Goosey Goosey Gander Hides a Very Dark Message...

Goosey goosey gander,
Whither shall I wander?
Upstairs and downstairs
And in my lady's chamber.
There I met an old man
Who wouldn't say his prayers,
So I took him by his left leg
And threw him down the stairs.

So goes a very old English nursery rhyme.

Anyways, it's interesting in a way. Because sometimes nursery rhymes have dark sides and original intentions behind them. Some people believe this otherwise harmless rhyme refers to the persecution of Roman Catholics beginning under Henry VIII and even continuing into the Commonwealth period under Oliver Cromwell ("Commonwealth" being an ironic term, because it is a synonym for our word "Republic" literally). The idea of Oliver Cromwell is further enforced by the fact that Cromwell's regime was a dictatorship. And troops and other paramilitary personnel in dictatorships often march using the infamous goose step (just look to the old Soviet Union for a classic example of this).

Yeah, Catholics risked execution for harboring priests back then. They were often hanged, and priests specifically were hanged, drawn and quartered for the deed. And when these priests were arrested (often old men, because the seminaries were all closed in England by then), they were often manhandled by the authorities ("threw him down the stairs...").

Here is an interesting article that goes into much of what I just said:

Goosey Goosey Gander - Wikipedia

 

That's an interesting story. I know Humpty Dumpty was political as well. I learned some good ones when I was a kid. They were pretty racy. Today they sing far worse shit at the Superbowl.