Here Comes a Duke Lyrics
A girl dances up to a row of seated friends singing about a duke a-roving, asks a pretty fair maid to come out and dance, and takes her by the hand when she says yes.
Here Comes a Duke
Here comes a duke a-roving,
Roving, roving,
Here comes a duke a-roving,
With the ransy, tansy, tea!
With the ransy, tansy, tario!
With the ransy, tansy, tea!
Pretty fair maid, will you come out,
Will you come out, will you come out,
To join us in our dancing?
Now we've got the flowers of May,
The flowers of May, the flowers of May,
To join us in our dancing.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/here-comes-a-duke/
- Type
- Action Songs
- Tune
- Sung while dancing in a row and then a ring
- Best for ages
- 4 to 9 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Here comes a duke a-roving | Dance forward in a few steps, bowing on the last one. |
| Pretty fair maid, will you come out | Hold out a hand to the child you are asking. |
| Now we've got the flowers of May | Hold hands with the new partner and skip together. |
What Does Here Comes a Duke Mean?
This is a game of asking someone to dance. A group of girls sit in a row. One girl, the duke, dances up to the first and sings that a duke is roving about, with the ransy, tansy, tea, which are nonsense words that give the tune its bounce. She then asks the fair maid to come out and join the dancing. When the answer is yes, the two go back together singing that they have got the flowers of May, and the next girl in the row is called out.
The game goes on until every girl has been chosen. Then they all form a ring, dance and sing the second verse together. It is a friendly way to make sure that nobody is left sitting out.
History and Origin
William Wells Newell prints this song as the third game in Games and Songs of American Children (1884). He reports it from Concord, Massachusetts, and says it is a later form of an older courting game also known in Scotland, in which the suitor speaks straight to the girl.
He also gives rougher street versions from the Middle States and New York, which shows how widely the game was played and how much the words changed from town to town.
Learning Activities
- Row and ring: sit in a row, call each child out in turn, and finish by dancing in a ring.
- Spring flowers: make paper flowers and give one to each child who joins the dance.
- Nonsense words: make up your own tea-time words to replace the ransy, tansy, tea.
- Take a bow: practice a polite bow and a curtsy for the moment of asking.