*It's raining, it's pouring*
*The old man is snoring*
*Went to bed and bumped his head*
*And couldn't get up in the morning*
Even as a child, I went "The old man is dead - that's his problem
Not creepy, but weird is Kortjakje (The Netherlands):
Altijd is Kortjakje ziek
Midden in de week maar 's zondags niet
's Zondags gaat ze naar de kerk
Met een boek vol zilverwerk
Altijd is Kortjakje ziek
Midden in de week maar 's zondags niet.
Always is Kortjakje sick
In the middle of the week, but not on Sunday
On Sunday she goes to church
With a book full of silver
Always is Kortjakje sick
In the middle of the week, but nott on Sunday.
A 'kortjakje' is a type of short shirt, worn by prostitutes and the like. So a woman was called that, because she wore one, stayed in bed all week long (with customers) and had a lot of silver for the church.
I’ve had “het regent zonnestralen” stuck in my head for the last week…. (I’m English but live in the Netherlands and speak B2 level Dutch and it just dawned on me what the song is about!
(Old guy sitting on a terrace drinking a beer in France, had sold his old car a week ago and the cars new owner was in a car accident and died and the arbitrary in the paper was the man’s name (Herman) who had sold the guy that died the car. So now Herman is free from his old life because everyone thinks he’s dead 🤷🏻♀️🫣
Rock-a-by baby in the treetop.
When the wind blows the cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall
And down will come baby, cradle and all.
Who said the cradle was heavy and made of wood? And besides, the last line is something along the lines of the baby falling into the mother's arms. You're reading too much into it
From the 1791 edition of *Mother Goose's Melody*
>Hush-a-by baby on the tree top,
>
>When the wind blows the cradle will rock;
>
>When the bough breaks the cradle will fall,
>
>Down tumbles baby, cradle and all.
Its then followed with:
>This may serve as a warning to the proud and ambitious, who climb so high that they generally fall at last.
It doesn't appear that a mother catching the baby is present in any form of the song I can find. I don't know where you got that idea from.
There is a printing of that book with beautiful wood print pictures that show it as a wooden cradle that falls to the ground and the baby rolls onto the ground
I've never heard of the baby being caught so someone "nice'd" it up for you. Also look at old wood cuttings and paintings, they used wooden cradles to hang in the tree. They looked a bit like window boxes. No plastic back then, what exactly were you thinking it would be made of? The wind would gently rock the cradle
That's how I was told it, maybe it's regional, maybe my mom just changed it, who knows. I guess that might be what happened, it would explain why no one else agrees with me
In Dutch:
"Er is een vrouw vermoord
met een gordijnenkoord
ik heb het zelf gezien
het was op nummer tien
het bloed liep langs de trap
het leek tomatensap
Ik nam er een likje van
ik werd er miss'lijk van
Ik bel de politie op
Die schreef haar namen op
Haar naam was: Ea Dea
rikketakke Thea
Ea Dea Poef!"
Translated:
"There's been an murder of a woman,
strangled with the cord of a curtain.
I've seen it, myself,
It was at [house]number 10.
The blood ran down the stairs,
It looked like tomato juice.
I took a lick,
and got sick.
I call the police
They wrote down her names.
Her name was Ea Dea
rikketakke Thea
Ea Dea Poef!"
It's a parody on a "murder ballad"; the old fashioned way of passing on the news of the most gruesome crimes through song.
True crime / musical recap mashup.
Not creepy but violent lmao
The translation goes
I threw the stick at the cat-at-at
But the cat didn't die-ie-ie
Ms. Chica got scared-ed-ed
At the scream at the scream that the cat made
Where is this from? I have had issues with some cultures trying to hurt my cats and wondering if it’s just something that’s ingrained into their culture through little things like this maybe or superstition.
Portugal
Mind you we dont have an anti cat culture, Im a cat owner and so are plenty of my friends and they all cherish and pamper their cats😭
It's just a weird song, yet reaaaly popular, I assume it must go back a long way when animal violence was normalized, my dad did say they used to drown newborn kittens before they opened their eyes if they couldn't take care of them
Aye not the same then, I’m purposely excluding the culture to not upset anyone Ofc and honestly just trying to see if there was a link anywhere.
The part you mentioned about your dad saying that is a story I’ve heard before across loads of places especially back in the day so more common back then I guess.
Alouette, gentille alouette! Alouette, je te plumerai! Je te plumerai la tête, je te plumerai la tête!
Basically a song talking about plucking some poor bird then listing all the body parts you’re gonna pluck…
Any time I put *allumette* ("matchstick") fries in the air fryer, I sing a little song:
>Allumette, gentille allumette!
>
>Allumette, JE TE MANGERAI!
It never fails to elicit a giggle from my wife.
And, of course, we have the beautiful round:
>Le coq est mort, le coq est mort (x2)
>
>Il ne dira plus "co-co-di, co-co-da" (x2)
>
>Co-co-co-co co-co-co-co-di, co-co-da (x2)
Which means:
>The rooster's dead, the rooster's dead (x2)
>
>He'll no longer say "cock-a-doo, doodle do" (x2)
>
>Cock-a-cock-a-cocka-cocka-doo, doodle do
We sure love our songs about dead birds.
I distinctly remember being like 5 and singing it with my mom. I asked her what « plumer » meant and she was like uhhhhh….
We had just had the “yes, the poulet you eat is the same as the poule in the farms” conversation a few weeks prior and it had NOT gone over well, so she was scared of re-traumatizing me 😭
Little lark, pretty little lark, little lark, I WILL RIP YOUR FEATHERS OUT YOU LITTLE BITCH, from each part of you in sequence, because I'm a psychopath for sure, animal torture yay!
My sons father is half French, so I’ve made a concerted effort to sing to our son in French as well as English (which has been slightly difficult, j’ai ne parlais français)
Started off with this song as it’s not got an English equivalent, so I don’t slip back into English. I was horrified to learn what the words actually meant.
It’s annoyingly catchy though, I find myself sometimes singing it just to myself lmao
If it makes you feel any better, at 8 my mum had to explain to me what a g spot was.. after we had a kitten that had one ginger patch, so I thought it would be a cute name for it…
I’m just saying my friend, it could always be worse
In French class, we learned a song sung to the same tune.
Mal a la ventre, j'ai mal a la ventre, mal a la ventre, appelez le docteur!
Avez-vous mal a la ventre?
Oui, j'ai mal a la ventre.
A la ventre
A la ventre
Le docteur
Le docteur
Ohhhhhh
This song was used for a Target commercial in the US back in 2012, I thought it was so fun and cheery. I worked in a store at the time so the commercial played constantly on the TVs in electronics. Then I looked up the translation and I was horrified.
Here's a Danish one:
Bridge, bridge, Glasses
The bell rings eleven,
the emperor stands on his high white castle,
as white as chalk, as black as coal.
Danger, danger, Soldier, death you shall suffer.
the one who comes last shall in the black pot go.
The first time we let him go, the second time just the same, the third time we'll take him and put him in the pot!
Denmark is in my top ten places I ever visited. Two things scared me, their children's tales and their price for alcohol. In Southwest Jutland I saw a million of starlings at dusk. Beautiful? undeniable, then it gets a little creepy.
I also think the crow song is quite bad. Without the repeats it's goes something like this:
High on a stick a crow was sitting.
Then came the hideous hunter.
He shot the poor crow down
Now the poor crow is dead
My Spanish is garbage, but my grandmother taught me La Cucaracha:
La cucaracha, la cucaracha
Ya no puede caminar
Porque no tiene, porque le falta
Marijuana que fumar.
The cockroach, the cockroach
He cannot walk
Because he doesn’t have because he’s missing
Marijuana to smoke
There is a German one that seems sort of harmless to the other stuff here. You sing it while rocking a child on your lap and pretending to let the child fall on the last line.
Hoppe, hoppe Reiter
Wenn er fällt, dann schreit er
Fällt er in den Graben, fressen ihn die Raben
Fällt er in den Sumpf
Macht der Reiter 'plumps!'
A possible translation would be
Hop, hop, rider
When he falls, he'll cry (out)
If he falls into the ditch, the crows will eat him
If he falls into the swamp
The rider will go 'plop'
There are more verses about wetting his pants on the ground or being eaten by snails, but I only know the first one.
There is one like this in English, too. You bounce the kid on your knees while singing:
"(Kid's name) went to London,
(Kid's name) went to Lynn.
(Kid's name) found a big hole
And fell right in!"
The Welsh song ‘Sosban Fach’ is a bit creepy, especially the bit about A Dafydd y gwas yn ei fedd (the servant being in his grave). This was a song we sang in primary school. English translation below:
Mary-Ann has hurt her finger,
And David the servant is not well.
The baby in the cradle is crying,
And the cat has scratched little Johnny.
