"Sweet Violets" is an American song that contains classic example of a "censored rhyme", where the expected rhyme of each couplet is replaced with an unexpected word which segues into the next couplet or chorus. For example, the first couplets go:

There once was a farmer who took a young miss
In back of the barn where he gave her a...
Lecture on horses and chickens and eggs
And told her that she had such beautiful...
Manners that suited a girl '' tc.'

The chorus is taken nearly verbatim from the song "Sweet Violets" by Joseph Emmet, from his 1882 play ''Fritz Among the Gypsies'':

Sweet
violet Violet may refer to: Common meanings * Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue * One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly: ** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants Places United States * Viol ...
s, sweeter than the
rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
s
Covered all over from head to toe
Covered all over with sweet violets.

The song was recorded by

Dinah Shore Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, and television personality, and the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during ...

with Henri René's Orchestra & Chorus in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

on May 20, 1951. The song was released by

RCA Victor Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

as catalog number 20-4174A (78 rpm record), 47-4174A (single) (in USA), by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

on the

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...

label as catalog number B 10115 in the UK, and EA 3997 in Australia, also on the

label. The Dinah Shore version was arranged by

Cy Coben Seymour "Cy" Coben (4 April 1919 – 26 May 2006) was an American songwriter, whose hits were recorded by bandleaders, country singers, and other artists such as The Beatles, Tommy Cooper and Leonard Nimoy. Biography Early life Coben was born ...

and Charles Grean. It reached number 3 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' chart. It has also been recorded by Mitch Miller and the Gang, Jane Turzy, and

Judy Lynn Judy Lynn Kelly (born Judy Lynn Voiten; April 16, 1936 – May 26, 2010), better known by her stage name Judy Lynn, was an American country music singer and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Idaho in 1955. Life and career Lynn was born in Boise, ...

. The song (in all its versions, combined) reached number one on the ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' best-seller chart. Numerous folk versions exist in which the implied lyrics are more risqué.

Copyright

References

{{Authority control American folk songs 1882 songs 1951 singles Songs about plants Number-one singles in the United States