20 Disturbing Nursery Rhyme Secrets That Will Ruin Your Childhood

[@WatchMojo]

Which nursery rhyme is your favorite and have we ruined it forever? Let us know below! For more content like this, click here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m6LUe5upbsl-r7M Don't forget to play our Live Trivia (www.watchmojo.com/play) games at 3pm EST for a chance to win cash! The faster you answer, the more points you get!

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

London bridge

[@Henrich1209]

I I’m first her hahahahahaha I really like my Jks ha.haha. Haa

[@DJLucas-xv7oe]

I'm 14 and I still miss nursery rhymes.

[@infamouswickedjokestar]

Every single one of the above because knowingly every & each & one of them tend to have a disturbed backstory

[@Reaperguy67]

​@@Henrich1209you weren't

[@LateYouTuber82]

Fun fact: Lewis Carroll introduced Humpty Dumpty for his sequel to Alice Adventures in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass as an egg. The second meaning was the accurate meaning, since to any Carroll lover knows, he absolutely hated the Queen at the time, Queen Victoria.

[@prestonestes1388]

The idea that Humpty Dumpty was an egg was further solidified by John Tenniel’s illustration of Alice and Humpty Dumpty for the book. And the funny thing was that despite Lewis Carroll hating Queen Victoria she was actually a big fan of “Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland” and “Though the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There.” So much so that she wrote Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the real name of Lewis Carroll, asking for more of Lewis Carroll’s work. He sent her a book of mathematics he wrote while claiming not to be Lewis Carroll.

[@LateYouTuber82]

@@prestonestes1388 I’ve also heard that since the Queen absolutely anyone who wrote or drew any sort of satirical material about her, they were to be beheaded immediately after they were found out. The Queen knew about Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and somehow got a hold of a copy of his book. (I can’t recall the particular detail as to how she retained a copy of Carroll’s book, I just knew that she somehow retained a copy). When she got to the part of the crochet/trial in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Carroll was ironically pardoned; the Queen apparently remarking, “Well, Carroll’s dead accurate as to how I run my Queendom…”

[@rodx5571]

Humpty Dumpty was about a Cannon, it sat on a wall, during battle it was knocked or blown off the wall, and all the kings horses (dragging the heavy cannon parts) and all the kings men, couldn't put humpty together again. It was a siege cannon. Or possibly a mortar cannon. What else would be on a high castle wall that could have a great fall?

[@hellfirehatter5243]

More specifically, it was a cannon on the wall of Colchester that was used by the Royalists during the English Civil War for the last two years of it. Nothing to do with anyone sitting on a wall, much less a drunkard.

[@billthewhovian]

Yeah, I was always told hit was a mortar cannon.

[@kandipiatkowski8589]

I had a mulberry bush in the back yard of a house I lived in as a kid. This same house also had a honeysickle bush. Sweet times! Honeysuckle sap was not very much per flower, but it was still good.

[@WinterWarlock261]

There is a nursery rhyme we would sing as kids. called "So so suck your toe". In retrospect, the original song lyrics were quite controversial. It has been revised since. The ORIGINAL version was: So, so, suck your toe, all the way to Mexico When you're there, rape a bear and come back in his underwear. We'd sing that as elementary school kids in the 1970's, mindlessly unaware of its meaning. It has since been changed, apparently to: while you're there, cut your hair and don't forget your underwear.

[@ferociousgumby]

Yuck.

[@danir6695]

We sang: if you don’t, i don’t care, i’ll pull down your underwear.

[@nekochan9477]

Bold of you guys to assume that these nursery rhymes were dark enough to ruin anyone's childhoods with how dark everyone's childhoods are now a days

[@GigaTechWolf]

Even considering Ring around the Rosie was about the Black Plague?

[@necroarcanistxiii]

@@GigaTechWolf I knew about that as a kid and was unfazed.

[@edwardblair4096]

Dark nursery rhymes go hand in hand with dark fairytales. The "original" versions are usually much darker than the modern Disney versions.

