Lazy Mary is a nursery rhyme that’s sung to the same tune as “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush”. It tells the story of Lazy Mary who’s not keen to get out of bed and her mother who’s trying to tempt her out with a bowl of bread and milk. Lazy Mary isn’t interested in getting up until her mother mentions a handsome gentleman!
This rhyme is sometimes associated with a game that involves one child lying in the middle of the circle and another child playing “Mother” who tries to rouse them as everyone sings the song. Once the child is finally roused, the song then starts again with a different child taking on the role of Lazy Mary and another playing her mother.
A similar rhyme called She Won’t Get Up from Alabama in the early 1900s may have provided inspiration for the lyrics that we know today.
Lazy Mary Lyrics
Lazy Mary will you get up,
Will you get up, will you get up.
Lazy Mary will you get up,
Will you get up today.
No, no mother I wont get up,
I wont get up, I wont get up.
No, no mother I wont get up,
I wont get up today.
Oh, dear Mary, you must get up,
You must get up, you must get up.
Oh, dear Mary, you must get up,
You must get up today.
Yes dear mother, I will get up,
I will get up, I will get up.
Yes dear mother I will get up,
I will get up today.