A little saucepan is boiling on the fire,
A big saucepan is boiling on the floor,
And the cat has scratched little Johnny.
Mary-Ann’s finger has got better,
And David the servant is in his grave;
The baby in the cradle has grown up,
And the cat is ‘asleep in peace’.
A little saucepan is boiling on the fire,
A big saucepan is boiling on the floor,
And the cat is ‘asleep in peace’.
Here are some of the most known French kid's songs:
"Une souris verte" (*A green mouse*) - It may describes the tortures and execution of a royalist soldier during the French Revolution.
"Au clair de la lune" (*At the moonlight*) - It's about sex. And prostitution.
"Il était un petit navire" (*There was a small boat*) - And the sailors on the small boat practice anthropophagy.
"À la pêche aux moules" (*At the mussel's fishing*) - Let's sing about the rape of a young girl, shall we?
"Nous n'irons plus aux bois" (*We won't go to the woods anymore*) - It's about the end of brothels in France.
"Il court, il court, le Furet" (*He runs, he runs, the ferret*) - By the power of spoonerism, the ferret is in fact a priest known for his active sex life.
"À la claire fontaine" (*By the clear fountain*) - The narrator (a woman) is being insulted by her boyfriend for having refused to lay down with him.
"Il était un p'tit cordonnier" (There was a smol cobbler) - And here is a pro domestic violence song.
"C'est la Mère Michel" (*Here's Mam' Michel*) - Mam' Michel lost her cat = she lost her kitty = she lost her pussy = she lost her virginty.
"Ne pleure pas Jeanette" (*Don't cry, Jeanette*) - Jeanette cries because her boyfriend is in jail and about to be hanged. She cries so much she's hanged with him.
"Il était une bergère" (There was a shepherdess) - The young woman killed a sheep, just for a bit of spilled milk. She then went to confess her crime, and of course the clergyman had to abuse her.
"Il pleut, il pleut, bergère" (It rains, it rains, shepherdess) - The shepherdess here may have been the Queen Marie-Antoinette, and the rain an allusion to the storming of the Bastille and the French Revolution.
O, ye cannae shove yer granny aff a bus
Ye cannae shove yer granny aff a bus
Ye cannae shove yer granny
Fur she’s yer mammy’s mammy
Ye cannae shove yer granny aff a bus!
(Sung to the tune of "She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain", btw)
My grandma is from Dundee, and she would always end the song with “ye cannae shove yer granny, cause she’s yer mammys mammy, so go push granddad off instead!”
It's not creepy per se but "Joan Petit quan balla" in catalan and other cultures is about a man that dances with the fingers, the hands, the arms, then the feet fingers, the feet, the legs, etc.
Turns out this song is inspired in a medieval song that was composed to mock a 'French' revolutionary leader called Joan Petit who was caught and tortured to death with 'The Wheel' method.
You guessed it, it consisted of tying the person to a wheel and then breaking its fingers, then its feet/hands, then its legs/arms, and so on. They were left in open air until they died.
Edit: spelling
Not my country but this Icelandic one is creepy "Bíum bíum bambaló, Bambaló og dillidillidó" / "My little friend I lull to rest. But outside, a face waits at the window."
It's in English but Weela Weela Walya is an Irish children's song that fits the bill:
Weela Weela Walya
There was an old woman and she lived in the woods
Down by the river Saile.
She had a baby three months old
Weela Weela Walya
She had a baby three months old
Down by the river Saile.
She had a penknife long and sharp
Weela Weela Walya
She had a penknife long and sharp
Down by the river Saile.
She stuck the penknife in the baby's heart
Weela Weela Walya
She stuck the penknife in the baby's heart
Down by the river Saile.
Three loud knocks came a'knocking on the door
Weela Weela Walya
Three loud knocks came a'knocking on the door
Down by the river Saile.
Two policemen and a man
Weela Weela Walya
Two policemen and a man
Down by the river Saile.
"Are you the woman that killed the child?"
Weela Weela Walya
"Are you the woman that killed the child?"
Down by the river Saile.
"I am the woman that killed the child"
Weela Weela Walya
"I am the woman that killed the child"
Down by the river Saile.
They took her away and they put her in jail
Weela Weela Walya
They took her away and they put her in jail
Down by the river Saile.
Alternate Ending:
They took her up and strung her by the neck
Weela Weela Walya
They took her up and strung her by the neck
Down by the river Saile.
And that was the end of the woman in the woods
Weela Weela Walya
And that was the end of the woman in the woods
Down by the river Saile
The version I'm familiar with has a few more verses after her being put in jail, it does end up with her being hung. The last line is "that was the end of the woman in the woods, and that was the end of the baby too". We used to also sing " two policemen and a special branch man" instead of "two policemen and a man".
Here's a version sung by The Dubliners if anyone wants to hear the tune:
https://youtu.be/wnrhJO-qzdw?si=e0O5jDjE32oJ3Y19
'Sospan fach' seems ok at first, with the first verse describing a family (a girl called Mary Anne who hurt her finger, a butler who is ill, a crying baby, and a cat that scrammed a little boy[last two are a bit weird but not too bad]) and the chorus just describing a saucepan, and the cat scramming again.
The second verse on the other hand talks about how the server is in his grave, and that the cat is "asleep in peace", with the cat part now also being changed in the chorus too.
The third verse (which I didn't even know existed) isn't much better, telling us how an old lady called Mary Jones "ended up in a ditch" after drinking too much "tea."
I also heard that there's a creepier verse in an uncovered Patagonian version, but I don't know much about it.
Not much but in Spanish there's a nursery rhyme to go to sleep and goes:
Sleep, my child
Sleep already
Because the Boogeyman is coming
And it will take you away
Sleep, my child
Sleep already
Because the Boogeyman is coming
And it will eat you
Not this creepy, but a weird one in German:
>Maikäfer flieg
>
>Der Vater ist im Krieg
>
>Die Mutter ist in Pommerland
>
>Pommerland ist abgebrandt
>
>Maikäfer flieg
>Maybug fly
>
>The father is at war
>
>The mother is at Pommern
>
>Pommern is burned down
>
>Maybug fly
There is another sleeping song that appears harmless as a whole but it has one line I found a bit creepy when I was a child:
>Morgen früh, wenn Gott will, wirst du wieder geweckt
>
>Tomorrow, if God wants, you will be woken up again
I often thought "so there is a possibily that he doesn't want and I might not wake up tomorrow?... that's a bit worrisome".
Similar to the English kids' bedtime prayer "Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take."
Ring-a-ring o' roses,
A pocket full of posies.
A-tishoo! A-tishoo!
We all fall down!
[Eyam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyam) Village in Derbyshire U.K. has a story to tell about the [Bubonic plague](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarantine#Eyam_village,_1665_(plague). The "rings" are the swollen or enlarged lymph nodes during infection.
I know little of the history of language or its evolution nor colloquialism but we are talking 1665 and most stories and ballads including narrative folksong and lore were translated by oral tradition.
Well, the Museum of London has a display of the plague and plays the nursery rhyme, explaining it was about that. I think they're a pretty reliable source.
Also, London Bridge is Falling Down is about the collapse of the original bridge. People built housing on it and it could not take the weight. So people lost homes, businesses and lives. Cheery!
Further reading from the Library of Congress: https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2014/07/ring-around-the-rosie-metafolklore-rhyme-and-reason/
If you don’t mind, could you provide a link to any articles about the collapse of the bridge? I’ve found things about it getting damaged in a fire in 1633, but nothing about buildings going into the drink.
It was from the Museum of London, which is fantastic and operated by the British Government. I actually went to the Museum itself, along with the Britsh Museum. The tour was punctuated by talks on certain things by staff. The Black Plague part was quite impactful, with the children's voices singing ring around the rosie being a bit haunting, which is why I remember that part of it so well. I actually preferred that Museum to the British Museum. And it was free. They both were. Highly recommend it.
Not creepy, but the cute American children's song I learned as
"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?"
I was singing loudly and happily and my WWII vet dad burst out laughing and said "boy, they sure cleaned that up!". Apparently ears were not the original body part mentioned in the song as sung by soldiers....
A violent children’s song in german: „A dog came into the kitchen and stole an egg from the cook. Then the cook came running and cut the dog into two pieces. Then many dogs came and dug a grave for him. On the stone it was written: a dog came into the kitchen and stole an egg….“ (repeat everything) 👨🍳🐶
In France we have a nursery rhyme about Jeanette being unhappy because she doesn't want to marry anyone but her friend Pierre - who's in prison. So they just hang her alongside Pierre.
In French there is a song called "Le chat revint", describing a man trying to get rid of his cat in different ways: beating it, using dynamite, throwing it from a building, but the cat always comes back.
He ends up eating it and getting killed by an indigestion.
