When I was researching a Quick 10 earlier this week, I did a lot of investigating into children’s songs and nursery rhymes. And I discovered something: either I had a really short attention span as a kid and never made it past the first verse of a song (which is entirely possible), or there are some obscure lyrics to the songs we all know and love. Here are a few of them.
1. I’m a Little Teapot.
“I’m a clever teapot,
Yes it’s true
Here let me show you
What I can do
I can change my handle
And my spout
Just tip me over and pour me out!”
2. Do Your Ears Hang Low? I’m impressed that a children’s song contains the word “semaphore.”
Do your ears hang high?
Do they reach up to the sky?
Do they droop when they are wet?
Do they stiffen when they’re dry?
Can you semaphore your neighbour with a minimum of labour?
Do your ears hang high?
3. My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean involves terrifying nightmares:
Last night as I lay on my pillow
Last night as I lay on my bed
Last night as I lay on my pillow
I dreamed that my Bonnie was dead
4. Oh My Darling Clementine. I didn’t know anything beyond the “Oh my darling” chorus, but there’s a whole little tale that goes along with the tragic Clementine. It goes like this (I’m leaving out the chorus, though):
In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating for a mine
Dwelt a miner forty niner,
And his daughter Clementine
Light she was and like a fairy,
And her shoes were number nine,
Wearing boxes, without topses,
Sandals were for Clementine.
Drove she ducklings to the water
Ev’ry morning just at nine,
Hit her foot against a splinter,
Fell into the foaming brine.
Ruby lips above the water,
Blowing bubbles, soft and fine,
But, alas, I was no swimmer,
So I lost my Clementine.
How I missed her! How I missed her,
How I missed my Clementine,
But I kissed her little sister,
I forgot my Clementine.
5. Alouette. This one isn’t a lost verse – it’s more that I had no idea what I was really singing about all of those years: bird dismemberment.
Alouette, gentille Alouette
(Skylark, nice skylark)
Alouette, je te plumerai
(Skylark, I shall pluck you)
Je te plumerai la tête
(I shall pluck your head)
(Je te plumerai la tête)
(I shall pluck your head)
Et la tête
(And your head)
(Et la tête)
(And your head)
The next verses include telling the captive bird that after his head, his beak, neck, back, wings, feet and tail will follow. Yikes!
6. Bingo. The earliest recorded version from 1888 adds two verses after the one that spells out the famous farmer’s dog’s name. They went like this:
Thys Franklyn, syrs, he brewed goode ayle,
And he called it Rare good Styngo!
S, T, Y, N, G, O!
He call’d it Rare goode Styngo!Nowe is notte thys a prettie song?
I thinke it is, bye Jyngo,
J wythe a Y—N, G, O—
I sweare yt is, bye Jyngo!
7. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.Then the traveller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveller in the dark,—
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
8. Baa Baa Black Sheep. If you feel the need to deplete the rest of the barnyard denizens of their precious goods after you’ve taken the sheep’s wool, you certainly can:
“Cluck, cluck, red hen, have you any eggs?
Yes sir, yes sir, as many as your legs.
One for your breakfast and one for your lunch;
Come back tomorrow and I’ll have another bunch.
Moo, moo brown cow, have you milk for me?
Yes sir, yes sir, as tasty as can be.
Churn it into butter, make it into cheese,
Freeze it into ice cream or drink it if you please.
Buzz, buzz busy bee, is your honey sweet?
Yes sir, yes sir, sweet enough to eat.
Honey on your muffin, honey on your cake,
Honey by the spoonful, as much as I can make.”
9. A Tisket, A Tasket. You probably know about the green and yellow basket, and you might remember that the person singing the song dropped it. After that, the sordid tale goes like this:
I dropped it, I dropped it
Yes, On the way I dropped it
A little girlie picked it up
And put it in her pocketShe was truckin’ on down the avenue,
Without a single thing to do
She was peck-peck-peckin all around
When she spied it on the groundShe took it she took it
my little yellow basket
And if she doesn’t bring it back
I think that I shall die(Was it brown?) no, no,no, no,
(Was it red?) no, no,no, no,
(Was it blue?) no, no,no, no,
Just a little yellow basket
10. London Bridge is Falling Down. This song goes on forever. Tired parents might be glad their kids only know the first verse. If you’re a glutton for punishment, though, here’s the rest:
Build it up with wood and clay,
Wood and clay, wood and clay,
Build it up with wood and clay,
My fair lady.Wood and clay will wash away,
Wash away, wash away,
Wood and clay will wash away,
My fair lady.
Then you “build it up with bricks and mortar” and sing that verse. But “bricks and mortar will not stay, will not stay, will not stay.”
This is followed by “build it up with iron and steel,” but “iron and steel will bend and bow.”
So then we get extravagant and decide to “build it up with silver and gold,” and, obviously, “silver and gold will be stolen away.”
There are no other materials available, apparently, so we’re going to stick with the precious metals and “set a man to watch all night, watch all night, watch all night.” The question then is, “Suppose the man should fall asleep, fall asleep, fall asleep?” and the answer is, “Give him a pipe to smoke all night, smoke all night, smoke all night.”
So there you have the solution to every crumbling bridge in the world: build it with silver and gold, pay a guy to watch it and let him smoke so he stays awake for his shift. Sound good?
So tell me: how many of you know the extended versions of these songs, and how many of you are just as surprised as I was?
