=AFI_400>{{cite web |url=https://www.filmsite.org/afi400songs.html |title=100 Greatest Songs in American Movies: 100 Years...100 Songs – The 400 Nominees |work=Filmsite |access-date=September 21, 2021}}</ref>

<ref name=AFI_100>{{cite web |url=https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-songs/ |title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs |publisher=American Film Institute |access-date=September 21, 2021}}</ref>

<ref name=DigitalDreamDoor>{{cite web |url=https://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_songs-1940s.html |title=100 Greatest Popular Songs Of The 1940s |author=Bruce |date=December 21, 2009 |work=Digita Dream Door |access-date=September 21, 2021}} {{better source needed|date=September 2021|We don't know who these guys are or who "Bruce" is, so a more robust ref would be better, but on the other hand this is basically sky-is-blue common knowledge}}</ref>

}}

==External links==
*{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Burl Ives|state=collapsed}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:17th-century songs]]
[[Category:English folk songs]]
[[Category:English nursery rhymes]]
[[Category:Burl Ives songs]]
[[Category:Dinah Shore songs]]
[[Category:The Fleetwoods songs]]
[[Category:Disney songs]]
[[Category:Number-one singles in Australia]]
[[Category:Year of song unknown]]
[[Category:Songs with unknown songwriters]]
[[Category:English children's songs]]
[[Category:Traditional children's songs]]