Nursery Rymes that you remember - traditional (scary, gross etc)

I also just remembered playing london bridge as a child. Fond memories.

Here is another one I remember: On top of old smokey all covered with grass I saw a bald eagle scratching his ***. Don't be fooled. Don't be alarmed I saw a bald eagle scratching his arm.

We played it! What fond memories....thanks. In those days, we went out and played outside!!

Two girls would face each other, holding up their arms and linking them to make an "arc" type bridge. We'd walk under it, in circles. At the part where it goes, "My fair lady", they would "capture" whoever was under at the time by lowering their arms. Then, it was "take a key and lock her up, lock her up, etc."

Then, it started over. Gosh, I didn't even know who the lyrics were referring to, or what it meant, LOL.

Just loved the game.

If not already posted, one I thought was gross:

"Milk, milk
Lemonade
Around the corner
Fudge is made."

You can all guess what body parts each line is referring to.

There once was a man from Nantucket...lol

This isn't all of it because I can never remember it all

Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town
Up stairs and down stairs in his nightgown
Rapping at the window, crying through the lock
“Are the weans in their bed,. For it's now 10 o'clock.
Hey, Willie Winkie, are you coming in?
The cat is singing purring sounds to the sleeping hen
The dog's spread out on the floor and doesn't give a cheep
But here's a wakeful little boy who will not fall asleep!

I found a peanut was fun to sing.

I found a peanut, found a peanut, found a peanut just now. Just now I found a peanut, found a peanut just now.

cracked it open, cracked it open, cracked it open just now,
just now I cracked it open, cracked it open just now.

It was rotten, it was rotten, it was rotten just now,
just now it was rotten, it was rotten just now.

ate it anyhow..
got a tummy ach...
called the doctor...
operation...
died anyhow..
went to heaven...
met Saint Peter...
didn't like him...
went the other way...
shoveling coal...

that's how we sang it but there are different versions.

Yeah ~ we would start off with our arms down and then one arm up and then the other. When we got to the lock her up, we'd toss the person in the middle from side to side.

Thanks for the reminder of London Bridge - I totally loved that as a child. And Itsy Bitsy Spider, I can remember my Dad telling it to me, complete with hand motions - I loved it.

splitimage

[quote=Parley;

Yeah ~ we would start off with our arms down and then one arm up and then the other. When we got to the lock her up, we'd toss the person in the middle from side to side.[/quote]

Yeah, I forgot to write that part! The girl "locked up" would get swayed side to side. It wasn't until I was much, much older when I found out it was about Queen Elizabeth I (I think!). I didn't know where the London Bridge was, or why it was falling down, or who the "fair lady" was, etc. Sigh, the innocence of childhood!

Liked that one too!

And....Jack and Jill went up the hill....But that's all I remember, LOL. Someone once told me that's a dirty one, but I don't remember the rest. And I don't have time to stop and look it up, it's not that important!

That's the one I was going to post! Creepy when you find out what it's really about!

This is a rather silly one that once I thought of, coldn't get out of my head. If I remember correctly we used to skip to it.

Lucy had a steamboat
The steamboat had a bell
Lucy went to heaven
the steamboat went to
Hello operator, get me number 9
And if you disconnect me
I'll kick you in the...
Behind a curtain there was a piece of glass
And every time you stepped on it,
You fell upon your ...
Ask me no questions
Tell me no lies
For Lucy told me everything
Right before she died.

splitmage

Sorry if this has been mentioned, but I don't have time to read through the whole thread.

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

I think it went something like that, maybe not verbatim. As an adult, I see how obviously political that is. But as a kid I thought it was so cute.

Someone said something about Ring Around the Rosy was about the plague.

The Black Plague that wiped out most of Europeans in the Middle Ages?

When I was little, I thought it meant a ring around a ROSE. WELL, I was about 5 years old!!

Many years ago a magazine published a 'modern' (tongue in cheek) version of nursery rhymes. Two I can remember, which have appeared in this thread, are:

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 terrific.

And

Wee Willie Winkie ran through the town
Upstairs and downstairs in his nightgown.
He should be reported to the police.

I remember tis one
There once was a man named Michael Finnegan,
Had three whiskers on his chinnegan,
Shaved them off and they grew in ag'in,
Poor old Michael Finnegan (begin ag'in)

I think it is more likely about Mary Queen of Scots who was held captive by Elizabeth I for 18 years before she was beheaded.

A surprising number of nursery rhymes have their origin in this period.
For example,

Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye
4 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie
when the pie was opened the birds began to sing
now wasn't 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 parlour eating bread and honey
the maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes
when down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose [at this point my Granny would pinch my nose between her fingers and the show me my 'nose' (really her thumb)]
she made such a commotion ,that little Jenny wren
flew down into the garden and popped it on again. [My Granny would tap my nose retuning it to its proper place at this point]

This rhyme is based on the true event of 24 live blackbirds having really been put into a pie after having been smoked so that they would be unconscious. The pie was then presented to Henry VIII and when it was opened the birds were revived with the fresh air and( may or may not have) begun to sing!

Just a bit of Tudor history for you to go along with your rhymes!

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!

If you are gen x or grew up in the 80's this/these books put the fear of god in you

I love those books.

Theres a book called: Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood. It was a fun read but its not for my generation so I didn't get most of the references but they have a lot of nursey rhymes and other childhood things and then parodys of them too from the 40's-80's.