"The Farmer in the Dell" is a singing game, nursery rhyme, and children's song. It probably originated in Germany and was brought to America by immigrants.
[I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Singing Game'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), pp. 183–189.] From there, it spread to many other nations and is popular in a number of languages. It is
Roud Folk Song Index number 6306.
Lyrics
Lyrics vary even within the same country. The following is a common version in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
:
One UK variant has "The nurse takes a dog"; it ends by clapping
atting
Atting is a municipality in the district of Straubing-Bogen in Bavaria, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, ...
the dog.
Origin and dissemination
The rhyme was first recorded in Germany in 1826, as "Es fuhr ein Bau'r ins Holz". It was more clearly a courtship game, with a farmer choosing a wife, then selecting a child, maid, and serving man who leaves the maid after kissing her.
[ This was probably taken to America by German immigrants, where it next surfaced in ]New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in 1883, in its modern form and using a melody similar to "A-Hunting We Will Go
"A-Hunting We Will Go" is a popular folk song and nursery rhyme composed in 1777 by English composer Thomas Arne. Arne had composed the song for a 1777 production of ''The Beggar's Opera'' in London.
The '' a-'' is an archaic intensifying ...
".[ From there, it seems to have been adopted throughout the United States, Canada (noted from 1893), the Netherlands (1894), and Great Britain; it is first found in Scotland in 1898 and England from 1909. In the early twentieth century, it was evident in France ("Le fermier dans son pré"), Sweden ("En bonde i vår by"), Australia, and South Africa.][
]
Variations
Like most children's songs, there are geographic variations. In the United Kingdom, the first line is frequently changed to "The Farmer's in his den". The rhyme progresses through the farmer being in the dell or his den, his desire for a wife, hers for a child, its for a nurse, a dog, then a bone, and ending in: "we all pat the bone". Every player then pats the one picked as the bone.[ The "Hi-Ho, the derry-o" lyric is variously replaced with, "Ee-i, tiddly-i", in London, "Ee-i, adio", "Ee-i, andio,", "Ee-i, en-gee-oh" or "Ee-i, entio", in Northern England, and "Ee-i, ee-i", in the West Country.][
The Romanian language version is "Țăranul e pe câmp" ("The farmer is on the field"), but the "Hey-o" is replaced with "Ura, drăguţa mea" ("Hooray, my sweetheart"), and the last verses are: "the child has a nurse, the nurse has a cat, the cat catches a mouse, the mouse eats a cheese, the cheese is in a cask, the cask is in the garbage, the farmer to choose."
]
Game
The players form a circle, holding hands while singing the first verse and moving around the player in the middle, who is designated as the farmer. When the verse is over they stop, and the farmer makes his choice of a wife (sometimes without looking). The wife joins him in the center for her verse, and this pattern is repeated through the verses until either the cheese or dog is selected, or only one person is left to become the last character, who usually becomes the farmer for the next round.[
]
See also
*"A-Hunting We Will Go
"A-Hunting We Will Go" is a popular folk song and nursery rhyme composed in 1777 by English composer Thomas Arne. Arne had composed the song for a 1777 production of ''The Beggar's Opera'' in London.
The '' a-'' is an archaic intensifying ...
"
*Omar Little
Omar Devone Little is a fictional character on the HBO drama series ''The Wire'', portrayed by Michael K. Williams. He is a notorious Baltimore stick-up man, who frequently robs street-level drug dealers. He is legendary around Baltimore for hi ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farmer In The Dell, The
German children's songs
German folk songs
Traditional children's songs
Singing games
Songs about farmers
German nursery rhymes
1820 songs
Songwriter unknown