It’s been wet, rainy, and foggy here in the Northeast. Yesterday, Pam wrote me looking for One Misty Moisty Morning. It’s one of my favorites! So I thought I’d share it with you. Here the version I have, that I sent to Pam…
One Misty Moisty Morning
One misty, moisty, morning,
When cloudy was the weather,
There I met an old man
All clothed in leather,
All clothed in leather,
With a cap under his chin.
How do you do?
And how do you do?
And how do you do again?
Pam was familiar with a different version of One Misty Moisty Morning. She found it in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations and sent it to me. Here it is…
One Misty, Moisty Morning
One misty, moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather,
I chanced to meet an old man
Clothed all in leather:
He began to compliment,
And I began to grin–
“How do you do?” and “How do you do?”
And “How do you do?” again!
Many thanks to Pam for reminding me of this delightful rhyme and for sending me the 2nd version!
Come visit Mama Lisa’s House of Nursery Rhymes for more English Nursery Rhymes.
Meanwhile, if it’s wet near you too, I hope you stay dry!
Lisa
This article was posted on Saturday, January 14th, 2006 at 9:40 pm and is filed under Countries & Cultures, English, English Nursery Rhymes, Languages, Nursery Rhymes, Nursery Rhymes about Cloudy Weather, Nursery Rhymes about the Weather, One Misty, Moisty, Morning, Rhymes by Theme, United Kingdom, USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
13 Responses to ““One Misty Moisty Morning” – A Nursery Rhyme about Cloudy Weather”
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February 20th, 2006 at 2:22 am
dear Mama LISA
i visit your website and it gave me related information which i badly needed in order to accomplish my project.
keep up the good work and God bless!!
February 20th, 2006 at 2:27 am
Dear Mama Lisa
I visit your website and it gave me related information which I badly needed
in order to accomplish my projects..
Thanks a lot and God Bless!!
March 31st, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Does anyone know who wrote “One Misty Moisty Morning”?
February 27th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Nobody “wrote” it, Liz B, as it’s a folk song. It’s the first verse of the Wiltshire Wedding, though.
March 1st, 2014 at 10:50 am
Uly and Liz B, it is a nursery rhyme. It was made into a song by Steeleye Span.
November 9th, 2014 at 3:54 pm
I learned a version like the second one you show here except that the old man was “clad all in leather.” Thanks for posting!
October 22nd, 2016 at 8:22 am
The second one is what I know of and yes it was clad all in leather.I grew up with a Mother Goose Record(yes vinyl)and I played it over and over.This was one of my favorites along with “There was a girl that had a little curl”Thank you for the memory!
March 19th, 2017 at 6:33 pm
“There was a little girl, and she had a little curl. Right in the middle of her fored head. And when she was ood, she was vary, very food. And when she was bad, she as horrid.
February 28th, 2018 at 3:24 pm
My grandmother used to sing this – different words and slightly different tune – one misty moisty morning, and cloudy was the weather, ….(forgot next line)……….. she looked so sweet and charming, in every high degree, she looked so sweet and nimble-o, ironing of her linen-o, dashing away with the smoothing iron, dashing away with the smoothing iron, dashing away with the smoothing iron, she stole my heart away (grandmother was from Yorkshire and sang it to me years before Steeleyespan !)
March 1st, 2018 at 12:26 am
That’s interesting Helen! It seems the song usually goes:
Twas on a Monday (each verse uses another day of the week) morning
When I beheld my darling
She looked so neat and charming
In every high degree
She looked so neat and nimble, O
[ A-washing | A-shaking | A-drying | A-airing | A-ironing | A-folding | A-wearing ] of her linen, O
Refrain
Dashing away with the smoothing iron
Dashing away with the smoothing iron
Dashing away with the smoothing iron
She stole my heart away.
I love your grandma’s version!
-Mama Lisa
April 28th, 2018 at 9:04 pm
My #1 grand daughter, Jenny, teaching her high school English class called me from the class! She’d told them how her grandfather (a Pediatrician) used to recite HER poem, “Jenny kissed me”, and asked if I could remember any other poem. Immediately I started with “One misty, moisty morning”, which I loved to read from a delightful book to my nine children. I must try to find that book, because it had the most beautiful illustrations.
Thank you for having it “on tap” for a 91 year old grand and great Memom!!! Fondly, Ann
January 14th, 2019 at 11:36 pm
Probably too many years have passed for me to add to this thread, but I’ll try. Back in the early 1940s, I learned a different version to the “misty, moisty morning” song and don’t remember now which of my grandmothers sang it to me. One was born in the Scottish Borders in 1884, the other was born in Cornwall in 1867. It’s the version I taught our children and grandchildren, and now the great-grandchildren who are starting to arrive:
‘Twas a misty, moisty morning,
When cloudy was the weather.
I chanced to meet an old man,
Clothed all in leather.
He was clothed all in leather
From his heels unto his head.
He winked at me, he smiled at me,
And this is what he said.
“Say ‘How do you do, and shake hands,
Shake hands, shake hands.
How do you do and shake hands,
And state your name and business.'”
Frankly, I’ve never heard any of the versions I’ve read here and other places on the internet. Mine seem to be exclusive to the little corners of Britain from where my ancestors came, but I’m very sure of them. I’ve been singing them since I was in nursery school in Vancouver, Canada. We all sang it in a circle and shook hands with the children beside us when we came to those words.
December 1st, 2019 at 7:18 am
The ren fair dancers taught me the rhyme…
One misty moisty morning, when cloudy was the weather,
I saw a young man walking all clad in leather,
he was all clad in leather with a bonnet beneath his chin,
Singing howdy do, howdy do and howdy do again.
There are other verses that seemed to be a competition for
the most suggestive version telling of a story of a drunken sheppard
passed out under a tree and two maiden that came to milk the goats found him
they decided to tie one of their ribbons (on it) and leave.
When he woke he went to “go” and he said,
“I don’t know where I been or what I’ve done, but it looks like I won first prize !”
Of course this came with jokes of the ease of a kilt.