Origin of Nursery Rhymes Lyrics

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Most of the prevalent and well-known Nursery Rhymes have their origin from events in history. On the BusSongs website, wherever available, the site has both the origin and meaning. Additionally, the site has music and videos for a large collection of nursery rhymes, poems and other children's songs. Two ideal examples of such nursery rhymes that have history as their basis for origins are 'Please Remember', which is a direct reference to Guy Fawkes's unsuccessful attempt to destroy the English Houses of Parliament! While the other song is 'Ring Around the Roise' that refers to the Bubonic plague. A large section of the lyrics and words that are seen in Nursery Rhymes were used to parody the political and royal happenings of those times. Ages have passed on since those times, yet the same historical events are still a part of today's Nursery Rhymes, in spite of the fact that almost all of such historical events present in the Nursery Rhymes have long been forgotten, and have no significance in our present day world. Their importance is that they help maintain our historical heritage and allow children to have some sense of past historical happenings through such Nursery Rhymes.

Kids Love Listening to Nursery Rhymes

Most kids are very fond of listening to Nursery Rhymes. The BusSongs site is home to a vast number of popular nursery rhymes listed with brief details on their origins and history. Some of the most popular nursery rhymes include The Banana Boat Song (Day-o), Hush Little Baby, You Are My Sunshine, Jack and Jill, and Pittypat And Tippytoe. These songs are amongst the most viewed and rated on this site. So popular are these songs that they have been passed down generation after generation. Admittedly, the historical significance and the origins of such Nursery Rhymes have become obscure, still the nursery rhymes lyrics have altered only slightly over infinite re-tellings and what is more astonishing is that the English language itself has had a colossal makeover over the last 600 years.

Nursery Rhymes go a long way in educating children in a fun manner and also teach them about past events that shaped much of the existing Nursery Rhymes. Another Nursery Rhymes that has a strong relevance to history is and Oranges And Lemons which tries to replicate the sound of the chimes of many old churches that once formed an integral part of London. 'Pussy Cat Pussy Cat' is another of the nursery rhymes that is a favourite amongst children and it's every child's dream to have the chance 'to go up to London to visit the Queen'. The nursery rhyme 'Hey Diddle Diddle' is a great bedtime song for kids wherein the cat and the fiddle go to meet the boy.

Nursery Rhymes Have Originated from Historical Happenings or Situations

A large chunk of nursery rhymes originated from historical happenings or situations. British politics in fact was pivotal to the origin of nursery rhymes, which were often used as a means of spreading gossip with reference to royalty. You should also be mindful that many of these events mentioned in the rhymes are subject to interpretation. Each of the rumours giving information of a particular story's origin is in the end another rumour itself. You would have come across multiple stories claiming to have the most accurate information of the origin and some of it might be true as well. Knowledge of English history and the English language has helped immensely in analysis of the origins and words of nursery rhymes, yet we can provide little definitive proof other than author names and earliest traceable publication dates of the nursery rhymes.

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater,
Had a wife and couldn't keep her,
Put her in a pumpkin shell,
And there he kept her, very well.

A popular rhyme, Peter happened to be a poor man married to an unfaithful wife. She constantly cheated on him, thus he wanted to find a method to stop her from running around. He came up with a common idea prevalent in those days, a chastity belt (pumpkin shell). Those who are not familiar, a chastity belt is a pair of steel laden underwear with a key and lock, which debars anyone from touching the woman and only the person with the keys (mostly her husband) could. The end of the rhymes says 'And there he kept her, very well'.