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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What are the most haunting lullabyes and children's songs?

145 replies

BillHadersNewWife · 08/01/2020 10:46

I find Lavenders Blue and "On the Mountain Stands a Lady" wonderfully creepy.

What about you?

OP posts:
doadeer · 08/01/2020 14:01

Rockabye baby is awful...!

PuppyMonkey · 08/01/2020 14:05

I used to cry at that Cilla Black song, Oh You Are a Mucky Kid.

It’s quite disturbing really “you’ll gerra belt from your da.” Sad

boobingtonsmythe · 08/01/2020 14:11

Not a children's song as such, but the theme tune to 70s/80s kids' TV show 'Picture Box.' Check it out on Youtube - seriously creepy!

BillHadersNewWife · 08/01/2020 14:13

Boobinton I LOVED Picture Box!

OP posts:
astralweaks · 08/01/2020 14:27

Nursery rhymes are often creepy. They allude to the plague and so on:

“'Ring-a-ring-o'-roses'

Ring-a-ring o' roses,
A pocket full of posies,
A-tishoo! A-tishoo!
We all fall down.
Some people claim the nursery rhyme 'Ring-a-ring-o'-roses' is about the plague:

The 'roses' are the red blotches on the skin.
The 'posies' are the sweet-smelling flowers people carried to try to ward off the plague.
'Atishoo' refers to the sneezing fits of people with pneumonic plague.
'We all fall down' refers to people dying.
Others believe that it's just a nonsense rhyme. The fact that people are willing to believe that the nursery rhyme is about the plague shows how much importance it is still given today.”

astralweaks · 08/01/2020 14:30

“Boys and Girls come out to play” is often used to suggest ghost children. Brrrr

IWantThatName · 08/01/2020 15:03

I used to love "All the Pretty Little Horses".

AndNoneForGretchenWieners · 08/01/2020 15:12

puppy my dad used to sing that to me and my sister, but never the right words (he's known for making up his own lyrics).

My nan used to sing the Congo Lullaby to me:

My little, black dove
Curled up in your nest of love
The moon is a charm
To keep you from harm
Asleep at my breast

The stars are alight
To watch over you at night
The river of sleep
Flows gentle and deep
To rock you to rest

So sleep, little one
'Til darkness is by
Sleep 'til the sun
Rises up in the sky

My little, black dove
Curled up in your nest of love
And go to your rest
Asleep at my breat
My little, black dove

I used to cry when she sang that because I knew it was a lullaby and she was singing it to send me to sleep. She also used to sing Buttons and Bows - highly inappropriate really:

East is east and west is west
And the wrong one I have chose
Let's go where they keep on wearin'
Those frills and flowers and buttons and bows
Rings and things and buttons and bows.
Don't bury me in this prairie
Take me where the cement grows
Let's move down to some big town
Where they love a gal by the cut o' her clothes
And you'll stand out, in buttons and bows.
I'll love you in buckskin
Or skirts that you've homespun
But I'll love ya' longer, stronger
Where yer friends don't tote a gun
My bones denounce the buckboard bounce
And the cactus hurts my toes
Let's vamoose where gals keep a-usin'
Those silks and satins and linen that shows
And I'm all yours in buttons and bows.
Gimme eastern trimmin' where women are women
In high silk hose and peek-a-boo clothes
And French perfume that rocks the room
And I'm all yours in buttons and bows.
Buttons and bows, buttons and bows

RafikiRules · 08/01/2020 15:13

Getting my geek on a bit here but....

I believe ‘You Are My Sunshine’ is actually a Bluegrass song originating from America and is one of the oldest examples of bluegrass.

In a similar vein Appalachian mountain music going onto some Bluegrass, is by far the most creepiest and disturbing music I have ever heard. Joyful tune, horrifying lyrics. I’ve always found ‘Angel Band’ gets my kids to sleep.

