"Poor Mary" or "Poor Jenny" is an

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From ...

and singing game. It has a

Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the Londo ...

number of 1377.

Lyrics

Lyrics vary considerably for this song. Over a hundred known variations have been collected in Britain since the 1880s, not least in the use of the names, including Jenny, Mary and Sally. Common modern versions include: :Poor Jenny is a-weeping, :A-weeping, a-weeping, :Poor Jenny is a-weeping :On a bright summer’s day. :Why are you weeping, :Weeping, weeping, :Why are you weeping, :On a bright summer's day? :I'm weeping for a loved one, :A loved one, a loved one, :I'm weeping for a loved one, :On a bright summer's day. :Stand up and choose your loved one, :Your loved one, your loved one, :Stand up and choose your loved one, :One a bright summer's day. :Shake hands before you leave 'er, :You leave 'er, you leave 'er, :Shake hands before you leave 'er, :On a bright summer's day.

I. Opie and P. Opie Iona Margaret Balfour Opie, (13 October 1923 – 23 October 2017) and Peter Mason Opie (25 November 1918 – 5 February 1982) were an English married team of folklorists who applied modern techniques to understanding children's literature and ...

, ''The Singing Game'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), pp. 325–9.

The game

One child of the group is chosen to be "Jenny" or "Mary" etc., and has to kneel in the middle of a circle, usually with head in hands. The other children join their hands and walk around the other child singing the first verse. The child in the centre then carries out the actions of the following verses, most importantly choosing a partner.

The tune

The tune is widely known in Europe, and forms the first section of the folk dance tune "La Bourrée des Galvachers" from Burgundy, France. The melody was also used by

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...

in his first Piano Concerto, op.35.Dmitri Shostakovich, ''Piano Concerto'' (London: Boosey & Hawkes, n.d. HPS644). Compare the trumpet solo in the nine bars starting one bar after rehearsal mark 63 with the melody as given by Opie; they are identical.

Notes

{{reflist Children's games Singing games English nursery rhymes English folk songs English children's songs Traditional children's songs

Lyrics

The game

The tune

See also

Notes