Solomon Grundy (nursery rhyme)

Last updated

"Here lies ye bodye of Solomon Grundy. Died on Saturday..." An illustration from Clara E. Atwood's 1901 A Book of Nursery Rhymes BookOfNurseryRhymes p89.jpg
"Here lies ye bodye of Solomon Grundy. Died on Saturday..." An illustration from Clara E. Atwood's 1901 A Book of Nursery Rhymes

"Solomon Grundy" is an English nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19299. [1]

Contents

Lyrics

The rhyme has varied very little since it was first collected by James Orchard Halliwell and published in 1842 with the lyrics:

Solomon Grundy,
Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday.
This is the end
Of Solomon Grundy. [2]

The words of a French version of the rhyme were adapted by the Dada poet Philippe Soupault in 1921 and published as an account of his own life:

PHILIPPE SOUPAULT dans son lit / né un lundi / baptisé un mardi / marié un mercredi / malade un jeudi / agonisant un vendredi / mort un samedi / enterré un dimanche / c'est la vie de Philippe Soupault [3] [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

"Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat" or "Pussycat, Pussycat" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 15094.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater</span> English language nursery rhyme

"Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13497.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Bridge Is Falling Down</span> Nursery rhyme from England

"London Bridge Is Falling Down" is a traditional English nursery rhyme and singing game, which is found in different versions all over the world. It deals with the dilapidation of London Bridge and attempts, realistic or fanciful, to repair it. It may date back to bridge-related rhymes and games of the Late Middle Ages, but the earliest records of the rhyme in English are from the 17th century. The lyrics were first printed in close to their modern form in the mid-18th century and became popular, particularly in Britain and the United States, during the 19th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Miss Muffet</span> English nursery rhyme

"Little Miss Muffet" is an English nursery rhyme of uncertain origin, first recorded in 1805. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20605. The rhyme has for over a century attracted discussion as to the proper meaning of the word tuffet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Be Nimble</span> Nursery rhyme and traditional song

"Jack Be Nimble" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13902.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ring a Ring o' Roses</span> Folk song

"Ring a Ring o' Roses", "Ring a Ring o' Rosie", or "Ring Around the Rosie", is a nursery rhyme, folk song and playground singing game. Descriptions first emerge in the mid-19th century, but are reported as dating from decades before, and similar rhymes are known from across Europe, with various lyrics. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7925.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">This Little Piggy</span> Nursery rhyme

"This Little Pig Went to Market" is an English-language nursery rhyme and fingerplay. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19297.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">There Was a Crooked Man</span> Traditional song

"There Was a Crooked Man" is an English nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 1826.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">As I was going by Charing Cross</span> English language nursery rhyme

"As I was going by Charing Cross", is an English language nursery rhyme. The rhyme was first recorded in the 1840s, but it may have older origins in street cries and verse of the seventeenth century. It refers to the equestrian statue of King Charles I in Charing Cross, London, and may allude to his death or be a puritan satire on royalist reactions to his execution. It was not recorded in its modern form until the mid-nineteenth century. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20564.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">What Are Little Boys Made Of?</span> Nursery rhyme and traditional song

"What Are Little Boys Made Of?" is a nursery rhyme dating from the early 19th century. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 821.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock-a-bye Baby</span> English nursery rhyme and lullaby

"Rock-a-bye baby on the tree top" is a nursery rhyme and lullaby. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 2768.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monday's Child</span> Traditional song or poem

"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 from their day of birth and to help young children remember the seven days of the week. As with many nursery rhymes, there are many versions. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19526.

"Little Poll Parrot" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20178.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Tommy Tucker</span> Nursery rhyme

"Little Tommy Tucker" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19618.

"Taffy was a Welshman" is an English language nursery rhyme which was popular between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19237.

"Eeper Weeper" or "Heeper Peeper" is an English nursery rhyme and skipping song that tells the story of a chimney sweep who kills his second wife and hides her body up a chimney. The rhyme has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 13497.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Round and Round the Garden</span> Nursery rhyme, often with actions

"Round and round the garden" is an English language nursery rhyme typically accompanied by fingerplay. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19235.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Wise Old Owl</span> Traditional song

"A Wise Old Owl" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7734 and in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, 2nd Ed. of 1997, as number 394. The rhyme is an improvement of a traditional nursery rhyme "There was an owl lived in an oak, wisky, wasky, weedle."

"Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling, My Son John" is an English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19709.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Robin Redbreast</span> Traditional song

‘Little Robin Redbreast’ is an English language nursery rhyme, chiefly notable as evidence of the way traditional rhymes are changed and edited. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20612.

References

  1. "Roud Folksong Index S276827Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday". Vaughan Williams Memorial Library . English Folk Dance and Song Society . Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  2. I. Opie and P. Opie (1951). The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (2nd edn., 1997) ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 467-9.
  3. Stewart, Susan (1979). Nonsense: Aspects of Intertextuality in Folklore and Literature. Johns Hopkins. p. 191. ISBN   0-8018-2258-0.
  4. Littérature 19, May 1921, included under the title "Les chansons des buts et des rois" (PDF). among several other adaptations of nursery rhymes