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Timesuck with Dan Cummins

268 - The Dark History of Nursery Rhymes

Timesuck with Dan Cummins

Dan Cummins

True Crime, Society & Culture, Religion, Conspiracies, History, Biographies, Education, Adult Humor, Comedy, Dark Humor, Conspiracy, Cults

4.721.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 November 2021

⏱️ 131 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A look into the origin, importance, and enduring popularity of many classic (and often dark) Western nursery rhymes such as Ring Around the Rosie, Humpty Dumpty, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and more.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snowing.

0:04.1

He went to bed and bumped his head and didn't get up in the morning.

0:08.2

You remember that one?

0:09.2

I do.

0:10.2

Originally published in 1912 in the nursery rhyme collection, the little mother goose, who wrote it?

0:15.2

Who knows?

0:16.3

With so many of these nursery rhymes, we just don't know.

0:19.0

We don't know how long it had been passed around before it made it into print either.

0:22.8

A lot of mystery ahead today.

0:24.7

Everything about what that rhyme is really saying.

0:30.5

Pretty good idea with this one because if you really think about it, pretty straightforward.

0:32.4

The old man is dead.

0:33.5

He's old, he had a head wound and he doesn't wake up.

0:36.7

What a fun rhyme for children to memorize.

0:39.4

So many classic nursery rhymes that I definitely grew up with are pretty damn dark.

0:43.2

And if you grew up in the US or the UK or a Commonwealth nation like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc.

0:49.3

You also probably grew up with them.

0:50.8

And the world of entertainment, including children's literature, taking things associated with purity, happiness and joy and warping and twisting them into something more sinister, often for humor, sometimes referred to as subverted innocence.

1:03.8

It's been a popular trope and entertainment for a long time and it still is.

1:07.0

Think about Tom and Jerry.

1:08.1

Rennie Stimpy, South Park, family guy, so many other comedic cartoons full of violence into gravity.

1:14.0

I think marketed to the young for the most part.

...

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