The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #2710   Message #13344
Posted By: Timothy Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca
27-Sep-97 - 07:11 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Oranges and Lemons (say the bells of...)
Subject: ADD Version: Oranges and Lemons
The version of this in the database is quite corrupt.

Here are the verses I could find to Oranges and Lemons, attributed to "Tom Thumb's Pretty Song Book, c. 1744", according to The Pan Dictionary of Famous Quotations.

ORANGES AND LEMONS

Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St. Clement's.

You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin's.

When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.

When I grow rich,
Say the bells of Shoreditch.

When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney.

I'm sure I don't know,
Says the great bell at Bow.

Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
Here comes a chopper to chop off your head.
--

Note from Joe Offer (12 May 2019): These exact lyrics appear in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, by Iona and Peter Opie (Oxford University Press, 1997)(#392, page 398)