One for Sorrow (nursery rhyme)

{{short description|Traditional English divination nursery rhyme about magpies}}

{{Infobox song

| name = One for Sorrow

| cover = PiePica pica.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Three magpies in a tree

| type = Nursery rhyme

| written =

| published = {{circa}} 1780

| writer =

| composer =

| lyricist =

}}

"One for Sorrow" is a traditional children's nursery rhyme about magpies. According to an old superstition, the number of magpies seen tells if one will have bad or good luck.

Lyrics

There is considerable variation in the lyrics used. A common modern version is:

{{blockquote|One for sorrow,

Two for joy,

Three for a girl,

Four for a boy,

Five for silver,

Six for gold,

Seven for a secret never to be told.{{cite book|author=P. Tate|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OFmORVI7x_EC&dq=%22one+for+sorrow%2C+two+for+joy%22+rhyme+magpie&pg=PT76|title=Flights of Fancy: Birds in Myth, Legend, and Superstition|location=New York|publisher=Random House|year=2010|isbn=978-1409035695}}|sign=|source=}}

A longer version of the rhyme recorded in Lancashire continues:

{{blockquote|Eight for a wish,

Nine for a kiss,

Ten a surprise you should be careful not to miss,

Eleven for health,

Twelve for wealth,

Thirteen beware it's the devil himself.{{cite web |title=One For Sorrow |url=https://www.birdspot.co.uk/culture/one-for-sorrow-magpie-nursery-rhyme |website=Bird Spot |access-date=23 November 2022 |date=11 November 2020}}}}

Origins

File:Piero della Francesca - Nativity - WGA17620.jpg, perhaps presaging sorrow for Mary:{{cite news|last=Finaldi|first=Gabriele|author-link=Gabriele Finaldi|title=Picture Choice: Gabriele Finaldi on pictorial wisdom in Piero's relaxed Nativity|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art--picture-choice-gabriele-finaldi-on-pictorial-wisdom-in-pieros-relaxed-nativity-1560829.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220524/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art--picture-choice-gabriele-finaldi-on-pictorial-wisdom-in-pieros-relaxed-nativity-1560829.html |archive-date=24 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=2 February 2013|newspaper=The Independent|date=1 December 1992}} Piero della Francesca's The Nativity]]

File:Magpie hopscotch.jpg

The rhyme has its origins in ornithomancy superstitions connected with magpies, considered a bird of ill omen in some cultures, and in Britain, at least as far back as the early sixteenth century.I. Opie and M. Tatem, eds, A Dictionary of Superstitions (Oxford University Press, 1989), pp. 235-6. The rhyme was first recorded in Samuel Johnson and George Steevens's 1780 supplement to their 1778 edition of The Plays of William Shakespeare with the lyric:

{{blockquote|One for sorrow,

Two for mirth,

Three for a wedding,

Four for death.{{cite book |last1=Johnson |first1=Samuel |last2=Steevens |first2=George |title=Supplement to the Edition of Shakespeare's Plays Published in 1778 Vol. II. |date=1780 |location=London |page=706 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tTUUAAAAYAAJ&dq=magpie&pg=PA706 |access-date=7 June 2023}}}}

One of the earliest versions to extend this was published, with variations, in Michael Aislabie Denham's Proverbs and Popular Sayings (London, 1846):

{{blockquote|One for sorrow,

Two for luck (varia. mirth);

Three for a wedding,

Four for death (varia. birth);

Five for silver,

Six for gold;

Seven for a secret never to be told,

Eight for heaven,

Nine for {{ndash}}{{ndash}}{{ndash}}{{ndash}},"Nine for hell, And ten for the devil's own sell!"

And ten for the d{{ndash}}{{ndash}}{{ndash}}l's own sell!{{cite book |last1=Denham |first1=Michael Aislabie |title=A collection of proverbs and popular sayings relating to the seasons, the weather, and agricultural pursuits / gathered chiefly from oral tradition |date=1846 |publisher=Printed for the Percy Society by T. Richards, 1846 |location=London |page=35 |url=https://wellcomecollection.org/works/pvc39w3e/items?canvas=45&query=magpie |access-date=7 June 2023}}}}

In the 19th century book, A Guide to the Scientific Knowledge of Things Familiar, a proverb concerning magpies is recited: "A single magpie in spring, foul weather will bring". The book further explains that this superstition arises from the habits of pairs of magpies to forage together only when the weather is fine.

