"Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling, My Son John" is an

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

. It has a

Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

number of 19709.

Lyrics

The most commonly used modern version is: :Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John, :Went to bed with his trousers on; :One shoe off, and the other shoe on, :Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John. (2nd ed. 1997) Alternate versions include: :Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John :Went to bed with his britches on. :One shoe off, and one shoe on; :Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John. :Deedle, deedle, dumpling, my son John, :Went to bed with his stockings on; :One shoe off, and one shoe on, :Deedle, deedle, dumpling, my son John.Smith, ''The Little Mother Goose'' (1912), as quoted on mothergooseclub.com
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Origins

The rhyme is first recorded in ''The Newest Christmas Box'' published in London around 1797. It may be derived from 'Diddle, diddle, diddle Dumpling', a traditional street cry of hot

dumpling Dumpling is a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of dough (made from a variety of starch sources), oftentimes wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, flour, buckwheat or potatoes, and may be filled with meat, fi ...

sellers.

References

* BBC 'Inside number 9' TV episode with the same name * Sky's British black comedy 'Hunderby', set in the 1830s, features the song as evening entertainment accompanied by a traditional crumhorn. English children's songs Street cries Year of song unknown English nursery rhymes Songwriter unknown {{folk-song-stub