Monday's Child
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Monday's Child" Roud #19526 |
|
| Written by | Traditional |
|---|---|
| Published | 1838 |
| Written | England |
| Language | English |
| Form | Nursery Rhyme |
‘Monday's Child’ is one of many fortune-telling songs, popular as nursery rhymes for children. It is supposed to tell a child's character or future based on the day they were born. As with all nursery rhymes, there are many versions. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19526.
Contents |
[edit] Lyrics
Common modern versions include:
- Monday's child is fair of face,
- Tuesday's child is full of grace,
- Wednesday's child is full of woe,
- Thursday's child has far to go,
- Friday's child is loving and giving,
- Saturday's child works hard for a living,
- But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day
- Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.[1]
[edit] Origins
This rhyme was first recorded in A. E. Bray's Traditions of Devonshire in 1838 and was collected by James Orchard Halliwell in the mid-nineteenth century.[1] The tradition of fortune telling by days of birth is much older. Thomas Nashe recalled stories told to "yong folks" in Suffolk in the 1570s which included "tell[ing] what luck eurie one should have by the day of the weeke he was borne on". Nashe thus provides evidence for fortune telling rhymes of this type circulating in Suffolk in the 1570s.[2]
There was considerable variation and debate about the exact attributes of each day and even over the days. Halliwell had 'Christmas Day' instead of the Sabbath.[1] A version in which, "Wednesday's child is full of woe," an early incarnation of this rhyme appeared in a multi-part fictional story in a chapter appearing in Harper's Weekly on September 17, 1887, in which "Friday's child is full of woe", perhaps reflecting traditional bad luck associated with Friday. In addition to Wednesday's and Friday's children's role reversal, the fates of Thursday's and Saturday's children was also exchanged and Sunday's child is "happy and wise" instead of "blithe and good".[3]
[edit] Cultural references
In literature:
- Friday's Child (1944) is a novel by Georgette Heyer.
- "Wednesday's Child" is the title of a short story by William Tenn (which is a pen name of Philip Klass) published in Fantastic Universe in 1956.
- Thursday's Child (1956) is one of Eartha Kitt's three autobiographies
- Wednesday Addams of The Addams Family is said to have been named after the phrase, "Wednesday's child is full of woe." Her middle name, Friday, corresponds to the 1887 version.
- Prior Walter refers to the poem in Tony Kushner's play Angels in America (1985-6) (Act III Scene 1)
- Wednesday's Child (1997) is the title of a narrative by Rhea Côte Robbins, telling of her childhood and adolescence as a Franco-American woman growing up in central Maine.
- Thursday's Child (2000) is the name of a novel by Sonya Hartnett.
- The poem is featured in Dean Koontz's novel The Face (2003).
- Monday's Child (2004) and Tuesday's Child (2005) are novels written by Louise Bagshawe
- "Old Mama Saturday ('Saturday's Child Must Work for a Living')" (1995) by Marie Ponsot, featured in the 1995 volume of the annual Best American Poetry, vol. 8 (New York: Collier Books, 1995), refers to the rhyme in its title.
In social care:
- Monday's Child is the name of a program run by WBIR-TV (the NBC affiliate in Knoxville, Tennessee). This program profiles special needs children who are up for adoption in order to help these children who are often above standard adoption age to find homes.
- Thursday's Child is an international children's charity.
In T.V.:
- "Friday's Child" (1967) is the name of an episode of the original Star Trek television series.
- In the 2000 version of Snow White, the 7 dwarves were named after the 7 days of the week in reference to the rhyme.
- Wednesday's Child is a weekly television program sponsored by the Freddie Mac Foundation that also profiles older children who are up for adoption.
- Wednesday's Child is the name of a program run by WNBC (the NBC affiliate in New York City). This program profiles special needs children who are up for adoption in order to help these children who are often above standard adoption age to find homes.
In popular music:
- Nancy Sinatra had a hit in 1966 with "Friday's Child" which contains the lines "Friday's child her sister's misery...Friday's child they'll forget to bury..."
- David Gates, later of Bread, composed a song called "Saturday's Child" that was included on the 1960s' American pop rock band The Monkees' eponymous first album (1966).
- Van Morrison wrote a song entitled "Friday's Child" (1971) while with the band Them.
- "Tuesday's Child" is the title of a song on the second album (1988) by Contemporary Christian musician Steven Curtis Chapman.
- David Bowie included a song called "Thursday's Child" on his 1999 album 'Hours...'.
- Will Young released an album named Friday's Child (2003). The title track has a variant of the rhyme as its chorus.
- Isobel Campbell included a song called "Thursday's Child" on her album Milkwhite Sheets (2006).
- "Måndagsbarn" (Monday's child) (2008) is a song by Swedish singer Veronica Maggio.
- "Wednesday's Child" is the name of a song on the 2008 album What's in the Box? by the band Vermillion Lies, which includes the complete nursery rhyme.
- "Wednesday's Child" is a song by Emiliana Torrini which appears on her 1999 album Love in the Time of Science.
- Paul McCartney in the song called "Lady Madonna" sings: "Monday's child has learned to tie his bootlace."
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), pp. 309-10.
- ^ A. Fox, Oral and Literate Culture in England, 1500-1700 (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 182.
- ^ 'Children's charms and Oracles' New York folklore quarterly (1952), p. 46.
[edit] External links
- Day of the week calculator from Ancestor Search
