One of the signs of the disease was supposedly a red rash - or "rosie" - an people would keep herbs - or "posies" - in their pockets to try to ward off sickness. This one you may have already heard of: "Ring Around the Rosie" may well have started as song about the Black Death (though there are other theories, too). Ring around the rosie A pocketful of posies Ashes, ashes We all fall down. The "silver bells and cockle shells" on the other hand are possibly a reference to different torture devices used on people who refused to convert back to Catholicism. Mary famously was unable to have a child, so the "How does your garden grow" line is probably a dig at that, and the "quite contrary" name is probably a reference to the way she tried to roll back her father's efforts to make the country Protestant. This song might seem like an innocent song about gardening, but there's a good chance it originated as a political metaphor for Mary I of England, the oldest daughter of Henry VIII who ascended to the throne after his death. "Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary" Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow? With silver bells, and cockle shells, And pretty maids all in a row. Which is so messed up I can't even handle it. There are a few stories about where this song might have come from, including the idea that comes from the Medieval wool trade, but one of them is that it has to do with the Atlantic slave trade.
One for the master, One for the dame, And one for the little boy Who lives down the lane "Baa Baa Black Sheep" Baa, baa, black sheep, Have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, Three bags full. Which makes you think very differently about the "rub-a-dub-dub" line. And it was probably meant to imply that either "the butcher, the baker," and the "candlestick maker" were all spying on women bathing or were going to a peep show in town. But actually, the original song began "Rub-a-dub-dub/Three maids in a tub". I remember this song being illustrated in children's books with three men all bathing in one tub, so you might assume that this song is meant to be homoerotic, which would actually be kind of cool. Rub-a-dub-dub, Three men in a tub, And who do you think they were? The butcher, the baker, The candlestick-maker, They all sailed out to sea, ‘Twas enough to make a man stare. Here are 11 nursery rhymes and children's songs that are way more disturbing than you ever realized.
It kind of makes you wonder how we wound up letting kids sing all of this stuff. And while some are pretty simple - or just simple nonsense - some possible origins are downright creepy. However, over the years people have come up with lots of possible explanations for different nursery songs. Of course, figuring out where exactly they came from, on the other hand, is sometimes less clear. They tend to change slightly over time, but the songs typically remain pretty recognizable through the ages. Most nursery rhymes have been around for a long time - in fact, in some cases their origins go back hundreds and hundreds of years.
If you look into the origin of the songs we were encouraged to sing as children, it turns out a lot of them are way more disturbing than you ever realized. But that's not the only surprisingly creepy children's song or nursery rhyme. There comes a moment in every kids life where they realize that "Rock-a-bye Baby," which you've probably had sung to you on numerous occasions, is actually a song about a baby plummeting to their death.