Nursery Rhymes and Their Origins

(Wikipedia) A nursery rhyme is a traditional song or poem taught to young children, and specific actions or dances are often associated with particular songs. Learning such verse assists in the development of vocabulary, and several examples deal with rudimentary counting skills, e.g. eenie, meenie, mynie, mo.

Many cultures (though not all, see below) feature children's songs and verses that are passed down by oral tradition from one generation to the next, however the term "nursery rhyme" generally refers to those of European origin. The best known examples are English and originated in or since the 17th century. Some however are substantially older, "Baa Baa Black Sheep" exists in written records as far back the Middle Ages. Arguably the most famous collection is that of Mother Goose (French: Ma Mère l'Oye, a legendary author of nursery rhymes—no human writer has ever been identified with the name.)  Some well known nursery rhymes originated in America, such as "Mary had a little lamb".[1].

Generally nursery rhymes are innocent doggerel, though some scholars have attempted to link their meaning to events in European or English history. Urban legends abound with regard to some of the rhymes, though most of these have been discredited. Some of the more plausible explanations indicate that some rhymes may have been contemporary social or political satire. ("Hey Diddle Diddle" is one example, the "dish" and "spoon" possibly being nicknames for the figures involved in a sex scandal in the court of Elizabeth I [2])

"Ring-Around-the-Rosie" (alternatively "Ring-a-ring of Rosies") is popularly believed to be a metaphorical reference to the Great Plague, although this has been widely discredited, particularly as none of the "symptoms" described by the poem even remotely correlate to those of the Bubonic plague, and the first record of the rhyme's existence was not until 1790. [3], [4].

A credible interpretation of "Pop goes the Weasel" is that it is about silk weavers taking their weaver (known as a "weasel"), to a pawnbrokers to obtain money for drinking. It is possible that the "eagle" mentioned in the song's third verse refers to The Eagle freehold pub along Shepherdess Walk in London, which was established as a music hall in 1825 and was rebuilt as a public house in 1901. This public house bears a plaque with this interpretation of the nursery rhyme and the pub's history. Alternatively, the term "weasel" might be Cockney rhyming slang for a coat ("weasel and stoat" = "coat"), and the coat itself was pawned.

Scholars occasionally think they have "all" nursery rhymes written down, or know the last time that a rhyme was in use (some fall out of favor). However, due to the fact that they're mainly an oral tradition, nursery rhymes will "pop up" anew. See Bill Bryson's book Made in America : An Informal History of the English Language in the United States for an excellent example.

There are some aboriginal tribes which consider music sacred, so that only elder men may sing songs, and the songs are taught during sacred rituals in adulthood. It is forbidden for women or children to sing. Hence, these cultures don't have these kinds of songs.

TWINKLE, TWINKLE LITTLE STAR

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

How I wonder what you are.

Up above the earth so high

Like a diamond in the sky

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

How I wonder what you are.

Then a traveller in the dark

Thanks you for your tiny spark

He could see which way to go

If you did not twinkle so

Twinkle, twinkle, little star

How I wonder what you are.

Twinkle, twinkle little star is the English name of a popular French melody named Ah! Vous dirais-je, Maman. It was first published in 1761, but the origin is unknown. Today it is one of the most popular nursery rhymes among toddlers and small children.

JACK, BE NIMBLE, JACK, BE QUICK

Jack, be nimble, Jack, be quick.
Jack, jump over the candlestick.

This nursery rhyme owes its origin to a superstition that was prevalent in medieval England concerning the luck for the following year.  The lace-makers of Wendover in Buckinghamshire were a lively bunch. Every year on November 25th, they celebrated the feast of St. Catherine, their patron saint. Costumed as men, singing special love songs for the occasion, they visited neighbors, who served them “wiggs" - buns flavored with caraway seeds - and a hot pot - a drink of warm beer thickened with rum and whipped eggs. Afterward, they held a banquet and set off fireworks, especially Catherine Wheels. In conclusion of the evening, they played leap-candle. In those days, if a person wanted to know what Dame Fortune had in store for him he would leap over a lighted candle placed on the floor. If the candle remained lit, good luck was forecast for the following year; if it went out, it indicated bad luck.    (The Great American Baby Almanac)

ROCK-A-BYE-BABY

Rock-a-bye-baby

On the treetop
When the wind blows,
The cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks,
The cradle will fall
And down will come baby
Cradle and all.

