Lyrics
Georgie Porgie, pudding pie, Kissed the girls and made them cry. When the boys came out to play, Georgie Porgie ran away.
#Georgie Porgie at a glance
- Country of origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Sung in
- English
- Words by
- Traditional
- First known
- 1841
- Best for ages
- 2–7
- Mood
- playful, traditional
- Last updated
- 25 July 2026
Meaning and origin
In four lines this rhyme draws a whole character, and not a flattering one: Georgie torments the girls, then bolts the moment the other boys turn up. It is a neat little portrait of a bully who is only bold when no one can stop him, and children recognise the type immediately — which is probably why it has lasted.
It was first printed in 1841, already called an “old ballad”, so it had been around a while before that. And, as with so many rhymes about a named figure, it has attracted a queue of “real Georgies”: King George I, King George IV, the Duke of Buckingham, even Charles II. None of these identifications has any evidence; they have simply been copied from one reference book to the next until they took on an air of fact.
Stripped of the false history, it is what it always was — a sharp, funny sketch of playground cowardice, sung by generations of children who needed no king to tell them exactly who Georgie Porgie is.
Common questions
- How old is "Georgie Porgie"?
- It was first printed in 1841, in a collection called "The Kentish Coronal", where it was already described as an "old ballad" and spelled "Georgy Peorgy" — so it was in use for some time before that.
- Was Georgie a real person, like a king?
- Several real figures have been proposed — King George I, King George IV, George Villiers the Duke of Buckingham, even Charles II — but every one of these is unsubstantiated guesswork. As Wikipedia notes, the claims have been copied from book to book without any solid evidence behind them.
- What is the rhyme about?
- A boy who teases the girls until the other boys appear, and then runs away — a small, knowing sketch of a bully who is only brave when unopposed. The appeal is that children recognise the type at once.
