| Lavender's Blue | |
|---|---|
| English folk song | |
 A 17th-century broadside version of the ballad | |
| Catalogue | Roud 3483 |
| Genre | Nursery rhyme |
| Published | English broadside (before 1680) |
"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.
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, [1] is:
The earliest surviving version of the song is in a broadside printed in England between 1672 and 1679, [2] under the name Diddle Diddle, Or The Kind Country Lovers. [3] 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. [4]
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. [2]
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. [5]
Both Waltz (citing Eloise Hubbard Linscott) and Halliwell have noted the song's association with Twelfth Night and the choosing of the king and queen of the festivities of that holiday. [2] [1]
"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. [5]
A version of the song, titled "Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)", was featured in the 1948 [A] 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. 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 "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. [6] [7] 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. [8] As was common for pop songs in those days, [9] several other singers released versions at near the same time. Sammy Kaye also released a version in 1949, which charted at No. 5, [10] as did Dinah Shore (her version went to No. 1 on the Australian chart [11] and was the title track of her album Lavender Blue). [12] Vera Lynn's version of "Lavender Blue" was issued on the B side of her single "Again", [13] which reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on January 21, 1949.
A decade later, 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. [14] [15]
"Lavender's Blue" continued to be recorded by pop artists throughout the rest of the 20th century. Jazz pianist Jack Pleis recorded Lavender's Blue for his 1955 album Music from Disneyland . Tommy Bruce made a single of it in 1963, [16] and The Fleetwoods recorded a version in 1965.[ citation needed ] In 1975, the song was interpreted by Leon Russell and Mary Russell for their Wedding Album ,[ citation needed ] and the next year the British early music revival group The City Waites recorded the original 17th-century bawdy broadside version of "Lavender's Green, Lavender's Blue" on their album Pills to Purge Melancholy. [17]
Other 20th-century works have incorporated the song or parts of it, or used it as a motif or base for a title. Benjamin Britten wrote Lavender's Blue into his 1954 opera The Turn of The Screw , where it is sung by the two children, Miles and Flora, [18]
In 1985, the British rock band Marillion included a song called "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. [19] [20]
In 2015, Disney revived "Lavender's Blue" as a signature song for another film, Cinderella [21] and Reinhard Mey recorded another version for his 2016 album Mr. Lee. [22]
A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes.
"The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build their houses of different hard materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which are made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's house that is made of bricks. The printed versions of this fable date back to the 1840s, but the story is thought to be much older. The earliest version takes place in Dartmoor with three pixies and a fox before its best known version appears in English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs in 1890, with Jacobs crediting James Halliwell-Phillipps as the source. In 1886, Halliwell-Phillipps had published his version of the story, in the fifth edition of his Nursery Rhymes of England, and it included, for the first time in print, the now-standard phrases "not by the hair of my chiny chin chin" and "I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in".
"Hey Diddle Diddle" is an English nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19478.
"Rub-A-Dub-Dub" is an English language nursery rhyme first published at the end of the 18th century in volume two of Hook's Christmas Box under the title "Dub a dub dub" rather than "Rub a dub dub". It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3101.
"Kayleigh" is a song by the British neo-prog band Marillion. It was released as the first single from the concept album Misplaced Childhood. It was the band's most successful single in the UK, where it peaked at number-two and stayed on the chart for a total of 14 weeks. It also became the band's most successful single worldwide, reaching the top 10 in the Republic of Ireland, Norway and France and became the band's sole appearance on the United States Billboard Hot 100, hitting number 74 in October 1985.
"Star Light, Star Bright" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 16339.
So Dear to My Heart is a 1948 American live-action/animated comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Its world premiere was in Chicago, Illinois, on November 29, 1948. Like 1946's Song of the South, the film combines animation and live action. It is based on the 1943 Sterling North book Midnight and Jeremiah. The book was revised by North to parallel the film's storyline amendments and then re-issued under the same title as the film.
A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although children's songs have been recorded and studied in some cultures more than others, they appear to be universal in human society.
"Again" is a popular song with music by Lionel Newman and words by Dorcas Cochran. It first appeared in the film Road House (1948), sung by Ida Lupino. An instrumental rendition was used in the movie Pickup on South Street (1953). By 1949, versions by Vic Damone, Doris Day, Tommy Dorsey, Gordon Jenkins, Vera Lynn, Art Mooney, and Mel Tormé all made the Billboard charts.
"What a Diff'rence a Day Made", also recorded as "What a Difference a Day Makes", is a popular song originally written in Spanish by María Grever, a Mexican songwriter, in 1934 with the title "Cuando vuelva a tu lado" and first recorded by Orquesta Pedro Vía that same year. A popular version in Spanish was later recorded by trio Los Panchos with Eydie Gormé in 1964.
Mister Whiskers: My Favourite Nursery Rhymes is the 1998 re-release children's album of My Favourite Nursery Rhymes by Franciscus Henri, both under Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Music's ABC for Kids. It achieved Gold sales certification due to sales in excess of 35,000 units in Australia. Notably, the album contains 23 separate tracks, but 17 of these are medleys ranging between two and four rhymes each, totalling fifty-five for the album, though many only go through a single chorus. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1994 the original version received a nomination for Best Children's Album.
My Very Favourite Nursery Rhymes is an album by Tim Hart and Friends.
The Drunken Sailor and other Kids Favorites is an album by Tim Hart and Friends.
"Lavender" is a song by the British neo-prog band Marillion. It was released as the second single from their 1985 UK number one concept album Misplaced Childhood. The follow-up to the UK number two hit "Kayleigh", the song was their second Top Five UK hit, entering the chart on 7 September 1985, reaching number five and staying on the chart for nine weeks. None of the group's subsequent songs have reached the Top Five and "Lavender" remains their second highest-charting song. As with all Marillion albums and singles between 1982 and 1988, the cover art was created by Mark Wilkinson.
"Girls and Boys Come Out to Play" or "Boys and Girls Come Out to Play" is a nursery rhyme that has existed since at least 1708. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 5452.
"Waves of the Danube" is a waltz composed by Iosif Ivanovici in 1880, and is one of the most famous Romanian tunes in the world. The song has many variations throughout the piece, reminiscent of the music of Johann Strauss. Through the Viennese style variations, there is still a distinct Slavic style. In the United States, it is frequently referred to as "The Anniversary Song", a title given by Al Jolson when he and Saul Chaplin released an adaptation of the song in 1946.
Lawrence L. Morey was an American lyricist and screenwriter. He co-wrote some of the most successful songs in Disney films of the 1930s and 1940s, including "Heigh-Ho", "Some Day My Prince Will Come", and "Whistle While You Work", and was also responsible for adapting Felix Salten's book Bambi, A Life in the Woods into the 1942 Disney film Bambi.
Jack K. Pleis was an American jazz pianist, arranger, conductor, composer and producer. He recorded on London and Decca Records in the 1950s, and Columbia Records in the 1960s. During the course of his career, Pleis worked with many artists, including Louis Armstrong, Harry Belafonte, Bing Crosby, Sammy Davis Jr., Benny Goodman, Earl Grant, Brenda Lee, and Joe Williams. Between 1950 and 1976, more than 150 songs were arranged by Pleis. His surname is pronounced "Pleece".
Eliot Daniel was an American songwriter and lyricist who worked primarily in motion pictures. His most well-known composition is the theme from the television sitcom I Love Lucy.
Nursery Rhyme Parade! is a children's album by American singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb.
Media related to Lavender's Blue at Wikimedia Commons