Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling, My Son John

"Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling, My Son John"
Roud #19709
Song
Written England
Published 1797
Form Nursery rhyme
Writer(s) Traditional
Language English

"Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling, My Son John" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19709.

Lyrics

The most commonly used modern version is:

Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John,
Went to bed with his trousers on;
One shoe off, and the other shoe on,
Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John.[1]

Alternate versions include:

Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John
Went to bed with his britches on.
One shoe off, and one shoe on;
Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John.[2]
Deedle, deedle, dumpling, my son John,
Went to bed with his stockings on;
One shoe off, and one shoe on,
Deedle, deedle, dumpling, my son John.[3]

Origins

The rhyme is first recorded in The Newest Christmas Box published in London around 1797. It may be derived from 'Diddle, diddle, diddle Dumpling', a traditional street cry of hot dumpling sellers.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 245–6.
  2. ↑ Wright, The Original Mother Goose (1916), as quoted on mothergooseclub.com
  3. ↑ Smith, The Little Mother Goose (1912), as quoted on mothergooseclub.com


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/10/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.