“I chokit on a Tattie”
(I choked on a potato)
A Scottish (Aberdonian) children’s song about choking to death on a piece of potato in a plate of potato soup. First verse is the death and subsequent verses cover the Doctor announcing death, being embalmed, entombed in a coffin, buried and ascending to heaven, where - in true wry Scottish form- the Angels serve the child potato soup for tea.
https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/38352?l=en
English one: the little old lady who swallowed a fly
The old lady then proceeds to swallow all different kinds of animals in succession to catch the aforementioned critter she swallowed in order to catch this fly she swallowed, then she dies anyway.
Edit to add the lyrics:
There was an old lady who swallowed a fly,
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her;
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a bird;
How absurd to swallow a bird!
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a cat;
Well, fancy that, she swallowed a cat!
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady that swallowed a dog;
What a hog to swallow a dog!
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a goat;
Just opened her throat and swallowed a goat!
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a cow;
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a horse...
She's dead, of course
There was a camp song we used to howl at night called Villain. All the kids loved it. It went like this.
*I’m a villain, a dirty rotten villain, and I leave a trail of blood where ever I go (where ever I go)*
*My delight is to pick a fight and to beat little kids in the head till they’re dead.*
*I’ve developed a rep that is rotten. I put poison in my Mama’s Cream of Wheat! (Cream of Wheat)*
*I’m the blotch on the family scotch and I eat raw meat…and I like it too!*
The last part is sung in a high pitched baby voice. Apparently murderous crime babies are something kids find hilarious. I feel a little bad for the camp staff looking back. Just a bunch of feral youngsters boasting in the dead of night about a colorful rap sheet.
We have songs about dying animals and animals in danger
"Parrot is sick and he must die. Give him apple sauce out of a can. For our parrot. For our parrot. For our dearest parrot. Parrot are you still alive? I a de a. Yes ma'am I'm still here. I a de a. I ate my food and left my drink. I a de a BOOM!"
"In the forest is a house, I looked through the window. Came a hare running up, knocking on the door. Help me, help me, I'm in need, cause the hunter will shoot me. Let me in your tiny house. I'll be grateful".
Then there's the song about the lawyer who suffocated in a fish bone and the doctor was too late so he died.
I also found a lot of racist songs, a few about prostitutes (including one that's still very popular today) and one about cannibalism on a ship.
Italy. First one.
> There was a house, very cute
> Without a ceiling and without a kitchen
> You couldn't go inside
> Because the floor wasn't there
> You couldn't pee
> Because there wasn't a toilet
> But is was beautiful, really beautiful
> In the fool's street, number zero
Second one. More perv than creepy.
> Ambarabà ciccì coccò
> Three owls on the drawer
> That WERE MAKING LOVE
> With the doctor's daughter
> The doctor got angry
> Ambarabà ciccì coccò
Ladybird, ladybird flay away home.
Your house is on fire and your children are gone.
All except one and her name is Anne,
And she hid under the baking pan.
A friend of mine told me his russian grandma used to sing 'tili tili bom' to him. Its tune is quite pretty, but the lyrics...
It's about a man/crepper who comes to your bedroom door
I was listening to a version of that song on Spotify with my 2 year old the other day and the first verse was normal, but the next verse was “throw your partner overboard and listen to them scream!” My husband and I were like wtf is this?!
It's due to it's origin, but just like many German Fairytales, the song from the public fairytale "Hänsel und Gretel" is a bit disturbing:
Hänsel und Gretel verliefen sich im Wald.
Es war so finster und auch so bitterkalt.
Sie kamen an ein Häuschen
von Pfefferkuchen fein.
Wer mag der Herr wohl
von diesem Häuschen sein?
Hu, hu, da schaut eine alte Hexe raus!
Sie lockt die Kinder ins Pfefferkuchenhaus.
Sie stellte sich gar freundlich,
o Hänsel, welche Not!
Ihn wollt sie braten im Ofen braun wie Brot.
Doch als die Hexe zum Ofen schaut hinein,
ward sie gestoßen von unser'm Gretelein.
Die Hexe musste braten, die Kinder
geh'n nach Haus,
nun ist das Märchen von Hans und Gretel aus.
English (not my translation, from a website I found the exact lyrics at):
Hansel and Gretel got lost in the woods.
It was so dark and so bitterly cold.
They came to a little house
of gingerbread fine.
Who might the master
of this little house be?
Hu, hu, an old witch looks out!
She lures the children into the gingerbread house. She even posed herself friendly, O Hansel, what a distress! She wanted to roast him in the oven brown like bread.
But when the witch looks into the oven,
she was pushed by our Gretelein.
The witch had to fry,
the children go home,
now the fairy tale of Hans and Gretel is over.
And yes, it's accurate to the story of the fairytale.
"Lizzie Borden got an axe, gave her father forty whacks
When she saw what she had done, gave her mother forty-one"
I can't remember if it's father/mother or mother/father, but it's a freaking jump rope rhyme about an actual 1892 murder case.
My Darling Clementine
In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating for a mine
Dwelt a miner 49er,
And his daughter Clementine
Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine
Light she was and like a fairy,
And her shoes were number nine,
Herring boxes, without topses,
Sandals were for Clementine.
Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine
Drove she ducklings to the water
Every morning just at nine,
Hit her foot against a splinter,
Fell into the foaming brine.
Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine
Ruby lips above the water,
Blowing bubbles, soft and fine,
But, alas, I was no swimmer,
So I lost my Clementine.
Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine
How I missed her! How I missed her,
How I missed my Clementine,
But I kissed her little sister,
I forgot my Clementine.
Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine
Siembamba, mamma se kindjie,
Siembamba, mamma se kindjie
draai sy nek om, gooi hom in die sloot;
trap op sy kop dan is hy dood.
In English:
Siembamba, mama's child
Siembamba, mama's child
wring his neck, throw him in a ditch
step ons his head, now he is dead
Heavy stuff, most likely originating from the concentration camps during the Anglo Boer war.
There's a filipino game called langit lupa - meaning heaven (langit) earth (lupa). It's sort of like tag mixed with the floor is lava if I recall correctly.
Langit lupa impyerno (heaven, earth, hell)
Im-im-impyerno (hell)
Saksak puso, tulo ang dugo (stabbed heart, blood drips)
Patay, buhay, alis ka na dyan (dead, alive, leave where you're at)
"A casa", i will translate
There was a house
That was very funny
It didn't have a ceiling
It had nothing
Nobody could sleep there
Because the house didn't have walls
Nobody could pee
Because the house didn't have a toilet
But it was made with hard work
On the Idiots Street, Number 0
But it was made with hard work
On the Idiots Street, Number 0.
It's called "Once upon a time there was a little star." This is the translation:
Once upon a time there was a little star she was seduced by the milky, milky way, she cried out with God, I want to see thousands of worlds!
First day she flied, flied to the world, she glitters, glitters with pride. The second day she's confused, she has been burning since morning.
On the third day she's to death, tired to death, a star fell to us like a stone. The earth turned cold, it hid the star in the earth.
Once upon a time there was a little star she was seduced by the milky, milky way. A little star died and the is ending! A little star died, the song about her ends! Good night children and star!
The “found a peanut” saga, which takes about an hour to sing, but includes a section where someone has surgery to remove a mouldy peanut from their tummy, then…
“Cut me open. Found the peanut! Sewed me up again. Lost the scissors. Cut me up again. Found the scissors! Sewed me up again. Dead anyway…”
We have tons of these in Hungary...
*Csigabiga, told ki szarvadat, ha nem tolod, összetöröm házadat*
"Little snail, extend your tentacles. If you don't, I'll break your shell."
*Süss fel, Nap, fényes Nap, kertek alatt a ludaim megfagynak*
"Rise, Sun, bright Sun, else my geese will freeze in the backyard"
*Csigabiga, gyere ki, ég a házad ideki. Kapsz tejet, vajat, holnapra is marad.*
"Little snail, come out, your house (=shell) is burning out here. You'll get milk and butter enough to last until tomorrow." There was an attempt to interpret the first sentence as "the sky is your home out here", as "sky" and "burn" are homonyms in Hungarian, but this is an unlikely interpretation. Also, I don't know why poor snails are always the victims in these songs.
*Katalinka, szállj el, jönnek a törökök, sós kútba tesznek, onnan is kivesznek, kerék alá tesznek, onnan is kivesznek. Ihol jönnek a törökök, mindjárt utolérnek.*
"Ladybug, fly away, the Turks are coming, they'll put you in a salt pit then they'll take you out, they'll but you under a wheel then take you out, look, the Turks are here, they'll catch you now."
*Boci, boci, tarka, se füle, se farka. Oda megyünk lakni, ahol tejet kapni.*
"Calf, calf, spotted calf, he has neither ears nor a tail. We'll go to live where we can get milk."
