Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American musician and actor with a career tha… Read Full Bio ↴Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American musician and actor with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own radio show, The Wayfaring Stranger, which popularized traditional folk songs.

Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own radio show, The Wayfaring Stranger, which popularized traditional folk songs. In 1942, he appeared in Irving Berlin's This Is the Army and became a major star of CBS Radio. In the 1960s, he successfully crossed over into country music, recording hits such as "A Little Bitty Tear" and "Funny Way of Laughin'". Ives was also a popular film actor through the late 1940s and '50s. His film roles included parts in So Dear to My Heart (1948) and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), as well as the role of Rufus Hannassey in The Big Country (1958), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Ives is often associated with the Christmas season. He did voice-over work as Sam the Snowman, narrator of the classic 1964 Christmas television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Ives also worked on the special's soundtrack, including the songs "A Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", both of which continue to chart annually on the Billboard holiday charts into the 2020s.

Lavender Blue
Burl Ives Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Lavender blue, dilly, dilly
Lavender green
If I were king, dilly, dilly
I'd need a queen

Who told me so, dilly, dilly
Who told me so
I told myself, dilly, dilly

I told me so

If your dilly, dilly heart
Feels a dilly, dilly way
And if you answer, yes
In a pretty little church
On a dilly, dilly day
You'll be wed in a dilly, dilly dress

Of lavender blue, dilly, dilly
Lavender green
Then I'll be king, dilly, dilly
And you'll be my queen

Great-grandfather met great grandmother
When she was a shy young miss
And great-grandfather won great-grandmother
With words more or less like this

Lavender blue, dilly, dilly
Lavender green
If you were king, dilly, dilly
You need a queen

Who told you so, dilly, dilly
Who told you so
I told myself, dilly, dilly
I told me so

If your dilly, dilly heart
Feels a dilly, dilly way
And if you'll answer, yes
In a pretty little church
On a dilly, dilly day
you'll be wed in a dilly, dilly dress of

Lavender blue, dilly, dilly
Lavender green

Then I'll be king, dilly, dilly
And you'll be my queen

Overall Meaning

The song Lavender Blue is a classic folk tune that tells the story of a man dreaming of finding his queen. The first stanza begins with the repetition of “lavender blue, dilly, dilly” and “lavender green”. The man says that if he were to become a king, he would need a queen. The second stanza poses the question of who told the man that he needed a queen, and he replies saying that he told himself.

The chorus of the song is an expression of love and marriage. If one’s “dilly, dilly heart” feels a certain way, and the answer to a proposal is “yes”, then the couple will be wed in a “pretty little church” on a “dilly, dilly day” with the bride wearing a “dilly, dilly dress” of lavender blue and lavender green. The man declares that if this were to happen, he would be the king and his lover would be the queen.

The song’s origin dates back to 17th-century England and it is believed to have been based on a folk song called "Diddle Diddle" that was referenced in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night". It gained popularity in the 1940s when it was performed by Burl Ives in the Walt Disney movie "So Dear to My Heart". The song has been covered by many artists over the years, including Sammy Turner, Nat King Cole, and Dinah Shore. It has also been used in various TV shows and movies.

Line by Line Meaning

Lavender blue, dilly, dilly
The color of lavender blue, a beautiful shade of blue

Lavender green
The color of lavender green, a beautiful shade of green

If I were king, dilly, dilly
If I were king, I would need a queen by my side

I'd need a queen
To rule as king, I would need a queen as my partner

Who told me so, dilly, dilly
Who gave me this idea?

Who told me so
I came up with this idea on my own

I told myself, dilly, dilly
I came up with this idea on my own

If your dilly, dilly heart
If your heart feels this way

Feels a dilly, dilly way
If your heart feels the same way

And if you answer, yes
And if you say yes to my proposal

In a pretty little church
In a beautiful church building