My latest "song" and dance

There are so many rhymes and songs that get passed down from generation to generation, becoming more and more embedded in childhood culture. I had all but forgotten many of them until I became a mother and, now, I hear them being sung all around me at playgroups and at the park. It’s amazing how the words come flooding back after so many years – just naturally rolling off the tongue. I never used to give the lyrics any thought at all. My childhood innocence must be all but lost because now I can't help but analyze the words very closely. While most of them are silly and harmless, there are many that are quite disturbing on one level or another.

Just the other day I started singing the nursery rhyme “It’s raining, it’s pouring” at the water park. It seemed like a natural thing to do. When I got to the part about the old man bonking his head and not being able to get up in the morning I thought to myself, “Wait a minute. This rhyme is really troubling! Why didn’t someone call 9-1-1?”

This occurrence reminded me of a conversation I had recently with a Francophone friend about the song Alouette. It’s a song that I remember very fondly from my own childhood. I remember learning the tune in elementary school in French class (“sans” translation). My friend told me that Alouette had very little appeal in Quebec because it’s so violent and disgusting. I had no idea! Like most of the French songs I sang as a child, I didn’t actually know what the words meant. I just sang along because it was a catchy little tune. If I had known the song was about plucking feathers out of a friendly little bird’s head, I might not have thought it was so wonderful.

And don’t even get me started talking about what’s wrong with “Ladybug Ladybug.” It’s horrific!

Even some of the seemingly innocent nursery rhymes have gory roots. Did you know that the "Jack and Jill" poem is said to have origins in the beheading of King Louis XVI?

The funny thing is, I still really enjoy singing all of these songs for nostalgic reasons. I can analyze them all I want, but they still rattle off my tongue just as easily as they did when I was a kid. I guess that's how they've stood the test of time.