An old nursery rhyme song. The following lyrics are composited from web searches.


Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,
Rosemary's green
When I am king, dilly dilly,
You shall be queen.

(or, When you are king, I shall be queen if the gender doesn't apply. Also usually Lavender's green instead of Rosemary.)

Who told you so, dilly dilly,
Who told you so?
'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly,
That told me so.

Call up your friends, dilly dilly,
Set them to work.
Some to the plough, dilly dilly,
Some to the fork.

(or, Some with a rake, some with a fork, or cart instead of fork.)

Some to the hay, dilly dilly,
Some to cut corn
While you and I, dilly dilly,
Keep ourselves warm.

(or, make hay, or thresh or reap corn. Also sometimes the last line is Keep the bed warm.)

Roses are red, dilly dilly,
Violets are blue
Because you love me, dilly dilly,
I will love you.

Let the bells sing, dilly dilly,
And the lambs play
We shall be safe, dilly dilly,
Out of harm's way.

(sometimes birds are singing instead of bells. Often diddle is used instead of dilly throughout.)

i was taught this song an odd way, that i have never heard before or since, except from the music workshop i learned it at when i was about six:

it was presented as a *response* piece, actually. only the first verse, and its compliment were given to us. a male and female partner would exchange the verses, one to another. note that 'king' and 'queen' can be exchanged throughout.

{first partner}
Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,
Lavender's green
When I am king, dilly dilly,
You shall be queen.

{second partner}
Lavender's green, dilly dilly,
Lavender's blue
When I am queen, dilly dilly,
King shall be you.

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