Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
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| "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" Roud #19626 |
|
 Mistress Mary, according to William Wallace Denslow |
|
| Written by | Traditional |
|---|---|
| Published | c. 1744 |
| Written | England |
| Language | English |
| Form | Nursery rhyme |
"Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" is a popular English nursery rhyme. The rhyme has been seen as having religious and historical significance, but its origins and meaning are disputed. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19626.
Contents |
Lyrics [edit]
The most common modern version is:
The oldest known version was first published in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (c. 1744) with the following lyrics:
Mistress Mary, Quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With Silver Bells, And Cockle Shells,
And so my garden grows.[1]
Several printed versions of the eighteenth century have the lyrics:
The last line has the most variation including:
and
With lady bells all in a row.[1]
Explanations [edit]
Like many nursery rhymes, it has acquired various historical explanations. These include:
- That it is a religious allegory of Catholicism, with bells representing the sanctus bells, the cockleshells the badges of the pilgrims to the shrine of Saint James in Spain (Santiago de Compostela) and pretty maids are nuns, but even within this strand of thought there are differences of opinion as to whether it is lament for the reinstatement of Catholicism or for its persecution.[1]
- Another theory sees the rhyme as connected to Mary, Queen of Scots, with "how does your garden grow" referring to her reign over her realm, "silver bells" referring to (Catholic) cathedral bells, "cockle shells" insinuating that her husband was not faithful to her, and "pretty maids all in a row" referring to her ladies-in-waiting - "The four Maries".[1]
- Mary has also been identified with Mary I of England with "How does your garden grow?" said to refer to her lack of heirs, or to the common idea that England had become a Catholic vassal or "branch" of Spain and the Habsburgs. It is also said to be a punning reference to her chief minister, Stephen Gardiner. "Quite contrary" is said to be a reference to her unsuccessful attempt to reverse ecclesiastical changes effected by her father Henry VIII and her brother Edward VI. The "pretty maids all in a row" is speculated to be a reference to miscarriages or her execution of Lady Jane Grey. "Rows and rows" is said to refer to her executions of Protestants.[2]
The Opies argued that no proof has been found that the rhyme was known before the eighteenth century, while Mary I of England and Mary, Queen of Scots, were contemporaries in the sixteenth century.[1]
Use in popular culture [edit]
 |
This section does not cite any references or sources. (July 2008) |
In literature:
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett includes the last line "And marigolds all in a row."
- The Virgin and the Gipsy by D. H. Lawrence
- "How Does Your Garden Grow?" (in Poirot's Early Cases) by Agatha Christie
- In the Jasper Fforde novel The Big Over Easy, Detective Sergeant Mary Mary joins the Nursery Crime division of the Reading, Berkshire police Department. She helps Detective Inspector Jack Spratt solve the murder of Humperdink ("Humpty" for short) Dumpty.
- The nursery rhyme was also parodied in Roald Dahl's Rhyme Stew:
In music
- Can's album Monster Movie features a rendition with added lyrics.
- The lyric 'Mary Mary Quite Contrary' is prominent in Kacey Musgraves' song, 'Merry go Round'.
In television
- The comedy-variety series The Carol Burnett Show featured a sketch titled "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary", that appeared in the opening show of the 1976-'77 season (Jim Nabors was the guest star and appeared in the sketch). This was a direct spin-off and parody of the then-popular late-night program Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.
In films
- Appears in Babes in Toyland played by Marie Wilson; and in other film versions of Babes in Toyland.
- Pretty Maids All in A Row is a 1971 American movie starring Rock Hudson and Angie Dickinson.
- The Three Stooges perform a parody dressed as overgrown little girls in "Nutty But Nice" (1940), ending with the line "and one measly petunia."
- In The Secret Garden(Film) The other orphans sing this to Mary Lennox as mockery of her strange inability to cry over her parent's deaths.
In comics:
- Mary Mary is one of the many bizarre Fables imprisoned at the Golden Boughs Retirement Village in the comic Jack of Fables. Here she is depicted as looking like Marilyn Monroe, and disagrees with everything. Another character comments that if Mary Mary says that a scheme is sure to fail, it will inevitably succeed.
In advertising:
- Ryanair 2001 ad depicting Mary O’Rourke, Irish Minister for Transport, in a bubble bath (“Mary, Mary quite contrary,” read the ad, “How does your monopoly grow? It doesn’t”).
Notes [edit]
References [edit]
- Roberts, Chris (2004). http://books.google.com/books?id=MdMZqhMzfpYC&printsec=frontcover&cad=0#PPA33,M1
|chapterurl=missing title (help). Heavy words lightly thrown: the reason behind the rhyme. London: Granta. pp. 33–34. ISBN 1-86207-765-7. OCLC 56646713.
