# The Grand Old Duke of York

“The Grand Old Duke of York” is a marching rhyme in English whose familiar words were printed by 1913 and grew from older up-and-down hill songs; the Traditional Ballad Index dates its earliest collection to 1892, and its country of origin is not established.

## At a glance

| | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | Unknown |
| Sung in | English |
| Words by | Traditional |
| First known | 1913 (familiar Duke of York version) |
| Best for ages | 2–7 |
| Mood | playful, traditional, dancing |
| Page | https://littlesongbook.com/songs/the-grand-old-duke-of-york/ |

## Lyrics

### Verse 1 (en)

O, the grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men;
He marched them up a great big hill,
And he marched them down again!

So when they were up, they were up,
And when they were down, they were down;
And when they were neither down nor up,
They were neither up nor down.

### Verse 2 (en)

Oh, the grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men;
He marched them up to the top of the hill,
And he marched them down again.

And when they were up, they were up,
And when they were down, they were down;
And when they were only halfway up,
They were neither up nor down.

They all marched up to the top of the hill,
With a hup, two, three, four, drilling their drill.

Oh, the grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men;
He marched them up to the top of the hill,
And he marched them down again.

And when they were up, they were up,
And when they were down, they were down;
And when they were only halfway up,
They were neither up nor down.

## How to sing it

1. March in place with a steady beat through the first stanza.
2. Stand tall on every “up”, crouch on every “down”, and stop halfway on “neither” before the final movement.

## Common questions

**Which Duke of York is the song about?**

The lyric does not identify one, and attempts to match it to a particular historical duke remain speculative; the Traditional Ballad Index discusses Frederick, Duke of York (1763–1827), as the leading candidate. Older related rhymes name the King of France instead.

**Are “hup, two, three, four” part of the old words?**

Those marching calls are a useful modern addition, but they do not appear in the 1913 text used on this page.

**Why are there two lyric versions?**

The first panel is the documented 1913 wording. The second preserves the supplied modern marching sequence, including the later “hup, two, three, four” line and its repeated ending.

## Sources

- [Arthur Rackham, Mother Goose — The Old Nursery Rhymes (1913)](https://archive.org/details/oldnurseryrhymes00rack)
- [Frederica Seeger, Entertainments for Home, Church and School (Project Gutenberg, undated)](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6416)
- [The Traditional Ballad Index — The Noble Duke of York](https://balladindex.org/Ballads/FSWB390B.html)
- [National Literacy Trust, Words for Life — The Grand Old Duke of York](https://wordsforlife.org.uk/activities/grand-old-duke-york/)