My latest sun is sinking fast,
My race is nearly run
My strongest trials now are past,
My triumph has begun
Oh, come angel band
Come and around me stand
Oh, bear me away on your snow white wings
To my immortal home
Oh, bear me away on your snow white wings
To my immortal home

PsychosonicCindy · 08/01/2020 15:16

Not creepy but when "Unique" by Andy & The Odd Socks came up on my kids tunes Spotify it made me well up! Give it a listen it's heart breaking!

RafikiRules · 08/01/2020 15:16

Oh @Chelsea26 my Dad used to sing Mothers Lament to me too!! I used to think it was hilarious as a kid. Not now though.

Dontforgetyourbrolly · 08/01/2020 15:23

All of these are making me teary!

FordPrefect42 · 08/01/2020 15:24

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly.
Perhaps she’ll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a horse.
She’s dead, of course.

Made me laugh when I was a kid, but Christ, what a terrifying song 🤣

ParkheadParadise · 08/01/2020 15:38

This Thread
My sister came over to my house earlier and I said to her remember mum used to sing Nobody's Child to us. I put in on and the two of us were howling😣😣 when DH walked in and was like WTF are you doing.😂😂😂

Pushpushpoosh · 08/01/2020 15:40

More modern but someone further up thread mentioned the Te and Mo song go to sleep my baby on ceebeebies sometimes. I first heard it while quite hormonal and pregnant with dc2 and now it makes me really weepy when it comes on.

PunishmentSnart · 08/01/2020 15:42

@PuppyMonkey yes, that’s another one she used to sing to me.

Where have all the flowers gone is one I’ve grown up with and is so sad too

DaughterOfEvening · 08/01/2020 15:44

My Granny also sang a song about souls passing over Ireland when you die. What have my grandparents DONE to me?!

mummykauli7 · 08/01/2020 15:44

Rock a bye baby

Khione · 08/01/2020 15:51

Mum used to say this one and it was really only when she started singing it to my kids that realised how much it had freaked me out. About a child that died in the night - great lullaby!!!

Little Boy Blue
The little toy dog is covered with dust,
But sturdy and stanch he stands;
And the little toy soldier is red with rust,
And his musket molds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new,
And the soldier was passing fair;
And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue
Kissed them and put them there.

"Now, don't you go till I come," he said,
"And don't you make any noise!"
So, toddling off to his trundle-bed,
He dreamt of the pretty toys;
And, as he was dreaming, an angel song
Awakened our Little Boy Blue---
Oh! the years are many, the years are long,
But the little toy friends are true!

Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand,
Each in the same old place---
Awaiting the touch of a little hand,
The smile of a little face;
And they wonder, as waiting the long years through
In the dust of that little chair,
What has become of our Little Boy Blue,
Since he kissed them and put them there.

Babdoc · 08/01/2020 16:07

I used to sing Morningtown Ride to my babies after DH died, but it inevitably made me cry:

“Train whistle blowing
Makes a sleepy noise
Underneath their blankets
Go all the girls and boys
Chorus:
Rocking rolling riding
Out along the bay
All bound for Morning town
Many miles away

Driver at the engine
Fireman rings the bell
Sandman swings the lantern
To show that all is well
(Chorus)

Maybe it is raining
Where our train will ride
But all the little travellers
Are warm and safe inside
(Chorus)

Somewhere there is sunshine
Somewhere there is day
Somewhere there is Morning town
Many miles away.

When I was grieving for DH, the morning did indeed seem a bloody long way away.

Ifeelinclined · 08/01/2020 16:07

I'm American, and we learned it as "Ring around the rosies, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, we all fall down." My niece and nephew sing it the same way. I've never heard the sneezing part. Very interesting!

Sh05 · 08/01/2020 16:22

Santa Claus is coming to town was one I found really creepy as a child. I think I felt like I was being threatened?
You better not shout
You better not cry...
If you read it in a creepy voice it sounds pretty scary😶

astralweaks · 08/01/2020 16:24

@Babdoc

Flowers
ikeakia · 08/01/2020 16:35

My son’s in surgery atm, I should not have read this thread! Sad

transformandriseup · 08/01/2020 16:44

Where have all the flowers gone? 😢