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Wow. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star was my favorite song as a child. I never knew or heard the rest of it. Thank you.
recaptch: darius special hmmmm
posted by Anthony on 2-25-2010 at 6:14 pm
I knew the full song of London Bridge and that’s how we sang it in my house, but that was the only one. Very surprised about the Baa Baa Black Sheep. Where does that sheep get off stealing all the spotlight?
posted by Michelle on 2-25-2010 at 6:20 pm
Then there’s Yankee Doodle, which also apparently goes on forever.
Of course, if we’re talking about little-known second verses to songs…how many people know that the “Star Spangled Banner” has more than one verse?
posted by G on 2-25-2010 at 6:23 pm
Here’s a variant ending to Clementine I know:
In a churchyard near the canyon,
where the myrtle doth entwine,
There grow roses and other posies,
fertilized by Clementine.
posted by W. on 2-25-2010 at 6:33 pm
I have a recording of Liberace singing all the verses of A Tisket, A Tasket.
posted by Antinous on 2-25-2010 at 6:40 pm
I remembered while reading it I did know the second verse of Oh My Darling, Clementine but I now realize how tragic that song is. Damn
posted by BorgQueen on 2-25-2010 at 6:52 pm
I know a last verse of Clementine similar to W’s:
In a churchyard on a hillside
Where the flowers grow entwined
There grow roses among the posies
Flowers for my Clementine
I think my entire 4th grade class learned that song when we studied California history (miners and such).
I also knew the extend version of London Bridge, but the rest were a surprise, especially Allouette. Poor bird!
posted by Kathryn on 2-25-2010 at 6:56 pm
Knew all of Clementine ~ it was in a folk song book my mom had. Otherwise, I am just as glad my childhood singing was kept first verse light and happy.
posted by Tahoe Mom on 2-25-2010 at 7:01 pm
I was suprised when I heard the full verision of “You are My Sunshine”.
Turns out, it’s a very depressing song..
posted by Hannah on 2-25-2010 at 7:15 pm
Alouette used to scare me when I was a child, as I grew up speaking both English and French. My papa sang it with hand gestures that he thought would be fun, and I always felt bad for the chicken! (Or skylark. Whatever).
Kind of like my fear of “white wedding” by Billy Idol. Hey little sister, what have you done?
posted by Ophelia on 2-25-2010 at 7:26 pm
There’s 3 more Clementine verses!
1 has already been posted, so I won’t repeat others.
Then the miner, forty-niner
Soon began to droop and pine.
Thought he ought to join his daughter,
Now he’s with his Clementine.
In my dreams, she still doth haunt me,
Robed in garments soaked in brine.
In my life I used to kiss her,
Now she’s dead I draw the line.
posted by Sarah on 2-25-2010 at 7:27 pm
When I was a kid, we used to sing Alouette in English precisely because it was so macabre. (Little blackbird, pretty little blackbird, little blackbird, I’ll pull your feathers off!)
And anyone who doesn’t know all of A Tisket, A Tasket is obviously not an Ella Fitzgerald fan. http://home.napster.com/ns/play/tracks/26968546
posted by The Elk Mechanic on 2-25-2010 at 7:52 pm
I thought Baa Baa Black Sheep was
“We are poor little lambs who have lost our way baa baa baa”?
posted by Dave on 2-25-2010 at 8:03 pm
Although I hadn’t heard most of the extended version, I could have sang you almost every verse of London Bridge from memory. When I was little, my grandma gave me a VHS of Mother Goose nursery rhymes which I watched several times per day, every day for a couple of years. They left out the part about smoking a pipe. Thanks to those indestructible VHS (which still miraculously still work) I can sing all the songs on command.
posted by Wilma on 2-25-2010 at 8:23 pm
I actually know all the words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and what Alouette meant. Me and my sisters always did all the verses of London Bridges.
posted by Amber on 2-25-2010 at 8:30 pm
Just so you know a few more things about Twinkle Twinkle. It isn’t a song, nor is Bah Bah Black Sheep, at least not originally. In fact, neither is the alphabet song.
All of these songs are bluebird songs, a song that borrows its melody from another popular tune and transplants them with new words. That is why the alphabet song, bah bah, and Twinkle Twinkle all have the same melody. Seriously: Try singing “Baa baa black sheep have you any wool, how I wonder what you are, up above the world so high, W, X, Y and Z, Baa baa black sheep have you any wool, how I wonder what you are.”
All of these tunes take their melody from a French Folk Song: “Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman” which is a song about a brat who wants candy.
Folk songs, like many of these, often exist in multiple variations and variants. If you want to read a great book about these things check out “Who Really Killed Cock Robin” and “One Potato Two Potato.”
posted by Music Teacher on 2-25-2010 at 8:34 pm
When I was little, “London Bridge” had two verses: the first one, and “Take the key and lock her up, lock her up, lock her up” etc. I hadn’t realized until just now how little sense that makes. What does locking someone up have to do with a bridge falling?
posted by MH on 2-25-2010 at 9:16 pm
I also knew the full London Bridge version from a Mother Goose VHS that I constantly watched growing up! The rest are all new to me.
posted by Robyn on 2-25-2010 at 9:17 pm
I’m suprised nobody mentioned the full version of Mary Had a Little Lamb which I didn’t know until I had a kid.
Mary had a little lamb
It’ fleece was white as snow
And every where that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go
It followed her to school one day
Which was against the rule
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school
Mary said “You must behave,
Or you will have to go!”
The little lamb said “I’ll be good”
Because I love you so!
posted by Lanie on 2-25-2010 at 9:37 pm
I have always liked the full version of ‘Daisy, Daisy’:
Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do.
I’m half crazy all for the love of you.
It won’t be a stylish marriage,
I can’t afford a carriage.
But you’ll look sweet,
Upon the seat,
on a bicycle built for two.
Henry, Henry here is your answer do.
