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?
About this rhyme
Text: 'she wouldn't get up to serve the swine' / 'she won't get up to feed her swine' - the barley line only identifies her trade, it isn't something she refuses to do.
A teasing rhyme about a lie-abed. Nancy Dawson, who sells the barley, won't get up to feed her pigs, lying in bed till eight or nine, and the chorus needles her about it, 'honey' and all. It has the shape of a singing game, verse and answering chorus, so it works well split between two voices.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition