Sing a song of sixpence....

[Aggie]

Did you know that the nursery rhyme was originally a pirate recruiting code-rhyme?  Snopes told me so... 

http://www.snopes.com/lost/sixpence.htm




_{might want to cross-reference this one}

[The Black Spot]

Many of the innocent songs of our childhood mask unspeakable horrors. Let's have a look at this old favourite:



The wheels on the bus go round and round,
round and round,
round and round.
The wheels on the bus go round and round,
all through the town.

The "bus" in the song is a coded reference to a pirate ship; the word "bus" is simply "sub" reversed. A sub is designed to sink, so a bus is designed to float -- ergo a ship.

Some scholars argue that "the wheels on the bus" refer to the ship's steering gear,but it is more likely to be a fiendish torture device designed to keep unruly members of the crew in order. The repetition indicates that this monstrous cruelty was practised often. The "town" is a slang reference to a merchant ship.

The wipers on the bus go Swish, swish, swish;
Swish, swish, swish;
Swish, swish, swish.
The wipers on the bus go Swish, swish, swish,
all through the town.

A "wiper" was a short cutlass, so called because you wiped it on your trousers to get the blood off it. This is a particularly ghastly stanza describing a raid on a merchant ship.

The horn on the bus goes Beep, beep, beep;
Beep, beep, beep;
Beep, beep, beep.
The horn on the bus goes Beep, beep, beep,
all through the town.

The "horn" of a ship was its highest point, ie the Crow's nest. It was sometimes difficult to hear what the lookout was saying, so the lookout would shout "BEEP!" when he spied a likely victim. The horror felt by a merchant ship when it heard "BEEP" on a foggy night was indescribable.

The money on the bus goes, Clink, clink, clink;
Clink, clink, clink;
Clink, clink, clink.
The money on the bus goes, Clink, clink, clink,
all through the town.

Pretty self explanatory really.
There is another verse that concerns a baby going Wah Wah Wah, but that is too dreadful to discuss here.

[Black Bart]

Aye every word on it be true me hearties...but they got the words wrong. Here's how we used to sing it:

Sing a song of sixpence
A bucket full of bile
Four and twenty red cowwes
Baked in a pie
   
When the pie was opened
The meat began to stink
The crust is made of concrete
And the gravy's rather pink 
Bart was in his counting house
Counting out his money
His crew were in the galley
Tastin something funny
   
Big Brenda was in the Tavern
Singin Shanties of Bart's quest
When down came a parrot
And perched on her ample chest!

Come to think on it, we never recruited anyone...people used to wander off mutterin: "They looked like pirates but those aren't the correct coded words what tempt ye over to piracy."

[Griffin NoName]

Aaaaaarrrr! Spot be roight. Them be terribul fritenin fer the kiddys.

Ere be anover, quiyte unsuitable fer the teeny tots:

Miss Polly had a dolly
Who was sick, sick, sick,

This be the openin lines of a tayle of an orrific problem wot appened on long voyages wen the Cap'ns male parrot got wun o them unmentionable diseases in their unmentionables - refered ere to as a "dolly".

So she called for the doctor
To be quick, quick, quick;

Speed was essential or the unmentionable wuld drop off with dredful consequences. The intrestin use of the word doctor rather than the more usuwal sawbones indicates the seriousness o the conditiun. Note the attempt to fool the kiddies as to the reality of the tale by the continued use of "she" (followin "miss" in the opening line).

The doctor came
With his bag and his hat,

"bag" and "hat" refer to the necessary recepticals fer the eventuality the unmentionable, despite suitable treatment, did actually fall off. The sawbones would catch it in is "hat" to avoid contact an tip it careful like into is "bag". These bags were used to hold all kind's o diseased flesh. Full bags wuld be sold off on landfall fer pet food. Recent reserch as led ter sum suspicion of this as a source o mad cow disease in later centuries.

And he knocked at the door
With a rat-a-tat-tat.

Bilge rats were thouwt ter be ther main cawse of this unmentionable disease so the sawbones first task wer ter rip em all apart an reduce em ter tatters.

He looked at the dolly
And he shook his head,

I better not give yer the real meanin o this.

And he said "Miss Polly,
Put her straight to bed."

Again we see the repeated deception of the kiddyes wiv ther use of "her" an "miss". And again, ther explanation o this can be easily understood once the true context o the ryhme is known so Oi will not attempt ter translate.

He wrote out a paper
For a pill, pill, pill,

This wer an astoundin futuristic "perscription" but not a lot o use as ther pill adn't bin invented.

"I'll be back in the morning
With the bill, bill, bill."


The only ope fer Parrot's wot got this unmentionable disease wer ter enhance their beaks ter divert attention and giv em back sum pride. Sawbones wuld commonly graft on a pelican bill witch also gave the Parrot a much bigger skwak, leavin em tolerably appy after their ordeal.

Don't it mek a difference wunce yer know ther true meanin !!

[The Black Spot]

Of all the terrible episodes recorded in verse, few can match the appalling horror of this:

Incy Wincy spider climbed up the spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
Now Incy Wincy spider went up the spout again!

Let us examine this fearful tale line by line:

Incy Wincy spider climbed up the spout
On a pirate ship, the lookout (the one who shouted BEEP! - remember?) was always nicknamed "spider". This was because when the Captain asked who first sighted the target, the lookout would say "I spied 'er". The "spout" was the ship's main-mast. When a Captain asked "where's me cabin boy?" it was not uncommon for someone to reply "You've got 'im up the spout, Cap'n."

Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Pirates are renowned for their modesty and downplaying of events. A storm that was powerful enough to knock the lookout from the crow's nest must have been a mighty maelstrom that would certainly have smashed the ship to pieces.

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
Helplessly drifting on the wreckage, the pirates were exposed to the full heat of the equatorial sun. With no food or water, the survivors began to consider dreadful methods of survival.

Now Incy Wincy spider went up the spout again!
The crew had turned cannibal, and the crazed flesh eating cutthroats shambled toward the lookout who frantically shinned along the wreckage of the main-mast. When he reached the end of the mast he had a terrible choice - to be eaten by the crew, or to jump into the school of sharks circling the wreckage.

This song always gives me nightmares.

[Black Bart]

Dear God...I'll never be able to listen to Carly Simon singin that song ever again!