"Oranges and Lemons"is a traditional Englishnursery rhyme,folksong, andsinging gamewhich refers to the bells of several churches, all within or close to theCity of London.It is listed in theRoud Folk Song Indexas No 13190. The earliest known printed version appeared c. 1744.
| "Oranges and Lemons" | |
|---|---|
 1902 machine print | |
| Nursery rhyme | |
| Published | c.1744 |
| Genre | Children's street song |
| Songwriter(s) | Traditional |
The rhyme has been referenced in a variety of works of literature and popular culture. The bells ofSt Clement Danes(one of many London churches associated with the rhyme) play the tune every day at 9am, noon, 3pm and 6pm.
Lyrics
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Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells ofSt. Clement's.
You owe me fivefarthings,
Say the bells ofSt. Martin's.
When will you pay me?
Say thebells at Old Bailey.
When I grow rich,
Say the bells atShoreditch.
When will that be?
Say the bells ofStepney.
I do not know,
Says the great bell atBow.
Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!
Chip chop chip chop the last man is dead[1]
Alternative versions
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Gay go up, and gay go down,
To ring the bells ofLondontown.
Bull's eyes and targets,
Say the bells ofSt. Margaret's.
Brickbats and tiles,
Say the bells ofSt. Giles’.
Halfpenceandfarthings,
Say the bells ofSt. Martin's.
Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells ofSt. Clement's.
Pancakes and fritters,
Say the bells ofSt. Peter's.
Two sticks and an apple,
Say the bells atWhitechapel.
Pokers and tongs,
Say the bells atSt. John's.
Kettles and pans,
Say the bells at St.Ann's.Old Father Baldpate,
Say the slow bells atAldgate.
Maids in white Aprons
Say the bells ofSt Catherine's.
You owe me tenshillings,
Say the bells ofSt. Helen's.
When will you pay me?
Say the bells atOld Bailey.
When I grow rich,
Say the bells atShoreditch.
Pray when will that be?
Say the bells ofStepney.
I'm sure I don't know,
Says the great bell atBow.
Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head.[2]
Melody
editThe tune is reminiscent ofchange ringing,and the intonation of each line is said to correspond with the distinct sounds of each church's bells. Today, the bells ofSt Clement Danesring out the tune of the rhyme—as reported in 1940 the church's playing of the tune was interrupted during World War II due to Nazi bombing of the church duringthe Blitz.[3][4]As is the case with almost all traditional songs, there were minor variations in the melody. Collector of British folk songs,James Madison Carpenter,recorded two versions of the song in the 1930s which are now available on theVaughan Williams Memorial Librarywebsite: one inGarsington,Oxfordshire,[5]and another somewhere in eitherYorkshireorLincolnshire.[6]These recordings show slight melodic and lyrical variations.
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koda = \relative c' {
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b4 cis a e' | cis a b8 ([cis]) | d4 cis b | a2. \bar "|."
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a4 e' a | a,4 e' a | b, e gis | a,4 e' a |
a,4 e' a | e a cis | e, gis b | a cis a |
}
gpay = \relative c {
e gis b | e, gis b | dis, fis b | e, gis b |
e, gis b | e, gis b | fis dis b | e d! b |
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gkoda = \relative c {
a e' a | a, e' a | b, e gis | cis, e a |
a, e' a | a, e' a | <d b> <e cis> <d gis,> | <cis a>2. \bar "|."
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verse = \new Lyrics \lyricmode {
<< { Oran -- ges and lem -- ons,
say the bells of St. Clem -- ent's.
You owe me five far -- things,
say the bells of St. Mar -- tin's.
When will you pay me?
Say the bells at Old Bai -- ley.
When I grow rich,
say the bells at Shore -- ditch. }
\new Lyrics { \set stanza = "D.C."
When will that be? _
Say the bells of Step -- ney. _
I _ do not know, _
says the great bell at Bow. _ }
>>
Here comes a cand -- le to light you to bed,
And here comes a chop -- per to chop off your head!
