At school (near Wellington NZ) in 1949 we boys and girls sang:
'Twas on a Monday morning
When I beheld my darling,
She looked so neat and charming
In ev'ry high degree.
She looked so neat and nimble, O,
A-washing of her linen, O,
Dashing away with the smoothing iron,
Dashing away with the smoothing iron,
She stole my heart away.
'Twas on a Tuesday morning
When I beheld my darling,
She looked so neat and charming
In ev'ry high degree.
She looked so neat and nimble, O,
A-hanging out her linen, O
Dashing away with the smoothing iron,
She stole my heart away.
'Twas on a Wednesday morning . .
A-starching of her linen . . . .
'Twas on a Thursday morning . . . .
A-ironing of her linen . . . .
'Twas on a Friday morning . . . .
A-folding of her linen . . . .
'Twas on a Saturday morning . . . .
A-airing of her linen . . . .
'Twas on a Sunday morning . . . .
When I beheld my darling,
She looked so neat and charming
In ev'ry high degree.
She looked so neat and nimble, O,
A-wearing of her linen, O,
Dashing away with the smoothing iron,
Dashing away with the smoothing iron,
She stole my heart away.
One website says it's from Somerset.
I was doing my ironing, and my darling wife's just now,
singing to myself...
(But who wears linen?)
We also sang 'Barbara Allen', and
'Early one morning just as the sun was rising
I heard a maiden singing in the valley below,
Who'll buy my lavender, sweet scented lavender,
Lavender three pennies a ...something... come buy.
I wonder how widespread such song-singing was, and when it vanished...
Max, now in Melbourne
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