The rhyme is also a counting song for children. In the USA it is popular to sing it in a game of tag to determine the person who will be “it”.

The oldest form of the song can be tracked to 1475 in a line of a rhyme called The Game and Playe of the Chesse by William Caxton and only later on in 1695 it appeared in a more compact form. It was first published in a nursery rhymes collection in the 19th century as a counting song.

“Tinker, Tailor” Lyrics

An English modern version:

Tinker, Tailor,
Soldier, Sailor,
Rich Man, Poor Man,
Beggar Man, Thief.

An American modern version:

Rich Man, Poor Man,
Beggar Man, Thief,
Doctor, Lawyer, (or “Merchant”)
Indian Chief.

Monday’s Child lyrics were first published in the second volume of “The Borders of the Tamar and the Tavy” (1836) “Traditions, legends, superstitions, and Sketches of Devonshire” (1838) by the British novelist Anna Eliza Bray.

Fortune-telling tradition is dating back to 1570’s England. The Sunday is missing in the song as that time it was referred to as Sabbath day. In the 1840s the song was included in James Orchard Halliwell’s book English Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales. In this version Sunday or Sabbath day was replaced with Christmas Day.

Each day’s prediction has varied over the years. For instance some superstitions considered Friday an unlucky day, while for Christians Good Friday is the commemoration of Jesus’s Crucifixion. Thus, the line “Wednesday’s child is full of woe” was once “Friday’s child is full of woe”.

However there are more than just one accepted versions of this nursery rhyme. Below are the lyrics of one of the most known versions sung today:

Monday’s Child Lyrics

Monday’s child is fair of face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is full of woe,
Thursdays child has far to go,
Fridays 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;