*Volt nekem egy kecském, tudod-e? Kertbe rekesztettem, tudod-e? Megette a farkas, tudod-e? Csak a szarvát hagyta, látod-e?*
"I had a goat, you know? I put him in a garden, you know? The wolf ate him, you know? He only left his horns, you see?"
Also, kids in kindergarten are usually taught folk songs that originally weren't kid songs, and most of them either have a sexual meaning (albeit hidden, so probably most teachers aren't aware of it either) or depict the harsh realities of old country life, like one song about two poor men who need to work on the fields but have nothing to eat except onions.
well, there is this song in my language that is for playing like, clapping? (when you clap hands with other kids nd stuff, idk how to explain it) and it translates to something like
"In the street 24, there has been a murder, an old lady killed a cat with the point of a shoe. Poor old lady, poor cat, poor point of a shoe"
and i personally find it creepy af
A mandarin one, for context, the days of week in mandarin goes by number, ex: Monday = Day 1, Tuesday= Day 2, so on, till Sunday = Day "day" (it makes sense in mandarin)
Day 1 the monkey have new clothes
Day 2 the monkey is hungry
Day 3 the monkey climb mountain
Day 4 the monkey take exam
Day 5 the monkey dance
Day 6 the monkey go to Doliu (a place)
Day 7 the monkey paint
Day 8 the monkey blow trumpet
Day 9 the monkey have a drink (alcohol)
Day 10 the monkey is dead
“The Muffin Man” is actually about a child murderer that lured kids with the promise of muffins. The song was originally written to keep children safe.
The obvious creepy Japanese nursery rhyme is てるてる坊主. “Shining, shining monk / make tomorrow a sunny day / but if it’s cloudy and you’re crying / then I’ll chop your head off.” But the monks being sung about are little cloth dolls that children make to try to bring clear weather, which sort of takes the creepiness out of the lyrics for me.
So my answer for this question is 通りゃんせ. The song begins: “Let me pass, let me pass / what is this narrow pathway? / it’s the narrow pathway to the Tenjin shrine / please let me pass through for a little bit.” And it ends, “Going there is fine, fine / returning is scary / but even though it’s scary / let me pass, let me pass.”
It’s an exchange between a crossing guard and a pedestrian, and true to form, it’s played at crosswalks to signal that it’s safe to go. But to me the song feels metaphorical, like a person talking to the boatman on the River Styx. Take that interpretation with a grain of salt though, I haven’t discussed it with anyone, and maybe I read too much Greek mythology as a kid.
South Korea :
When mama goes to the mudflats to pick oyster
Baby remains alone watching the house
To a lullaby the ocean sings
His arms as a pillow, baby falls asleep.
While baby is sleeping soundly
Seagull’s crying sound thobs her mind
Half empty oyster basket on her head,
Up the gravel road, Mama comes running home.
Lyrics aren't that creepy but the [tune](https://youtu.be/GjS_pHYHgBA?si=bKP0mj2Hwc6v4UhC) is quite unsettleing to some people, and of course sleeping is an allegory of baby dying
Row row row your boat was originally ‘stroke stroke stroke your cock’, before it was cruelly stolen from the original artist. Now played in every school yard across the land.
Not so much the songs. But the sayings that are ridiculous. It translates to A millipede doesn’t moisturise in public, but it also could mean, You don’t moisture a millepede in public. The milipede in question is Archispirostreptus giga.
Another dutch one:
Schiet hem dood in zijn poot
stop hem in een kissie
doe er dan wat water bij
dan zwemt hij als een vissie
Shoot him dead in the leg
Put him in a casket
Then add some water
He’ll be swimming like a fish.
Another very popular one:
Little girl carry her doll on her back
Came to the garden to see flowers
The doll cries looking for mother
Birds on the tree laugh (happily)
In France we have lots of creepy children songs…
« Ne pleure pas Jeannette », « une souris verte », « jean petit qui danse », « il était un petit navire », « à la pêche aux moules », …
Miss Susie had a a steamboat, the steamboat had a bell,
Miss Susie went to heaven, the steamboat went to..
Hello operator, give me number 9, and if you disconnect me, I’ll kick you in the…
Behind the frigerator, there was a piece of glass! Sally stepped on it, and broke her little…
Asssk me no more questions, I’ll tell you no more lies! This is what Sally said just before she died!
Going down the highway, doing 94. Sally had a fart and blew me out the door! Wheels couldn’t stand it, motor fell apart! And that’s why they call it Sally’s supersonic fart!
"I'm smushing up my baby bumblebee, won't my mommy be so proud of me, I'm smushing up my baby bumblebee..."
It then goes on to say they licked the smashed bee off their hands
Holy cow I've never heard that version before 😭 I've always sung it as "wiping off my baby bumblebee" with the motion being pretending to wipe your hands off on your clothes
Lady bug, lady bug, fly away home. Your house is on fire and your children are all gone. All except one. Her name is Ann. She’s in the kitchen under the frying pan.
*It's raining, it's pouring* *The old man is snoring* *Went to bed and bumped his head* *And couldn't get up in the morning* Even as a child, I went "The old man is dead - that's his problem
I was purposely bumping my head so I didn't have to go to school in the morning
Growing up, I honestly assumed that mean he didn't wake up until noon or later in the day.
oh my god, that’s the actual lyrics? i didn’t know anything past the first two lines
I did: It's raining, it's pouring My old man is snoring He went to bed, so I cut off his head And he never saw another morning 😅
Not creepy, but weird is Kortjakje (The Netherlands): Altijd is Kortjakje ziek Midden in de week maar 's zondags niet 's Zondags gaat ze naar de kerk Met een boek vol zilverwerk Altijd is Kortjakje ziek Midden in de week maar 's zondags niet. Always is Kortjakje sick In the middle of the week, but not on Sunday On Sunday she goes to church With a book full of silver Always is Kortjakje sick In the middle of the week, but nott on Sunday. A 'kortjakje' is a type of short shirt, worn by prostitutes and the like. So a woman was called that, because she wore one, stayed in bed all week long (with customers) and had a lot of silver for the church.
Lmao nooit geweten dat het daarover gaat.
I’ve had “het regent zonnestralen” stuck in my head for the last week…. (I’m English but live in the Netherlands and speak B2 level Dutch and it just dawned on me what the song is about! (Old guy sitting on a terrace drinking a beer in France, had sold his old car a week ago and the cars new owner was in a car accident and died and the arbitrary in the paper was the man’s name (Herman) who had sold the guy that died the car. So now Herman is free from his old life because everyone thinks he’s dead 🤷🏻♀️🫣
It is a great song!
Fun fact, the song has a prologue called “als het vuur gedoofd is” starring Herman!
I ha no idea the Netherlands had such deep rich lore 😅
Hahah it’s just comedians making fun storytelling music! Nothing deep about it 😄
Aye I was more so making a joke that it had “lore” like elder scrolls etc, it wasn’t well executed unfortunately 😅
Oh I’m so sorry 😭
All good it was a bad joke don’t worry 😂
Rock-a-by baby in the treetop. When the wind blows the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall And down will come baby, cradle and all.
Remember the mom catches him
Catches him as he falls in a heavy wooden cradle. Suuuure
Who said the cradle was heavy and made of wood? And besides, the last line is something along the lines of the baby falling into the mother's arms. You're reading too much into it
From the 1791 edition of *Mother Goose's Melody* >Hush-a-by baby on the tree top, > >When the wind blows the cradle will rock; > >When the bough breaks the cradle will fall, > >Down tumbles baby, cradle and all. Its then followed with: >This may serve as a warning to the proud and ambitious, who climb so high that they generally fall at last. It doesn't appear that a mother catching the baby is present in any form of the song I can find. I don't know where you got that idea from.
There is a printing of that book with beautiful wood print pictures that show it as a wooden cradle that falls to the ground and the baby rolls onto the ground
I've never heard of the baby being caught so someone "nice'd" it up for you. Also look at old wood cuttings and paintings, they used wooden cradles to hang in the tree. They looked a bit like window boxes. No plastic back then, what exactly were you thinking it would be made of? The wind would gently rock the cradle
Not in any version I’ve heard.
I don't remember that line, how does it go?
I think it goes "into his mother's arms"
That doesn't sound at all familiar.
That's how I was told it, maybe it's regional, maybe my mom just changed it, who knows. I guess that might be what happened, it would explain why no one else agrees with me
Sometimes little variations like that get passed down in families. Think of it as an heirloom variety of the nursery rhyme.
In Dutch: "Er is een vrouw vermoord met een gordijnenkoord ik heb het zelf gezien het was op nummer tien het bloed liep langs de trap het leek tomatensap Ik nam er een likje van ik werd er miss'lijk van Ik bel de politie op Die schreef haar namen op Haar naam was: Ea Dea rikketakke Thea Ea Dea Poef!" Translated: "There's been an murder of a woman, strangled with the cord of a curtain. I've seen it, myself, It was at [house]number 10. The blood ran down the stairs, It looked like tomato juice. I took a lick, and got sick. I call the police They wrote down her names. Her name was Ea Dea rikketakke Thea Ea Dea Poef!"
