Two children’s songs: Lavenders Green and Old King Cole

Here are two interesting alternatives to the usual versions we know so well.

This Lavenders Green uses a tune and verses collected by the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould, while Old King Cole uses the tune that appeared in a book of nursery rhymes called ‘Little Songs of Long Ago, published in 1912.

The author doesn’t tell us where the Old King Cole tune came from, but it sounds like a traditional tune to us – though of course it could be a tune of the time carefully composed to sound like something older.

Green Broom

Green Broom, sung by Julie and Gavin Atkin. We learned the song after listening to traditional singer Sam Larner’s excellent performance of the song.