Ring a Ring o' RosesFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Ring a Ring o' Roses"

Roud#7925

Musical variations ofRing a Ring o' Roses,Alice Gomme, 1898.[1]Play Marlborough(helpinfo),Yorkshire(helpinfo),Sporle A(helpinfo), &Sporle B(helpinfo)

Music byTraditional

Published1881

WrittenEngland

LanguageEnglish

FormNursery rhyme

"Ring a Ring o' Roses" or "Ring Around the Rosie" is anursery rhymeorfolksongandplaygroundsinging game. It first appeared in print in 1881, but it is reported that a version was already being sung to the current tune in the 1790s and similar rhymes are known from across Europe. It has aRoud Folk Song Indexnumber of 7925.Urban legendsays the song originally described theplague, butfolkloristsreject this idea.Contents[hide] 1Lyrics 1.1Early attestation 1.2Other languages 2Meaning 3Footnotes 4ReferencesLyrics[edit]

The cover ofL. Leslie Brooke's,Ring O' Roses(1922), shows nursery rhyme characters performing the gameCommon British versions include:Ring-a-ring o' roses,A pocket full of posies,A-tishoo! A-tishoo!We all fall down.[2]Common American versions include:Ring-a-round the rosie,A pocket full of posies,Ashes! Ashes!We all fall down.[2]The last two lines are sometimes varied toHush! Hush! Hush! Hush!We've all tumbled down.[2]