[@cliffcorson4000]

Ring around the roses was about the black plague Mary Mary quite contrary was Mary Queen of Scots London Bridge is falling down is the London Fire

[@user-nj3lg7wi5r]

The Boogeyman is known for singing nursery rhymes.

[@l.salisbury1253]

12:07 - "Jack n Jill went up the hill- each with a buck-&-a-quarter- Jill came down with $2.50!" -Andrew Dice Clay 1988 13:50 - "Mary Mary quite contrary- how does your garden grow? With silver bells & cockleshells shells... and an acre-&-a-half of KILLER SHIT!!" -George Carlin 1974

[@necroarcanistxiii]

I'm pretty sure Humpty Dumpty was about a cannon placement that collapsed, and the king's army being unable to salvage the cannon. Also, I'm a ride or die sort when it comes to the old school nursery rhymes, and absolutely hate how they've been changed up and softened for the new generation, the altered lyrics just never sit well, like "Rainbow Sheep" over "Black Sheep" (It'd honestly make it "Baby Sheep" or "Little Sheep", so it doesn't have to specifically be any sheep in particular), or like Tom Tom, the Piper's Son stealing a pig and away he run, but now it's having a pig that liked to run.

[@Eveready.T]

I was definitely expecting The Muffin Man to be on this list

[@Miss_Kisa94]

I was always told that Humpty Dumpty was a cannon 🤷

[@edwardhuggins84]

It was

[@Dueyinho]

In my country it's believed that the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme was about them losing their virginities. 😄

[@danir6695]

Jack & jill went up the hill to have a little fun. Stupid jill forgot the pill and now they have a son.

[@Hero_of_Comedy]

I remember an episode of that old show Lamb Chop's Playalong. Charlie Horse: When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall! And if I were a baby, this is the only thing I wouldn't want to hear at all!

[@GigaTechWolf]

Never heard of Polly Flinders, Majorie Daw, or Goosie Gander

[@vhagerty]

Thank goodness. I thought I was the only one. Lol

[@RichardSmith-pb8qk]

I knew some of the origins of these, having learned them as I grew up, but still… the fact that they were so popular and are still sung… crazy.

[@Goldtiger142003]

The only time I've heard "Baa Baa Black Sheep" was in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, where I now attribute black sheep with a child freaking out.

[@DeathsWarmEmbrace666]

Yes. Ruined my childhood for sure. Since I had well thought out opinions about inquisitions, death, poverty etc, at like 6 years old.

[@talphazero1036]

Didn't we all 🌚?

[@ShadyRK9]

I JUST recently found out what "Ring Around The Roses" actually meant! 💀

[@mr.fartman]

😊

[@Reaperguy67]

@@mr.fartman still spamming. That is very sad

[@kinglionkayce]

Are you 10?

[@wolfofthepride]

Okay, so I love telling this story. I grew up in Louisiana in the 90s. I grew up thinking Mardi Gras was a national holiday, y'all. My sister would tell me often, "Brick wall, waterfall, boy, you think you know it all..." I just discovered there's more to that, but that's as far as she got. What is my point, you ask? Well, I must have heard See Saw Marjorie Daw on Barney or something because when I got on a see-saw, I would sing, "See-saw. Mardi Gras. Boy, you think you know it all." I thought it was a legit rhyme for a time and was the actual words. Weird that I was today-years-old to find an actual song close to what I sang as a toddler.

[@Animeguy300]

I never knew the nursery rhymes was disturbing

[@paulheydarian1281]

It's better that way. Most folks can't handle the trooth. 😅

[@mr.fartman]

@@paulheydarian1281 ☺

[@Reaperguy67]

@@mr.fartman will you stop spamming

[@DJLucas-xv7oe]

What is the most disturbing nursery rhyme theory you have heard of.

