"Georgie Porgie" is a popular

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 the

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 19532.

Origins and variations

Originally the lyrics were: :Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie, :Kissed the girls and made them cry, :When the girls came out to play, :Georgie Porgie ran away. These appeared in ''The Kentish Coronal'' (1841), where the rhyme was described as an "old ballad" with the name spelled "Georgy Peorgy". That version persisted through most of the 19th century and was later illustrated by

Kate Greenaway Catherine Greenaway (17 March 18466 November 1901) was an English Victorian artist and writer, known for her children's book illustrations. She received her education in graphic design and art between 1858 and 1871 from the Finsbury School of ...

in 1881. It was also quoted by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

in the story named after it, published in 1891.

James Orchard Halliwell James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (born James Orchard Halliwell; 21 June 1820 – 3 January 1889) was an English Shakespearean scholar, antiquarian, and a collector of English nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Life The son of Thomas Halliwell, he ...

did not record the words in his collection of ''The nursery rhymes of England'', but in the fifth edition of 1853 he included a variant: :Rowley Powley, pumpkin pie, :Kissed the girls and made them cry; :When the girls begin to cry, :Rowley Powley runs away. And a

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

dialect version was quoted in 1887 with the variant "picklety pie" in place of Halliwell's "pumpkin pie". But by 1884 a version had appeared in which the third line read "When the boys came out to play", and it was this reading which Peter and

Iona Opie Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017) and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of folklorists who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and ...

chose to perpetuate in their day in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' (1951). They also mentioned there various unsubstantiated conjectures that link the character Georgie Porgie to British historical figures, including King George I and

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, 28 August 1592 – 23 August 1628), was an English courtier, statesman, and patron of the arts. He was a favourite and possibly also a lover of King James I of England. Buckingham remained at the ...

, claims that have been copied in other works of reference to this day. Among children the verse has been used as a rhyming taunt for boys called George, or else of fat boys. It is also used to harass a boy who is considered not sufficiently manly, either because he is thought to fancy a girl, or (with a switch of sexes in line two) who is accused of being homosexually inclined. It can also be used to tease a girl who fancies a boy, where, with other appropriate changes, she is addressed as "Rosie Posie".

Musical versions

The rhyme was included in ''National Nursery Rhymes'' (London, 1870), a volume illustrated by

George Dalziel The Brothers Dalziel (pronounced ) was a prolific wood-engraving business in Victorian London, founded in 1839 by George Dalziel. The Dalziel family In 1840, George (1 December 1815 – 4 August 1902) was joined in the business by his brother E ...

and

Edward Dalziel The Brothers Dalziel (pronounced ) was a prolific wood-engraving business in Victorian London, founded in 1839 by George Dalziel. The Dalziel family In 1840, George (1 December 1815 – 4 August 1902) was joined in the business by his brother E ...

, where the words were set to music by

James William Elliott James William Elliott (J.W. Elliott) (1833 – 1915) was an English collector of nursery rhymes. Together with George Dalziel and Edward Dalziel The Brothers Dalziel (pronounced ) was a prolific wood-engraving business in Victorian London, found ...

. And in 1885 they were set as a

part song A part song, part-song or partsong is a form of choral music that consists of a song to a secular or non-liturgical sacred text, written or arranged for several vocal parts. Part songs are commonly sung by an SATB choir, but sometimes for an all ...

by the Canadian composer Joseph Gould under his musical pseudonym, Spencer Percival. The 1978 song '' Georgy Porgy'' by Toto features

Cheryl Lynn Cheryl Lynn (born Lynda Cheryl Smith; March 11, 1957) is an American singer. She is best known for her songs during the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, including the 1978 R&B/disco song "Got to Be Real". Lynn's singing career began with her ...

singing the first two lines of the rhyme.

References

{{Portal , Children's literature 1840s songs English nursery rhymes English folk songs English children's songs Songs about fictional male characters