Nonsensical Nothings

nursery rhymes

when we were young, my sister and i used to like watching this video tape of nursery rhymes. the rhymes were acted out by people or puppets, or just by illustrations and it was supposed to be a book so sometimes the pages would flip and bring you to a new scene. it was quite cool. one of my favorite songs was soldier soldier won't you marry me which goes:

soldier, soldier, won't you marry me
with your musket, fife and drum
oh no sweet maid, i cannot marry you
for i have no coat to put on

so off she went to her grandfather's chest
and she brought him a coat of the very very best
and the soldier put it on

soldier, soldier, won't you marry me...etc

and it goes on with him asking for shoes and a hat and then finally saying he can't marry her for he has a wife of his own. which i find is a weird song to teach children, although i didn't really realise what it meant back then.

another favourite was mary mary quite contrary which i just found out is about either queen mary I of scotland or england, or both. in the explanation that refers to the scottish queen, 'cockleshells' suggests that her husband cheated on her while 'pretty maids all in a row' refers to her babies that died. in the explanation that refers to the english queen, 'how does your garden grow?' mocks her infertility whereas 'silver bells and cockle shells' could be referring to instruments of torture, the former used to crush thumbs and the latter attached to genitals. so dark!

humpty dumpty is about a powerful cannon used in the english civil war which was destroyed and couldn't be fixed. ring around the roses refers to the bubonic plague or black death. jack and jill refer to king louis XVI and his wife Queen Marie Antoinette who were beheaded. apparently nursery rhymes were used to mock the royalty and spread subversive messages. but really, what strange things to teach children who won't even understand them.

posted by Cherie @ 7:08 pm