The author of this well-loved lullaby was reportedly a pilgrim who sailed on the Mayflower. The Wampanoag Indians, who befriended the colonists, carried their infants in cradleboards on their backs. In temperate weather, they suspended the cradles from tree limbs so that passing breezes could rock the babies while their mothers tended the maize and beans. With typical motherly indulgence, the cradles were decorated with shells, beads and porcupine quills. For sober-minded puritans, the sight of a birch tree festooned with such cradles must have been very memorable indeed.  (The Great American Baby Almanac)

LITTLE JACK HORNER

Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner
Eating a Christmas Pie.
He put in his thumb
And pulled out a plum
And said
"Oh, what a good boy am I!"

According to legend, Little Jack Horner was actually Thomas Horner, steward to the Abbot of Glastonbury during the reign of King Henry VIII. Rumor had it that the inquisitive king would soon be reaching for some Glastonbury holdings. The nervous Abbot, hoping to appease the royal appetite, sent the king a special gift: a pie containing twelve deeds to manor houses. On his way to London, the not-so-loyal courier Horner stuck his thumb into the pie and extracted the deed for Mells Manor, a plum piece of real estate, where his descendants live to this day.   (The Great American Baby Almanac)

RIDE A COCK-HORSE TO BANBURY CROSS

Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse;
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
She shall have music wherever she goes.

Before the suffragists came along, women were sometimes compelled to obtain their ends by unusual means. Consider the case of Lady Godiva. Her husband Leofric, Earl of Mercia, imposed a heavy tax on his subjects. Distressed by their hardship, Godiva pleaded their case. Her husband listened politely for a few days, then with mounting annoyance, and finally offered a dare…."Ride naked through Coventry, and I'll do as you ask."

Confident that his wife would never commit such an act, Leofric returned to his ledgers. Undaunted, Godiva galloped through town on a handsome white horse, clad only in her coppery tresses, while all the folk in Coventry stayed indoors with the shutters locked, to spare her blushes. The earl conceded, and lifted the tax. And if she hears music wherever she goes, it's probably the townspeople singing her praises.   (The Great American Baby Almanac)

THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL

There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead;
And when she was good,
She was very, very good
But when she was bad she was horrid.

This poem is the work of American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He composed it one day when his daughter Edith refused to submit her hair to a curling iron. For many years afterward, Longfellow, the author of such works as Evangeline and "Paul Revere's Ride," denied having written the verse.

When pressed by friends, he owned up somewhat crossly; "When I recall my juvenile poems and prose sketches, I wish that they were forgotten entirely. They however cling to one's skirt with a terrible grasp."  (The Great American Baby Almanac)

HUMPTY DUMPTY

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again!

Belief #1:  Who is Humpty Dumpty?  An egg, you might say. But scholars believe the verse was written to ridicule a powerful nobleman who fell from royal favour during the reign of the English king, Richard III.

Belief #2:   Humpty Dumpty was a powerful cannon during the English Civil War (1642-49). It was mounted on top of the St. Mary's at the Wall Church in Colchester defending the city against siege in the summer of 1648. (Although Colchester was a Parliamentarian stronghold, it was captured by the Royalists who held it for 11 weeks.) The church tower was hit by the enemy and the top of the tower was blown off, sending "Humpty" tumbling to the ground. Naturally the King's men (infantry) tried to mend him but in vain.   (The “king’s horses” were the cavalry troops.)   (East Anglia Tourist Board in England)

RING AROUND THE ROSIE

(old)    Ring-a-ring o'roses,
A pocket full of posies,
A-tishoo! A-tishoo!
We all fall down. 

(now)   Ring around the Rosie
A pocket full of posies
Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down. A pocket full of posies
Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down.

Belief #1:  This old, nonsensical nursery rhyme frightened the wits out of people during the plague outbreak in England in the 17^th century.  More than 70,000 people died in the Great Plague of London in 1664-65.  The 'ring-o'roses' refers to the circular rosy rash that was one of the early symptoms of the disease or even the circles around the eyes.  The pocket full of posies was a medieval belief that posies held some curative measures against the plague, so carrying around that flower would keep you safe.  Coughing up dried blood from the lungs resembled ashes [later version] but likewise, “A-tishoo! A-tisho  We all fall down.” refers to the final sneeze—after which the victim fell down dead.

