A cheeky rhyme about a woman too fond of her bed to feed the pigs. Nancy Dawson was a real eighteenth-century London dancer, and this borrows the jaunty tune named for her, which makes the refrain beg to be sung.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Nancy Dawson was so fine
She wouldn't get up to serve the swine;
She lies in bed till eight or nine,
So it's Oh, poor Nancy Dawson.
And do ye ken Nancy Dawson, honey?
The wife who sells the barley, honey?
She won't get up to feed her swine,
And do ye ken Nancy Dawson, honey?
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition