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Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
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 his living,
And the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
"Monday's Child" is a fortune-telling rhyme that assigns a characteristic or destiny to each day of the week. It first appeared in print in 1838 in A. E. Bray's Traditions of Devonshire, though it was presented as a rhyme already well known in oral tradition, suggesting it is considerably older.
The rhyme belongs to a long tradition of folk divination by birth date — the idea that the day of one's birth might influence one's character or fate. Astrology, numerology, and various folk systems all share this underlying assumption, and "Monday's Child" represents a particularly accessible version: a simple mnemonic that any parent could use to pronounce on a newborn's future.
The distribution of fortunes is not entirely even. Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday children receive clear positives (beauty, grace, generosity, happiness). Thursday's child merely has "far to go" — which could mean a long journey ahead, either literal or figurative. Saturday's child works hard, which is neutral at best. But Wednesday's child is "full of woe", an unambiguous negative that children often find darkly funny.
The rhyme has been adapted many times. A famous later version replaces "woe" with more benign alternatives for Wednesday, perhaps reflecting discomfort at cursing a child born on a particular day. But the original's frank inequality is part of its folk character: not everyone gets the same hand.