Belief #2:  Philip Hiscock, a folklorist at Memorial University in Newfoundland, states that this rhyme likely originated as a way of skirting Protestant bans on dancing:

"Adolescents found a way around the dancing ban with what was called in the United States the 'play-party.' Play-parties consisted of ring games, which differed from square dances only in their name and their lack of musical accompaniment. They were hugely popular, and younger children got into the act, too. Some modern nursery games, particularly those which involve rings of children, derive from these play-party games. 'Little Sally Saucer' (or 'Sally Waters') is one of them, and 'Ring Around the Rosie' seems to be another. The rings referred to in the rhymes are literally the rings formed by the playing children."

SING A SONG OF SIXPENCE (Old and more recent version)

(old)    Sing a Song of Sixpence,
A bag full of Rye,
Four and twenty naughty boys,
Bak'd in a Pye.

When the pie was opened,
The birds began to sing;
Was not that a dainty dish,
To set before the king?

The king was in his counting-house,
Counting out his money;
The queen was in the parlor,
Eating bread and honey.

The maid was in the garden,
Hanging out the clothes,
There came a little blackbird,
And snapped off her nose.

(now)   Sing a song of sixpence
A pocket full of rye
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie

When the pie was opened
The birds began to sing
Was that not a tasty dish
To set before a king?

The King was in his counting house
Counting out his money
The Queen was in the parlor
Eating bread and honey

The Maid was in the garden
Hanging out the clothes
When down came a blackbird
And snapped off her nose!

Claim:   The nursery rhyme 'Sing a Song of Sixpence' originated as a coded message used to recruit crew members for pirate ships.

Status:   True.

Origins:   Many of us of us fondly recall the rhyming ditties we learned as children, such as "Jack Be Nimble" and "The Farmer in the Dell." But how many of us realize that several of our most fondly-recalled nursery rhymes (e.g., "A Tisket, A Tasket" and "Little Jack Horner") were not mere nonsense songs, but actually originated as coded references to such dark events as plagues and religious persecution? Such was the case with another childhood favorite, "Sing a Song of Sixpence."

The surprising truth is that this innocent little rhyme, which dates from the early 1700s, actually represents a coded message used to recruit crew members for pirate vessels!

Pirates (or corsairs, privateers whose activities were sanctioned by letters of marque from a sovereign) did not spend all their time at sea: they cruised the waters in areas such as the Mediterranean, the Spanish Main, or the Atlantic coast of North America, looking for prizes, and they returned to port when the need for supplies or repairs demanded it. Upon reaching port, the ship's captain paid off the crew (primarily by dividing the spoils of whatever they had captured), and the crew members then dispersed ashore (usually to spend all their pay on alcohol and prostitutes as quickly as possible). Some crewmen tended to stay in the vicinity, but others left for other regions, caught on with other ships, died, were killed, or simply disappeared. Thus, much like the captains of naval vessels and merchant traders, the captains of pirate ships needed to recruit new crew members whenever they embarked on yet another venture. Since piracy (as opposed to privateering) was against the law, pirates devised codes that could be used to advertise for crew members without openly revealing their illegal affiliations.

The nursery rhyme "Six a Song of Sixpence" was a coded message that evolved over several years' times and was used by confederates of the notorious pirate Blackbeard to recruit crew members for his prize-hunting expeditions. Like many other messages passed down to us over hundreds of years by oral tradition, there is no one "official" version, nor is there a "correct" interpretation for any particular variant. In general, however, the most common form of this rhyme bore these veiled meanings:

Sing a song of sixpence / A pocket full of rye

Blackbeard's standard payment of sixpence a day was considered good money in the 1700s, especially since most pirate vessels did not pay a salary: the crew only received a share of the spoils if they were successful in capturing prizes (and many a pirate ship had to return to port empty-handed after spending several fruitless months at sea). As well, his crew was promised a pocket (a leather bag somewhat like an early canteen which held about a liter) full of rye (whiskey) per day. Not bad, considering that alcohol was the average sailor's raison d'etre.