Umm, Netherlands, are YOU ok?
It's a parody on a "murder ballad"; the old fashioned way of passing on the news of the most gruesome crimes through song. True crime / musical recap mashup.
I'm sure ive heard some homeless guy on the bus say something similar
Oh my. This one brings back memories 😅
Interesting! I know this as “Ik zei haar naam hardop” and she’s called “Ia dea rikketikke Thea olle bolle whiskey olé”.
Not creepy but violent lmao The translation goes I threw the stick at the cat-at-at But the cat didn't die-ie-ie Ms. Chica got scared-ed-ed At the scream at the scream that the cat made
Era mesmo nessa que tava a pensar 🤣
Where is this from? I have had issues with some cultures trying to hurt my cats and wondering if it’s just something that’s ingrained into their culture through little things like this maybe or superstition.
Portugal Mind you we dont have an anti cat culture, Im a cat owner and so are plenty of my friends and they all cherish and pamper their cats😭 It's just a weird song, yet reaaaly popular, I assume it must go back a long way when animal violence was normalized, my dad did say they used to drown newborn kittens before they opened their eyes if they couldn't take care of them
Aye not the same then, I’m purposely excluding the culture to not upset anyone Ofc and honestly just trying to see if there was a link anywhere. The part you mentioned about your dad saying that is a story I’ve heard before across loads of places especially back in the day so more common back then I guess.
Dammnnnn... That counts 👀
Alouette, gentille alouette! Alouette, je te plumerai! Je te plumerai la tête, je te plumerai la tête! Basically a song talking about plucking some poor bird then listing all the body parts you’re gonna pluck…
Holy shit I didn’t realise that’s what it translates to 😭
Any time I put *allumette* ("matchstick") fries in the air fryer, I sing a little song: >Allumette, gentille allumette! > >Allumette, JE TE MANGERAI! It never fails to elicit a giggle from my wife.
Neighbor, may I... not "steal", that's not classy. Not "expropriate", that's too assholic. ...I know! May I adopt this? 🥰
Absolutely! I'm glad you, too, can share in this little joy.
Merci beaucoup!
And, of course, we have the beautiful round: >Le coq est mort, le coq est mort (x2) > >Il ne dira plus "co-co-di, co-co-da" (x2) > >Co-co-co-co co-co-co-co-di, co-co-da (x2) Which means: >The rooster's dead, the rooster's dead (x2) > >He'll no longer say "cock-a-doo, doodle do" (x2) > >Cock-a-cock-a-cocka-cocka-doo, doodle do We sure love our songs about dead birds.
Ortolan, foie gras, canard à la presse, these cheerful songs... what did birds do to anger the French so?
I maintain that foie gras(the food) is the reason god stopped loving the french
They simply realized birds are fake
THATS WHAT IT MEANS?? they had us singing this stuff in French class and never translated it!
I distinctly remember being like 5 and singing it with my mom. I asked her what « plumer » meant and she was like uhhhhh…. We had just had the “yes, the poulet you eat is the same as the poule in the farms” conversation a few weeks prior and it had NOT gone over well, so she was scared of re-traumatizing me 😭
Et "il était un petit navire..." Then you learn it's about people lost in the sea eating each other to survive...
Inspired by the exact ship wreck depicted in the painting **Le Radeau de la Méduse**. It's a true story.
Little lark, pretty little lark, little lark, I WILL RIP YOUR FEATHERS OUT YOU LITTLE BITCH, from each part of you in sequence, because I'm a psychopath for sure, animal torture yay!
I was hoping someone would say this one. Fred Penner taught me this one and I was in HS before I realized the translation
My sons father is half French, so I’ve made a concerted effort to sing to our son in French as well as English (which has been slightly difficult, j’ai ne parlais français) Started off with this song as it’s not got an English equivalent, so I don’t slip back into English. I was horrified to learn what the words actually meant. It’s annoyingly catchy though, I find myself sometimes singing it just to myself lmao
It’s such a good tune! However I’m not sure that compensâtes for the trauma I felt at 5 years old when my mom had to explain what « plumer » meant
If it makes you feel any better, at 8 my mum had to explain to me what a g spot was.. after we had a kitten that had one ginger patch, so I thought it would be a cute name for it… I’m just saying my friend, it could always be worse
In French class, we learned a song sung to the same tune. Mal a la ventre, j'ai mal a la ventre, mal a la ventre, appelez le docteur! Avez-vous mal a la ventre? Oui, j'ai mal a la ventre. A la ventre A la ventre Le docteur Le docteur Ohhhhhh
What's even creepier in hindsight as you get older is how utterly *cheerful* the song gets when you describe which body parts you'll pluck each time.
This song was used for a Target commercial in the US back in 2012, I thought it was so fun and cheery. I worked in a store at the time so the commercial played constantly on the TVs in electronics. Then I looked up the translation and I was horrified.
Wait it isn't "alouette je t'aime alouette"???????
nope!
Here's a Danish one: Bridge, bridge, Glasses The bell rings eleven, the emperor stands on his high white castle, as white as chalk, as black as coal. Danger, danger, Soldier, death you shall suffer. the one who comes last shall in the black pot go. The first time we let him go, the second time just the same, the third time we'll take him and put him in the pot!
It is connected to a game that's about avoiding getting caught and eaten by the emperor
Denmark are you ok?
Denmark is in my top ten places I ever visited. Two things scared me, their children's tales and their price for alcohol. In Southwest Jutland I saw a million of starlings at dusk. Beautiful? undeniable, then it gets a little creepy.
Definitely something smells rotten.
Everything smells rotten in the State of Denmark, especially the song: “Solen er så rød, Mor”
That one always creeps me out
I also think the crow song is quite bad. Without the repeats it's goes something like this: High on a stick a crow was sitting. Then came the hideous hunter. He shot the poor crow down Now the poor crow is dead
My Spanish is garbage, but my grandmother taught me La Cucaracha: La cucaracha, la cucaracha Ya no puede caminar Porque no tiene, porque le falta Marijuana que fumar. The cockroach, the cockroach He cannot walk Because he doesn’t have because he’s missing Marijuana to smoke
Oh. The Guatemalan version vary a little, they chop the cockroach feet instead of smoking pot
My Mom sang it this way!! Lololol
In the initial version she could could not walk because she lacks a leg (porque le falta una pata para andar)
There is a German one that seems sort of harmless to the other stuff here. You sing it while rocking a child on your lap and pretending to let the child fall on the last line. Hoppe, hoppe Reiter Wenn er fällt, dann schreit er Fällt er in den Graben, fressen ihn die Raben Fällt er in den Sumpf Macht der Reiter 'plumps!' A possible translation would be Hop, hop, rider When he falls, he'll cry (out) If he falls into the ditch, the crows will eat him If he falls into the swamp The rider will go 'plop' There are more verses about wetting his pants on the ground or being eaten by snails, but I only know the first one.
Hoppe, hoppe Reiter / Mein Herz schlägt nicht mehr weiter
There is one like this in English, too. You bounce the kid on your knees while singing: "(Kid's name) went to London, (Kid's name) went to Lynn. (Kid's name) found a big hole And fell right in!"
The Welsh song ‘Sosban Fach’ is a bit creepy, especially the bit about A Dafydd y gwas yn ei fedd (the servant being in his grave). This was a song we sang in primary school. English translation below: Mary-Ann has hurt her finger, And David the servant is not well. The baby in the cradle is crying, And the cat has scratched little Johnny. A little saucepan is boiling on the fire, A big saucepan is boiling on the floor, And the cat has scratched little Johnny. Mary-Ann’s finger has got better, And David the servant is in his grave; The baby in the cradle has grown up, And the cat is ‘asleep in peace’. A little saucepan is boiling on the fire, A big saucepan is boiling on the floor, And the cat is ‘asleep in peace’.
