Old King Cole
This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2016) |
"Old King Cole" | |
---|---|
William Wallace Denslow | |
Nursery rhyme | |
Published | 1708-9 |
Songwriter(s) | Traditional |
"Old King Cole" is a British nursery rhyme first attested in 1708. Though there is much speculation about the identity of King Cole, it is unlikely that he can be identified reliably as any historical figure. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 1164. The poem describes a merry king who called for his pipe, bowl, and musicians, with the details varying among versions.
The "bowl" is a drinking vessel, while it is unclear whether the "pipe" is a musical instrument or a tobacco pipe.[citation needed]
Lyrics
The most common modern version of the rhyme is:
Old King Cole was a merry old soul,
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl,
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler he had a fiddle,
And a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh, there's none so rare, as can compare,
With King Cole and his fiddlers three.[1]
The song is first attested in William King's Useful Transactions in Philosophy in 1708–9.[1]
King's version has the following lyrics:
Good King Cole,
And he call'd for his Bowle,
And he call'd for Fidler's three;
And there was Fiddle, Fiddle,
And twice Fiddle, Fiddle,
For 'twas my Lady's Birth-day,
Therefore we keep Holy-day
And come to be merry.[1]
Identity of King Cole
There is much speculation about the identity of King Cole, but it is unlikely that he can be identified reliably given the centuries between the attestation of the rhyme and the putative identities; none of the extant theories is well supported.[1]
William King mentions two possibilities: the "Prince that Built Colchester" and a 12th-century cloth merchant from
Coel Hen theory
It is often noted that the name of the legendary Welsh king Coel Hen can be translated 'Old Cole' or 'Old King Cole'.[3][4] This sometimes leads to speculation that he, or some other Coel in Roman Britain, is the model for Old King Cole of the nursery rhyme.[5] However, there is no documentation of a connection between the fourth-century figures and the eighteenth-century nursery rhyme. There is also a dubious connection of Old King Cole to Cornwall and King Arthur found at Tintagel Castle that there was a Cornish King or Lord Coel.[citation needed]
Further speculation connects Old King Cole and thus Coel Hen to Colchester, but in fact Colchester was not named after Coel Hen.[6] Connecting with the musical theme of the nursery rhyme, according to a much later source, Coel Hen supposedly had a daughter who was skilled in music, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, writing in the 12th century.[1]
A legend that King Coel of Colchester was the father of the Empress
Cole-brook theory
In the 19th century William Chappell, an expert on popular music, suggested the possibility that the "Old King Cole" was really "Old Cole", alias Thomas Cole-brook, a supposed 12th-century Reading cloth merchant whose story was recounted by Thomas Deloney in his Pleasant History of Thomas of Reading (c. 1598), and who was well known as a character in plays of the early 17th century. The name "Old Cole" had some special meaning in Elizabethan theatre, but it is unclear what it was.[1]
"Old King Coal"
In political cartoons and similar material, especially in Great Britain, sometimes Old King "Coal" (note the spelling difference) has been used to symbolize the
There's fire in the heart of Old King Coal
There's the strength of centuries in his soul
There's a power that grows where his black blood flows
So here's to Old King Coal
Modern usage
This section contains a list of miscellaneous information. (March 2017) |
King Cole is often referenced in popular culture.
In art
The
As a marching cadence
The United States military has used versions[9] of the traditional rhyme in the form of marching cadences, since at least the 1920s up to the present.
In music
Old King Cole was the topic of a 1923 work by Vaughan Williams, a work created as a one-act ballet.
In 1960, a variation of the song was released on Harry Belafonte's Live Album Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall.
The first four lines of Old King Cole are quoted in the song The Musical Box, by British rock band Genesis on their third album, Nursery Cryme, released in 1971.
The melody is also used in the song , released in 1973 with the lyrics adapted to: "Great King Rat was a dirty old man, And a dirty old man was he, Now what did I tell you? Would you like to see?"
The jazz musician Nathaniel Coles took the name Nat King Cole.
In the 2012 album Once Upon a Time (In Space), Old King Cole is used as inspiration for both the lyrics and melody of the second track, also titled Old King Cole.
"Old Queen Cole" was the name of a song by musical duo Ween, from their album, "GodWeenSatan: The Oneness"; the title and lyrics suggest a reference to the nursery rhyme.
In fiction
In his 1897 collection Mother Goose in Prose, L. Frank Baum included a story explaining the background to the nursery rhyme. In this version, Cole is a donkey-riding commoner who is selected at random to succeed the King of Whatland when the latter dies without heir.
In P. L. Travers’ Mary Poppins Opens the Door, the titular character tells her charges a story about how King Cole remembered that he was a merry old soul.
James Joyce made reference to the rhyme in Finnegans Wake (619.27f):
With pipe on bowl. Terce for a fiddler, sixt for makmerriers, none for a Cole.
Joyce is also punning on the canonical hours tierce (3), sext (6), and nones (9), in "Terce ... sixt ... none", and on
The Old King Cole theme appeared twice in 1933 cartoons: Walt Disney made a Silly Symphony cartoon called "Old King Cole", in which the character holds a huge party where various nursery rhyme characters are invited. Walter Lantz produced an Oswald cartoon the same year, entitled The Merry Old Soul, which is in reference to the nursery rhyme.
Old King Cole makes an appearance in the 1938 Merrie Melodies short film Have You Got Any Castles.
In John Agard's Poem "Checking out me History" "Ole King Cole was a merry ole soul" is used to show the Eurocentric nature of education and its irrelevance.
The Three Stooges' 1948 short film "Fiddlers Three" features Larry, Moe and Shemp as musicians in King Cole's court who must stop an evil wizard from stealing the king's daughter.
In the
In the fifteenth season of
In humour and satire
Old King Cole was a merry old soul
Old King Cole, Cole, Cole, Cole, Cole, Cole, Cole.
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, [1951] 1997), pp. 156–8.
- ^ North Devon and Exmoor Seascape Character Assessment, November 2015
- ISBN 1841584665(unpaginated)
- ISBN 0520041194, p. 160
- ISBN 0399535551, s.v. 'Old King Cole'
- ^ see Opie and Opie, and discussion at Colchester#Name
- ^ Spiegel, Max. "Lyr Req: Old King Coal (from Dave Webber)". mudcat.org. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
- ^ "Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture" christies.com (May 23, 1996); retrieved July 15, 2020
- ^ "U.S Army – Old King Cole". YouTube. 10 February 2008. Archived from the original on 9 March 2009. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
References
- Geoffrey of Monmouth (c. 1136). History of the Kings of Britain.
- Henry of Huntingdon (c. 1129), Historia Anglorum.
- Kightley, C (1986), Folk Heroes of Britain. Thames & Hudson.
- Morris, John. The Age of Arthur: A History of the British Isles from 350 to 650. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973. ISBN 978-0-684-13313-3.
- Opie, I & P (1951), The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. Oxford University Press.
- Skene, WF (1868), The Four Ancient Books of Wales. Edmonston & Douglas.