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Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
The man in the moon looked out of the moon,
And this is what he said:
"Now that I'm getting up it's time all children went to bed,
All children went to bed!"
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
"The Man in the Moon" is a traditional bedtime rhyme that calls on one of the oldest figures in children's folklore — the face in the moon — to enforce bedtime. The logic is neat and slightly comic: the man in the moon is getting up, which means it is nighttime, which means children should be going to sleep. The moon's rising is reframed as a dawn for the lunar inhabitant, and that inhabitant uses his authority to send children to bed.
The man in the moon is one of the most ancient figures in folklore. Across many cultures, the patterns of light and shadow on the lunar surface have been read as a face or a figure, and that figure has been given a personality and a role. In some traditions he is a shepherd; in others he carries a bundle of sticks (as punishment for gathering sticks on the Sabbath); in English nursery lore he tends to be a comic figure, "drinking cold cream" or telling children it is past their bedtime.
The appeal of this particular rhyme for bedtime use is clear: it removes the authority for going to bed from the parent — who might be argued with — and transfers it to the moon, which cannot be argued with at all. The moon is getting up; therefore children must go to bed. The logic is impeccable.
Our arrangement gives the moon the quiet authority it deserves.
