I have a CD that I play on the way to work. My daughter (3) loves it. There was an old woman who lived in a show. Rock a Bye Baby, the usuals. Well, listening to them, I saw that many of them had themes that were kind of morbid – beating children, not feeding children if they act naughty, baking blackbirds in pies, babies falling out of carriages.
Anyone know the history of any of these?
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I’ve wondered the same thing…. poor baby falling out of the tree top… and why was baby on a tree top anyway?
I wish I knew the history behind these…
Maybe scare tactics for children way back when.
there’s history behind all of those morbid songs.
rock-a-bye baby – This song is related to a Native American tradition. A long time ago Native Americans put their babies in a papoose (kind of like a backpack today), and hung them a nearby tree while they worked. They could see, hear and tend to the baby as needed. They hung them in the tree to keep them off the ground and away from animals. If the bough were to break, down would come baby.
ring around the rosies – was about the bubonic plague.
People used to carry posies in their pockets, thinking it would ward off the disease. ‘Ashes ashes, we all fall down’ refers to the mass burning of infected corpses and people dying.
I agree that they can be pretty morbid. Here is a site that lists nursery rhymes, lyrics, history and origin. It’s pretty interesting!
That is a very good question! I read this about the Rock a Bye lullaby:
“Originally titled ‘Hushabye Baby’, this nursery rhyme was said to be the first poem written on American soil. Although there is no evidence as to when the lyrics were written, it may date from the seventeenth century and have been written by an English immigrant who observed the way native-American women rocked their babies in birch-bark cradles, which were suspended from the branches of trees, allowing the wind to rock the baby to sleep.”
And I know that “Ring Around the Rosie” was about the black plague. But I don’t really know much more than that…Sorry.
Jack and Jill – The French (history) connection!
The roots of the story, or poem, of Jack and Jill are in France. Jack and Jill referred to are said to be King Louis XVI – Jack -who was beheaded (lost his crown) followed by his Queen Marie Antoinette – Jill – (who came tumbling after). The words and lyrics to the Jack and Jill poem were made more acceptable as a story for children by providing a happy ending! The actual beheading occurred in during the Reign of Terror in 1793. The first publication date for the lyrics of Jack and Jill rhyme is 1795 – which ties-in with the history and origins. The Jack and Jill poem is also known as Jack and Gill – the misspelling of Gill is not uncommon in nursery rhymes as they are usually passed from generation to generation by word of mouth.
Same thing w/ Ring around the Rosies (“ashes, ashes they all fall down” is related to the black plague & dying). These are century old songs & stories & they were related to times when things were morbid & the age expectancy was 45 or something.
you haven’t heard violent until you go back and read some of the earlier versions of Red Riding Hood (cannibalism, murder, rape) and some of the earlier tales.
many of the fairy tales and the early songs were originally for adult entertainment. Often they were newer or updated versions of earlier myths (Beauty and the Beast is a variation of the Cupid and Psyche myth) that had been passed down for years. They were meant to teach or warn the listener.
in the mid18th century, educated people began to take an interest in folk lore and folk wisdom and recording the stories that had been passed down orally for years. By the mid 19th century, the stories had been sanitized of much of their violence and sex so that they could be told to children.
another thing to note: a good many of the nursery rhymes we have children sing and recite were actually political satire and ways to pass information on to the common man or in code so as to not openly offend a monarch. Most of the nursery rhymes we have today come from about the 16th to 18th centuries. During this time it was fashionable to create clever little poems and songs about current events as a way to amuse. In much the same way we use skits and political cartoons today.
Mary, Mary quite contrary is about Mary, Queen of Scots (although I’ve also heard it is about Mary I of England).
London Bridge is falling down is about the destruction of London Bridge during the Great Fire of 1666.
Ring around the Rosies is about the Great Plague of London in 1665 (London had several really bad years in a row)
Little Jack Horner is about a scam pulled by the steward of an abbot around the time Henry VIII dissolved the monestaries (although his decendents deny it)
Georgie Porgie is about a duke and either his many affairs or his alliances with powerful female monarchs who he later betrayed or otherwise disappointed.
as to Rock Abye Baby: that was supposed to have been influenced by a European witnessing the Native American habit of hanging the baby in his/her cradle or bunting in the tree and he was wondering what would happen if the branch broke.
Below is a link that explores this more in depth. It’s not the only site to do so, but it’s one of the better ones.
Source(s):
The Secret History of Nursery Rhymes
http://www.rhymes.org.uk/nursery-rhyme.h…
probably just like everything parents try to do to kids when they are young, try to scare them to do the right thing. Kids nowadays are smarter and dont fall for the same thing. Same reason the whole “dont take candy from strangers” thing died. They had to come up with a new way of doing things. No matter what age they are 3, 6 or 14, parents all ways had these scary stories. The only difference is before kids use to listen them to them all the way up to their teens, now teenagers dont listen to anything but the internet and tv.
they were made up to use as scare tactics to make kids do what they were told.
if you google each lullabye, you could probably find out how each one came to be and why it was used.
Interesting, isn’t it!
Well maybe it’s just a way of cultivating and expanding our imagination, helping us to begin thinking, in the simplest of ways. How could she live in a shoe with all those children? How did they get the baby on the treetop?
Good Luck, 😉
Yeah, I heard “Ring around the rosies” was originated when Hitler burned thousands of Jews and threw their ashes into the air. Wierd.