I’m not crazy all for the love of you.
It won’t be a stylish marriage,
you can’t afford a carriage.
And I’ll be damned if I am crammed
on a bicycle built for two.
posted by Meredith on 2-25-2010 at 9:54 pm
“So there you have the solution to every crumbling bridge in the world: build it with silver and gold, pay a guy to watch it and let him smoke so he stays awake for his shift. Sound good?” – Oh my gosh, so funny!
I had actually heard all the words to the London Bridge song before.
Cool article.
posted by Sarah on 2-25-2010 at 9:55 pm
I was familiar with the Clementine saga… but damn I’m creeped out about “Alouette.”
posted by Dara on 2-25-2010 at 9:57 pm
Here’s the verse to “Happy Birthday” that I learned in elementary school:
So today is your birthday
That is what I’ve been told
What a wonderful birthday
You are one more year old.
On your cake there’ll be candles
All lighted for you.
And the whole world is singing
Happy Birthday to you!
posted by Becky on 2-25-2010 at 10:42 pm
I knew many of these from school and the school yard perhaps also since I like folk music and jazz, but Alouette I knew more fully from french class as it was used by our teacher to help us remember parts of the body! We didn’t sing wings though, just head, back, neck, legs, stomach, feet…
posted by spicypup on 2-25-2010 at 11:02 pm
For Dave and the \poor little lambs\…That is a line from the Whiffenpoof Song. The Whiffenpoofs are an acapella group at Yale. Also at Yale is the (infamous) Skull and Bones secret society whose members are reported to favor the song.
…and, yes….Ella, one of the most wonderful musical instruments ever created, did sing A Tisket A Tasket…and made it her own.
posted by M. Forrest on 2-25-2010 at 11:28 pm
Whoops…THe whiffenpoofs IS an acapella group at Yale. Where were my finger???
posted by M. Forrest on 2-25-2010 at 11:31 pm
Once more with corrections…Is there a full moon?
The Whiffenpoofs IS an acapella group at Yale.
Whew…hardly worth it…I’ll say “bye” now…………
posted by M. Forrest on 2-25-2010 at 11:34 pm
Very interesting! I never knew Alouette was so gruesome. The only song I fully knew was Twinkle Twinkle.
The song that surprised me when I sang it to my kids as an adult was “Polly Wolly Doodle”. It’s really a song about a two-timing cad:
I went down south to see my Sal
Singing Polly Wolly Doodle all the day
My Sal she is a spunky gal
singing PWD all the day.
Fare thee well!
Fare thee well!
Fare thee well my fairy fay
For I’m going to Louisiana
For to see my Susianna
Singing PWD all the day..
posted by Lynn on 2-25-2010 at 11:56 pm
Bobby Darin sang another version of Clementine. He had a hit with it in the late 50′s. Ella Fitzgerald sang a jazzy version of A Tisket, a Tasket.
posted by Genaro on 2-26-2010 at 12:14 am
I remember some lady coming to our high school for a presentation on folk songs, and she taught us the English lyrics to Allouette, so I knew that one.
We used to sing many of the London Bridge verses at home. Baa, Baa, Black Sheep is another we sang all the verses too.
posted by nutmeag on 2-26-2010 at 12:40 am
the lyrics to a-tisket, a-tasket that you cite are not from the nursery rhyme but from Ella Fitzgerald’s version, her first big hit.
posted by ciscoe louis on 2-26-2010 at 1:15 am
Goodness, they’re not dismembering the Alouette, just pulling the feathers off.
Plumerai – from the word plume which means feather. Pluck, yes, in the defeathering sense of the word, though I don’t know how much better that is for the Alouette.
posted by Bucephalus on 2-26-2010 at 1:39 am
Dara, well said! I’m appalled!
posted by shirleyfeeney on 2-26-2010 at 1:47 am
I know the verses of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” but that’s just about it.
Wow, that “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” gave me the chills, as well as “Clementine.”
posted by Lunedi on 2-26-2010 at 2:30 am
Thanks for providing the English lyrics of Alouette – I always wondered!
Although I’m not totally surprised that it’s a somewhat morbid song – we also had to learn a few nursery rhymes in my French class and they were fairly macabre. The one that sticks most in my mind is about a ship lost at sea, and the sailors decide to eat the cabin boy. There’s a ton of different verses, each one detailing a different way of cooking the cabin boy. (“We’ll roast him in garlic butter,” “We’ll baste him with lemon” etc)
posted by Kristin on 2-26-2010 at 8:43 am
I always sang the extended version of do your ears hang low… but they wrinkled when they’re wet and straighten when they dry. We signaled to our neighbors too. And we did most of london bridge.
@ MH- We sang the take a key and lock her up part too, but we usually got bored by that point to actually use that
posted by Shawn on 2-26-2010 at 8:57 am
Like the others, I knew a few of these…but man Clementine is morbid! I guess I knew it wasn’t a happy song….but geez!!!!!
posted by Carol on 2-26-2010 at 9:39 am
I actually knew a surprising amount of those. However, I’ve never even questioned the translation of Alouette and am sort of glad for that.
posted by Mae on 2-26-2010 at 9:49 am
Not a song, but I was always partial to the second verse of Jack and Jill. After the star-crossed two come crashing down the hill, the story picks up with the administration of first aid:
Then up Jack got
And off did trot
As fast as he could caper
To old Dame Dob
Who patched his nob
With vinegar and brown paper
Apparently, poor Jill was left for dead at the bottom of the hill.
posted by Pete on 2-26-2010 at 10:39 am
@ Dave I think you may be thinking of 3 Little Kittens who have lost their mittens
posted by Tricia on 2-26-2010 at 10:49 am
@MH I think “lock her up” on London Bridge is referring to locking up the bridge so nobody can use it.
