See-Saw, Margery Daw
See-Saw, Margery Daw
Nursery Rhyme
See-saw, Margery Daw,
Jack shall have a new master
Jack shall have but a penny a day,
Because he can't work any faster.
Notes
Here's the version from Tommy Thumb's Song Book (1815, Glascow/earliest edition was in 1744):
See-saw, a penny a day,
Tommy shall have a new master;
Why must he have but a penny a-day?
Because he can work no faster.
Percy B. Green, who wrote "A History of Nursery Rhymes" (1899), gave this variation of See-saw:
See-saw a penny a day,
Tommy must have a new master.
Why must he have but a penny a day?
Because he can work no faster.
Here are two versions from The Little Mother Goose (1912), illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith:
1. See saw, Margery Daw,
Jenny shall have a new master;
She shall have but a penny a-day,
Because she can't work any faster.
2. See, saw, Margery Daw,
Jacky shall have a new master;
Jacky must have but a penny a day,
Because he can't work any faster.
Here's the version from The Real Mother Goose (1916), illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright:
See-Saw
See-saw, Margery Daw,
Sold her bed and lay upon straw.
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Sheet Music
Thanks and Acknowledgements
The illustration at the top of the page is from Mother Goose, The Original Volland Edition (1915), edited and arranged by Eulalie Osgood Grover and illustrated by Frederick Richardson (with some graphical editing by Mama Lisa). The 2nd illustration is from The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897) and the 3rd one is from The Real Mother Goose (1916), illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright. The 4th illustration is from The Little Mother Goose (1912), illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith.
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