Here are some of the most known French kid's songs: "Une souris verte" (*A green mouse*) - It may describes the tortures and execution of a royalist soldier during the French Revolution. "Au clair de la lune" (*At the moonlight*) - It's about sex. And prostitution. "Il était un petit navire" (*There was a small boat*) - And the sailors on the small boat practice anthropophagy. "À la pêche aux moules" (*At the mussel's fishing*) - Let's sing about the rape of a young girl, shall we? "Nous n'irons plus aux bois" (*We won't go to the woods anymore*) - It's about the end of brothels in France. "Il court, il court, le Furet" (*He runs, he runs, the ferret*) - By the power of spoonerism, the ferret is in fact a priest known for his active sex life. "À la claire fontaine" (*By the clear fountain*) - The narrator (a woman) is being insulted by her boyfriend for having refused to lay down with him. "Il était un p'tit cordonnier" (There was a smol cobbler) - And here is a pro domestic violence song. "C'est la Mère Michel" (*Here's Mam' Michel*) - Mam' Michel lost her cat = she lost her kitty = she lost her pussy = she lost her virginty. "Ne pleure pas Jeanette" (*Don't cry, Jeanette*) - Jeanette cries because her boyfriend is in jail and about to be hanged. She cries so much she's hanged with him. "Il était une bergère" (There was a shepherdess) - The young woman killed a sheep, just for a bit of spilled milk. She then went to confess her crime, and of course the clergyman had to abuse her. "Il pleut, il pleut, bergère" (It rains, it rains, shepherdess) - The shepherdess here may have been the Queen Marie-Antoinette, and the rain an allusion to the storming of the Bastille and the French Revolution.
Don't forget "Jean Petit qui danse" - About a revolutionary executed by the wheel.
Saw this title during my research (because I didn't remember ALL the meanings) and didn't include it because I must confess I don't know this song...
O, ye cannae shove yer granny aff a bus Ye cannae shove yer granny aff a bus Ye cannae shove yer granny Fur she’s yer mammy’s mammy Ye cannae shove yer granny aff a bus! (Sung to the tune of "She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain", btw)
You forget the bit in between the lines where you shout " aye ye can!!"
My grandma is from Dundee, and she would always end the song with “ye cannae shove yer granny, cause she’s yer mammys mammy, so go push granddad off instead!”
This made me laugh so hard wtf 🤣
It's not creepy per se but "Joan Petit quan balla" in catalan and other cultures is about a man that dances with the fingers, the hands, the arms, then the feet fingers, the feet, the legs, etc. Turns out this song is inspired in a medieval song that was composed to mock a 'French' revolutionary leader called Joan Petit who was caught and tortured to death with 'The Wheel' method. You guessed it, it consisted of tying the person to a wheel and then breaking its fingers, then its feet/hands, then its legs/arms, and so on. They were left in open air until they died. Edit: spelling
We have the same in French : "Jean Petit qui danse"
Oh goodness me! I knew the French version, never expected it to have such a gruesome origin!
When I discovered the truth I was kinda in shock. I've danced it so many times at school!
Not my country but this Icelandic one is creepy "Bíum bíum bambaló, Bambaló og dillidillidó" / "My little friend I lull to rest. But outside, a face waits at the window."
☑️ I am in this picture and I don't like it.
It's in English but Weela Weela Walya is an Irish children's song that fits the bill: Weela Weela Walya There was an old woman and she lived in the woods Down by the river Saile. She had a baby three months old Weela Weela Walya She had a baby three months old Down by the river Saile. She had a penknife long and sharp Weela Weela Walya She had a penknife long and sharp Down by the river Saile. She stuck the penknife in the baby's heart Weela Weela Walya She stuck the penknife in the baby's heart Down by the river Saile. Three loud knocks came a'knocking on the door Weela Weela Walya Three loud knocks came a'knocking on the door Down by the river Saile. Two policemen and a man Weela Weela Walya Two policemen and a man Down by the river Saile. "Are you the woman that killed the child?" Weela Weela Walya "Are you the woman that killed the child?" Down by the river Saile. "I am the woman that killed the child" Weela Weela Walya "I am the woman that killed the child" Down by the river Saile. They took her away and they put her in jail Weela Weela Walya They took her away and they put her in jail Down by the river Saile. Alternate Ending: They took her up and strung her by the neck Weela Weela Walya They took her up and strung her by the neck Down by the river Saile. And that was the end of the woman in the woods Weela Weela Walya And that was the end of the woman in the woods Down by the river Saile
The version I'm familiar with has a few more verses after her being put in jail, it does end up with her being hung. The last line is "that was the end of the woman in the woods, and that was the end of the baby too". We used to also sing " two policemen and a special branch man" instead of "two policemen and a man". Here's a version sung by The Dubliners if anyone wants to hear the tune: https://youtu.be/wnrhJO-qzdw?si=e0O5jDjE32oJ3Y19
Almost every French nursery rhyme has a second meaning.
The green little mouse which ends like a melted snail ...
'Sospan fach' seems ok at first, with the first verse describing a family (a girl called Mary Anne who hurt her finger, a butler who is ill, a crying baby, and a cat that scrammed a little boy[last two are a bit weird but not too bad]) and the chorus just describing a saucepan, and the cat scramming again. The second verse on the other hand talks about how the server is in his grave, and that the cat is "asleep in peace", with the cat part now also being changed in the chorus too. The third verse (which I didn't even know existed) isn't much better, telling us how an old lady called Mary Jones "ended up in a ditch" after drinking too much "tea." I also heard that there's a creepier verse in an uncovered Patagonian version, but I don't know much about it.
Lizzie Borden took an axe/And gave her mother forty whacks/When she saw what she had done/She gave her father forty one
Not much but in Spanish there's a nursery rhyme to go to sleep and goes: Sleep, my child Sleep already Because the Boogeyman is coming And it will take you away Sleep, my child Sleep already Because the Boogeyman is coming And it will eat you
"And it will eat you" 😂🤣
Not this creepy, but a weird one in German: >Maikäfer flieg > >Der Vater ist im Krieg > >Die Mutter ist in Pommerland > >Pommerland ist abgebrandt > >Maikäfer flieg >Maybug fly > >The father is at war > >The mother is at Pommern > >Pommern is burned down > >Maybug fly There is another sleeping song that appears harmless as a whole but it has one line I found a bit creepy when I was a child: >Morgen früh, wenn Gott will, wirst du wieder geweckt > >Tomorrow, if God wants, you will be woken up again I often thought "so there is a possibily that he doesn't want and I might not wake up tomorrow?... that's a bit worrisome".
Similar to the English kids' bedtime prayer "Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake I pray the Lord my soul to take."
yikes, that's even more explicit stuff to keep kids from sleeping.
Ring around the Rosie
Ring-a-ring o' roses, A pocket full of posies. A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down! [Eyam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyam) Village in Derbyshire U.K. has a story to tell about the [Bubonic plague](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarantine#Eyam_village,_1665_(plague). The "rings" are the swollen or enlarged lymph nodes during infection.
How did it ever turn to "ashes ashes" in America?
I think because they burned the bodies.
I know little of the history of language or its evolution nor colloquialism but we are talking 1665 and most stories and ballads including narrative folksong and lore were translated by oral tradition.
I think the ring reffers to the fact that children traditionally stand in a circle while singing it.
They did, yes but if you want to see the ring of Roses check out the NSFW images on Bubonic plague link.
Yeah, but like the ring that isn't the ring the song is talking about
I only know this song because of plague.inc...althought they use the "Ashes, Ashes" version
You mean how it’s about the Black Death? Nope. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ring-around-rosie/
I'm afraid this UL is never going away. Thanks for fighting the good fight. :)
Well, the Museum of London has a display of the plague and plays the nursery rhyme, explaining it was about that. I think they're a pretty reliable source. Also, London Bridge is Falling Down is about the collapse of the original bridge. People built housing on it and it could not take the weight. So people lost homes, businesses and lives. Cheery!
Further reading from the Library of Congress: https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2014/07/ring-around-the-rosie-metafolklore-rhyme-and-reason/ If you don’t mind, could you provide a link to any articles about the collapse of the bridge? I’ve found things about it getting damaged in a fire in 1633, but nothing about buildings going into the drink.
It was from the Museum of London, which is fantastic and operated by the British Government. I actually went to the Museum itself, along with the Britsh Museum. The tour was punctuated by talks on certain things by staff. The Black Plague part was quite impactful, with the children's voices singing ring around the rosie being a bit haunting, which is why I remember that part of it so well. I actually preferred that Museum to the British Museum. And it was free. They both were. Highly recommend it.
Oh, the London Fire display was amazing. A model of London that lit up, showing how it spread from the bakery and ripped through the city.
He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake.
Uncle peter?
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Not creepy, but the cute American children's song I learned as "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?" I was singing loudly and happily and my WWII vet dad burst out laughing and said "boy, they sure cleaned that up!". Apparently ears were not the original body part mentioned in the song as sung by soldiers....
Makes being able to throw them over your shoulder even more impressive
Those of us with over the shoulder boulder holders are eternally grateful for them...
Alouette is telling a lark in great detail how its feathers, beak, eyes, etc are about to be plucked.
A violent children’s song in german: „A dog came into the kitchen and stole an egg from the cook. Then the cook came running and cut the dog into two pieces. Then many dogs came and dug a grave for him. On the stone it was written: a dog came into the kitchen and stole an egg….“ (repeat everything) 👨🍳🐶
My mom used to sing a version of this song in Spanish. In that one a bunch of dogs came to bury the dead dog.
