Simple Simon (nursery rhyme)
"Simple Simon" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 1977. Lyrics. The rhyme is as follows; Origins. The verses used today are the first of a longer chapbook history first published in 1764. The character of Simple Simon may have been in circulation much longer, possibly appearing in an Elizabethan chapbook and in a ballad, "Simple Simon's Misfortunes and his Wife Margery's Cruelty", from about 1685. Another possible inspiration was Simon Edy, a beggar in the St Giles area in the 18th century. Simple Simon