[Gail White]

Obviously, that should be "pail" in the last line quoted above.

[Janet Kenny]

Gail,
Heroic typing but I think the last word should be "pail"? As in bucket.

An ulster is a type of raincoat. Presumable "ulsteret" was similar.
Janet

Gail,
Heroic typing but I think the last word should be "pail"? As in bucket.

An ulster is a type of raincoat. Presumable "ulsteret" was similar.
Janet

Whoops. Cross-posted. Did they sing the word "pain"?



[This message has been edited by Janet Kenny (edited February 25, 2006).]

[Jerry Glenn Hartwig]

I'm utterly amazed no one has has mentioned the classic teaser:

Janet and Michael sitting in a tree
K-I-S-S-I-N-G!
First somes love, then comes marriage
then comes Michael with a baby carriage.

Even as kids, we knew who ended up in charge.

[VictoriaGaile]

I learned "catch a bunny by the toe", then heard "piggy" later. I'd been an adult many years before I heard the n-word version.

I learned "A my name is Alice" as one of the rhymes to predict your future husband's name:

A my name is Alice,
My husband's name is Andrew,
We live in Alabama,
and we sell apples

Your future was prognosticated by which verse you messed up on.

I still sing this one sometimes:

Three little angels, all dressed in white
Tried to get to heaven on the end of a kite
But the kite string broke and down they all fell
Instead of going to heaven, they all went to

Two little angels, all dressed in white
Tried to get to heaven on the end of a kite
But the kite string broke and down they all fell
Instead of going to heaven, they all went to

One little angel, all dressed in white
Tried to get to heaven on the end of a kite
But the kite string broke and down they all fell
Instead of going to heaven, they all went to

Three little devils, all dressed in red
Tried to get to heaven on the end of a thread
But the thread string broke, and down they all fell
Instead of going to heaven, they all went to

Two little devils, all dressed in red
Tried to get to heaven on the end of a thread
But the thread string broke, and down they all fell
Instead of going to heaven, they all went to

One little devil, all dressed in red
Tried to get to heaven on the end of a thread
But the thread string broke, and down they all fell
Instead of going to heaven, they all went to

Don't get excited, don't lose your head:
Instead of going to heaven, they all went to BED!


And then there's this one:

I'm being swallowed by a boa constrictor,
a boa constrictor, a boa constrictor.
I'm being swallowed by a boa constrictor,
Lord have mercy on me.

Oh no - he's up to my toe
Oh gee - he's up to my knee
Oh my - he's up to my thigh
Oh fiddle - he's up to my middle
Oh heck - he's up to my neck
Oh dread - he's up to my *gulp*

[Jerry Glenn Hartwig]

VG

I've heard variations on the boa constrictor, but the kite one's new to me. Liked the ending *grin*

[Mary Moore]

Recited on the playground when someone said something original that rhymed:

You're a poet
and you don't know it.
But your feet show it
... Longfellows!

Mary

[Jerry Glenn Hartwig]

A poet who don't know it,
has a nose and don't blow it...

[Thomas Newton]

When my daughter was born for about a year she had colic and had to be rocked to sleep each night in the rocking chair. I would sing An Irish Lullaby and a nursery rhyme to her to help her go to sleep:

An Irish Lullaby

Chorus:

Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, hush now, don't you cry!
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li,
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, that's an Irish lullaby.

Mother Goose nursery rhymes

Rock-a-Bye Baby:

Rock-a-bye Baby, in the tree top,
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.

The first time I sang “Rock-a-Bye Baby” I was horrified when I realized what the words actually said so I changed it to:

Rock-a-bye Baby, in the tree top,
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks, the cradle won’t fall,
Cause Daddy chained it up there with chains.

[Mike Slippkauskas]

Great thread,

Clawson was right to call our attention to the work of Iona Opie and her late husband Peter. Their Oxford dictionaries of nursery rhymes and especially their Lore and Language of Schoolchildren belong in the reference libraries of all serious poets.

Pace David Anthony, the aforementioned scholars doubted the Great Plague provenance for "Ring-a-ring o' roses". They can't resist reminding us, however, of the old belief that lucky children could cough or laugh roses.

An example of this rhyme put to profound use is in the final scene of Alban Berg's great opera Wozzek (Janet Kenny, support me on this!). A circle of children, including Wozzek's and Marie's son, plays at this game. The audience knows the boy is newly orphaned by murder and a sort of suicide-by-madness. The rhyme's musical setting seems to underscore the odd mixture of innocence, allegiance-building and bloody cruelty common to many such rhymes. When the circle breaks and the boy walks up-and-offstage to discover his dead mother, the effect in the theatre is shattering.

To give credit where it is due, the use of the game appears in Berg's source material, Georg Buchner's equally great play Woyzek.

My name Michael Slipp (how can I get this changed?)

[Janet Kenny]

Michael,
I love the opera and the play. The child's electronic game song "op op--op op" are among theatre's most chilling moments. Not actually electronic but the bird-like sounds and the repetitive movements are pitiless in their pathos.

It's many years since I thought about this. I do remember a game.

The play and opera should be a warning against allowing the educated classes to use less powerful people for dietary experiments--or any others.
Great to be reminded of it. As soon as possible after my household goods join me in my new location I'll play the record to bring it back.
Janet

PS: My first live performance of Wozzek starred a heavily pregnant Marilyn Horne as Marie. Unforgettable. I had mixed feelings about Geraint Evans (Wozzek) but he had his moments.
Janet



[This message has been edited by Janet Kenny (edited March 04, 2006).]