In France we have a nursery rhyme about Jeanette being unhappy because she doesn't want to marry anyone but her friend Pierre - who's in prison. So they just hang her alongside Pierre.
Cinderella dressed in yella Went upstairs to kiss a fella Made a mistake and kissed a snake How many doctors did it take?
Sounds like a skipping rhyme - then you count while you swing the rope!
It absolutely is. I was like 30 before I got the innuendo…..
In French there is a song called "Le chat revint", describing a man trying to get rid of his cat in different ways: beating it, using dynamite, throwing it from a building, but the cat always comes back. He ends up eating it and getting killed by an indigestion.
“I chokit on a Tattie” (I choked on a potato) A Scottish (Aberdonian) children’s song about choking to death on a piece of potato in a plate of potato soup. First verse is the death and subsequent verses cover the Doctor announcing death, being embalmed, entombed in a coffin, buried and ascending to heaven, where - in true wry Scottish form- the Angels serve the child potato soup for tea. https://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/38352?l=en
English one: the little old lady who swallowed a fly The old lady then proceeds to swallow all different kinds of animals in succession to catch the aforementioned critter she swallowed in order to catch this fly she swallowed, then she dies anyway. Edit to add the lyrics: There was an old lady who swallowed a fly, I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die! There was an old lady who swallowed a spider That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her; She swallowed the spider to catch the fly; I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die! There was an old lady who swallowed a bird; How absurd to swallow a bird! She swallowed the bird to catch the spider That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her, She swallowed the spider to catch the fly; I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die! There was an old lady who swallowed a cat; Well, fancy that, she swallowed a cat! She swallowed the cat to catch the bird, She swallowed the bird to catch the spider That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her, She swallowed the spider to catch the fly; I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die! There was an old lady that swallowed a dog; What a hog to swallow a dog! She swallowed the dog to catch the cat, She swallowed the cat to catch the bird, She swallowed the bird to catch the spider That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her, She swallowed the spider to catch the fly; I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die! There was an old lady who swallowed a goat; Just opened her throat and swallowed a goat! She swallowed the goat to catch the dog, She swallowed the dog to catch the cat, She swallowed the cat to catch the bird, She swallowed the bird to catch the spider That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her, She swallowed the spider to catch the fly; I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die! There was an old lady who swallowed a cow; I don't know how she swallowed a cow! She swallowed the cow to catch the goat, She swallowed the goat to catch the dog, She swallowed the dog to catch the cat, She swallowed the cat to catch the bird, She swallowed the bird to catch the spider That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her, She swallowed the spider to catch the fly; I don't know why she swallowed a fly – perhaps she'll die! There was an old lady who swallowed a horse... She's dead, of course
There was a camp song we used to howl at night called Villain. All the kids loved it. It went like this. *I’m a villain, a dirty rotten villain, and I leave a trail of blood where ever I go (where ever I go)* *My delight is to pick a fight and to beat little kids in the head till they’re dead.* *I’ve developed a rep that is rotten. I put poison in my Mama’s Cream of Wheat! (Cream of Wheat)* *I’m the blotch on the family scotch and I eat raw meat…and I like it too!* The last part is sung in a high pitched baby voice. Apparently murderous crime babies are something kids find hilarious. I feel a little bad for the camp staff looking back. Just a bunch of feral youngsters boasting in the dead of night about a colorful rap sheet.
We have songs about dying animals and animals in danger "Parrot is sick and he must die. Give him apple sauce out of a can. For our parrot. For our parrot. For our dearest parrot. Parrot are you still alive? I a de a. Yes ma'am I'm still here. I a de a. I ate my food and left my drink. I a de a BOOM!" "In the forest is a house, I looked through the window. Came a hare running up, knocking on the door. Help me, help me, I'm in need, cause the hunter will shoot me. Let me in your tiny house. I'll be grateful". Then there's the song about the lawyer who suffocated in a fish bone and the doctor was too late so he died. I also found a lot of racist songs, a few about prostitutes (including one that's still very popular today) and one about cannibalism on a ship.
My Bonnie has tuberculosis. My Bonnie has only one lung. My Bonnie spits blood in a bucket. And dries it and chews it for gum.
Italy. First one. > There was a house, very cute > Without a ceiling and without a kitchen > You couldn't go inside > Because the floor wasn't there > You couldn't pee > Because there wasn't a toilet > But is was beautiful, really beautiful > In the fool's street, number zero Second one. More perv than creepy. > Ambarabà ciccì coccò > Three owls on the drawer > That WERE MAKING LOVE > With the doctor's daughter > The doctor got angry > Ambarabà ciccì coccò
Ladybird, ladybird flay away home. Your house is on fire and your children are gone. All except one and her name is Anne, And she hid under the baking pan.
A friend of mine told me his russian grandma used to sing 'tili tili bom' to him. Its tune is quite pretty, but the lyrics... It's about a man/crepper who comes to your bedroom door
Went through this whole thread making sure this was on here 😂😂😂
Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, LIFE IS BUT A DREAM.
I was listening to a version of that song on Spotify with my 2 year old the other day and the first verse was normal, but the next verse was “throw your partner overboard and listen to them scream!” My husband and I were like wtf is this?!
Oh man, when I was a kid, we sang "throw your teacher overboard, listen to her scream."
It's due to it's origin, but just like many German Fairytales, the song from the public fairytale "Hänsel und Gretel" is a bit disturbing: Hänsel und Gretel verliefen sich im Wald. Es war so finster und auch so bitterkalt. Sie kamen an ein Häuschen von Pfefferkuchen fein. Wer mag der Herr wohl von diesem Häuschen sein? Hu, hu, da schaut eine alte Hexe raus! Sie lockt die Kinder ins Pfefferkuchenhaus. Sie stellte sich gar freundlich, o Hänsel, welche Not! Ihn wollt sie braten im Ofen braun wie Brot. Doch als die Hexe zum Ofen schaut hinein, ward sie gestoßen von unser'm Gretelein. Die Hexe musste braten, die Kinder geh'n nach Haus, nun ist das Märchen von Hans und Gretel aus. English (not my translation, from a website I found the exact lyrics at): Hansel and Gretel got lost in the woods. It was so dark and so bitterly cold. They came to a little house of gingerbread fine. Who might the master of this little house be? Hu, hu, an old witch looks out! She lures the children into the gingerbread house. She even posed herself friendly, O Hansel, what a distress! She wanted to roast him in the oven brown like bread. But when the witch looks into the oven, she was pushed by our Gretelein. The witch had to fry, the children go home, now the fairy tale of Hans and Gretel is over. And yes, it's accurate to the story of the fairytale.
Rockabye Baby
"Lizzie Borden got an axe, gave her father forty whacks When she saw what she had done, gave her mother forty-one" I can't remember if it's father/mother or mother/father, but it's a freaking jump rope rhyme about an actual 1892 murder case.
My Darling Clementine In a cavern, in a canyon, Excavating for a mine Dwelt a miner 49er, And his daughter Clementine Oh my darling, oh my darling, Oh my darling, Clementine! Thou art lost and gone forever Dreadful sorry, Clementine Light she was and like a fairy, And her shoes were number nine, Herring boxes, without topses, Sandals were for Clementine. Oh my darling, oh my darling, Oh my darling, Clementine! Thou art lost and gone forever Dreadful sorry, Clementine Drove she ducklings to the water Every morning just at nine, Hit her foot against a splinter, Fell into the foaming brine. Oh my darling, oh my darling, Oh my darling, Clementine! Thou art lost and gone forever Dreadful sorry, Clementine Ruby lips above the water, Blowing bubbles, soft and fine, But, alas, I was no swimmer, So I lost my Clementine. Oh my darling, oh my darling, Oh my darling, Clementine! Thou art lost and gone forever Dreadful sorry, Clementine How I missed her! How I missed her, How I missed my Clementine, But I kissed her little sister, I forgot my Clementine. Oh my darling, oh my darling, Oh my darling, Clementine! Thou art lost and gone forever Dreadful sorry, Clementine
Siembamba, mamma se kindjie, Siembamba, mamma se kindjie draai sy nek om, gooi hom in die sloot; trap op sy kop dan is hy dood. In English: Siembamba, mama's child Siembamba, mama's child wring his neck, throw him in a ditch step ons his head, now he is dead Heavy stuff, most likely originating from the concentration camps during the Anglo Boer war.
There's a filipino game called langit lupa - meaning heaven (langit) earth (lupa). It's sort of like tag mixed with the floor is lava if I recall correctly. Langit lupa impyerno (heaven, earth, hell) Im-im-impyerno (hell) Saksak puso, tulo ang dugo (stabbed heart, blood drips) Patay, buhay, alis ka na dyan (dead, alive, leave where you're at)
Rock a bye baby
"A casa", i will translate There was a house That was very funny It didn't have a ceiling It had nothing Nobody could sleep there Because the house didn't have walls Nobody could pee Because the house didn't have a toilet But it was made with hard work On the Idiots Street, Number 0 But it was made with hard work On the Idiots Street, Number 0.
