Solomon Grundy

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For other uses, see Solomon Grundy (disambiguation)}}}.

Solomon Grundy is a 19th century children's nursery rhyme, and was presented by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps in 1842. The poem is essentially a riddle in which the life of Solomon Grundy appears to take place in the process of a single week, the answer being that each day's events happened in a different year.

Contents

1 Name etymology
2 Lyrics
3 Trivia
4 References

Name etymology

Solomon Grundy is believed to have derived from the English food Salmagundi, which was integrated into the English language from the French in the 17th century, and is a salad of cooked meats, lettuce, anchovies and eggs, with other condiments. The name of the salad was corrupted in the 18th century to Solomon Gundy, particularly in the United States.

Lyrics

Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday,

Christened on a stark and stormy Tuesday,

Married on a gray and grisly Wednesday,

Took ill on a mild and mellow Thursday,

Grew worse on a bright and breezy Friday,

Died on a gay and glorious Saturday,

Buried on a baking, blistering Sunday.

That was the end of Solomon Grundy.

Alternative Lyrics:

Solomon Grundy,

Born on a Monday,

Christened on Tuesday,

Married on Wednesday,

Took ill on Thursday,

Grew worse on Friday,

Died on Saturday,

Buried on Sunday.

That was the end of

Solomon Grundy.

Trivia

A DC Comics character, a large, strong zombie supervillain, was named after this nursery rhyme. The first appereance of Solomon Grundy was in 1944 in an issue of All-American Comics #61 where he squared off with the original Green Lantern. Cyrus Gold was murdered in the later part of the 19th Century, where his body was left in Slaughter Swamp. The corpse remained in the swamp for decades where the organic swamp muck and decomposing flora collected, until one day it took on its own life. After the monster rose from the swamp, he wandered into a hobo camp. Upon questioning, the monster revealed that he did not know his own name and could only remember that he was born on a Monday. Remembering the nursery rhyme, a hobo dubbed the monster Solomon Grundy.

For more info, please see his own article: Solomon Grundy (comics).

Solomon Grundy also appears in the lyrics of the Crash Test Dummies song Superman's Song, where it is stated that "Superman never made any money, saving the world from Solomon Grundy".

A character in Jasper Fforde's The Big Over Easy is named after Solomon Grundy.

The poet Philippe Soupault adapted this rhyme and called it "The Life of Philippe Soupault".Stewart, Susan. Nonsense: Aspects of Intertextuality in Folklore and Literature, Johns Hopkins, 1979. p. 191. ISBN 0-8018-2258-0

References

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