}
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Source[7]
As a game
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The song is used in a children'ssinging gamewith the same name, in which the players file, in pairs, through an arch made by two of the players (made by having the players face each other, raise their arms over their head, and clasp their partners' hands). The challenge comes during the final lines beginning "Here comes a chopper to chop off your head"; and on the final repetition of "chop" in the last line, the children forming the arch drop their arms to catch the pair of children currently passing through. These are then "out" and must form another arch next to the existing one. In this way, the series of arches becomes a steadily lengthening tunnel through which each set of two players has to run faster and faster to escape in time.[1]
Alternative versions of the game include: children caught "out" by the last rhyme may stand behind one of the children forming the original arch, instead of forming additional arches; and children forming "arches" may bring their hands down for each word of the last line, while the children passing through the arches run as fast as they can to avoid being caught on the last word.[8]
Origins and meaning
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Various theories have been advanced to account for the rhyme, including: that it deals with childsacrifice;that it describespublic executions;that it describesHenry VIII's marital difficulties.[1]Problematically for these theories the last two lines, with their different metre, do not appear in the earlier recorded versions of the rhyme, including the first printed inTommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book(c. 1744), where the lyrics are:
Two Sticks and Apple,
RingyeBells atWhitechapple,
Old Father Bald Pate,
Ring yeBells Aldgate,
Maids in White Aprons,
Ring yeBells aSt.Catherines,
Oranges and Lemons,
Ring yebells at St.Clements,
When will you pay me,
Ring yeBells at yeOld Bailey,
When I am Rich,
Ring yeBells atFleetditch,
When will that be,
Ring yeBells at Stepney,
When I am Old,
Ring yeBells atPauls.[1]
There is considerable variation in the churches and lines attached to them in versions printed in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, which makes any overall meaning difficult to establish. The final two lines of the modern version were first collected byJames Orchard Halliwellin the 1840s.[1]
"Oranges and Lemons" was the title of asquare dance,published from the third (1657) edition onwards ofThe Dancing Master.[9]Similar rhymes naming churches and giving rhymes to their names can be found in other parts of England, including Shropshire and Derby, where they were sung on festival days on which bells would also have been rung.[1]
The identity of the London churches is not always clear, but the following have been suggested, along with some factors that may have influenced the accompanying statements:[1]
- St. Clement's may beSt Clement DanesorSt Clement Eastcheap,both of which are near the wharves where merchantmen landed citrus fruits.
- St. Martin's may beSt Martin Orgarin the City, orSt Martin-in-the-Fieldsnear Trafalgar Square.
- St Sepulchre-without-Newgate(opposite theOld Bailey) is near theFleet Prisonwhere debtors were held.
- St Leonard's, Shoreditchis just outside the old City walls.
- St Dunstan's, Stepneyis also outside the City walls.
- Bow isSt Mary-le-BowinCheapside.
- St. Helen's, in the longer version of the song, isSt Helen's Bishopsgate,in the City.
- "Whitechapple" may refer toSt Mary Matfelon, Whitechapel,or to theWhitechapel Bell Foundrywhich began making bells in 1570. "Two sticks and an apple" may refer tohandbells.
- St. Catherine's is most likelySt Katharine Cree,Aldgate. "Maids in white aprons" could be local market-sellers.[10]
- St. Margaret's isSt Margaret Lothbury.
- St. Giles' isSt Giles Cripplegate.
- St. Peter's isSt Peter upon Cornhill."Pancakesandfritters"may refer to foods sold nearby, as it was a grain market.
- "Fleetditch" isSt Pancras Old Church,located near theRiver Fleet.
- St. John's isSt John's Chapelin theTower of London;"pokers and tongs" may allude to instruments oftortureused on prisoners. It could also beSt John Clerkenwell.[11]
- St. Anne's isSt Anne and St Agnesnear the Barbican. "Kettles and pans" may refer to nearbycoppersmiths.
