Ring a Ring o' Roses

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"Ring a Ring o' Roses"
Roud #7925

Musical variations of Ring a Ring o' Roses,Alice Gomme,
1898.
[1]
Play
Marlborough (helpinfo), Yorkshire (help info), Sporle
A (help info), & Sporle B (helpinfo)
Music by Traditional
Published 1881
Written England
Language English
Form Nursery rhyme
"Ring a Ring o' Roses" or "Ring Around the Rosie" is a nursery
rhyme or folksong and playground singing 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 a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7925. Urban
legend says the song originally described theplague, but folklorists reject this idea.
Contents
[hide]
1 Lyrics
o 1.1 Early attestation
o 1.2 Other languages
2 Meaning
3 Footnotes
4 References
Lyrics[edit]


The cover of L. Leslie Brooke's,Ring O' Roses (1922), shows nursery rhyme characters performing the game
Common 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 to
Hush! Hush! Hush! Hush!
We've all tumbled down.
[2]