One bright day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other.
The deaf policeman heard the noise,
Came and shot the two dead boys.
If you don’t believe this lie is true,
Ask the blind man, he saw it too.
————–
When Paul and I were young we went around saying the little ditty above to each other. The words have a catchy rhythm when you say them aloud-but mostly we liked the silliness of the poem. Each line is a total impossibility-and as the poem moves along the impossibilities get larger and larger.
A few weeks ago I woke up with the poem on my mind. As a child I never gave the origins of the poem a second thought. A quick google search told me lots of people-from all parts of the country-remembers the poem from their childhood too.
The British Columbia Folklore Society has an entire page dedicated to the poem One Fine Day In The Middle Of The Night, and offers this information about the poem:
“As to the history of “One Fine Day…” it appears to have evolved from tangle-worded couplets that have been popular in Miracle Plays and the folklore and folksongs of the British Isles since the Middle Ages. Tiddy, in his book The Mummers’ Play [1923, Oxford, Oxford University Press], cites the earliest known example of this type of humour as appearing in the manuscript of Land of Cockaigne about 1305 [Tiddy 1923, p. 116] and a 15th century manuscript in the Bodleian Library [MS Engl. poet. e. 1: c.1480] includes four lines that are directly related to our rhyme.
In one form or another the modern version of Two Dead Boys, including many of the orphan pieces found below, has been collected from children in playgrounds since the middle of the 19th century. A detailed study with examples collected throughout the British Isles since the turn of the 20th century can be found in Iona and Peter Opie’s The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren [1959, Oxford. Oxford University Press, pp. 24-29].”
As with any poem or song that’s been around for a few generations, there are numerous variations to the poem One Fine Day In The Middle Of The Night. The version of the poem Paul and I remember obviously deviates from the beginning line-where we said “one bright day in the middle of the night” the original started the line with “one fine day.”
Have you ever heard the poem?
Tipper
39 Comments
Jennifer Collins
September 16, 2020 at 3:36 amI cant recall where exactly i learned this poem but I remember it from early childhood as the following….One fine day in the middle of the night two dead boys got up to fight. Back to bsck, they faced each other. Sword in hand they shot each other. A deaf policeman heard the noise and came and killed those two dead boys. Im almost 47 and lived in Kentucky as a very young child. I know my mum wouldnt have taught me this. Wish I could recall where I learned it.
Hazy Hartman
June 30, 2020 at 9:36 pmThe Barefoot Boy With Shoes On [b.Asa Martin]
It was midnight on the ocean
Not a streetcar was in sight
The sun was shining brightly
And it rained all day that night
It was a summer’s day in winter
And the rain was snowing fast
And a barefoot boy with shoes on
Stood sitting in the grass
And the cows were making cowslips (A yellow flower)
And the bells were ringing wet
The bumble bees were making bums
And smoking cigarettes
A man went in a stable
And came out a little hoarse
He jumped upon his golfstick
And rode all around the course
While the organ peeled potatoes
Lard was rendered by the choir
The sexton rang a dish-rag (official who maintains a church)
Someone set the church on fire
Holy smokes the preacher shouted
In the rain he lost his hair
Now his head resembles heaven
Cause there sin’t no partin’ there.
it was midnight on the ocean
Not a horsecart was in sight
I went into a drugstore
To get myself a light
The man behind the counter
Was a lady old and gray
Who used to peddle shoestrings
On the road to Mandalay
My husband’s dead the lady said
Her eyes were dry with tears
She put her head between her feet
And stood that way for years
Her children six were orphans
Except one tiny tot
Who lived in a house across the street
Above a vacant lot
It was evening and the sunrise
was just setting in the west;
And the fishes in the treetops
were all cuddled in their nests.
As the wind was blowing bubbles,
lightning shot from left to right;
Everything that you could see
had been hidden out of sight
As I gazed through the oaken door
A whale went drifting by
It’s six legs hanging in the air
So I kissed her goodbye.
This story has a moral
As you can plainly see
Don’t mix your gin with whiskey
On the deep and dark blue sea.
US Marine
February 5, 2020 at 5:28 amMy Dad taught me this poem in the 70’s and I recited it goofing around with my wife. She was raised in California and had never heard it before. Must be that fine education out there in the land of milk and honey. Thanks to everyone for sharing their memories of how they learned it and where they’re from. Very interesting to see the different variations.
Amy
May 22, 2020 at 11:18 pmMy grandmother was a second grade school teacher in the 1950s. I have one of her old textbooks and on one of the pages is a poem called the “backwards rhyme” by anonymous.
One bright day in the middle of the night two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard this noise, came out and shot the two dead boys.
If you do not believe this lie is true ask the blind man he saw it too.
It’s a Nonsense Poem and maybe goes back as far as the 13th century. There are many variations to it.
My favorite part of that old textbook is that poem and that it says “one day we will land on the moon”.
