'See saw Margery Daw' lyrics

Here are the lyrics to the nursery rhyme 'See saw Margery Daw'

Margery Daw sitting on a seesaw holding a bag of coins, which she has acquired through selling her mattress to a man who, for some reason, is wearing several hats. The nursery rhyme calls her a ‘dirty slut’ and it should be explained that ’slut’ did not always have the current meaning of a sexually promiscuous woman - it used to mean a woman who was slovenly, lazy, didn’t do housework, or who was untidy in appearance. So Margery Daw has sold her bed, not her body. “See Saw Margery Daw - Sold her bed and lay upon straw - Wasn’t she a dirty slut - To sell her bed and lie in he dirt.” From “Nursery Rhymes - Ridicula Rediviva” illustrated by J.E. Rogers, with chromolith printing by R. Clay Sons & Taylor and published in London in 1876 by Macmillan and Co.

BBC Music Magazine

Published: March 30, 2023 at 3:18 pm

The nursery rhyme 'See saw Margery Daw' is thought to date back to 1765 when it was published in Mother Goose's Melody.

There are a number of thoughts on how it originated. It could be as a singing game on the children's favourite ride the see saw or perhaps it was a work song for a for sawyers, helping them keep rhythm when using a two-person saw.

'See saw Margery Daw' lyrics

See saw Margery Daw, Johnny shall have a new master, He shall earn but a penny a day, Because he can't work any faster.

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Main image © Getty Images

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