An English tradition holds that a single magpie be greeted with a salutation in order to ward off the bad luck it may bring. A greeting might be something like "Good morning, Mr Magpie, how are Mrs Magpie and all the other little magpies?",{{Cite news|url=http://www.countrylife.co.uk/country-life/how-to-salute-a-magpie-70304|title=How to salute a magpie - Country Life|date=2015-03-19|work=Country Life|access-date=2018-01-10|language=en-US}} and a 19th century version recorded in Shropshire is to say "Devil, Devil, I defy thee! Magpie, magpie, I go by thee!" and to spit on the ground three times.{{cite book |last1=Jackson |first1=Georgina Frederica |title=Shropshire folk-lore, ed. by C.S. Burne, from the collections of G.F. Jackson |date=1885 |page=223 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oR8AAAAAQAAJ |language=en}}

On occasion, jackdaws, crows and other Corvidae are associated with the rhyme, particularly in America where magpies are less common.J. M. Marzluff, A. Angell, P. R. Ehrlich, In the Company of Crows and Ravens (Yale University Press, 2007), p. 127. In eastern India, the erstwhile British colonial bastion, the common myna is the bird of association.{{cite web | url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/with-death-on-its-wings/cid/1827617 | title=With Death on its wings }}

A version of the rhyme became familiar to many UK children when it became the theme tune of the children's TV show Magpie, which ran from 1968 to 1980.{{cite book |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Dean |title=The Classic Children's Television Quiz Book |date=18 July 2011 |publisher=Andrews UK Limited |isbn=978-1-908548-89-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zl65BAAAQBAJ&dq=magpie+lyrics+television&pg=PT98 |access-date=15 February 2021 |language=en}} The popularity of this version, performed by The Spencer Davis Group, is thought to have displaced the many regional versions that had previously existed.Terry Pratchett and Jacqueline Simpson, The Folklore of Discworld (London: Random House, 2010), {{ISBN|1407034243}}, p. 449.

Popular culture

The name of the rock band Counting Crows derives from the rhyme,{{Cite magazine |date=June 30, 1994 |title=The Biggest New Band in America |url=https://www.monmouth.com/~jkochel/crows/articles/rolling.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061115214844/http://www.monmouth.com/~jkochel/crows/articles/rolling.html |archive-date=2006-11-15 |access-date=2022-05-01 |magazine=Rolling Stone}} which is featured in the song "A Murder of One" on the band's debut album, August and Everything After.

The first track on Seanan McGuire's album Wicked Girls, also titled "Counting Crows", features a modified version of the rhyme.{{Cite web |title=Seanan McGuire: Songbook |url=https://seananmcguire.com/songbook.php?id=143 |access-date=2022-05-01 |website=seananmcguire.com}}

The artist S. J. Tucker's song, "Ravens in the Library," from her album Mischief, utilises the modern version of the rhyme as a chorus, and the rest of the verses relate to the rhyme in various ways.{{Citation |title=Ravens in the Library | date=25 October 2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKXBvK34rgg |language=en |access-date=2022-06-05}}

The English band The Unthanks recorded a version of this song on their 2015 album Mount the Air,{{cite web | url=https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/songs/themagpie.html | title=The Magpie [David Dodds] }} and the song appeared in the BBC series Detectorists, and the 4th season of the HBO series True Detective. The American alternative rock band The Innocence Mission featured a song called "One for Sorrow, Two for Joy" on their 2003 album Befriended. "One For Sorrow" on Megan Washington's album There There also features the rhyme.

Anthony Horowitz used the rhyme as the organising scheme for the story-within-a-story in his 2016 novel Magpie Murders and in the subsequent television adaptation of the same name.{{cite web |date=7 February 2022 |author=Molly Moss |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/magpie-murders-preview-britbox-newsupdate/ |title=Magpie Murders' Daniel Mays and Lesley Manville face off in teaser |work=Radio Times |access-date=3 August 2023 }}

The nursery rhyme's name was used for a book written by Mary Downing Hahn, One for Sorrow: A Ghost Story. The book additionally contains references to the nursery rhyme.

Sir Humphry Davy attributed the connection to joy and sorrow in his Salmonia: or Days of Fly Fishing (1828), in which he wrote that 'For anglers in spring it has always been regarded as unlucky to see single magpies, but two may be always regarded as a favourable omen; [...] in cold and stormy weather one magpie alone leaves the nest in search of food; the other remaining sitting on the eggs [...] when two go out [...] the weather is warm [...] favourable for fishing'.

Daphne du Maurier's 1936 novel Jamaica Inn references the nursery rhyme in the scene at Launceston between Jem Merlyn and Mary Yellan. ‘He took her face in his hands. ‘“One for sorrow, two for joy”’ he said. “I’ll give you the rest when you’re in a more yielding frame of mind. It wouldn’t do to finish the rhyme tonight.”’

One for Sorrow (nursery rhyme)

Lyrics

Origins

Popular culture

Notes

References

Further reading