Four and twenty blackbirds / Baked in a pie

As Henry Betts points out in his book on the origins and history of nursery rhymes, "It was a favourite trick in the sixteenth century to conceal all sorts of surprises in a pie." Buccaneers, too, were fond of surprises, and one of Blackbeard's favorite ruses to lure a ship within boarding range was to make his own vessel (or crew) appear to be in distress, typically by pretending to have been dismasted in a storm or to have sprung a leak below the waterline. Passing ships -- both honest sailors wanting to help and other pirates looking for an easy catch -- would sail in close to offer assistance, whereupon a crew of two dozen heavily-armed crewmen dressed in black would board the other vessel (via a boat in darkness or fog, or by simply jumping into the other ship when it came alongside if no other means of surprise attack was possible) to quickly kill or disable as many crew members as possible. Thus the four and twenty "blackbirds" (i.e., Blackbeard's crewmen) "baked in a pie" (i.e., concealed in anticipation of springing a trap).

When the pie was opened / The birds began to sing

This follows from the previous line. Once the victim's ship was lured in for the kill, the "blackbirds" came out of hiding and attacked with a fearsome din.

Was that not a tasty dish / To set before a king?

This line is commonly misinterpreted. The King is not a reference to any real king, but rather to Blackbeard himself, the king of pirates. And the tasty dish is the plundered ship that was so easily captured.

The King was in his counting house / Counting out his money

Again, the King is Blackbeard (no real king would take on such a mean task as counting money). This line of the message signals that Blackbeard had the cash on hand to pay a crew on salary rather than strictly on divided spoils.

The Queen was in the parlor / Eating bread and honey

Blackbeard's main vessel was a French merchant ship named "Le Concorde de Nantes" that was jointly captured by Blackbeard and Captain Hornigold in the Grenadines in November of 1717. Upon his retirement from pirating, Hornigold presented the ship to Blackbeard, who renamed it "The Queen Anne's Revenge". Thus the "Queen" referred to here is Blackbeard's ship, and "eating bread and honey" meant that it was in port taking on supplies in preparation for a cruise.

The Maid was in the garden / Hanging out the clothes

The use of the word "maid" indicated that the location/route of one or more prize ships was known, and they were going to be specific targets of the upcoming cruise (this greatly enhancing the probability of the crew's collecting prize money). The waters around the Carolinas down to the Caribbean were referred to as the garden, as this was an area where pirates would often cruise for easy pickings. "Hanging out the clothes" meant the targeted ship was already at sea or just about to leave port (thus its sails -- or "clothes" -- have been hung).

When down came a blackbird / And snapped off her nose!

There is some scholarly debate in literary and maritime circles as to whether the last part was originally "and snapped off her nose" or "and snapped off a rose." Either way, the passage is taken to be a Blackbeard's bragging about his plans to swoop in and have his way with the targeted ship.  So, next time you hear this innocent children's song, remember that it was originally recited in taverns by drunken, bloodthirsty buccaneers as a code to recruit other pirates for their next murderous voyage!

You will note a few changes since then, but not many:

The rhyme is almost certainly older than 1744, but no earlier publication has been found (at least, not as of 1970). There are earlier indirect references. Shakespeare, in Twelfth Night: "Come on, there is sixpence for you; let's have a song." And a 1614 work by Beaumont and Fletcher includes the line, "Whoa, here's a stir now! Sing a song of sixpence!"

According to the Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, an Italian cookbook from 1549 (translated into English in 1598) actually contains a recipe "to make pies so that birds may be alive in them and flie out when it is cut up." The ODNR also cites a 1723 cook who describes this as an earlier practice, the idea being that the birds cause "a diverting Hurley-Burley amongst the Guests."

It was not uncommon in the 16th century for a chef to hide surprises in the dinner pie; this is also reflected in the nursery rhyme "Little Jack Horner".  So the most obvious explanation of "Sing a Song of Sixpence" is that it reflected an actual practice--baking a pie full of live birds that popped out when the pie was opened.

Other theories include:

o   The 24 blackbirds reflect 24 hours in a day; the king is the sun, the queen is the moon.

o   King Henry VIII is the king, Catherine of Aragon is the queen, and Anne Boleyn is the maid. The blackbirds are--get ready for this--manorial deeds baked in a pie. During the period when Henry VIII was taking over the property of the Catholic Church, the abbot of Glastonbury is said to have sent his steward to London with a Christmas gift intended to appease the king--a pie in which were hidden the deeds to twelve manorial estates. The steward, Thomas Horner, is alleged to have opened the pie and extracted one deed, that of the manor of Mells, where his descendents still live. This may be the origin of the aforementioned Little Jack Horner nursery rhyme.

o   The song commemorates the publication of the first English bible, with the blackbirds being the letters of the alphabet set in pica type ("baked in a pie"). Personally My own uneducated opinion is that this interpretation is dubious, since the 24-letter alphabet only existed between the 10th and 11th Centuries. (W appeared in the 11th Century to condense UU, and J in the 15th Century as an initial form of I.)

