10 Dark Nursery Rhymes
Hey guys, Culture here.
Today we'll be discussing 10 Dark Nursery Rhymes.
More specifically, we'll look at the origin and hidden meaning behind these seemingly
innocent stories.
Nursery rhymes are one of those weird things that we all seem to learn when we're young
yet have absolutely no use for past the age of 5.
So let's look at the twisted reasons some of these stories have become ingrained in
our collective consciousness.
Number 1:
"Humpty Dumpty" is a popular nursery rhyme character depicted as an anthropomorphic egg,
sitting on a wall, and then shattering to pieces once he falls off of it.
Personally, I remember Humpty Dumpty from the kid's TV show Play School, where he
was way less cool than Big Ted and Little Ted.
If you look at the poem he is from however, Humpty Dumpty is never described physically.
The most obvious dark explanation for this nursery rhyme is that it's the story of
an actual man who fell asleep and plummeted to his death.
In reality there are actually numerous theories about the rhyme's origin.
The most popular and likely theory comes from the use of the phrase "Humpty Dumpty"
as 1500's British slang for a fat person.
During the Second English Civil War in 1648 there was a mounted cannon on the roof of
a church in Colchester that was incredibly large and immoveable, therefore it was nicknamed
"Humpty Dumpty."
The story goes that the man operating the cannon, Jack Thompson, fought off many Parliamentarians
in the siege of Colchester and drew the enemies' ire. Thompson came under heavy fire which
eventually destroyed the tower he was mounted upon, bringing him and Humpty Dumpty crashing
down.
Of course, the cannon could no longer be put back together again.
Another theory states that the original rhyme was more of a children's riddle rather than
a story, prompting the listener to guess what Humpty Dumpty was.
The answer was an egg, leading to his depiction as an egg later on by Lewis Carroll in Through
the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There.
Number 2:
"Ring around the Rosie" is a popular example of a children's song that is rumoured to
have a dark story attached to it.
In the most famous British version, the song ends with the lyrics "a-tishoo, a-tishoo,
we all fall down," which apparently sounds like people sneezing before keeling over and
dying.
This interpretation leads to the urban myth that this rhyme is about the Black Death,
an outbreak of Bubonic Plague that killed one third of the human population in mid-14th
century Europe.
In this case, "Ring around the Rosie" means some sort of lesion or bruise, and "pocket
full of posies" relates to the spices used by plague doctors to keep themselves from
smelling the bad air of quarantined plague zones.
This idea is largely discredited however and with good reason: Firstly, the poem first
appeared in written form in 1881 in Kate Greenaway's "Mother Goose or The Old Nursery Rhymes."
That means the poem would need to have existed for 500 years without anyone committing it
to print; highly unlikely.
Secondly, many other forms of the poem exist that don't contain any of the plague imagery.
This is true for both English versions and versions in other languages.
It may be that "Ring around the Rosie" is just a fun sounding child's rhyme, but
the plague interpretation is clearly interesting enough to have piqued our interest.
Number 3:
"Baa Baa Black Sheep," is a nursery rhyme in which the singer asks the titular sheep
if it has any wool.
It responds by telling them how much it has, as well as where it will distribute it.
The version commonly sung nowadays says the master, the dame and the little boy each receive
one bag.
However the oldest surviving version written in 1744 states the sheep has two bags for
the master, one for the dame, but none for the little boy who cries down the lane.
Obviously this version is much sadder, explaining why it was changed for use as a kid's song.
But some people believe there is also a political message behind the lyrics.
In the late 13th century a heavy tax on wool trade was implemented by King Edward the First
to fund his military ventures.
As such, the money gained from selling the wool would no longer stretch to accommodate
the needs of the poor or, in other words, the little boy.
Of course the more recent interpretation you may have heard is that the rhyme is about
the slave trade.
This notion is just ridiculous however; it has no basis in historical fact.
In any case, if that were true, the "black wool" is actually more valuable as it doesn't
need to be dyed to make dark clothes.
Unfortunately, we already had some people in Oxfordshire change the lyrics to "Baa
baa rainbow sheep" so all logic has gone out the window at this point.
Number 4:
"Goosey Goosey Gander" involves a narrator wondering where he will go, whereupon he finds
an old man and pushes him down a flight of stairs.
Some claim that this is about King Henry VIII, creator of the Church of England, and serial
wife divorce-er.
When he couldn't get divorced under the Catholic Church, King Henry created the Church
of England and decreed that everyone should follow him.
During this time, Catholic Priests were treated harshly and even executed if found and so
they often hid in "Priest Holes", essentially secret spaces in the houses of their friends.
It's possible that the old man who wouldn't say his prayers is a Catholic Priest hiding
from the wrath of the Protestants, and throwing him down the stairs is a reference to punishment
that Henry would impose.
A more risqué interpretation of the poem suggests that "goose" is euphemism for
a prostitute.
In this case the poem is about a dirty old man found in the brothel owner's "lady's
chamber".
