# Lavender's Blue

"Lavender's Blue" is an English folk song going back to the 1670s; it began as a broadside for adults and was softened into a children's song by 1805, then made famous again by Disney in 1948.

## At a glance

| | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Sung in | English |
| Words by | Traditional |
| First known | c. 1672–1679 |
| Best for ages | 2–7 |
| Mood | traditional, calming |
| Page | https://littlesongbook.com/songs/lavender-s-blue/ |

## Lyrics

### Verse 1 (en)

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.

### Verse 2 (en)

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.

### Verse 3 (en)

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.

### Verse 4 (en)

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.

## Common questions

**How old is "Lavender's Blue"?**

Very old. The earliest surviving version is a broadside printed in England between about 1672 and 1679, under the title "Diddle Diddle, or The Kind Country Lovers". That original was a fairly bawdy love song for adults.

**How did "Lavender's Blue" become a children's song?**

By trimming. A cleaned-up version, keeping the pretty "dilly dilly" refrain and losing the racy lines, appeared in "Songs for the Nursery" in 1805, and it is that gentle form that children have sung ever since.

**Why is "Lavender's Blue" so widely known today?**

Largely thanks to film. Burl Ives sang a version, "Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)", in the 1948 Disney film "So Dear to My Heart"; it was nominated for an Academy Award, spawned several hit recordings in 1949, and was sung again in Disney's 2015 "Cinderella".

**What does "dilly dilly" mean?**

Nothing in particular — it is a soft, sing-song refrain that fills out each line, the kind of pleasant filler old folk songs are full of.

## Sources

- [Wikipedia — Lavender's Blue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender%27s_Blue)
- https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3445529