ReCaptcha: disaster shear
posted by bre on 2-26-2010 at 11:18 am
My sister and I always sang London Bridge is Falling Down, every verse, repetitively. I pity my mother…
posted by Rachel on 2-26-2010 at 11:59 am
Allouette was a song my Meme used to sing to me, she’s French. (actually both my grandmothers are). It never scared me, she used it to teach me the names for body parts…Not that people have wings, or feathers lol. And I don’t think the bird is ever dismembered, it’s simply plucked…Which always made me think of a naked cartoon bird, and that always made me laugh
posted by tess on 2-26-2010 at 12:09 pm
If you are looking for more missing verses, check out kidsongs.com. They have free lyrics posted to hundreds of children’s songs.
posted by Sue on 2-26-2010 at 1:41 pm
Ahhh Mary:
Mary had a little lamb
but others came to grief
They lived in 1941
and only got corned beef
Mary had a little lamb
she ate it with mint sauce
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb went too, of course.
My favourite:
Mary had a little lamb
Her father shot it dead
And now it goes to school with her
Between two hunks of bread.
I love macabre children’s songs, like the extra verse at the end of Oranges and Lemons: Here comes a candle to light you to bed, here comes a chopper to Chop Off Your Head!
and my sisters used to sing this little ditty:
One bright day, in the middle of the night, two dead boys got up to fight. Back to back they faced each other, drew their swords and shot each other. A deaf policeman heard the noise and came and killed the two dead boys. If you don’t believe my lie is true, ask the blind man – he saw it too!
recaptcha: remark capital
(why, thank you!)
posted by Mare on 2-26-2010 at 1:47 pm
Regarding the tune for Twinkle-Twinkle and the others, it’s a classical piece by Mozart with the basic melody and then twelve variations on that theme. It’s quite lovely!
posted by Carmen on 2-26-2010 at 2:38 pm
Being a former camp councilor I know way way too many kids songs. We actually made it a competition one year to find as many versus or different wordings for a lot of songs – and this was during the infancy of the Web.
For Do Your Ears Hang Low – change it to Do Your Boobs Hang Low
Most nursery rhymes are actually not very nice when you get past the first versus.
posted by beth on 2-26-2010 at 2:50 pm
in the same vein as the macabre children’s songs, we used to sing (taught to us by our grandmother):
Mary had a little lamb,
it’s fleece was black as charcoal,
and everytime it jumped the fence,
sparks came out its a**hole
Mary had a little lamb,
she kept it in a drawer,
and everytime she took it out,
it piddled on the floor
my grandmother also taught me a similar ditty to that of Mare, with two dead horses running a race with three men deaf, dumb and blind calling the firebrigade…sadly i can’t remember exactly how it goes!
posted by ella on 2-26-2010 at 4:14 pm
I always thought the “take the key and lock her up” part of London Bridge referenced the prison that used to be there, since that’s the part where you trap whoever is walking through your arms.
posted by Sam on 2-26-2010 at 4:27 pm
I learned about Alouette when my children were small. We had one of those read along book tapes of Madiline. The flip side of the tape taught you to sing several French songs along with thier translations.
I remember it going through the body parts, but do not remember the plucking. Maybe it was softened.
posted by Rissa on 2-26-2010 at 4:43 pm
The Mary I know:
Mary had a little lamb
whose fleece was black as tar
it followed her to school one day
and got hit by a car.
When Mary saw what she had done
she ran into a bar
she came out drunk and grabbed the scraps
and put them in a jar.
lol, kinda sick but funny.
posted by Chris on 2-26-2010 at 6:34 pm
I was hoping that “She’ll be comin’ round the mountain” would be on the list. I found a cartoon version that sings:
She don’t want no city slicker,
just a man who’ll hold his liquor.
She’ll be comin’ round the mountain when she comes!
posted by Alexis on 2-26-2010 at 7:58 pm
Am I the only one who noticed just how wrong “But I kissed her little sister, I forgot my Clementine.” is?
posted by Dana on 2-26-2010 at 8:19 pm
I knew the whole version of A Tisket A Tasket but only because I borrowed a children’s book from the library with the whole story.
posted by Andrea on 2-27-2010 at 12:39 am
And we mustn’t forget all the bastardizations of songs.
\On top of spaghetti/ all covered with cheese/ I lost my first meatball/ when somebody sneezed.\
posted by Mary Ann Dames on 2-27-2010 at 11:43 am
Awesome! Really informative!
posted by MetFanMac on 2-27-2010 at 1:55 pm
I’m surprised that nobody mentioned that even though these songs are now considered children’s songs, most did not begin that way (I believe I heard “Do your ears hang low” may have been a marching song sung by soldiers and have long wondered whether the song was not originally about ears but instead another, peculiarly male, set of body parts instead.) Just like fairy tales and nursery rhymes, many of which began as adult entertainment (and often political commentary) when they fall out of favor with adults, they regress to the world of children where the form is passed down, though the original meaning fades away.
posted by elagie on 2-28-2010 at 8:59 am
@Carmen
Mozart himself was doing variations of “Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman”. He did not invent the tune.
posted by Jan on 2-28-2010 at 11:56 am
Those of you who enjoy the macabre, gross, or just weird lyrics should check out the book “Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood” by Josepha Sherman.
posted by Steve on 2-28-2010 at 12:44 pm
Beth, even the first verses of some nursery rhymes are really disturbing if you think about it. “Rockabye Baby” is about a baby falling out of a tree, “Jack and Jill” is about two kids falling down a hill (or possibly a well, even worse!) and injuring their heads, etc.
posted by Cassie on 2-28-2010 at 2:47 pm
We had a slightly different 2nd verse to the from in a comment above:
Michael Michael
Here is my answer true
You’re half crazy if you think that will do
There won’t be any marriage
If you can’t afford a carriage
But you’ll look sweet
Upon the seat
Of a bicycle built for one
posted by Robin on 2-28-2010 at 3:56 pm
I’ve been researching a familiar song which everyone seems to know the chorus, and possibly the first verse, it’s the Sidewalks of New York, from the gaslight era.