A few other explanatory notes, some courtesy of William S. and Ceil Baring-Gould, authors of The Annotated Mother Goose:

o   The "bag" in the 1744 version later became a pocket full, and it's presumed that a "pocket full" was once a specific measurement, like a cupful.

• Rye is, of course, a grain that was (and is) commonly used in bread making, or piecrust making, as the case may be.

• The number four and twenty is among the most common in Mother Goose rhymes. It is twice twelve, or a double dozen. The number 12 brims over with tradition and associations. We have already described why the birds might be baked in a pie.

• The "counting house" was the place used to conduct business, and is referenced many times in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor.

By the way, some later versions of the rhyme include happier endings for the maid, such as:

They sent for the king's doctor,
Who sewed it on again,
He sewed it on so neatly,
The seam was never seen.

JACK AND JILL

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down and broke his crown

And Jill came tumbling after.

Jack and Jill who went up the hill are thought to represent the incoming and outgoing of the tides. The waves (Jack and Jill) are drawn up the hill (shore) by the pull of the moon. But when the moon's pull weakens, the tide goes out and Jack and Jill go tumbling down the hill again. 

PETER, PETER, PUMPKIN EATER

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater,

Had a wife and couldn’t keep her.

Put her in a pumpkin shell

And there he kept her very well.

Peter was a poor man who had an unfaithful wife. She kept cheating on him (he couldn’t keep her), so he had to find a way to stop her running around. His solution, fairly common in the middle ages, was a chastity belt (pumpkin shell). For those who don’t know, a chastity belt is roughly a pair of metal underwear with lock and key, so that no one could enter the private region of the woman except whoever held the key, usually her husband. And as the rhyme goes, once he put her in that belt, he kept her very well.

RUB-A-DUB-DUB THREE MEN IN A TUB 

Rub-a-dub-dub,

Three men in a tub

And who do you think they be?

The butcher, the baker,

The candlestick-maker.

Turn ‘em out, knaves all three!

Why would these three men be sharing a bath? Latent homosexuality, maybe? Not enough water for three individual baths? No, this is a case of not hearing the whole joke, just the punch line. The part of the story we aren’t getting was the setting. A fair side-show, where three young, beautiful women were sitting in a bath-tub, entertaining a mostly male audience, when three of the men jumped up and climbed in with the girls, to be promptly thrown out again by the fair manager. Just three working folk.

BAA, BAA, BLACK SHEEP

Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir,
Three bags full.
One for my master,
One for my dame,
And one for the little boy
who lives in the lane.  (1799)
            

Baa Baa Black Sheep was about taxation and written in “protest against the export tax imposed in Britain in 1275.  The master [symbolizing] the king” (Delamar, 123). 

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As can be seen, almost every nursery rhyme has a story behind it. Humpty Dumpty was actually King Richard III, and the famous farmer’s wife from the Three Blind Mice was supposedly Queen Mary I. The Old Woman Who Lived In a Shoe was referring to the British Empire trying to control its colonies.  'Old Mother Hubbard' was first published in London in 1805; in its original form it is a long, fourteen-stanza verse, authored by a woman named Sarah Catherine Martin.

Yet children year after year recite these stories, not knowing the original joke or gossip hidden within, not really caring if Jack Sprat was King Charles I. The fake stories that we invent for the rhyme now are much more fun, anyway.

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This compilation from many on-line sites was made over 12 years ago. Was trying to go back through some of the compilation and link in the sources, but I realize that so much on the web has changed over the past years that sourcing isn't that easy, so I just gave up. Example of one key source, Wikipedia. The first few paragraphs above were originally borrowed from 'nursery rhymes' in Wikipedia 12+ years ago, but now the content has changed so much that I didn't link the information as ... it ... is ... so ... different! Wow, the amazing Internet is evolving at a tremendous pace!