Do Nursery Rhymes have a more sinister meaning?Ringing the dust off London's bells.

This article got me thinking off the many other nursery rhymes that do have a darker meaning to them.

Oranges and Lemons

A piece of music based on the Oranges and Lemons nursery rhyme has been recorded to mark the 150th anniversary of Big Ben. It uses 200 bells from the 17 London churches named in the full version of the rhyme.

As for Oranges and lemons,why the ending 'Here comes a chopper to chop of your head.Chip,chop,chip chop the last mans . . .Head'.

The psychology and the philosophy behind them is something that has been debated over the years,was there something more sinister behind there meanings?
What would your Ideas be about them?

Also which ones used to scare you when you were little?


[edit on 10/7/09 by gallifreyan medic]

Doesn't "Ring a ring of roses" have something to do with the plague..."atishoo, atishoo we all fall down"?

I'd love to know why you don't hear new nursery rhymes? These rhymes seem to have come from centuries ago, but in this day and age of music making, we never hear any new nursery rhymes made.

CX.

Heres a good site. Just click on a nursery rhyme and it gives you the history and meaning.

www.rhymes.org.uk...

CX.

reply to post by CX


That one is top of the debate list all the time.

I don't think it was though,well I did see an explanation of it on a UK programme called QI.

reply to post by CX


Well thank you for that.
I did know of it.

[edit on 10/7/09 by gallifreyan medic]

Originally posted by gallifreyan medic
reply to post by CX

 

Well thank you for that.
Posting something that can kill a thread before its began.

Really?

Apologies for having killed your thread, it was not my intention. You started a thread asking for information on the meanings or nursery rhymes, and i gave you probably the best way of seeing the true meaning of the rhymes.

ATS is usualy a place where people get info and facts fast, not to kill a thread, but to help it stay on track and reduce the guesswork.

Personaly, i don't think i killed the thread, i actually gave your thread more information to toy with. Pick the supposed meanings apart if people so wish, are there any that ring true? Are there predictions in the rhymes or meaings somewhere?

I think it will be a long time before i can hold the title of a thread killer, the members of ATS are more than capable of expanding on a couple of threads and the info contained in them.

If it's really a major problem though, i can remove the link....but i guarunteee someone else will post it, thinking they are assisting to the thread.

CX.

reply to post by CX


I didn't say you did,just that it could.
I was intending to add it later but wanted if interest by some had been peaked to allow people to look into it alittle themselves.

My apologese for coming across a little miffed,I was a little with not having long put up the thread.
But it hasn't got much attention anyway.Wrong time of day I guess.

No probs.

CX.

Originally posted by CX
Doesn't "Ring a ring of roses" have something to do with the plague..."atishoo, atishoo we all fall down"?

I'd love to know why you don't hear new nursery rhymes? These rhymes seem to have come from centuries ago, but in this day and age of music making, we never hear any new nursery rhymes made.

CX. [/quote

yes ring a ring of roses was to do with the black plague- or so I heard

Not only nursery rhymes but also bedtime stories, don't you think the Pied Piper of Hamlin is a story based on a man who done a deed for the council, the council refused to pay and so he got his revenge? Couldv'e even been a pedeophile.

reply to post by NathanNewZealand


Yes some of the old bedtime stories are a little dark.
We all do it,tell our little ones these stories but do we really understand the meaning/moral behind them?

Good thread, I have always had a great interest in the nursery rhymes that children have sang for 100's of years,

Though i would be interested to also find any new ones that come from the times that we now live in? I wonder if really one day the rhymes will just fade away,

reply to post by asala


Personally I think they will always be sang/told to generation after generation.
With my babies when they were babies,I can remember singing them to them almost without thinking about it.

Have there been any new ones?
Variations of the old ones but I can't think of any at the moment.



[edit on 10/7/09 by gallifreyan medic]

When my youngest children were small I read to them from the Treasury of Mother Goose Rhymes. One of our favorites was entitled Swim.

It goes like this...

Mother, may I go out to swim?
Yes, my darling daughter.
Hang your clothes on a hickory limb
And don't go near the water.

What in the heck does that mean? The only rational idea I could come up with is that parents wanted to confuse the daylights out of their kids for some crazy reason.

Originally posted by asala
I wonder if really one day the rhymes will just fade away,

Or be removed by the PC brigade.

Recent examples here in the UK....kids not allowed to say "Baa baa black sheep" as it is racist, and having to say "What shall we do with the grumpy pirate" instead of "drunken sailor" lol.

I wonder if the rhymes have changed much since olden times?

Most of the old nursery rhymes seeen to be based on real events. You don't see that nowadays do you?

CX.

Hopefully TO me its like singing part of history, Times often forgotten..

[edit on 10-7-2009 by asala]

Tell you what though, would be interesting if we all could come up with one about the times we now live in? something to think about eh!

reply to post by Hazelnut


Hmmm.That's an odd one.
Passed me by,haven't heard it before.

Plenty of them are a little bewildering in meaning.Why have they been wrote that way though?
Dose psychology really come into it or are they just simply what they are?

what about the one

'when the bough breaks
the cradle will fall
down will come baby, cradle and all

my Mum used to sing that to me- its like how is that a nice song to sing to a baby Mum

reply to post by asala


Interesting idea.Thank you,and thank you.

Now with society in its way of ,how would it be best described in the simple?
That would I guess be one to start with for future generations to glimpse of us.