Gwen
December 19, 2019 at 1:40 amMy dad recited this to my brother and me when we were growing up. Dad grew up in Florida, North Carolina and Texas, but we lived in Mississippi. His version was a little different, and also left out the third stanza.
One dark night when the sun was shining bright,
Two dead men got up to fight.
They faced each other back to back,
Drew their swords and shot each other.
If you don’t believe my story’s true,
Ask the blind man, he saw it too.
Gwen
December 19, 2019 at 1:42 amjust remembered there were two lines before the “one dark night.” It went as follows:
Ladies and gentlemen, hobos and tramps,
I come before you to stand behind you
to tell you something I know nothing about.
One dark night when the sun….
Sarah J Lutz
November 23, 2019 at 10:07 pmI can remember my father reciting this poem. He began it with “One fine day” and left out the third stanza
Jessie
February 9, 2019 at 7:56 pm@Susi pentico
The Borough picture house in Wallsend
I went to The Borough tomorrow
I got a front seat at the back
I fell up from the stalls to the circle
And broke a front bone in my back
Mary Webster
October 14, 2017 at 11:00 amI remember it as One dark night when the sun was shining bright, then the rest was the same. I have been trying to remember it all, so, thanks for posting.
Tipper
April 23, 2017 at 12:47 pmMary-thank you for sharing the hearse song lyrics. It’s been years since I thought about the creepy words : )
Mary gambrell
April 23, 2017 at 12:43 amHave you ever stopped to think when a hearse goes by,that you may be the next to die?You will be wrapped in a bloody sheet, and buried about six feet.you will be alright for a week or so,then your casket gets a hole.maggots Will crawl in and out, playing pitter patter on your scalp.they will eat your eyes,and your nose,and the jelly between your toes,and your left without a spoon,so use a straw.
denneal ross
March 28, 2017 at 7:09 pmI remember my dad telling us this poem when I was real little. That was in the 60’s. He told us he learned it as a kid. Every great once in a while I think of it but didn’t know how it went. Now I can tell it to my grandchildren and later hopefully they will tell their grandchildren too. Wonderful childhood memory.
tom
October 19, 2016 at 10:42 amJimi Hendrix put a version of this rhyme to music in the early 1970s. He called the song, Strange Things.
William
September 24, 2020 at 2:06 pmI heard this poem from my dad in the 50’s In Oregon. He and his parents were born there
His version started with:
One bright day in the middle of night
Mary
August 17, 2014 at 10:08 pmI was just thinking about this today. I remember the one that you mention in your blog. My sister taught it to me, but I don’t know where she learned it.
Sarah
February 2, 2014 at 5:24 pmMy mother told me this poem ever since I was little and I have always enjoyed its backwardsness. This is how I remember it;
In the middle of the night
The sun was shining bright
Two dead boys got up to fight
Back to back they faced each other
Drew their swords and shot one another
The deaf policeman heard the noise
And came to kill the two dead boys
If you believe this lie so true
Ask the blind woman, he saw it too
My mother told me she read it in an English text book back in grade school and I have always wondered what the original version was like. But so far I like hers the best!
Mrs. K
October 27, 2013 at 2:10 amOh my gosh, my husband introduced me to this years ago and sings it every now and then. In his version it goes like this:
One bright day in the middle of the night,
two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise,
came and killed the two dead boys.
If you don’t believe this story is true,
ask the blind woman, she saw it too.
This one differs only in the last line – a blind women – which I didn’t see at the folklore page. My husband was born in Brooklyn, grew up on Long Island, and learned this at camp in Connecticut during the 1950s.
Another very interesting tidbit!
dolores
October 26, 2013 at 12:27 pmI have never seen nor heard this poem before reading it today. It does take many twists and turns; keeps the reader/listener guessing. I liked it!
Paul Certo
October 26, 2013 at 12:04 pmI recall that from when I was a kid, but I haven’t thought of it in decades. I probably wondered where it came from, but never tried to learn more. I can’t recall how long it’s been since I heard or recited it, but it was common “back in the day”!
Ken Roper
October 26, 2013 at 11:51 amTipper,
That’s cute! But I don’t think I’ve
ever heard it before. This kind of
stuff is perfect since we’re nearing
all them Spooks and Goblins.
I’m going to repeat this one to all
my granddaughters, bet they ain’t
heard it either…Ken
Sarah Bryan
October 26, 2013 at 11:43 amThere’s a great version of this recited by, I think, Hattie Stoneman, on one of the early Ernest and Hattie Stoneman/Eck Dunford records. I think it’s “An Exhibition at Possum Trot School.” Not sure of the date, late ’20s or early ’30s…
b. Ruth
October 26, 2013 at 11:34 amTipper,
I sure did enjoy the memory of this poem and your research! I forgot to tell you that. Was it the season that got you to thinking of the poem?
I have anothe epitaph for you!
In heavy traffic he would never postpone
A single call on his cell phone.
So listen carefully and I vow
He’s still asking, “Can you hear me now?”
