"Lily the Pink" is a 1968 song released by the UK comedy group the Scaffold. It is a modernisation of an older folk song titled "The Ballad of Lydia Pinkham". The lyrics celebrate the "medicinal compound" invented by Lily the Pink, and, in each verse, chronicle some extraordinary cure it has effected.

The Scaffold's record, released in November 1968, became No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart for the four weeks encompassing the Christmas holidays that year.

Backing vocalists on the recording included Graham Nash (of the Hollies), Elton John (then Reg Dwight), and Tim Rice; while Jack Bruce (of Cream) played the bass guitar.

The lyrics include a number of in-jokes. For example, the line Mr Frears has sticky out ears refers to film director Stephen Frears who had worked with the Scaffold early in their career; while the line Jennifer Eccles had terrible freckles refers to the song "Jennifer Eccles" by the Hollies, Graham Nash's former band.

Another version of the song, released a few months after the Scaffold's by the Irish Rovers, became a minor hit for North American audiences in early 1969. At a time when covers were released almost as soon as the originals, the release from the Rovers' Tales to Warm Your Mind Decca LP became a second favorite behind "The Unicorn".

The song has since been adopted by the folk community. It has been performed live by the Brobdingnagian Bards and other Celtic-style folk and folk artists.

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