[@white-dragon4424]

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall" could mean Richard III sitting on his horse, with cavalry charges being like walls to infantry in ancient warfare. "Humpty Dumpty had a great fall" could refer to him being de-horsed after it was stuck in marshland at the Battle of Bosworth. "All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put Humpty together again" could refer to him being hacked to death after being de-horsed, because the wounds on his skeleton showed him being lynched by heavily armed soldiers. Humpty is almost always shown landing on his head, and the wounds on Richard III showed immense head wounds, including a halberd that hacked the back of his skull off revealing his brains. "Catch a n***er by his toe" is still known in the UK, but we now normally use "nicker". To "nick" means to steal something in UK slang, so a "nicker" would mean a thief. "London Bridge is falling down" probably refers to the medieval London Bridge, which was falling apart when it was replaced by the Victorian London Bridge. The fact that they suggest so many materials to use to rebuild it could refer to there being so many London Bridges in history, with the earliest known London Bridge being wooden and was built by the Romans.

[@mrpattersontheartguy]

I knew about the Plague references in Ring Around O Rosie, but didn't know about the others until watching this. Holy crap, this is disturbing to say the least.

[@puppydog8977]

“Humpty Dumpty” is actually the name of a “Cannon” and that’s what the nursery rhyme is about

[@majman446]

weird use of quotation marks here

[@Hero_of_Comedy]

Old Arthur episode Francine: It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring. *Francine's father snores* Francine: And it's driving me nuts!

[@elijahdubois7902]

Y'all ever watched Jon Solo?

[@mr.fartman]

😊

[@wishgodgirl1903]

I have and he’s very good, digs deeply into the roots of these fairy tales and nursery rhymes etc. Great channel!

[@barbarabavier675]

Ever listen to the song “Clementine?” It’s about a guy’s daughter who falls into the river and dies - but no worry! He kisses her sister and off they go! TOTALLY about incest! Oh my darling, oh my darling Oh my darling, Clementine You are lost and gone forever Dreadful sorry, Clementine In a cavern, in a canyon Excavating for a mine Dwelt a miner, forty-niner And his daughter, Clementine Oh my darling, oh my darling Oh my darling, Clementine You are lost and gone forever Dreadful sorry, Clementinep 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 You are lost and gone forever Dreadful sorry, Clementine Drove she ducklings to the water Ev'ry 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 You are 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 You are 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 You are lost and gone forever Dreadful sorry, Clementine

[@lonesoul663]

Rainbow sheep doesn't sound as catchy.

[@lorivaldez4839]

These kinds of videos are my cup of tea ☕️ Thank you WatchMojo!

[@dianamcmahon51510]

So what you're telling me is that pretty much every nursery rhyme from my childhood has a dark story behind it. 😮

[@gy2gy246]

Yes, they were all political songs, mostly from England. Common knowledge except for you.

[@chillbest14]

It's true. Fairy tales too

[@keatonburton5636]

At one of my old houses, I actually had a mulberry bush in my backyard. However, it was actually in one of the corners of my yard, so I actually wouldn't go "round" the mulberry bush as much as *past* it.

[@LucaDGropius]

There is a nursery rhyme that it's "Alicia va en el coche" (Alice goes in the car). Masapán edited the song to make it soft and with nothing wrong, but the original version it's not only implied in the firsts lines that Alice is in a FUNERAL CAR, but the last lines SHOWS that Alice was, indeed, ill and she was dead in a "bed of crystal roof" (the funeral car).

[@evaniaendellion6173]

Humpty dumpty was a cannon that fell off a wall during a battle and broke during the English civil war. All the kings horses and all the kings men (literally the English military) couldn't fix it so it remained broken. Lewis Carroll made the depiction of the egg in his Alice stories

[@proclivities460]

What nursery rhyme ISN'T about a crazy historical tragedy, is what I wanna know haha

[@shadowboy858]

Humpty dumpty was originally a cannon that was the last defense against the British, but fell off the wall after a cannon shot hit the wall.

[@jeffridge3727]

This topic reminds me of how the game of “Hangman” was actually played with a man’s life on the line

[@mr.fartman]

😂😂😂

[@phantomrequim]

I ruined my own childhood by looking into the meaning of some of these Nursery Rhymes. Damn my curiosity, lol!