Down in front of Casey’s old brown wooden stoop
On a summer’s evening we formed a merry group
Boys and girls together we would sing and waltz
While Tony played the organ on the sidewalks of New York
Chorus
East Side, West Side, all around the town
The tots sang “ring-a-rosie,” “London Bridge is falling down”
Boys and girls together, me and Mamie O’Rourke
Tripped the light fantastic on the sidewalks of New York
That’s where Johnny Casey, little Jimmy Crowe
Jakey Krause, the baker, who always had the dough
Pretty Nellie Shannon with a dude as light as cork
She first picked up the waltz step on the sidewalks of New York
Things have changed since those times, some are up in “G”
Others they are wand’rers but they all feel just like me
They’d part with all they’ve got, could they once more walk
With their best girl and have a twirl on the sidewalks of New York
Here’s a very charming video with a history of the song, and the song performed by Robert Sean Leonard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsx_uxISjM0
posted by gene on 2-28-2010 at 7:17 pm
most english nursery rhymes have a macabre history or a ghoulish story to tell – ring-a-roses, hickory dickory, jack and jill. have decided my 10-month old is better of with pop and rock. how much harm can “I’m just a teenage dirtbag” or “Party in the USA” do compared to these?!
posted by Jessie Paul on 3-1-2010 at 9:59 am
\Alouette\ is not about dismembering a bird. I’m not sure why the English translation is confusing; although \pluck\ is not as specific as \plumer\, when a bird is being plucked in English, I’ve never before seen anyone thinking it meant ripping off limbs. It means plucking the *feathers*. (Think about the French word: \plumer\ is related to the noun \plume\ which means feather in both English and French.)
Now, this isn’t a nice thing to do to a bird, but it’s part of preparing the bird to be cooked and eaten. In rural France, people did commonly eat larks (alouettes), often caught in snares, and children could be set to the tedious task of removing the feathers. Hence the song.
Nursery rhymes and songs are often a lot bloodier than we realize — as Terry Pratchett observed, though we sanitize stories nowadays, this is really for the sake of the adults who have to tell them. Children are \quite keen on blood, provided it is being shed by the deserving.\
There are also a lot which are simple nonsense — the sort of thing a parent comes up with at 2 in the morning when the kid just won’t sleep and you’re at your wits’ end. So it’s not always worth your time to try to ferret out dark meanings. (And dark meanings are usually easy to find if you look for them, even if they are not actually there.)
\Ring around the roses\ got mentioned by Jessie Paul. Be careful with that one; there is a popular theory that it relates to the Black Death, but the timing is wrong so the theory is unlikely.
Actually, if you want dark folk songs involving birds, Alouette is not your best bet. Your best bet may the Scots ditty \Twa Corbies\. (It’s about carrion birds.)
posted by Calli Arcale on 3-1-2010 at 12:21 pm
Hannah is totally correct; You Are My Sunshine is a horribly depressing song:
The other night dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
So I hung my head and I cried.
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You’ll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away
I’ll always love you and make you happy,
If you will only say the same.
But if you leave me and love another,
You’ll regret it all some day:
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You’ll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away
You told me once, dear, you really loved me
And no one else could come between.
But now you’ve left me and love another;
You have shattered all of my dreams:
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You’ll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away
In all my dreams, dear, you seem to leave me
When I awake my poor heart pains.
So when you come back and make me happy
I’ll forgive you dear, I’ll take all the blame.
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You’ll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away
Bleaugh. And the worst part is the chorus is considered a kid’s song (my son learned it in Kindergarten this year). *sigh*
posted by Alli on 3-1-2010 at 12:44 pm
@Dana- I noticed that, too. “Pop goes the weasal” was actually about some guy getting drunk.
posted by Sara in AL on 3-1-2010 at 1:04 pm
@ Meredith- I like that second verse. She’s basically ripping the guy a new one!
posted by Sara in AL on 3-1-2010 at 1:10 pm
@Elagie..
Wow… That gives that little chorus a WHOLE different flavor. Wow. and it makes so much sense.
Military men singing about their,
*ahem*
“equipment”… :D
posted by Chrystani on 3-1-2010 at 5:54 pm
What I’d like to know is how these horrible stories became bedtime stories for little kids. I remember I loved the tune of “Rockabye Baby” when I was really little, and not being able to fall asleep one night when I was seven because it had dawned on me earlier that day what the song was about. Who’s bright idea was it to sing that to kids right before they went to sleep?
posted by Cassie on 3-1-2010 at 9:27 pm
I had the Mother Goose VHS too! It was one of my favorite things to watch when I was little.
posted by Kelsey on 3-2-2010 at 12:08 pm
My dad sang several verses of My Bonnie, including the one listed above, and these two:
My bonnie leaned over a gas tank
The height of it’s contents to see
She lighted a match to assist her*
Please bring back my bonnie to me.
Last night as I lay on my pillow
Last night as I lay in my bed
I stuck my feet out the window
Next morning my neighbors were dead.