This one ain’t mine, I got it off the All About Halloween website!LOL
Thanks Tipper,
It is double “mite airish” here this morning. Yesterday we had a frost and hard freeze with another one last night even colder. Usually we start the season with a few scattered frosts in the area before a hard freese…A skiff of snow was seen at Mount La Counte…Oh how I would have loved to been in that cabin overlooking that! Oh well, I susupect we will have ours soon enough!
b. Ruth
October 26, 2013 at 11:04 amTipper,
I remember the poem! It has been many years! I remember a teacher telling us to figure out the poem in truth…
For instance…”One bright day in the middle of the night!”
That could mean the story took place in the great North Alaskan continent and the boys were Eskimos and for months the sun shines at night just like a bright day!
“Two dead boys got up to fight!”
Their last name could have been,
Dead! Thus Billy Dead and Joe Dead!
“Back to back they faced each other!”
They were playing this scenario looking in a mirrow!
“The deaf policeman heard the noise came and shot the two dead boys!”
The policeman was “daft” not deaf..meaning a little off his rocker..using his night stick to give the boys a shot to the head!
“If you don’t believe me this lie is true!” Meaning the story is a lie but the word meaning is true!
“Ask the blind man he saw it too.”
The blind man, walks the streets in England selling window blinds!
And that’s the end of the story!
There are always different tales as it is passed down from generation to generation or eye witness to eye witness! LOL
Thanks Tipper….and my 6th grade teacher…
Ed Ammons
October 26, 2013 at 11:04 amYour post today reminds me of a little ditty my father used to sing. I can’t remember the whole thing, just the tune and one phrase from it, “gonna buy me a five dollar diller dollar secondary roller binder, to wear with my old Jew Jenkins.”
I am hoping that one of the litterateurs who frequent this site will recognize it and relate the rest of the song to me.
PS: Google yielded me exactly nothing.
Susi Pentico
October 26, 2013 at 10:57 amNow I am wondering if anyone can remember it’s mate.
The one about going to the theatre and falling up to b reak his back. Funny both have been wandering around my brain lately. I was told they came out of the readers that my parents and siblings read in school in the 1920s and my Uncle had the early readers his parents had and there was many like this in them. 1880’s or so.
Jessie
February 9, 2019 at 7:52 pmIt concerned ‘The Borough’, a picture house in Wallsend:
I went to The Borough tomorrow
I got a front seat at the back
I fell from the stalls to the circle
And broke a front bone in my back
6 years later lol sorry. Just ramndomly been reciting “one bright day in the…” poem for the past few month and stumbled upon this x
Charline
October 26, 2013 at 10:28 amMy grandmother, who grew up in a rural area outside Birmingham, AL, recited this (the ‘bright day’ version) to us with relish!I told it to my kids, but this reminds me to quote it to my grandson.
Lola Howard
October 26, 2013 at 10:05 amI’ve heard this for so many years .
Bill Burnett
October 26, 2013 at 9:22 amI can’t remember the first time I heard this ditty but I always heard the variation; Early one morning, Late one night, Two dead soldiers got in a fight
Jane Bolden
October 26, 2013 at 8:32 amAmazing how things are passed down through the generations. It has always intrigued me.
Jerry
October 26, 2013 at 8:20 amI live in Arkansas. My father taught me this poem when I was a kid about 65 years ago and I’ve never forgotten it. It’s been many years since I heard anyone say it. We need to keep it going.
Miss Cindy
October 26, 2013 at 8:10 amI remember that little poem from childhood. The one I remembered started “One fine day”. I have no recollection where I heard it not even what state we lived in when I heard it but since most of my childhood was not in North Carolina I am assuming it must have been in Texas, Georgia, or Tennessee.
It’s funny that I recognized it right away and I haven’t thought of it in more years that I care to count.
I recall that it was the absurdity of it that appealed to me!
Mike McLain
October 26, 2013 at 8:01 amI remember this silly poem well. I had forgotten about it until you reminded me.
Bob Dalsemer
October 26, 2013 at 7:55 amMy Dad used to recite that to my sister and I with a few changes. His first line was “Twas on a dark and stormy night.” And he didn’t include the last two lines.
Carol
October 26, 2013 at 7:39 amI had totally forgotten this rhyme. I think we used to jump rope to the rhythm of saying it.
TimMc
October 26, 2013 at 7:38 amNope, never heard it,, but know some folks that would try to make you believe it… Ever heard the phrase “If you don’t believe the truth there’s only one thing left to believe”?
Judy Mincey
October 26, 2013 at 7:24 amGolly, hadn’t thought of that in “forever”. We said Bright, also. Haven’t a clue where we learned it.
Sheryl Paul
October 26, 2013 at 7:20 amOh gosh that brings back memories, my mother used to recite it to us when we were little. Are there more verses than those you wrote down?
Dan McCarter
October 26, 2013 at 6:51 amThanks for posting this. I learned this when I was a kid growing up in the Smokies