You probably remember the rhythm. It’s that back-and-forth swaying motion, usually done while holding a toddler’s hands or balancing them on your knees. It feels innocent. It feels like childhood. But when you actually sit down and look at the see saw margery daw song lyrics, the cozy vibes start to evaporate pretty quickly.
"See Saw, Margery Daw, / Sold her bed and lay upon straw; / Was she not a dirty slut / To sell her bed and lie in the dirt?"
Wait. What?
If you grew up with the sanitized 20th-century versions, that last part probably hit you like a cold shower. Most modern parents swap out those biting insults for something about "Johnny shall have a new master" or "she shall have but a penny a day." But the original roots of this rhyme aren't about playground equipment. They’re about poverty, the brutal labor of the 1700s, and a very specific type of social shaming that we’ve mostly scrubbed away for the sake of the nursery.
The many faces of Margery Daw
The thing about Mother Goose rhymes is that they aren't static. They’re fluid. The see saw margery daw song lyrics first popped up in print around 1765 in Mother Goose's Melody, but they were likely being chanted in British fields and nurseries long before that.
The name "Margery Daw" wasn't just a random choice. In the slang of the era, a "daw" was a jackdaw—a bird known for being noisy and, frankly, a bit of a pest. To call someone a Margery Daw was basically calling them a lazy person or a "slattern." It was a specific jab at women who didn't keep a clean house or, in this case, women so poor (or "lazy") that they had to sell their furniture just to eat.
The "see saw" part of the lyric is actually a rhythmic device. Before it was a piece of playground equipment, a "see-saw" referred to the motion of sawyers—men who worked in pits using a massive two-man saw to cut logs into planks. One man stood above, one below. Up and down. Back and forth. The rhyme was a work song. It kept the rhythm of the blade.
Why the lyrics changed (and why it matters)
Honestly, it’s kinda fascinating how we sanitize history. By the mid-1800s, the Victorian era's obsession with "morality" meant that calling a character a "dirty slut" in a children's book was a big no-no. It’s important to realize that in the 18th century, "slut" just meant a messy or untidy person, not the sexually charged insult it is today. Still, the word fell out of favor.
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Enter "Johnny."
In many versions, the lyrics shift to:
"See-saw, Margery Daw, / Johnny shall have a new master; / He shall have but a penny a day, / Because he can't work any faster."
This version is arguably bleaker. It moves from shaming a woman's poverty to mocking a child laborer. In the 1700s and 1800s, "a penny a day" was a pittance even then. It reflects a world where if you couldn't keep up with the physical demands of the saw-pit or the factory, you were doomed to subsistence living. It’s a song about the grind.
The playground connection
How did a song about selling your bed and failing at manual labor become the soundtrack to a playground?
Simple: the motion.
The word "seesaw" didn't even exist as a noun for the wooden plank on a fulcrum until after the rhyme became popular. The rhyme actually named the toy. Children would sit on opposite ends of a log, mimicking the rhythmic "sawing" motion of the timber workers, chanting the lyrics to keep the timing.
It’s a pattern we see a lot in folklore. "Ring Around the Rosie" (despite the debunked plague myths) and "London Bridge" both turn architectural or social collapse into a game. We take the stresses of adult life—work, poverty, debt—and we turn them into a rhythm that a three-year-old can understand. It’s weird. It’s human.
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Regional variations you might encounter
Depending on where you live, the see saw margery daw song lyrics might sound totally different. Folklore expert Iona Opie, who spent decades researching the playground culture of British children, noted that kids are notoriously bad at keeping lyrics "pure." They change things to fit their own lives.
- The "Jacky Boy" version: Some old English texts replace Johnny with Jacky, focusing on the "new master" aspect, highlighting the apprenticeship system where boys were basically sold into years of unpaid or low-paid labor.
- The "Dirty" version: You’ll still find the "lie in the dirt" version in academic collections of nursery rhymes, usually kept as a historical artifact rather than something you’d find on a Cocomelon playlist.
- The Americanized version: Often cuts the middle verses entirely, focusing on the "See Saw Margery Daw" refrain and then trailing off into something about "up and down" or "high and low."
Why we still sing it
You might wonder why we bother with these rhymes at all. If the history is so grim, why keep it around?
Because the phonics work.
The sibilance of "see-saw" and the hard "d" in "Daw" are perfect for early language development. Infants respond to the "trochaic" meter—that stressed-unstressed pattern that mimics a heartbeat. Whether Margery is lying in straw or Johnny is earning a penny, the brain is just happy to have a predictable beat to follow.
There's also the "proprioceptive" benefit. When a parent bounces a child to the rhythm of these lyrics, they are helping the child develop a sense of balance and body awareness. The rhyme is just the timer for the physical exercise.
Uncovering the "Real" Margery
Was there a real Margery Daw? Probably not.
Like "Jack" or "Jill," Margery was a generic name. In the 1600s, "Margery" was often associated with the lower classes or country folk. By pairing it with "Daw," the songwriter was creating a character that everyone in a 1760s pub or nursery would recognize instantly as a "nobody."
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It’s the 18th-century version of a "Karen" or a "Bye Felicia." It’s a placeholder for a specific social trope.
The tragedy of the lyrics—the selling of the bed—is a very real reflection of the "pawn shop" culture of the time. If you couldn't pay your rent, your bed was often the most valuable thing you owned. Selling it meant you were at the absolute end of your rope.
Actionable ways to use this rhyme today
If you’re a parent or educator, you don’t have to ditch the rhyme just because the history is a bit dark. Most of our history is dark. Instead, use it as a tool for development while being mindful of the words you choose.
1. Choose your version based on age.
For toddlers, the "penny a day" version is fine, though you might want to explain what a "master" was if they’re older. For babies, the words matter less than the rhythm, so feel free to stick to the "standard" version found in modern picture books.
2. Focus on the physical motion.
Use the rhyme to encourage "crossing the midline"—a developmental milestone where a child moves their arms or legs across the center of their body. As you say "See-saw," move the child’s hands across each other.
3. Explore the history with older kids.
If you have a child who loves history, use the rhyme to talk about the Industrial Revolution or how work has changed. Ask them: "Why would someone sell their bed?" It’s a surprisingly good entry point for teaching empathy and economic history.
4. Check your sources.
If you’re looking for the most "authentic" version for a creative project or school paper, look for The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. It’s the gold standard for this stuff and will give you the exact dates for when certain words were swapped out.
The see saw margery daw song lyrics are more than just a playground chant. They are a tiny, rhythmic time capsule of 18th-century life. They remind us that even when we’re playing, we’re often echoing the struggles and the stories of the people who came before us. Next time you’re at the park and you see a kid on a seesaw, you’ll know that the "up and down" motion once belonged to the sawyers in the pits, just trying to make it through the day.
To truly understand these rhymes, look into the works of Peter and Iona Opie. Their research into the "lore and language of school-children" is the best way to see how these songs evolve over centuries without losing their core beat. You can also visit the British Library’s digital archives to see original scans of the 1765 Mother Goose's Melody to see the rhyme in its first printed form.