[@mr.fartman]

❤

[@cocoaorange1]

Some of these I never heard of?

[@oXAngelusXo]

Humpty Dumpy was an English civil war cannon that defendended the walls of a Royalist castle untill it exploded.

[@YukiEiri4E]

so, based on the lack of research on the one that is easiest to debunk, as seen futher in my comment, I refused to watch more. here is the easy evidence that you didn't do research and are just talking about stupid rumours that tumblr came up with in the early 2000s. Humpty dumpty- The original story pre-dates Carroll’s take on the character. According to a number of military historians, Humpty Dumpty was the name of a cannon used by the Royalists during the English Civil War. The conflict raged from 1642 to 1649, and in June of 1648, Humpty Dumpty was stationed on the walls of Colchester. It was one of several cannons erected to try and keep Parliament’s army from taking the city. The next month, however, the Parliamentary forces heavily damaged the walls beneath Humpty Dumpty with their own artillery. You can guess where this is going: Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, and broke into pieces.

[@idelsagil9129]

Old Mother Hubbard 0:28 See Saw Margery Daw 2:15 Ladybird Ladybird 3:13 This Old Man 4:10 Goosey Goosey Gander 5:06 Humpty Dumpty 6:09 Eeny Meeny Miny Moe 7:02 Rock a Bye Baby 8:00 Bas Baa Black Sheep 8:53 Pop Goes The Weasel 9:44 Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush 10:40 Georgie Porgie 11:22 Jack & Jill 12:07 Rub a Dub Dub 12:59 Mary Mary Quite Contrary 13:48 It's Raining It's Pouring 14:47 Ten Little Indians 15:28 Ring Around The Rosie 16:13 London Bridge 17:22

[@carlb4069]

Aint nobody saying baba rainbow sheep

[@Libertaro-i2u]

8:02 - One of the most disturbing versions of this lullaby goes "Rock-a-bye baby, On the tree top, When you grow old, Your wages will stop, When you have spent What little you made, It's off to the Poorhouse and then to the Grave". You can pretty much figure out from the lyrics what this particular version is about.

[@DJLucas-xv7oe]

Baa baa black sheep has to be the most racist nursery rhyme in history.

[@mr.fartman]

😂😂😂

[@Menaceblue3]

The US marine corps black sheep squadron flew in the ww2 Pacific theater....

[@DJLucas-xv7oe]

Can't belive I didn't realize this when I was little.

[@49ers_red_and_gold2]

I'm 37, my childhood was ruined, and my Disney. Alice and Wonderland is the greatest example. It's not a nursery rhyme but still 😂

[@mr.fartman]

😊

[@Denis-89]

mm yes. Nothing ruins childhood quite as much as finding out the books was inspired by a 14 year old girl the author had a thing for:😁

[@exileayahika]

Nursery rhymes make for great Horror soundtracks!

[@user-em6ie2be7x]

Well...My Childhood just took a swift kick to The Family Jewels.

[@Jerith420]

I was always told humpty dumpty was about a cannon used in the English Civil War but interesting take on it being a person

[@tedkaczynski5933]

Shane MacGowan has a song called "Skipping Rhymes" that incorporates the "knick knack oaddy whack" bit into it, and its AWESOME

[@CityBoySeb]

Sometimes I think that some of the nursery rhymes are actually really innocent, and then some random nerd decided to give the song darker lores. Just like how today we have innocent children shows, and then some random guy decided to write a Creepypasta story and conspiracy theory behind it like Ed, Edd, n Eddy is apparently about dead kids in purgatory.

[@gy2gy246]

No, it's common knowledge that they were English political songs.

[@alexhart9267]

I was thinking the Lizzy Bordon skiprope rime would end up here. "Lizzy Bordon took an axe, gave her mother 40 wacks! When she saw what she had done, gave her father 41!"

