While I was reading about nursery rhymes on the internet, I found the actual meaning behind Sing a Song of Sixpence. It stated that the song actually had its origins with pirates. I thought it was interesting. I wonder what other nursery rhymes, had not so savory meanings. Here is the article on Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/lost/sixpence.asp
Many of them!!!! Most were politically inclined. For example, Jack Sprat delt with the economic situation of the day. There was not enough money for a man to feed his family and no jobs for the man to work. Ha, Ha! Much like our economy today. Maybe we should revise this old nursery rhyme.
http://www.rhymes.org.uk/ I had a similar question several years back. A teacher of mine in highschool made a comment about the song "London Bridge is Falling Down" apparently it's about the death of Anne Boleyn.
I knew Ring Around the Rosie was about the bubonice plague until I looked it up on Snopes. They say it had nothing to do with the plague and probably started when there was a ban on dancing for Protestants.
I'd thought so too. Maby some of the same songs have some different meanings. I'd always thought London Bridges was about the Black Death... Go figure
I think we can see a similar trend in fairytale/folktales; children love them, but the unexpurgated versions—and even some of the sanitised retellings—include some very disturbing content.
Actually, the "Sixpence" post on Snopes isn't true. NONE of the posts in "Lost Legends" are true--they put them up to make people check sources. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click "More Info About This Page" http://www.snopes.com/lost/false.asp