Number 5:
"Rock a Bye Baby," is a lullaby that many mothers sing to their children when putting
them to sleep.
Of course it's not hard to imagine how this lullaby could be dark when it literally involves
a baby falling out of a tree, but perhaps surprising is just how many theories there
as to the lullaby's true meaning.
It's possible that the story could be another political allegory from days of old.
Preceding the historical event known as the "Glorious Revolution" then then-king of
England, James the Second, was about to have his first heir.
Controversy surrounded the incident though as people gossiped that someone else's child
was smuggled in to the birthing room to provide James the Second with a Roman Catholic heir
to the throne.
This heir would be the "baby" in the lullaby, whilst the "wind" refers to James the
Second's Nephew, William of Orange, who was a Protestant.
He deposed James the Second causing the "cradle", or the family line, to fall.
A less convoluted explanation suggests the poem was written by an English immigrant to
America who witnessed the Native American way of life.
It was common for women to place their babies in cradles hung from tree branches with the
wind rocking their child to sleep.
Of course that would make the last line quite literal, and still quite dark.
Number 6:
"Three Blind Mice" has sometimes been attributed to Mary I of England, though the
earlier versions of the song don't appear until long after her death.
This rhyme is another case of Catholic-Protestant hatred for one another… if only all fights
were settled with cheery children's rhymes.
In the revised version, the three mice have their tails cut off by the farmer's wife
with a carving knife.
Some have said that the three mice are Protestant Bishops, with their "blindness" being
their spiritual blindness according to the Catholic Church.
The Farmer's Wife could be Mary herself, as she had three individuals, known as the
"Oxford Martyrs," executed.
She didn't chop them up or blind them, though, as they were burned at the stake.
Number 7:
The rhyme "Who Killed Cock Robin?"
essentially consists of how different animals are involved in the death and subsequent funeral
procession of Cock Robin.
There are plenty of political interpretations akin to the other nursery rhymes we've discussed
so far but "Who Killed Cock Robin?" has a particularly odd association.
It's possible that the song is actually an allusion to the Norse story of Ragnarok.
This tale is quite dark, because it is literally about the murder of the god of light.
In the original tale, Loki, god of Trickery, convinces the blind god Hodur to shoot an
arrow at his brother, letting him think that it would bounce off of him harmlessly.
Unfortunately, the arrow was the only thing that could harm Baldur, and he dies, leading
the world into an extended period of winter and darkness.
Number 8:
"Rub-a-dub-dub," like many other nursery rhymes, appears to be quite nonsensical, with
it being about three men in a tub and sailing in it.
But, the original version actually puts three maids in the tub; finally, a rhyme with a
bit of "sauciness" behind its meaning.
The setting is a local fair with a peep show, and the rhyme asks the listener who they thought
were there.
So, the Butcher, the Baker, and the Candlestick Maker weren't all palling around on a fantastic
voyage, but all three of them were watching quite the spectacle, seeing some young ladies
take a bath.
And here I was thinking that 3 men taking a bath together out at sea was a joke about
the navy…
I'm gonna catch some flak for that joke, aren't I?
Number 9:
"Pop!
Goes the Weasel" delights children and scares the living daylights out of anyone who has
ever used a jack-in-the-box for 200 years, but if those who listen to it are like the
monkey and think "it's all in good fun," they are mistaken.
If you're like me you probably never realised the song even had lyrics but indeed it does…
about 5 verses actually.
Many versions of this song exist, but all talk about financial situations, including
lines like "A penny for a spool of thread/ a nickel for a needle-/that's the way the
money goes."
The song is mostly about the hard times people go in when trying to make a living in a poor
economic environment.
The "weasel" is a mechanical thread-measuring device used by people in the textiles industry
to get the right length of yarn.
It makes a "pop" sound when the correct length is reached, so it could be that each
verse is a day-dreaming thought by the worker who is suddenly plunged back into reality
by the "pop" sound.
A later version of the song even adds in disease to the mix: "Jimmy's got the whooping
cough, and Timmy's got the measles."
Yeesh, come on people; lighten it up a little bit.
Number 10:
Even "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," has a seedy backstory.
Earlier publications of the song are associated with American Minstrel shows, known for their
use of blackface.
But besides this association, the song is really an allegory for life itself.
The most basic interpretation is that time carries onward whether we like it to or not,
and all we can do is row with it and take on a positive mindset.
The last line, "life is but a dream", is kind of sad when you think about it.
It's an illusion we put up, we construct meaning to give our lives when in reality
we're all just flowing down a stream towards… well… the inevitable.
If you ask me, a nursery rhyme about the senseless nature of life is the darkest topic one could
imagine.
Or hey, you know, it could just be a jaunty tune about how peaceful it is to take in nature
as you travel down a river... yeah, let's go with that.
See you all next week!
For more infomation >> A Dark Fairytale Cake - Duration: 20:13. 
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