(*I was an adult before I figured out why she was lighting her sister with a match… )
posted by Kijeren on 3-2-2010 at 7:22 pm
I seem to remember from French class, or perhaps living in France, that Alouette was actually an allusion to a lovely feather-clad lady and how it might be to remove them one by one…so it becomes an interesting choice for a children’s song….
posted by Jenny on 3-3-2010 at 2:17 pm
I grew up in Louisiana. I was told that the former governor of Louisiana (Jimmy Davis) wrote You Are My Sunshine. He used it as his campaign song when he was running for governor. Jimmy Davis had been a gospel singer.
posted by Beverly Boling on 3-4-2010 at 2:53 am
When I learned the song My Darling Clementine as a kid in the 1950s, we sang “Herring boxes without topses.” If you Google that exact phrase, you’ll find a lot of references to the importance of boxed salted or smoked herring as being a staple food in earlier times, including at least one that connects it to this song:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/30/dining/en-route-scandinavia-herring-the-fish-that-roared.html?pagewanted=1
A number of lyrics sites do post the lyrics as “Wearing boxes without topses” but I think this is simply another example of people hearing what they thought made sense in a more contemporary context.
posted by Dee on 3-4-2010 at 8:56 am
“My Bonnie” is a sad song; it’s a young woman singing about her lost lover; presumbably a sailor. Bonnie/Bonney is Scot’s dialect for dear, sweetheart, etc.
Pop! Goes the Weasel is a about pawning (to pop) a shoemaker’s tool (the weasel).
posted by MaryL on 3-4-2010 at 6:03 pm
I also had the Mother Goose VHS when I was younger – so I knew “Twinkle Twinkle” and “London Bridge” and I had picked up “My Bonny” along the way and most of “Clementine”. But WHEW – I had not heard the end of “Clementine”. “Alouette” is the only tune I know how to play on the piano, and it may be forever ruined for me.
I always had a second verse to “Jack Be Nimble” – “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jumped over the candlestick. If Jack had jumped a little higher, he wouldn’t have set his pants on fire.”
And the comic “Pearls Before Swine” has added a couple verses to some nursery rhymes – my favorite was “Little Miss Muffet”
Little Miss Muffet, sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey
Along came a spider and sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.
Then Muffet went back and checked her gun rack, finding a .357,
Then finding the spider, she sat down beside her,
And blew the poor sucker to heaven
posted by Kate H on 3-4-2010 at 8:16 pm
I always thought the song was “My BUNNY lies over the ocean” lmao :)
posted by Cassy on 3-11-2010 at 1:40 am
“My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean” is about Bonnie Prince Charlie. Just for the record!
posted by Bard on 3-13-2010 at 9:18 pm
WOW, the only one I knew was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I ran across the second verse when I was in the third grade. I still remember it, and I’m 37!
posted by Bubbles on 3-17-2010 at 3:58 pm
Im dying laughing….LOL
posted by Shaunni on 3-30-2010 at 5:21 pm
My son is french canadien / american, so I wanted to teach him some french songs. According to wikipedia, at the end of Alouette, not only have they plucked all the feathers, but they say “you’re a bloody corpse!”
posted by kidneybingos on 3-31-2010 at 7:47 pm
I always sang “do your ears hang low” this way:
Do your ears hang low?
Do they wobble too and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot?
Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them over your shoulder
Like a continental soldier?
Do your ears hang low?
So…Maybe it was a song sung in the army?:)
posted by Febot on 4-5-2010 at 12:27 pm
I always thought it went “my body lies over the ocean” I never knew it was Bonnie!!
posted by jean on 4-12-2010 at 11:13 pm
Even as a little 8 year old, I found “You Are My Sunshine” terribly depressing. Whenever my grandma started to sing the first verse, I’d start sobbing. And I hated when my mom would sing “Oh My Darling Clementine”. I thought it was the saddest thing ever.
posted by Dana on 5-4-2010 at 8:31 pm
My dad’s version:
Jack and Jill went up the hill
Each with a buck and a quarter
Jill came down with two and a half
Do you think they went up for water?
posted by Eseide on 5-19-2010 at 1:53 pm
The French eat the alouette whole, but under a napkin because God doesn’t like to see such a small bird get eaten.
posted by Dr J on 5-29-2010 at 2:22 pm
Mary had a little lamb,
A little beef, a little ham,
An ice cream sundae, pop with fizz,
And oh! How sick our Mary is!
Mary had a little sheep,
And with the sheep she used to sleep.
The sheep turned out to be a ram…
Mary had a little lamb.
There’s gotta be hundreds of things like this out there.
As to why so many of the songs (and for that matter, the old stories) seem to be so gruesome, I think that is because they were in some cases object lessons, meant to teach desirable traits and values, and reinforcing the lessons with dire, drastic, and sometimes gory consequences for those characters in the story who failed to observe or follow the lessons. Compare the original versions of “The Little Mermaid”, “Cinderella”, “Snow White”, or “Sleeping Beauty” to the Disney-fied versions we have now, for example.
-”BB”-
posted by Bicycle Bill on 5-31-2010 at 6:10 pm
I knew the london bridge verses. And what Alloute meant. But I speak a little french. I’m not fluent but I have a pretty good understanding of it. In other versons, it has to do with the bird pecking you! ( et de yeux)
posted by Gigi on 6-4-2010 at 9:23 pm
This list (and the resulting comments, I’m sure) is excellent. :) In fact, I’ve always known the second verse of “Bicycle Built for Two” much better than the first.
When I was a kid, off the top of my head I made up a second verse to “Do Your Ears Hang Low” (the first line is strikingly similar to the official version’s, but I swear I hadn’t heard it before):
“Do your ears point high?