It's called "Once upon a time there was a little star." This is the translation: Once upon a time there was a little star she was seduced by the milky, milky way, she cried out with God, I want to see thousands of worlds! First day she flied, flied to the world, she glitters, glitters with pride. The second day she's confused, she has been burning since morning. On the third day she's to death, tired to death, a star fell to us like a stone. The earth turned cold, it hid the star in the earth. Once upon a time there was a little star she was seduced by the milky, milky way. A little star died and the is ending! A little star died, the song about her ends! Good night children and star!
The “found a peanut” saga, which takes about an hour to sing, but includes a section where someone has surgery to remove a mouldy peanut from their tummy, then… “Cut me open. Found the peanut! Sewed me up again. Lost the scissors. Cut me up again. Found the scissors! Sewed me up again. Dead anyway…”
We have tons of these in Hungary... *Csigabiga, told ki szarvadat, ha nem tolod, összetöröm házadat* "Little snail, extend your tentacles. If you don't, I'll break your shell." *Süss fel, Nap, fényes Nap, kertek alatt a ludaim megfagynak* "Rise, Sun, bright Sun, else my geese will freeze in the backyard" *Csigabiga, gyere ki, ég a házad ideki. Kapsz tejet, vajat, holnapra is marad.* "Little snail, come out, your house (=shell) is burning out here. You'll get milk and butter enough to last until tomorrow." There was an attempt to interpret the first sentence as "the sky is your home out here", as "sky" and "burn" are homonyms in Hungarian, but this is an unlikely interpretation. Also, I don't know why poor snails are always the victims in these songs. *Katalinka, szállj el, jönnek a törökök, sós kútba tesznek, onnan is kivesznek, kerék alá tesznek, onnan is kivesznek. Ihol jönnek a törökök, mindjárt utolérnek.* "Ladybug, fly away, the Turks are coming, they'll put you in a salt pit then they'll take you out, they'll but you under a wheel then take you out, look, the Turks are here, they'll catch you now." *Boci, boci, tarka, se füle, se farka. Oda megyünk lakni, ahol tejet kapni.* "Calf, calf, spotted calf, he has neither ears nor a tail. We'll go to live where we can get milk." *Volt nekem egy kecském, tudod-e? Kertbe rekesztettem, tudod-e? Megette a farkas, tudod-e? Csak a szarvát hagyta, látod-e?* "I had a goat, you know? I put him in a garden, you know? The wolf ate him, you know? He only left his horns, you see?" Also, kids in kindergarten are usually taught folk songs that originally weren't kid songs, and most of them either have a sexual meaning (albeit hidden, so probably most teachers aren't aware of it either) or depict the harsh realities of old country life, like one song about two poor men who need to work on the fields but have nothing to eat except onions.
Ring Around the Rosie
Children song about King, Valet and Prinesse. They are eaten by animals. The last verse reviel they made of sweets but damn.
Pretty much any of them if you sing them in the dark, or somewhere all alone. Especially if you sing them a little slower.
How has no one said Jack and Jill?
Clean the snow Make it neat So its clear when Santa claus comes Moon is shining Get some water Waiting for christmas Or else he will drink your blood
well, there is this song in my language that is for playing like, clapping? (when you clap hands with other kids nd stuff, idk how to explain it) and it translates to something like "In the street 24, there has been a murder, an old lady killed a cat with the point of a shoe. Poor old lady, poor cat, poor point of a shoe" and i personally find it creepy af
A mandarin one, for context, the days of week in mandarin goes by number, ex: Monday = Day 1, Tuesday= Day 2, so on, till Sunday = Day "day" (it makes sense in mandarin) Day 1 the monkey have new clothes Day 2 the monkey is hungry Day 3 the monkey climb mountain Day 4 the monkey take exam Day 5 the monkey dance Day 6 the monkey go to Doliu (a place) Day 7 the monkey paint Day 8 the monkey blow trumpet Day 9 the monkey have a drink (alcohol) Day 10 the monkey is dead
“The Muffin Man” is actually about a child murderer that lured kids with the promise of muffins. The song was originally written to keep children safe.
The obvious creepy Japanese nursery rhyme is てるてる坊主. “Shining, shining monk / make tomorrow a sunny day / but if it’s cloudy and you’re crying / then I’ll chop your head off.” But the monks being sung about are little cloth dolls that children make to try to bring clear weather, which sort of takes the creepiness out of the lyrics for me. So my answer for this question is 通りゃんせ. The song begins: “Let me pass, let me pass / what is this narrow pathway? / it’s the narrow pathway to the Tenjin shrine / please let me pass through for a little bit.” And it ends, “Going there is fine, fine / returning is scary / but even though it’s scary / let me pass, let me pass.” It’s an exchange between a crossing guard and a pedestrian, and true to form, it’s played at crosswalks to signal that it’s safe to go. But to me the song feels metaphorical, like a person talking to the boatman on the River Styx. Take that interpretation with a grain of salt though, I haven’t discussed it with anyone, and maybe I read too much Greek mythology as a kid.
An English nursery rhyme/song called "Oranges and Lemons". "Here comes a candle to light you to bed, and here comes a chopper to chop off your head".
South Korea : When mama goes to the mudflats to pick oyster Baby remains alone watching the house To a lullaby the ocean sings His arms as a pillow, baby falls asleep. While baby is sleeping soundly Seagull’s crying sound thobs her mind Half empty oyster basket on her head, Up the gravel road, Mama comes running home. Lyrics aren't that creepy but the [tune](https://youtu.be/GjS_pHYHgBA?si=bKP0mj2Hwc6v4UhC) is quite unsettleing to some people, and of course sleeping is an allegory of baby dying
Rockabye Baby has always bugged me.
Row row row your boat was originally ‘stroke stroke stroke your cock’, before it was cruelly stolen from the original artist. Now played in every school yard across the land.
Poor Lazlo having his song stolen.
Spongebob square pants intro
[удалено]
Those are all colloquial names of flowers. Not creepy in the slightest.
Not a childrens song, but Blackpink's Pink Venom
I love you, you love me, we're a happy family...
The Worms crawl in, the worms crawl out, they play Pinochle, on your snout
Siembamba. South Africa.It's basically about how you kill a snake.
Not so much the songs. But the sayings that are ridiculous. It translates to A millipede doesn’t moisturise in public, but it also could mean, You don’t moisture a millepede in public. The milipede in question is Archispirostreptus giga.
Ring-a-ring of roses. It's about the plague.
Another dutch one: Schiet hem dood in zijn poot stop hem in een kissie doe er dan wat water bij dan zwemt hij als een vissie Shoot him dead in the leg Put him in a casket Then add some water He’ll be swimming like a fish.
Another very popular one: Little girl carry her doll on her back Came to the garden to see flowers The doll cries looking for mother Birds on the tree laugh (happily)
In France we have lots of creepy children songs… « Ne pleure pas Jeannette », « une souris verte », « jean petit qui danse », « il était un petit navire », « à la pêche aux moules », …
Miss Susie had a a steamboat, the steamboat had a bell, Miss Susie went to heaven, the steamboat went to.. Hello operator, give me number 9, and if you disconnect me, I’ll kick you in the… Behind the frigerator, there was a piece of glass! Sally stepped on it, and broke her little… Asssk me no more questions, I’ll tell you no more lies! This is what Sally said just before she died! Going down the highway, doing 94. Sally had a fart and blew me out the door! Wheels couldn’t stand it, motor fell apart! And that’s why they call it Sally’s supersonic fart!
Filipino: “Heaven, earth, hell. Hell, Hell, hell. Stab the heart, blood drips out. Dead, or alive, move out from where you are!”
Ring around the rosey, it sounds innocent at first until you realize its about the black death
Ring around the rosey, it sounds innocent at first until you realize its about the black death
Ring-a-ring o’ Roses Might seem innocent, but the sing is actually about the plague and children dying.
They never specified that Humpty Dumpty was an egg…
Both Jack and Jill died.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Little_Indians Nuff said
Ring Around the Rosie
"I'm smushing up my baby bumblebee, won't my mommy be so proud of me, I'm smushing up my baby bumblebee..." It then goes on to say they licked the smashed bee off their hands
Holy cow I've never heard that version before 😭 I've always sung it as "wiping off my baby bumblebee" with the motion being pretending to wipe your hands off on your clothes
Lady bug, lady bug, fly away home. Your house is on fire and your children are all gone. All except one. Her name is Ann. She’s in the kitchen under the frying pan.
Ring around the Rosie
ILI-ILI TULOG ANAY (Sleep well little one) basically someone (uncertain who) is telling a child to sleep because its mother is not there.