# Child's chant or rhyme used to creepy effect **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533 "2009-04-09T17:35:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/1 "2009-04-09T17:35:43Z")
Both the radio and TV ads for an upcoming show called (I think) “Harper’s Island” feature the voice of a small child rhythmically chanting, “One by one… one by one…” while spooky/suspenseful music plays. I was thinking about how cliché this device is, until I completely blanked on any other examples of it. Where have I seen this kind of thing before? I’m not talking about “REDRUM” or cases where the child himself is possessed or evil, but where an otherwise innocent nursery rhyme, song, or chant is juxtaposed into a creepy situation in an attempt to create a chilling effect… ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/2 "2009-04-09T17:38:04Z")
Freddy Kruger 1-2 Freddy’s coming after you 3-4 better lock the doors 5-6 get your crucifix 7-8 Gonna stay up late 9-10 never sleep again ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/3 "2009-04-09T17:40:24Z")
Dark parody, not horror, but I thought of [Happy Happy Joy Joy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqGsxwQpa_g). ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/4 "2009-04-09T17:46:37Z")
When the remake of [The Fly](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091064/) came out, there were radio commercials with a small child singing “There was an old lady who swallowed a fly” interspersed with dialog of the movie. At the end of the commercial he sang “There was an old lady who swallowed a fly… perhaps we’ll all die.” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/5 "2009-04-09T17:52:26Z")
Not necessarily **seen** , but the song “Dublin in the rare old times” does mention “haunting children’s rhymes,” then as part of the chorus mentions “Ring a ring a rosie, as the light declines.” Seeing and hearing a group of unknown children play ring around the rosie in twilight in the middle of an old city would be creepy, so I count that. ---
**Author:** ![maladroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@maladroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maladroit)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/6 "2009-04-09T17:56:35Z")
on a rerun of Bones yesterday the mall santas all surrounded the murderous santa and sang “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” (you better watch out…blah blah) I just saw another incidence on tv but I can’t quite bring it to the front of my brain. It was children, and a children’s song, don’t remember what program sorry. This will bother me all day now. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/7 "2009-04-09T18:05:55Z")
> [@maladroit](#): > > This will bother me all day now. Happy to be of service. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/8 "2009-04-09T18:20:14Z")
The TVTropes name for this is [Ironic Nursery Tune](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IronicNurseryTune). It’s damn near hit cliche status, frankly. One specific example is the [Dead Space trailer](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doOoTXwdaPY) (caution: video game horror scenes). You could also make a case for the [Gears of War](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doOoTXwdaPY) commercial set to Mad World, although that’s not a nursery rhyme and the lyrics are intentionally creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/9 "2009-04-09T18:20:56Z")
Metallica’s _Enter Sandman_. River’s “two by two, hands of blue” on _Firefly_ was pretty creepy, though it’s not an established rhyme that I know of. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/10 "2009-04-09T19:02:24Z")
Again, not a traditional rhyme, but I thought immediately of “Can’t even stop, can’t even cry, the Gentlemen are coming by.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/11 "2009-04-09T19:13:27Z")
I remember a commercial for drug abuse that showed a woman from the shoulders up. It kept changing, showing the effects of long term hard drug use, ending with a white sheet being pulled over her. The song playing in the background was “How old are you now?” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/12 "2009-04-09T19:25:43Z")
Speaking of PSA commercials, it’s not a children’s song, but really: This little light of mine: I’M GONNA LET IT SHINE. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/13 "2009-04-09T19:29:03Z")
In the movie “Jeepers Creepers”, they use an old recording of that song to horrific effects as much as possible. “Jeepers Creepers… Where’d you get them peepers?” ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/14 "2009-04-09T20:15:51Z")
In the Spanish movie _The Orphanage_, the children play a game with the chant, “One, two, three, knock on the wall.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/15 "2009-04-09T20:29:21Z")
**[Risseldy, Rosseldy](http://www.musiclegacy.com/Pages/risseldy.htm)** sung by the children in the school in **The Birds** while Melanie waits outside. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/16 "2009-04-09T20:34:57Z")
The ads for the old 70s movie _It’s Alive_ were basically a rotating hooded bassinet, with Brahm’s lullaby played slow and creepy in the background, until the shot ended with the other side of the bassinet coming into view and a bloody claw hanging out of it. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/17 "2009-04-09T20:37:27Z")
All the good ones have been mentioned so I’ll stretch it a bit and mention one that was never actually in the movie, only the commercial. Does anyone remember “Rose are red, violets are blue The iris is a flower that means the end of you” \ Suspiria Also, the little girl in The Ring sings a lullabye just before she gets tossed down a well whose melody is the basis if the movie’s score. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/18 "2009-04-09T20:40:03Z")
[Donald, Where’s Your Trousers?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd_Zgla48g4) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/19 "2009-04-09T20:40:10Z")
I think it’s gone beyond a cliche and swung to the other side. No, not that it’s assiduously avoided by everyone. But rather, like the Mona Lisa, which is famous for being famous, Childrens rhymes are now _inherently_ creepy because of their association with these sorts of scenes. (On a related note, I know of at least one person who thinks little girls are also inherently creepy [even when they’re not chanting children’s rhymes :)], and they were originally used as the epitome of innocence and now have done a complete 180 in his mind.) It’s gotten to the point that if I saw a movie where a group of children sang a children’s rhyme in the course of their play, it would be sort of creepy even if the scene were otherwise ordinary. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533/20 "2009-04-09T22:53:10Z")
[Lady in White](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095484/)- A little girl singing “Did you ever see a dream walking?” is used to good effect, especially at the end of the credits. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childs-chant-or-rhyme-used-to-creepy-effect/492533.md?page=2)