# Why do so many nursery rhymes have tunes that come from marching songs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 25, 2022, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-nursery-rhymes-have-tunes-that-come-from-marching-songs/968520 "2022-07-25T13:38:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-nursery-rhymes-have-tunes-that-come-from-marching-songs/968520/21 "2022-07-27T15:16:30Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Add me to the list of people surprised about this being used as a children’s song. I’m not surprised at all. There are quite a few children’s songs that rely on double entendre, generally sung by kids just about old enough to understand that some parts of their body are considered unmentionable in some contexts and/or with some words. (Which is a pretty weird idea, when you come to think about it.) It isn’t really about sex, which may not be understood at the time, even though it’s sex that underlies some of the taboos; it’s about the whole idea of taboo words, which is something that children learn very young. Here’s an example (note that not all the words are even body words): [https://allnurseryrhymes.com/miss-susie-had-a-steamboat/](https://allnurseryrhymes.com/miss-susie-had-a-steamboat/) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-nursery-rhymes-have-tunes-that-come-from-marching-songs/968520/22 "2022-07-27T15:59:15Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I’m not surprised at all. There are quite a few children’s songs that rely on double entendre, generally sung by kids just about old enough to understand that some parts of their body are considered unmentionable in some contexts and/or with some words. I’m not suprised about _kids singing them_ (my single encounter with _She Waded in the Water_ was from another kid in middle school talking about singing the song on a Boy Scout trip). I’m suprised by adults recording and publishing it _as_ a children’s song. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-nursery-rhymes-have-tunes-that-come-from-marching-songs/968520/23 "2022-07-27T16:02:22Z")
I’m surprised that _She Waded in the Water_ was used on a children’s CD , too “Miss Susie” is a different sort of children’s song - it’s the sort of song that children sing and learn from older children , not the sort that ends up on a CD marketed as being for children and purchased by adults. _Miss Lucy Had a Baby_ , which has the same tune , might end up on the CD. Similarly, _On Top of Spaghetti_ might end up on the CD or the version of _On Top of Old Smokey_ that starts out > On top of old Smokey, > All covered with snow, > I lost my true lover > From courtin’ too slow. But this version would never make the CD > On top of Old Smokey > All covered with blood > I shot my poor teacher > with a .44 slug I knew that version when was a kid in the 70s ,my kids knew it in the 2000s and kids probably still know it today. But they wouldn’t learn it from a CD when they were three - kids learn that type of song from older kids, usually when they’re school-aged. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-nursery-rhymes-have-tunes-that-come-from-marching-songs/968520/24 "2022-07-27T17:42:03Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > > On top of Old Smokey > > All covered with blood > > I shot my poor teacher > > with a .44 slug > > I knew that version when was a kid in the 70s ,my kids knew it in the 2000s and kids probably still know it today. Interesting. What we sang in the 50’s, at least where I was, was: On top of Old Smokey All covered with cheese I lost my poor meatball When somebody sneezed. – I don’t remember the rest of it, except that it involved the meatball rolling downhill through various difficulties. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-nursery-rhymes-have-tunes-that-come-from-marching-songs/968520/25 "2022-07-27T17:51:56Z")
I heard your version too . As “on top of spaghetti” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-nursery-rhymes-have-tunes-that-come-from-marching-songs/968520/26 "2022-07-27T18:42:02Z")
One version of the lyrics for [On Top Spaghetti](https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/31859486/Tom+Glazer/On+Top+of+Spaghetti). Seems to be the one I heard as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-nursery-rhymes-have-tunes-that-come-from-marching-songs/968520/27 "2022-07-27T22:45:09Z")
I don’t think I heard the same one – the later verses aren’t familiar at all. But I expect there were/are a lot of different versions. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-nursery-rhymes-have-tunes-that-come-from-marching-songs/968520/28 "2022-07-28T00:28:32Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Add me to the list of people surprised about this being used as a children’s song. I can easily imagine a classroom full of second graders singing “Pussy!” on the hand claps. 🤔 Yeah. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2022, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-nursery-rhymes-have-tunes-that-come-from-marching-songs/968520/29 "2022-07-28T01:12:14Z")
My dad sang this one - - Sweet Violets Sweeter than the roses Covered all over from head to toe Covered all over with sweet violets There once was a farmer who took a young miss In back of the barn where he gave her a . . . lecture On horses and chickens and eggs. Told her she had the most beautiful . . . Sweet Violets - - It sounded like an old kids song. Googling for it revealed that it was once sung by Dinah Shore. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-nursery-rhymes-have-tunes-that-come-from-marching-songs/968520.md?page=1)