[@ChristianTTPD]

I mean that one is obviously dark to be fair

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Love nursery rhymes

[@bathwater3693]

Humpty Dumpty was a Canon, that sat on a wall. The wall broke down and humpty dumpty had the great fall. Thats why all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put humpty back together again. Because he was a canon. Look it up.

[@matthewklein660]

Before watching the video, I wonder how many of these are going to have been debunked.

[@AtomicEy]

The Goonies- rocka my baby *Fall* ? i only dropped you once

[@TheMarine316]

My childhood can’t be ruined by something I find out now

[@mr.fartman]

❤❤❤

[@fashiondiva6972]

@@mr.fartmanyou’re one busy little spammer, aren’t you?🙄🤦🏾‍♀️

[@mr.fartman]

@@fashiondiva6972 it's funny 😁

[@Reaperguy67]

@@mr.fartman spamming is not funny. It just proves how desperate for attention you really are.

[@Reaperguy67]

@@fashiondiva6972 you should report him . Spamming breaks tos by the way

[@andrewsmall6834]

Actually the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme refers to a French cannon that fell from its battlement and shattered on the ground and despite the best efforts of the kings men they could not repair it.

[@pussthepupanddonkeythedog5135]

Yeah? Good!

[@buhshmuh]

7:30 and the 1980s, at least in southern California where i grew up 😅

[@michaelsanchez4870]

I thought here we go around the mulberry bush an pop goes the weasel were the same song

[@cassandrakarpinski9416]

Humpty dumpty ws a cannon that fell during a battle and cracked. Once a cannons barrel is compromised, it will never be as strong, even if repaired

[@zorenembry2010]

wow some of these nursery rhymes I actually forgot about well at least I now remember hearing them before

[@sarahfields288]

I thought Humpty Dumpty was a cannon

[@NebulusDerg]

Why does every "kids" thing have to be dark.

[@waittillfamewtf2385]

Noddy in Toyland 🛞 Bob the Builder 🏗 Mike the Knight 🛡 Fireman Sam 🚒

[@gaminglikeaproallthetime4563]

I thought humpty dumbty was a cannon that fell down when s wall collapsed in a battle 😂. Thats what was told 1st

[@sparrow420500]

Am I the only one who thought of Andrew Dice Clay when watching this??

[@49ers_red_and_gold2]

Ring around the rosey 😂

[@mr.fartman]

😂😂😂

[@NewhamMatt]

I only knew "Eeny Meeny Miny Mo" with the n-word until I was in high school in the early 2000s. (Growing up in '90s Australia, I didn't know what the word meant.) My understanding was that "tiger" was substituted over time to avoid using the slur.

[@thaqiftalip2771]

Dishonoured's London Bridge is Falling Down is creepy too.

[@catholicactionbibleonlyist1813]

the Guillotine invented in 1789 i find this stuff years ago , in fact I am aware of the backstory of ring around the Rosey back when i was a kid (around 8 years old )

[@mugenshiratori6825]

The moral of this entire video... You modern snowflakes who have lived in too much luxury need to toughen up! Like seriously!

[@mr.fartman]

😊

[@Mama-eu1ss]

Count yourself "lucky" if you're childhood was "ruined" by any of this nonsense. I'm nearly 50 and don't even recognize some of these songs.

[@ruthmcelheran9445]

Oh, that teletubbies episode. I think I remember it😢

[@lp-xl9ld]

In the 1950s movie KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, the "N word version" of " eeny meeny..." is cited. Stunned me the first time I heard it.

[@BigFella117]

Why is it that things adults tell kids have such dark stories behind them?

[@XJIcequeen]

Boy! This is the most violent list you’ve ever done

[@CatKun-2000]

Even though I haven’t heard of most of the songs except for Humpty Dumpty and stuff …… yikes just yikes

[@AndrewHager02]

Come to think of it, does anyone know the origin of Mary and her little lamb? She raised the little ball of wool from birth ‘cause the mother abandoned it, therefore, they’ve been inseparable to the point where it followed her to school one day. Look it up for yourselves if you don’t believe me.

