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; 

Twee tweedle dee, tweedle dee, went the fiddlers. 

Oh, there's none so rare,

As can compare,

As King Cole and his fiddlers three!

Halliwell, James Orchard, Comp. Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Tales of England. London, England: Frederick Warne and Co., 1853, p. 3. No. I

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 glass, 

And he called for his fiddlers three.

Every fiddler, he had a fiddle, 

And a very fine fiddle had he. 

Twee-tweedle-dee, tweedle-dee, went the fiddlers. 

   Oh, there's none so rare,

   As can compare,

With King Cole and his fiddlers three.

Baring-Gould, Sabine. A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes. Illus. by Members of the Birmingham Art School under the direction of A. J. Gaskin. London, England: Methuen, 1895, 135. No. LXVIII in Nursery Jingles section

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; 

Twee tweedle dee, tweedle dee, went the fiddlers. 

Oh, there's none so rare,

As can compare,

As King Cole and his fiddlers three!

Lang, Andrew, Ed. The Nursery Rhyme Book. Illus. by L. Leslie Brooke. London, England: Frederick Warne and Co., 1897, pp. 31-32.

   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 fiddlers three.



   Every fiddler, he had a fiddle, 

   And a very fine fiddle had he; 

Twee tweedle dee, tweedle dee, went the fiddlers. 

   Oh there's none so rare 

   As can compare 

With King Cole and his fiddlers three. 

Opie, Iona and Peter Opie, Comps. The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1951, p.134. No. 112

 

   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 fiddlers three.



   Every fiddler, he had a fiddle, 

   And a very fine fiddle had he; 

Twee tweedle dee, tweedle dee, went the fiddlers. 

   Oh there's none so rare 

   As can compare 

With King Cole and his fiddlers three.

Baring-Gould, William S. and Cecil Baring-Gould, Eds. The Annotated Mother Goose: Nursery Rhymes Old and New. New York: Bramhall House, 1962, p. 143. No. 206