Girls and Boys Come Out to Play
You can listen to three different recordings of "Girls and Boys Come Out to Play" below...
Girls and Boys Come Out to Play
Nursery Rhyme
Girls and boys come out to play,
The moon it shines as bright as day;
Leave your supper, and leave your sleep,
And come to your playmates in the street;
Come with a whoop, come with a call,
Come with a good will, or come not at all;
Up the ladder and down the wall,
A halfpenny loaf will serve us all.
Notes
Here's a slightly different version from The Baby's Opera by Walter Crane (circa 1877):
Girls and boys come out to play,
The moon doth shine as bright as day;
Leave your supper, and leave your sleep;
Come to your playfellows in the street;
Come with a whoop, and come with a call.
Come with a good will or not at all.
Up the ladder and down the wall,
A penny loaf will serve you all.
The Real Mother Goose (1916), illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright, has the same version as Crane, with the addition of these two lines at the end:
You find milk, and I'll find flour,
And we'll have a pudding in half an hour.
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Here's another version with an explanation from "The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland (Vol I of II) with Tunes, Singing-Rhymes and Methods of Playing" (1894), collected and annotated by Alice Bertha Gomme:
Boys, boys, come out to play,
The moon doth shine as bright as day;
Come with a whoop, come with a call,
Come with a goodwill or don't come at all;
Lose your supper and lose your sleep,
So come to your playmates in the street.
""Useful Transactions in Philosophy, p. 44.
This rhyme is repeated when it is decided to begin any game, as a general call to the players. The above writer says it occurs in a very ancient MS., but does not give any reference to it. Halliwell quotes the four first lines, the first line reading "Boys and girls," instead of "Boys, boys," from a curious ballad written about the year 1720, formerly in the possession of Mr. Crofton Croker (Nursery Rhymes). Chambers also gives this rhyme (Popular Rhymes, p. 152).
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Comments
Evelyn wrote, "I remember this nursery rhyme from my childhood, and the words were slightly different, so I thought you might like to hear this English version :
Last line of 1st verse - 'and join your playfellows in the street'
Last line of 2nd verse - 'a penny loaf will serve us all' ...
Otherwise it's exactly the same. It was one of my favourites as a child, and I'm now 74."
The 1st rendition of "Boys and Girls" is by Dick Aven in a gentle rock style. Here are the lyrics he used:
Boys and girls come out to play,
Moon doth shine as bright as day;
Leave your supper, and leave your sleep,
Join your playfellows in the street.
Come with a hoop and come with a call,
Come with a good will or not at all.
Up the ladder and down the wall,
A halfpenny loaf will serve us all.
You find milk, I'll find flour,
We'll have a pudding in a half an hour.
You find milk, I'll find flour,
We'll have a pudding in a half an hour.
You find milk, I'll find flour,
We'll have a pudding in a half an hour.
Boys and girls come out to play,
Moon doth shine as bright as day.
Many thanks to Dick Aven for the 1st recording! You can hear more Dick Aven Songs on Reverbnation.
3rd recording performed by 17 student musicians who were sisters in the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity for Women at California State University-Stanislaus in 2007. The musical score the recording is based on comes from Our Old Nursery Rhymes (1911) arranged by Alfred Moffat.
Thanks and Acknowledgements
The first illustration, the score and tune come from The Baby's Opera by Walter Crane (circa 1877). The second illustration comes from Kate Greenaway's Mother Goose or the Old Nursery Rhymes (1881). The 3rd illustration is from in The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897). The 4th illustration is by H. Willebeck Le Mair from Our Old Nursery Rhymes (1911), arranged by Alfred Moffat.
Many thanks to Evelyn for sharing her variation of this rhyme.