[@adamali8811]

no muffin man? i'm surprised

[@kayvaanmcsharrowkyn6901]

Jack and Jill went up the hill each with a buck and a quarter, Jill came down with $2.50...OH!!😂😂😂 Go look up Andrew Dice Clay telling nursery rhymes, for you younger people who have no idea who Dice Clay is yourself a favor be prepared to experience the sensation of actually getting Dumber as you listen to more of him but at least it's entertaining LOL

[@cherylmccloud8709]

Why don't you @ least have ALL of these nursery rhymes sung in their original tunes? I could barely identify some of them except by lyrics & yes the irony was/is that children now do not see the dark side of these ditties & parents either do not know or care of the "the teaching historical events/warnings of danger/ moral threats" purpose for which they were written over past centuries. I remember explaining some of these examples to my small children & they were duly horrified or totally confused😅.

[@noahschwartz4754]

I heard that humpty dumpty was a cannon and the men couldn't assembled it i don't know if its true but that's what I heard

[@gregoriojaro8963]

WHEN NURSERY RHYMES THAT RUINED YOUR CHILDHOOD THAT TURNED INTO A HUMOROUS NIGHTMARE WHICH IS PERFECT FOR HALLOWEEN, LOL! 👦👧📖🎃😂

[@leilaacevedo-dimaandal8418]

Actually, “Mary Mary Quite Contrary” was referring to Mary Queen of Scots. “The pretty maids all in a row” were referring to guillotines/axes alright but for Mary Queen of Scots’s beheading. And this Mary also had a fertility problem at one point … a miscarriage to be precise.

[@COMPFUNK2]

I sure _didn’t_ notice that Humpty Dumpty being an egg was never explicitly stated.

[@cindyjofaithful4469]

Oh geesh.....another reason for the nuts to whine about. I suppose nursery rhymes will be banned🙄

[@Uncle_Smidge]

Yes, dear. That's totally happening and no one has common sense but you. 🤣🤣🤣

[@cindyjofaithful4469]

What's that supposed to mean?​@@Uncle_Smidge

[@colinmorrison2446]

I think the reference to Mary 1 of England using the guillotine on people can be ruled out as it was more than 200 years after her death that it was invented.

[@pussthepupanddonkeythedog5135]

Up until I saw this video all I remembered about “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” was “It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring”.

[@ShaDisNX255]

Was expecting to see row your boat here, that one seems to be pretty dark idk

[@jasperliechty3516]

Pretty sure that 'See Saw Margarey Daw' is about an apprenticeship. In the master/apprentice relationship, the apprentice wouldn't get a lot of money because part of the wages includes room and board, plus the learning of a trade.

[@Micah-jy2zp]

One hour people

[@jimbo9208]

no one cares

[@Reaperguy67]

Nobody asked if you are

[@Cowboyvr2837]

Two losers

[@Reaperguy67]

​@@Cowboyvr2837 only you are since you have to call people names..

[@andrewsmall6834]

It's true, you do in fact meet the best people, however, that is just 10%, SOOOO many of the rest are in fact the WORST people.

[@MajinAsuraPath]

3 men in a tub didn't take the turn I was expecting.

[@ftodd1]

Never heard of half of these rhymes.

[@Oakman119]

Idk if it’s because I had good parents or bad parents but I never heard most of those

[@nirvana213xxxz]

The Gap Band called it! “ Jack and Jill went up the hill to have a little fun. Stupid Jill forgot her pill, and now they have a son .”

[@zacharisincennes8026]

Why are only half of these entries numbered?

[@tracidavis3565]

Love Mike Epps, glad he’s staying true to his roots with Indiana. I’m from there❤

[@leonardolim8976]

Mother hubbard Peter: Didchuhearwhatijussai.... Gwen. Gwen. you motherhubbard are you serious?

[@preposteroussvideos]

This broke me😢

[@kinglionkayce]

Americans commenting on English nursery times 😂😂😂😂😂

[@karaokebackgroundplaylists9878]

9:44 I heard #10