"The Farmer in the Dell" is a singing game, nursery rhyme, folksong, and children's song. It probably originated in Germany and was brought to America by immigrants. 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:
One UK variant has "The nurse takes a dog"; it ends by clapping [patting] 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.
- In the 1998 Magic: The Gathering parody expansion Unglued, the card "The Cheese Stands Alone" references the last line of the song.
- In The Wire, legendary Baltimore stickup man Omar Little often whistles the song before or after killing a drug dealer. After the death of Michael K. Williams, who played Omar, the NFL's Baltimore Ravens used the whistle as an entrance song, and Baltimore Orioles player Félix Bautista chose it as his walk-up song in Williams' honor.
- A nursery rhyme based on the ABC song is set to "The Farmer in the Dell" as seen and heard on multiple LeapFrog products, including the 2003 home video Letter Factory, and it goes like, for example, using the letter A, "The A says /æ/, the A says /æ/, every letter makes a sound, the A says /æ/."
See also
- "A-Hunting We Will Go", "Ee Aye Addio" - two songs which use the same tune.
- Hi Ho! Cherry-O, a board game titled after a parody of a repeated line from the song