- "Aldgate" isSt Botolph's Aldgate,while "old father baldpate" refers to the monkSaint Botolph.It may also be an allusion to theglans penis,as St Botolph's was notorious for being a meeting-place forprostitutes.[10][12]
Song settings
editBob Chilcott's "London Bells", the third movement of hisSongs and Cries of London Town(2001) is a setting for choir of the song's version fromTommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book.[13]
Benjamin Tillcomposed music based upon the nursery rhyme which was performed in 2009 atSt Mary-le-Bow,London, to commemorate 150 years of thePalace of Westminster's great bell,Big Ben.[14]
In popular culture
edit- "Oranges and Lemons" and people remembering the words to it is a common motif inNineteen Eighty-FourbyGeorge Orwell.[15]
- "The God Complex",a 2011 episode ofDoctor Who,quotes the line "Here comes a candle to light you to bed, here comes a chopper to chop off your head."[16]
See also
edit- "London Bridge Is Falling Down",another English nursery rhyme that plays a similar game to" Oranges and Lemons ".[17]
- "The Bells of Rhymney",a similar song about church bells, although in Wales as opposed to London and also telling the story of labour disputes in the mining industry. The stanzas follow the pattern of" Oranges and Lemons ".[18]
References
edit- ^abcdefgIona and Peter Opie.The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes(Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd ed., 1997), pp. 337–338.
- ^Anon.;Garrison Keillor(29 June 2011)."Gay Go Up, and Gay Go Down".The Writer's Almanac.Archived fromthe originalon 19 September 2016.Retrieved22 December2020.
- ^The Layman's Magazine of the Living Church, Issues 1–20.Morehouse-Gorham. 1940. p. 5.[title missing]
- ^"St Clement Danes, The Strand London WC2: tourist information from".TourUK. Archived fromthe originalon 22 February 2012.Retrieved4 May2012.
- ^"'Orange and Lemons' (VWML Song Index SN19197) ".Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.Retrieved20 February2021.
- ^"'Bells of St [Clement's], The' (VWML Song Index SN16826) ".Vaughan Williams Memorial Library.Retrieved20 February2021.
- ^Walter Crane,ed. (1877)."Oranges and Lemons".The Baby's Opera.engraved byEdmund Evans.London, New York: George Routledge and Sons. p. 56 – viaInternet Archive.
- ^"Oranges and Lemons",h2g2,BBC[dead link]
- ^Playford’s Dancing Master: The Compleat Dance Guide.playforddances.
- ^ab"The Meaning of the Oranges and Lemons Nursery Rhyme".Inspiring City.7 April 2013.
- ^The Annotated Mother Goose, Nursery Rhymes Old and New, Arr. and Explained by William S. Baring-Gould & Ceil Baring-Gould.C. N. Potter. 5 December 1962.ISBN9780517029596– via Google Books.
- ^Alchin, Linda Kathryn (5 December 2010).The Secret History of Nursery Rhymes.Linda Alchin.ISBN9780956748621– via Google Books.
- ^"Chilcott:Songs and Cries of London Town".Oxford University Press. 19 July 2001.Retrieved4 May2012.
- ^"Ringing the dust off London's bells".BBC News.10 July 2009.Retrieved4 May2012.
- ^Orwell, George(8 June 1949).1984(1st ed.). England: Secker & Warburg. part 2, chapters 4, 8, 10.ISBN978-1443434973.
- ^"The God Complex – The Fourth Dimension",BBC[dead link]
- ^Iona and Peter Opie(1985).The Singing Game.Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 61–72.ISBN9780192115621
- ^"The Bells of Rhymney".BBC.Archived fromthe originalon 10 February 2009.Retrieved25 April2023.
External links
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Media related toOranges and Lemonsat Wikimedia Commons
Works related toOranges and Lemonsat Wikisource- Map of the likely church locations