Do they point up to the sky?
Do they wiggle just a bit-
when you stand or when you sit?
Can you put your hair behind them
so it’s easier to find them?
Do your ears point high?” :)
posted by Araxie on 6-10-2010 at 3:55 am
My 11th grade history textbook surprised me with the truth about Clementine: it’s not a weepy ballad but a spoof of one.
The doomed waif is a she-hulk who can barely cram her feet into a pair of fish crates. Her lover grieves for one whole line of the song before putting the moves on her kid sister. And then, where other love songs would go on about undying beauty or some such bilge, this one cracks a bunch of decomposition jokes. Romantic, no?
P.S. This was my version of the Mary song:
Mary had a little lamb,
Some corndogs and a slice of ham…
posted by toiletcat on 6-11-2010 at 10:41 pm
Whne Mary had a little lamb
the doctor was surprised.
BUt when Old Mac Donald had a fram
the doctor nearly died.
Mary had a little lamb,
a lobster and some prunes,
a load of bread, a jar of jam,
and then some macaroons.
It made the naughty waiters grin
to hear her order so.
And when they carried MAry out
her face was whiet as snow.
my own invention: I had a relatiuve called Daisy. her legal name was Anastasia.
Anastasia, Anastasia,
give me your answer, do.
I’m half cranastasia
all for the love of you.
It won’t be a stylisg marriastasia,
I can’t afford a carrastasia.
But you’ll look swanastasia
on the sanastasia
of a bicyclanastasia built for two!
btw the real name of the Daisy Daisy song is “Daisy Bell.”
posted by little gator on 6-22-2010 at 1:32 pm
@ Alli
My mum use to sing the chorus as a lullaby. . .
posted by Catherine on 7-10-2010 at 2:21 am
Of note is also the Bobby Darin adaptation of Clementine, twisted even further:
In a cavern down by a canyon
Excavatin’ for a mine,
There lived a miner from North Carolina
And his daughter, chubby Clementine.
Now every mornin’, just about dawnin’
A’when the sun begins to shine
You know she would rouse up, wake all a dem cows up
And walk ‘em down to her Daddy’s mine.
A’took the foot bridge, way ‘cross the water
Though she weighed two-ninety nine.
The old bridge trembled and disassembled
(Oops!) dumped her into the foamy brine.
Hey, crackle like thunder, (ho, ho) she went under
(ho, ho) blowin bubbles (bubble sound) down the line.
Hey, I’m no swimm’a but were she slimm’a
I might’a saved that Clementine.
(Ho) broke the record, way under water
I thought that she was doin’ fine.
I wasn’t nervous ya until the service
That they held for Clementine.
Hey you sailor (ho, ho) way out in your whaler
With a harpoon, your trusty line.
If she shows now, yo, there she blows now,
It just may be chunky Clementine.
(One more time)
Oh my darlin’, oh my darlin’, oh my darlin’
Oh my darlin’ , oh my darlin’ sweet Clementine,
You may be gone
But!
You’re not forgotten,
Fare thee well
So long, Clementine
posted by saxmaniac on 7-14-2010 at 6:59 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b3coO_6MwY
For some great renditions of Clementine, check out the parody of folk songs Tom Lehrer does. Genius. :) He says “herring boxes senza topses”. Of course it’s in his fractured Italian, in the stye of Mozart…
posted by Kat on 7-22-2010 at 6:13 pm
My Dad taught us the second verse to “Bicycle built for two”
Michael, Michael
Here is your answer, do.
I’ll not cycle over the hills with you.
If you can’t Afford a carriage
There won’t be any marriage.
For I’ll be switched
If I’ll be hitched
On a bicycle built for two.
posted by Ellen on 7-23-2010 at 9:26 pm
I knew the clemintine one we had to do the how thing in music class
posted by Amy on 7-29-2010 at 12:48 pm
One song sung by school children is La Cucaracha. The original spanish language version tells us that poor Mr. Cockroach does not wish to travel because he is currently without marijuana.
A woman I once worked with said the song Puff the Magic Dragon made her sad due to the death of Jackie Paper. Someone explained to her that the line Dragons live forever, but not so little boys, shoes and ships and sailing boats make way for other toys, only meant that little Jackie Paper grew up. All those years of being sad for nothing!
posted by Robert C. Becker on 8-27-2010 at 12:31 pm
yet another, slightly different, second verse of Daisy…
Michael, Michael
Here is your answer true
I won’t Cycle
Just for the love of you
There won’t be any marriage
If you can’t afford a carriage
For I’ll be da**ed
If I’ll be crammed
on a bicycle built for two.
although I like the idea of the non-swearing one, might be able to finally share it with my kids :)
and yes, the Alouette song is just sick and wrong – but we sing it with great gusto around here :)
posted by T on 9-7-2010 at 11:20 pm
Baa, baa, blacksheep was swiped from Rudyard Kipling’s poem “Gentlemen Rankers”. A song very popular with pilots in WW I. I know because my Dad was one of them.
posted by D. Denny on 10-4-2010 at 2:49 pm
lmao.. these were fun! Didn’t see this version;
I’m a little teapot
Short and stout
Here is my handle*
Here is my spout
When I get all steamed up
I just shout
Tip! me over and pour me out.
* one hand on hip for handle, one in the air for spout :)
posted by Pipster on 10-14-2010 at 3:33 pm
How ’bout….
Mary had a little lamb
Her father shot it dead.
Now Mary takes her lamb to school
Between two chunks of bread!
