Lyrics
The most common versions of the rhyme are very similar to that collected by James Orchard Halliwell in the mid-nineteenth century:
Girls and boys, come out to play,
The moon doth shine as bright as day;
Leave your supper, and leave your sleep,
And come with your playfellows into the street.
Come with a whoop, come with a call,
Come with a good will or not at all.
Up the ladder and down the wall,
A halfpenny roll will serve us all.
You find milk, and I'll find flour,
And we'll have a pudding in half an hour. [1]
Other versions often put boys before girls in the opening line. [2]
Here are the melody for the first two lines.
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