Star Light, Star Bright
Traditional song
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Star Light, Star Bright" is an English language nursery rhyme of American origin. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 16339.
Lyrics
The lyrics usually conform to the following:
- Star light, star bright,
- First star I see tonight;
- I wish I may, I wish I might
- Have the wish I wish tonight.[1]
Origin
According to folklorists Iona and Peter Opie, the superstition of hoping for wishes granted when seeing a shooting or falling star may date back to the ancient world.[2] It was also mentioned in The Encyclopedia of Superstitions that wishing on the first star seen may also predate this rhyme.[3] The song "Star Light, Star Bright" first began to be recorded in mid/late nineteenth-century America.[3] It can be found in works dating to at least 1866 as the song appears in "Swallows on the Wing O'er Garden Springs of Delight" by William Furniss.[4] It can also be found in an 1873 article from "To-day" magazine where the song is linked to fortunes.[5] The song and tradition seem to have reached Britain by the early twentieth century and have since spread worldwide.[2]