Ouch!!!
posted by RJT on 12-12-2010 at 8:22 pm
Most of these songs I never knew, but I remember having to sing songs in fourth grade, and Oh My Darling Clementine was one of them. I remember reading through the song and thinking “How sad!”
posted by Jen on 1-4-2011 at 1:53 am
When I was young, we learned a 3rd verse of Do your ears hang low:
Do your ears hang wide
do they reach from side to side?
Do they wiggle in the breeze
from the slightest little sneeze?
Can you soar above the nation
with a feeling of elation?
Do your ears hang wide
posted by Ben on 1-27-2011 at 2:33 pm
For Dana, who thought that the line about Clementine’s little sister was inappropriate, here is the way the songs ends from a folk song book called “Going to Sing My Head Off.”
How I missed her! How I missed her!
How I missed my Clementine,
Until I kissed her little sister,
Then forgot my Clementine.
Then the miner, forty-niner,
Soon began to peak and pine,
Thought he oughter join his daughter,
Now he’s with his Clementine.
In a churchyard near the canyon,
Where the myrtle doth entwine,
There grow roses and the posies,
Fertilized by Clementine.
In my dreams she still doth haunt me,
Robed in garments, soaked in brine;
Then she rises from the water
And I kiss my Clementine.
posted by Tim on 4-21-2011 at 6:38 pm
I didn’t know the extended versions of those songs, although the London Bridge verses kind of ring a bell. I did learn “Alouette” in French class; I had always liked the tune, but it was never quite the same once I learned what the words meant.
posted by Susan on 5-10-2011 at 4:47 pm
I can’t believe that nobody else thought of “The Itsy Bitsy Spider”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjSzeR62mQM
posted by Cyberjar88 on 5-10-2011 at 10:07 pm
i knew some of them, but not all of them. i passed it on to facebook…
posted by miss josh on 5-11-2011 at 2:55 pm
The version of Clementine that I knew was as follows:
Ruby lips above the water, blowing bubbles soft and fine,
Alas, for me! I was no swimmer, so I lost my Clementine.
In a churchyard, near the canyon, where the myrtle doth entwine,
There grow roses and other posies fertilized by Clementine.
Then the miner, forty-niner, soon began to droop and pine,
Thought he ought to join his daughter, now he’s with his Clementine.
In my dreams, she still doth haunt me, robed in garments soaked in brine.
Though in life I used to kiss her, now she’s dead I draw the line.
Anyone else know this version or was my grandma (who taught me) just rather morbid?
posted by SayK on 5-31-2011 at 5:19 pm
Oh wait, I see Tim’s comment now… Guess I’m not alone
posted by SayK on 5-31-2011 at 5:21 pm
I knew all of them…
posted by rebekah on 6-1-2011 at 10:21 pm
I knew all of them…that and I worked in Child care for 10 years,
posted by rebekah on 6-1-2011 at 10:22 pm
Daisy, Daisy
The coppers are after you
If they catch you
They’ll give you a month or two.
They’ll tie you up with wire
Behind the Black Maria
So ring your bell
and pedal like hell
On a bicycle built for two.
posted by Anne on 6-9-2011 at 1:53 am
If you look at the Wikipedia article for “Clementine”, you’ll find more alternate final verses than there are verses in the entire song.
posted by Jonathan on 6-17-2011 at 9:52 pm
In Alouette, “je te plumerai” can also refer to “tickle you with feather”. Idea is to get each body part tickled until kids are beyond themselves with giggles.
posted by Maria on 6-24-2011 at 10:54 pm
Maybe the author just didn’t go to Catholic School in the ’60s where we learned all those songs in their entirety and more, or maybe the public schools dropped the verses later like many other things they refuse to teach because it might harm the fragile children.
posted by hillsurfer on 7-13-2011 at 9:01 pm
JACK AND JILL:
Jack and Jill went up the hill
to fetch a pail water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
and Jill came tumbling after.
Up Jack got and home did trot
as fast as he could caper
to old Dame Dobb who patched his knob
with vinegar and brown paper.
You’re welcome.
posted by kate on 8-5-2011 at 5:46 pm
ok I knew most of those from working at the Day Care. I think the Baa Baa Black Sheep was a recent addition but I new that version and sang to the kids. I thought the Alloutte (sp?) was a french version of head, shoulders, knees and toes though! I didn’t know it was about bird dismemberment!
posted by Melissa 'Ziggy' Cook on 8-6-2011 at 12:13 pm
My personal favorite Mary Had A Little Lamb Variation:
Mary had a little lamb,
He walked into a pylon.
Ten thousand volts went up its a**
and turned its wool to nylon.
posted by GWSTB on 8-6-2011 at 10:11 pm
I guess I had a short attention span too because I don’t remember learning any of these extra verses. Except My Bonnie, but I’m not sure I ever realized that was supposed to be a children’s song…
posted by Liza on 10-17-2011 at 2:01 pm
Mary had a little lamb
She knew it couldn’t swim
One day she took it to the pool
And pushed the bugger in…
posted by Lilacgold on 10-25-2011 at 10:41 pm
wow, its a toss up. both the article and comments are great.
posted by Susan on 11-8-2011 at 8:28 pm
My grandparents used to sing a parody of “Whistle While You Work” that apparently was popular during World War II. Part of it went “Whistle While You Work/Hitler is a jerk/And Mussolini burnt his weenie, now it doesn’t work”…
….as a child, I actually thought it was a real verse from the song.
posted by ChristieLea on 12-10-2011 at 9:40 pm
Mary had a little Lamb
Its fleece was white as snow
So to that restaurant again
She surely won’t go!
For that nice fleece
Stuck in her teeth!
Instead of lamb,
Just order ham!
posted by Mary on 1-21-2012 at 8:02 pm