Lavender Blue

Lavender Blue Dilly Dilly

     The Lavender Blue song, written about blue Lavender, originated around 1805 in the 17th century. "Lavender Blue" an English folk song turned nursery rhyme became so popular that almost every child knew the lyrics.

     The song also was known as "Lavender's Blue" different versions were recorded by various popular singing artists as what's old became new again.

     The earliest version taken from an old 17th century broadsheet goes as follows:

Lavenders green, Diddle, diddle,
Lavenders blue
You must love me, diddle, diddle,
cause I love you,
I heard one say, diddle, diddle,
since I came hither,
That your and I, diddle, diddle,
must lie together.

In 1805 the popular children's nursery rhyme took this version:

Lavender blue and Rosemary green,
When I am king you shall be queen;
Call up my maids at four o'clock,
Some to the wheel and some to the rock;
Some to make hay and some to shear corn,
And you and I will keep the bed warm.

Lavender Blue Lyrics

     Below are the lyrics for Lavender Blue which has over 30 verses and different recording artists sing different versions of the song. The lyrics below are the ones for most modern versions of the song.

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 my 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 fork.
Some to make hay, dilly, dilly, some to thresh corn.
While you and I, dilly, dilly, keep ourselves warm.

Lavender's green, dilly, dilly, Lavender's blue,
If you love me, dilly, dilly, I will love you.
Let the birds sing, dilly, dilly, And the lambs play;
We shall be safe, dilly, dilly, out of harm's way.

I love to dance, dilly, dilly, I love to sing;
When I am queen, dilly, dilly, You'll be my king.
Who told me so, dilly, dilly, Who told me so?
I told myself, dilly, dilly, I told me so.

Sammy Turner Lavender Blue

     Here is Lavender Blue sung by Sammy Turner.

Burl Ives Lavender Blue

     Burl Ives Lavender Blue was his first hit song and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Below is Burl Ives singing Lavender Blue.