NURSERY RHYMES, HIDDEN MEANINGS....

As my target audience is probably going to be adults rather than children, I would like my animation to have a slightly black humoured undertone.....

One way that I could do this could be to play on the original meanings of nursery rhymes...

Title	Supposed origin	Earliest date known	Meaning supported by evidence
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep	The slave trade; medieval wool tax	c. 1744 (Britain)	Medieval taxes were much lower than two thirds. There is no evidence of a connection with slavery.
Doctor Foster	Edward I of England	1844 (Britain)	Given the recent recording the medieval meaning is unlikely.
Grand old Duke of York	Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York in the Wars of the Roses;James II of England, or Prince Frederick, Duke of York and AlbanyFlanders campaign of 1794–5.	1913 (Britain)	The more recent campaign is more likely, but first record is very late. The song may be based on a song about the king of France.
Humpty Dumpty	Richard III of England; Cardinal Wolsey and a cannon from the English Civil War	1797 (Britain)	No evidence that it refers to any historical character and is originally a riddle found in many European cultures. The story about the cannon is based on a spoof verse written in 1956.
Jack and Jill	Norse mythology; Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette	1765 (Britain)	No evidence that it stretches back to early medieval era and poem predates theFrench Revolution.
Little Boy Blue	Thomas Wolsey	c. 1760 (Britain)	Unknown, the identification is speculative.
Little Jack Horner	Dissolution of the Monasteries	1725 (Britain) but story known from c. 1520	The rhyme may have been adapted to satirise Thomas Horner who benefited from the Dissolution, but the connection is speculative.
London Bridge is falling down	Burial of children in foundations; burning of wooden bridge by Vikings	1659 (Britain)	Unknown, but verse exists in many cultures and may have been adapted to London when it reached England.
Mary, Mary, quite contrary	Mary, Queen of Scots, or Mary I of England	c. 1744 (Britain)	Unknown, all identifications are speculative.
Old King Cole	Various early medieval kings and Richard Cole-brook a Reading clothier	1708-9 (Britain)	Richard Cole-brook was widely known as King Cole in the seventeenth century.
Ring a Ring o' Roses	Black Death (1348) or The Great Plague (1665)	1790 (USA)	No evidence that the poem has any relation to the plague. The 'plague' references are not present in the earliest versions.
Rock-a-bye Baby	The Egyptian god Horus; Native American childcare; anti-Jacobitesatire	c. 1765 (Britain)	Unknown, all identifications are speculative.
There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe	Queen Caroline of Ansbach; Elizabeth Vergoose of Boston.	1784 (Britain)	Unknown, all identifications are speculative.
Three Blind Mice	Mary I of England	c. 1609 (Britain)	Unknown, the identification is speculative.
Who Killed Cock Robin?	Norse mythology; Robin Hood; William Rufus; Robert Walpole; Ritual bird sacrifice	c. 1744 (Britain)	The story, and perhaps rhyme, dates from at least the later medieval era, but all identifications are speculative.