Ba ba rainbow sheep?

Lndnmummy · 2018-08-31T07:11:15+00:00

Went to sing along at library with my newborn (daft I know) and heard the lyrics changed to the above? Why? Wasn’t ba ba black sheep just naming the colour of the sheep? What am I missing? For context my husband is black and my two sons mixed race. We have encountered more than our fair share of racism so I’m normally pretty “on it” but what am I missing on this one?

continuallychargingmyphone · 31/08/2018 08:11

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Original poster

Lndnmummy · 31/08/2018 08:12

Hey?

OP posts:

Sirzy · 31/08/2018 08:13

There is simply another version of the song with a rainbow sheep. It’s not replacing anything just another version.

Thankfully we are well past nursery rhymes so I can’t ememeber be words now!

kaytee87 · 31/08/2018 08:13

It's ba ba black sheep at my local libraries

comedycentral · 31/08/2018 08:14

I hate this version! I too have been subjected to it at a library sing along.

NotUmbongoUnchained · 31/08/2018 08:14

I have never heard this mythical rainbow sheep being sung anywhere.

AnExcellentUsername · 31/08/2018 08:15

It's true, I was the rainbow sheep.

OutPinked · 31/08/2018 08:16

Another one that’s never heard it being sung like this.

Grimbles · 31/08/2018 08:16

Wow, is this still a thing after what, 15 odd years?!?!?

For the record...

"The myth: Teachers have been banned from singing ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ in schools because it has been deemed racist towards black people.
The truth: A couple of nurseries in Oxfordshire decided to make the song longer and more stimulating for children by replacing ‘black’ with a range of other adjectives."

pcgonemadgonemad.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/hello-world/

londonrach · 31/08/2018 08:19

Our library also does red tractor picking up the tomatoes, etc. They either do baa baa black sheep or if they not done the tractor song the sheep song. Its about teaching colours as they have scarfs in different colours too.

Icklepickle101 · 31/08/2018 08:25

At nursery my son sings black sheep, then pink sheep then rainbow sheep. My parents were outraged when he came home singing it saying it had gone too far but I don’t really see the big deal?

WooYa · 31/08/2018 08:28

We sing black sheep (usual words) pink sheep (has spots) and white sheep (nanny goats at the fair)

GreeboIsMySpiritAnimal · 31/08/2018 08:37

DS's nursery has both black sheep and pink sheep. No rainbow sheep AFAIK.

BringOnTheScience · 31/08/2018 08:41

I'm surprised that the homophobes & anti-trans lobby haven't complained!

Internationalpony · 01/05/2024 18:41

Resurrecting this thread as it came up when I was googling something that happened to me at work today! I lead a team of 15 people and asked some of my direct reports to plan some team building exercises for an away day.

One of the exercises involved being split into groups and doing various tasks on a list as quickly as possible. One of the tasks on the list was “sing a nursery rhyme” and baa baa black sheep was the first song that same into my head so I said it and my little group and I sang it.

One of the people in my group is a black man. At the time he sang the song but today, a week later, his line manager approached me to say he had approached her and complained because the song is racist and is about slavery.

I sent him a fairly long teams message to apologise and explain I wasn’t aware of that connotation and thank him for bringing it to my attention. I said I’d be happy to chat if helpful. He replied saying “ok yes I would like to discuss further”, not appearing to just accept the apology.

I’m not sure what more I can say about it. It says on Wikipedia “More recently the rhyme has been alleged to have a connection to the slave trade, particularly in the southern United States… but has no supporting historical evidence”.

blacksax · 01/05/2024 18:45

You get black sheep. You get white sheep. Heck, you even get spotty sheep. Why can't they stick with that and be done with it?

NoKnit · 01/05/2024 18:55

It was just Ba Ba Ba sheep when I took my son to toddler groups about 8 years ago. I did wonder but assumed it was to be politically correct. That fits better into the song anyway. Rainbow sheep lol

Ofcourseshecan · 01/05/2024 18:58

Internationalpony · 01/05/2024 18:41

Resurrecting this thread as it came up when I was googling something that happened to me at work today! I lead a team of 15 people and asked some of my direct reports to plan some team building exercises for an away day.

One of the exercises involved being split into groups and doing various tasks on a list as quickly as possible. One of the tasks on the list was “sing a nursery rhyme” and baa baa black sheep was the first song that same into my head so I said it and my little group and I sang it.

One of the people in my group is a black man. At the time he sang the song but today, a week later, his line manager approached me to say he had approached her and complained because the song is racist and is about slavery.

I sent him a fairly long teams message to apologise and explain I wasn’t aware of that connotation and thank him for bringing it to my attention. I said I’d be happy to chat if helpful. He replied saying “ok yes I would like to discuss further”, not appearing to just accept the apology.

I’m not sure what more I can say about it. It says on Wikipedia “More recently the rhyme has been alleged to have a connection to the slave trade, particularly in the southern United States… but has no supporting historical evidence”.

On a train, I was pointing out black lambs in a field as we passed them the other day. They’re unusual, so a bit more interesting.

Children’s stories and nursery rhymes often include animals, because these used to play a much larger part in people’s lives than now. (Lots of families kept chickens, lived on or near farms, etc.)

I’ve never heard any evidence for the weird idea that black slaves were somehow represented as sheep, or called sheep. Why would they be?

Applescruffle · 01/05/2024 19:00

Internationalpony · 01/05/2024 18:41

Resurrecting this thread as it came up when I was googling something that happened to me at work today! I lead a team of 15 people and asked some of my direct reports to plan some team building exercises for an away day.

One of the exercises involved being split into groups and doing various tasks on a list as quickly as possible. One of the tasks on the list was “sing a nursery rhyme” and baa baa black sheep was the first song that same into my head so I said it and my little group and I sang it.

One of the people in my group is a black man. At the time he sang the song but today, a week later, his line manager approached me to say he had approached her and complained because the song is racist and is about slavery.

I sent him a fairly long teams message to apologise and explain I wasn’t aware of that connotation and thank him for bringing it to my attention. I said I’d be happy to chat if helpful. He replied saying “ok yes I would like to discuss further”, not appearing to just accept the apology.

I’m not sure what more I can say about it. It says on Wikipedia “More recently the rhyme has been alleged to have a connection to the slave trade, particularly in the southern United States… but has no supporting historical evidence”.

It is absolutely NOT about slavery.

It's about the medieval wool tax in England.

Applescruffle · 01/05/2024 19:06

Ofcourseshecan · 01/05/2024 18:58

On a train, I was pointing out black lambs in a field as we passed them the other day. They’re unusual, so a bit more interesting.

Children’s stories and nursery rhymes often include animals, because these used to play a much larger part in people’s lives than now. (Lots of families kept chickens, lived on or near farms, etc.)

I’ve never heard any evidence for the weird idea that black slaves were somehow represented as sheep, or called sheep. Why would they be?

Edited

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I've heard that it's about (sorry for this) black people's "wooly" hair or that wool represents cotton. Both seem pretty far fetched to me and there's evidence that the rhyme predates the slave trade anyway. The wool tax had a massive impact on people's daily lives so I am positive its about that.

Lukasmummy · 01/05/2024 19:19

my daughter is 12 but I am sure that we used to have a book about a rainbow sheep, and all the different coloured stripes being used to make a different sort of clothing but she went through lots of phases where we acquired some weird children's books.