PAMCH

Nursery rhyme lyrics sound like sugar and spice and everything nice, but many have real meanings that would send children into therapy for the rest of their lives. These seemingly innocent lyrics actually conceal nightmarish stories about beheadings, the black plague, and war. They?ve traditionally been passed down from generation to generation, and, even though it?s good to be honest with children, in the case of these lyrics, the old adage, ?What they don?t know can?t hurt them,? holds true. But just for adults, here are the disturbingly real meanings of nursery rhyme lyrics you sang as a kid:?Ring Around the Rosy?Remember holding hands with your friends, giggling and happily skipping in a circle while singing these lyrics, ?Ring around the rosy/A pocket full of posies/Ashes, ashes/We all fall down?? Well, guess what? You were singing about the bubonic plague that devastated London in the 17th century! The ?ri guitar songs ng around the rosy? lyrics describe the rosy red, ringlike rash that plague victims developed. Thinking that the plague was carried by bad odors, people kept sweet-scented posies in their pockets. The lyrics ?we all fall down? and ?ashes, ashes? refer to the countless deaths from the disease, and the burning of victims? bodies.?Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary?The sweet-sounding lyrics, ?Mary, Mary, quite contrary/How does your garden grow?/With silver bells and cockle shells/And pretty maids all in a row? actually refer to the gruesome reign of England?s Queen Mary Tudor, known as ?Bloody Mary.? A devout Catholic, Mary demanded the torture or execution of countless Protestants. The lyrics? ?silver bells? refer to thumbscrews, the ?cockle shells? refer to torture devices fastened to the genitals, and the ?maids? refer to a beheading contraption called the ?Maiden,? that was used before the invention of the guillotine.