Oh Dear! What Can the Matter Be?

A young woman waits and frets: her sweetheart Johnny went to the fair, promised to bring her blue ribbons for her hair, and has been gone far too long. That anxious waiting is the whole of "Oh Dear! What Can the Matter Be?", also sung as "Johnny's So Long at the Fair."

Origins

The song is cataloged under number 1279 in the Roud Folk Song Index. While the lyrics circulated as a folk ballad in England between 1770 and 1780, the tune was first published in print in 1792 in the collection The British Lyre, or Muses' Repository. Historical performance records show that the song was performed in public as a popular duet by the English singer Samuel Harrison and his wife, the soprano Miss Cantelo, during the late eighteenth century.

Meaning & Interpretation

The lyrics tell a simple story of anticipation and concern. A young woman is waiting for her sweetheart, Johnny, who has gone to the fair. He promised to buy her "fairings," which were traditional gifts sold at fairs, including a bunch of blue ribbons to tie up her hair. As Johnny takes longer than expected, the woman repeats her anxious refrain: "Oh dear! What can the matter be?"

The song's simple emotional premise has kept it popular in nursery rhyme collections for more than two centuries. Over the years, the melody has been adapted for various uses. During the American Civil War, political parodies of the song appeared in newspapers. In the twentieth century, it was adapted into several humorous folk variations, illustrating how traditional melodies are repurposed across different generations and cultures.

What is the origin of Oh Dear What Can the Matter Be?

The song is a traditional English folk song dating to the 1770s. The melody was first printed in 1792 in a collection called The British Lyre.

What is Johnny's So Long at the Fair about?

The song describes a young woman's worry about her sweetheart Johnny, who has gone to a fair and is late returning. He had promised to bring her back blue ribbons for her hair.