Frog Songs | Mama Lisa's World Blog

“A Frog He Would A-wooing Go”, “Georgie Porgie” and the Meaning of Roly-Poly

Friday, October 7th, 2005

A Connection Between A Frog He Would A-wooing Go and Georgie Porgie, Which Involves the Meaning of Rowley Powley.

I’ve always been fond of the song A Frog He Would A-wooing Go, which seems to have originated in Scotland in the sixteenth century. There are countless variations of this old favorite – most Americans know it as Froggy Went A Courtin’, He Did Ride, which has been recorded by Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan, among others.

Here’s the best known British version:

A Frog He Would A-wooing Go

A frog he would a-wooing go,
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
A frog he would a-wooing go,
Whether his mother would let him or no.
With a Rowley,
powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.

So off he set with his opera hat,
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
So off he set with his opera hat,
And on the road he met with a rat,
With a Rowley,
powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.

Pray, Mr. Rat will you go with me?
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
Pray, Mr. Rat will you go with me,
Kind Mrs. Mousey for to see…
With a Rowley,
powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.

They came to the door of Mousey’s hall,
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
They gave a loud knock, and they gave a loud call.
With a Rowley,
powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.

Pray, Mrs. Mouse are you within?
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
Oh yes, kind sirs, I’m sitting to spin.
With a Rowley,
powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.

Pray, Mrs. Mouse will you give us some beer?
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
For Froggy and I are fond of good cheer.
With a Rowley,
powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.

Pray, Mr. Frog will you give us a song?
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
Let it be something that’s not very long.
With a Rowley,
powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.

Indeed, Mrs. Mouse, replied Mr. Frog,
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
A cold has made me as hoarse as a dog.
With a Rowley,
powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.

Since you have a cold, Mr. Frog, Mousey said,
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
I’ll sing you a song that I’ve just made.
With a Rowley,
powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.

But while they were all a-merry-making
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
A cat and her kittens came tumbling in.
With a Rowley,
powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.

The cat she seized the rat by the crown,
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
The kittens they pulled the little mouse down.
With a Rowley,
powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.

This put Mr. Frog in a terrible fright,
Heigh ho! says Rowley.
He took up his hat and he wished them goodnight.
With a Rowley,
powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.

But as Froggy was crossing over a brook,
Heigh ho! says Rowley.
A lily white duck came and gobbled him up.
With a Rowley,
powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.

So there was the end of one, two, three,
Heigh ho! says Rowley.
The rat,
the mouse, and the little froggy.
With a Rowley,
powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.

Monique, my colleague at Mama Lisa’s World en français, has been translating many old songs into French. When she came to A Frog He Would A-wooing Go she was unsure what to make of “rowley powley” and she asked me what it meant. Hum, good question I thought. I really didn’t know.

When I thought about it, at first it seemed “With a Rowley, powley, gammon, and spinach” was just a nonsense call or phrase. Was that all there was to it? I decided to investigate.

So, I looked up “gammon” which is also not a common word, at least not in the States. I found out it refers to meat from the hind leg of a pig, often cured. It seems this “nonsense phrase” is talking about food.

Next I took out my Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes by Iona and Peter Opie to see if they refer to “rowley powley”. That’s usually the first book I’ll refer to when there’s a question about a nursery rhyme. Here’s what it had to say:

A Notes and Queries correspondent remembered seeing ‘rowley powley’ given as a name for a plump fowl.

This fit in with the food theme. Next I wanted to see if I could verify what they said. I typed “rowley powley” into Google and found a surprising connection to another popular rhyme: Georgie Porgie

Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry;
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran away.

It turns out Georgie Porgie was originally called Rowley Powley. (The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes confirms this.)

The rhyme was first recited as…

Rowley Powley, pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry;
When the girls begin to cry,
Rowley Powley runs away.

Interesting… I decided to go back to Google and type in “rowley powley” again. This time I found the quote…

“Here’s your large Rowley Powlies, no more than Six-pence a Peck . . . Rowley Powley, jolly Pease.” -Cries of London (1784)

The quote was on a site called Food Reference Website under food quotes for “peas”. I wrote to James T. Ehler, the publisher of the site, to see if he knew anything more about “rowley powley”. He sent me back the definitions given in the Oxford English Dictionary, pointing out that the quote on his website refers to peas. Peas could also fit into a food theme.

In the definitions of “rowley powley” in the OED I noticed another way to spell it, “roly-poly”, which is in use in modern English. That changed the way I thought of the phrase.

I had thought it rhymed with towel. But seeing it spelled as “roly-poly”, would make it rhyme with roll or bowl. This changes things a little since “roly-poly” can mean short and plump, usually referring to a child. I believe Georgie Porgie can also mean the same thing in modern day usage.

The OED is amazingly comprehensive! Here are some other definitions for “rowley powley” it has, which are interesting in the context of the song A Frog He Would A-wooing Go and the nursery rhyme Georgie Porgie:

1) A rascal (mentioned in the year 1601) – could work for Georgie Porgie – since he’s kissing the girls and running away.
2) The name of different games based on rolling a ball (referred to in 1713) – could work for Georgie Porgie, only because it’s a nursery rhyme and it’s based on playing. I find this interpretation unlikely.
3) Short and pudgy, usually referring to kids. This could fit Georgie Porgie too, seeing as the current day usage of both “roly-poly” and “Georgie Porgie” can refer to a plump child.
4) A funny name for a pea – again, it could work for A Frog He Would A-wooing Go since it’s in the context of other foods.
5) “A kind of pudding, consisting of a sheet of pastry covered with jam or preserves, formed into a roll and boiled or steamed.” (Quoted directly from the OED, they found it mentioned this way in print as early as 1841). This definition obviously fits “Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie” and here we go with a food reference again, so it would fit in with A Frog He Would A-wooing Go too.

Starting with A Frog He Would A-wooing Go, let’s go back to the original context… “With a Rowley, powley, gammon, and spinach”. We’re left with the following choices:

1) A plump fowl
2) Peas
3) The pudding dish

And for Georgie Porgie, we’re left with the following possibilities:

1) A rascal
2) A short, plump kid
3) A kind of pudding

I’m not sure how we can determine which definition to use for A Frog He Would A-wooing Go, but for Georgie Porgie, “rowley, powley” could well be playing on words and mean all of the above.

In the end, as with so many nursery rhyme mysteries, we can only surmise. Maybe someday someone will invent a time machine and we’ll be able to travel back in time and find out for sure!

Many thanks to James T. Ehler from the Food Reference Site and Jason Pomerantz for help with this investigation.

Here’s a recipe for Roly-Poly Jam Pudding.

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