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

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European 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. Fr ...

. 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. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...

number of 19709.

Lyrics

One 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 Dumplings are a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of cooked dough (made from a variety of starchy sources), often wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, wheat or other flours, or potatoes, and it may be filled wi ...

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. * The song "Nursery Rhyme" by

The Archies The Archies are an American fictional rock band featured in media produced by, and related to, Archie Comics. They are best remembered for their appearance in the animated TV series '' The Archie Show''. In the context of the series, the band ...

features the song's lyrics in its chorus. English children's songs Street cries Year of song unknown English nursery rhymes Songs with unknown songwriters {{folk-song-stub