The churches in this rhyme are all believed to be in the City of London: St. Martin's is close to where the moneylenders used to live; Shoreditch is where a church used to stand in the past; Old Bailey is near the prison where debtors were sent; Bow is probably St. Mary-le-Bow, whose bells told Dick Whittington to "Turn again". Show Clive Dowler wrote, "The bells are the bells you mention. But slightly more important is the fact that they are the bells that are heard if you are a prisoner in the tower of London awaiting execution. The last two lines refer to the fact that it was the holding cell for convicts who were scheduled for execution the following morning." Audrey Schnell wrote, "There's another verse to 'Oranges and Lemons' ... I'm not sure where it fits in. It goes 'Brickbats and tiles, say the bells of St Giles'". Audrey later added, "We always knew the 'Bow' couplet as, 'I do not know, says the great bell of Bow'. The form that you've used seems more Americanized." John Smout wrote me in December 2004, "These are the full words for 'Oranges and Lemons' in your England section:" Gay go up and gay go down, Oranges and lemons, Bull's eyes and targets, Brickbats and tiles, Halfpence and farthings, Pancakes and fritters, Two sticks and an apple, Pokers and tongs, Kettles and pans, Old Father Baldpate, You owe me ten shillings, When will you pay me? When I grow rich, Pray when will that be? I do not know, Here comes a candle to light you to bed, Chop chop chop chop _____ John Smout wrote, "St Clements has two contenders, it is either St Clements Danes or it is St Clements Eastcheap. St Helen's Bishopsgate survived the great fire of London and the WWII Blitz but suffered severe bomb damage from two IRA bomb blasts in 1992 and 1993. Stepney is St Dunstan's and All Saints Stepney. Built in 952 AD by the Bishop of London upon an earlier wooden church. St Mary Matfelon, the 'White Chapel' was built between 1250 and 1286 as a chapel of ease to St Dunstan's church above but destroyed in WWII. A fragment remains at the entrance to what is now a small park. What is curious is that three of these churches are aligned, together with two important others, Temple Church and St Paul's Cathedral, on a straight line across London, about 3 1/2 miles." CLICK HERE to See Map. Peter Elliott wrote me in March 2005, "The bells of Shoreditch still exist; I was in Shoreditch last week and the church is St. Leonard's in Shoreditch High Street. It has a special letter box on the railings especially for 'Oranges and Lemons letters' whoever writes them." CLICK HERE to See Photos of the church and letter box. _____ Percy B. Green, author of the book A History of Nursery Rhymes (1899), had a slightly different take on this song: "This almost forgotten nursery song and game of 'The Bells of London Town' has a descriptive burden or ending to each line, giving an imitation of the sounds of the bell-peals of the principal churches in each locality of the City and the old London suburbs. The game is played by girls and boys holding hands and racing round sideways, as they do in 'Ring a Ring a Rosies,' after each line has been sung as a solo by the children in turns. The 'Gay go up and gay go down is chorused by all the company, and then the rollicking dance begins; the feet stamping out a noisy but enjoyable accompaniment to the words, 'Gay go up, gay go down.' The intonation of the little vocal bell-ringers alters with each line, 'Pancakes and fritters, say the bells of St. Peter's,' being sung to a quick tune and in a high key; 'Old Father Baldpate, toll the slow bells of Aldgate,' suggesting a very slow movement and a deep, low tone. The round singing of the ancients, of which this game is a fitting illustration, is probably a relic of Celtic festivity. The burden of a song, chorused by the entire company, followed the stanza sung by the vocalist, and this soloist, having finished, had license to appoint the next singer, 'canere ad myrtum,' by handing him the myrtle branch. At all events round singing was anciently so performed by the Druids, the Bardic custom of the men of the wand." My thanks go out to everyone who provided assistance with "Oranges and Lemons" -Mama Lisa Here's a version I found in The Real Mother Goose (1916) - though it never mentions Oranges and Lemons - the rest of the lyrics are very similar: What are the words to St Clements tune 1984?Oranges and lemons say the bells of St Clement's, You owe me three farthings, say the bells of St Martin's! It was curious, but when you said it to yourself you had the illusion of actually hearing bells, the bells of a lost London that still existed somewhere or other, disguised and forgotten.
Why is the orange and lemons rhyme significant?It's likely that the Oranges and Lemons nursery rhyme was a way of remembering the topography of London by a widely illiterate population. People would have associated the bells and the churches with what happened in that part of town. Eventually it became a rhyme and there is evidence of it being a dance in 1655.
What is the rhyme scheme of Oranges and Lemons?The rhyme scheme is "AABB," which means that the last word in the first line rhymes with the last word in the second line, the last word in the third line rhymes with the last word in the fourth line, and so on. The nursery rhyme is paired in "couplets."
How do you play Oranges and Lemons?Each arch player chooses to be the leader of either the Oranges or Lemons – which is which must be kept a secret. Once they're ready, the other children run through the arch in a line as they sing: Oranges and lemons, Say the bells of St. Clement's.
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Oranges and lemons full song lyrics
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