1. Ding Dong Bell.
   The Grand Old Duke of York.
2. Oranges and Lemons.
   Ring-a-Ring of Roses

This is a super dark song about how people used to carry a "pocket full of posies" to stop them from smelling all the dead people during the Black Death. After cold-like symptoms, people started dying, hence "We all fall down."

1. Oranges and Lemons.
   Baa Baa Black Sheep.
2. Frere Jacques.
   The Lion and the Unicorn.

This nursery rhyme is possibly about Henry VIII's love life. It may also be about child sacrifice or various other dark subjects.

1. Mary Had a Little Lamb.
   Humpty Dumpty.
2. Baa Baa Black Sheep.
   If You're Happy and You Know It.

Some people say this song, dating from the 1700s, is about the slave trade. Others say it is about taxes levied on the wool trade.

1. Little Miss Muffett.
   The Grand Old Duke of York.
2. Hickory Dickory Dock.
   Row, Row, Row Your Boat.

This song makes fun of Richard III, who lost the Wars of the Roses and thereby his head. He was the Duke of York and not much of a military man.

1. The Wheels on the Bus.
   The Muffin Man.
2. Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake.
   Frere Jacques.

Frere Jacques is a monk who has overslept, hence he has not rung thebell for early prayers. That's the literal meaning of the song - "dormez-vous" meaning "are you sleeping" and "sonnez les matines" meaning "ring the bell for matins." There are disagreements about whether this refers to a specific historical monk.

1. Hickory Dickory Dock.
   Little Jack Horner.
2. I Am a Little Teapot.
   Georgie Porgie.

This song has no particular meaning or origin. It's just a song that was designed to teach children to tell the time by successive verses telling the hours.

1. Humpty Dumpty.
   The Hokey Pokey.
2. Eensy-Weensy Spider.
   If You're Happy and You Know It.

Humpty Dumpty was not always portrayed as an egg; that's a more recent addition due to later verses mentioning his "shell." It may refer to Richard III dying at the Battle of Bosworth Field, with the shell referring to his hunched back. It may also refer to Cardinal Wolsey, who was not buried in the traditional manner in his robes after angering King Henry VIII.

1. The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.
   Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.
2. I Am a Little Teapot.
   The Lion and the Unicorn.

This song has a really dark origin. There was a mulberry tree at Wakefield Prison, which held women prisoners for over 400 years. They had to exercise very early by going around the tree repeatedly!

1. If You're Happy and You Know It.
   The Wheels on the Bus.
2. Kookaburra.
   Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

This song has no particular meaning, but it does have a nice origin. It was written in the 1950s to provide entertainment and education for disabled children.

1. Jack Sprat.
   London Bridge Is Falling Down.
2. Little Miss Muffet.
   Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake.

Some say this song is about Mary, Queen of Scots, who feared religious reformer John Knox. Others say it's just a cute song written by a Dr. Thomas Muffet for his daughter.

1. Mary Had a Little Lamb.
   Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake.
2. Oranges and Lemons.
   If You're Happy and You Know It.

This song is by Sarah Josepha Hale in 1830, and it has no secrets. It's about a real girl called Mary Sawyer, who had a lamb and took it to school.

1. Pop Goes The Weasel.
   Old Mother Hubbard.
2. The Owl and the Pussy-Cat.
   Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.

This song makes a lot more sense if you're Cockney and know rhyming slang. It's nonsense if you don't, and indeed, there's an American version that ditches the older meanings and simply becomes a rather fun dance. It's about poor people being chased by cops and pawning their coats (weasel+stoat = coat) on a Monday, then getting them back in time for Sunday.

1. The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.
   Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake.
2. Rock-a-Bye Baby.
   The Muffin Man.

This song may be about Native American women putting their babies in birch bark cradles. However, it's also believed to be about how James II of England and Scotland was believed to have smuggled in a fake baby to his wife's birthing room to falsely extend the Stuart line (the "cradle") which didn't work because he was later deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

1. Row, Row, Row Your Boat.
   Hickory Dickory Dock.
2. Little Jack Horner.
   I Am a Little Teapot.

This song is American from 1852 or thereabouts. It is traditionally sung in rounds, with four voices - soprano, contralto, tenor, and bass - making a nice blend.

1. The Hokey Pokey.
   Three Blind Mice.
2. Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.
   It's Raining, It's Pouring.

This one has a really cool and dark story. It's about three Protestant loyalists, the blind mice, who tried to kill England's Catholic Queen Mary I, the eldest child of Henry VIII. She is the "farmer's wife," due to her vast estates in Spain, care of her husband, Philip of Spain. As you can tell from the song, things did not go well for the Protestants.

1. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
   Mary Had a Little Lamb.
2. Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.
   The Grand Old Duke of York.

This song dates to a poem by Jane Taylor from 1806, that was published with her sister Ann in a book called Rhymes for the Nursery. Many people set it to different melodies, even including Mozart!

1. Humpty Dumpty.
   Jack Sprat.
2. It's Raining, It's Pouring.
   The Owl and the Pussy-Cat.

Edward Lear wrote this song in 1871. It's just a lovely story about animals with no deeper meaning. Fun fact: the "runcible spoon" mentioned in the lyric is an old way of describing what today, we would call a spork!

1. Old MacDonald.
   I'm a Little Teapot.
2. The Wheels on the Bus.
   Humpty Dumpty.

Old MacDonald's song has been around for about 300 years in different iterations. It's an educational song to teach kids what noises different animals make.

1. Kookaburra.
   Rock-a-Bye Baby.
2. Oranges and Lemons.
   Hickory Dickory Dock.

This song was written in 1932 by teacher Marion Sinclair, who worked with the Girl Guides. She entered it into a contest and it won money to start a camping ground for girls. It then spread across the world.

1. Hey Diddle Diddle.
   Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.
2. The Wheels on the Bus.
   Ring-a-Ring of Roses.

This is a really, really old one - as in, it's probably more than 1,000 years old. The "hey diddle diddle" may even be a dance. Another fun fact is that "The cow jupmed over the moon" is the origin of the expression being "over the moon," meaning really happy about something.

1. Ding Dong Bell.
   Row, Row, Row Your Boat.
2. If You're Happy and You Know It.
   Jack Sprat.

This messed-up song is at least as old as 1580 (not a typo for 1850), though it has changed a lot. The words "ding dong bell" appear in Shakespeare, so clearly that phrase is in good standing.

1. Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake.
   Georgie Porgie.
2. Eensy-Weensy Spider.
   The Grand Old Duke of York.

This song may refer to King George, who ran away from England when the Scots invaded. It may also refer to George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, or also to the arsonist who started the Great Fire of London.

1. Rock-a-Bye Baby.
   I'm a Little Teapot.
2. Kookaburra.
   The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.

This song doesn't really mean anything, but it's fun to do! It has accompanying moves that make it entertaining for all the family.

1. It's Raining, It's Pouring.
   The Hokey Pokey.
2. Three Blind Mice.
   Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.

This song is in Little Mother Goose, which means it's older than 1912. It's possibly about a dementia patient, but may also be simply about an old man who dies!

1. The Owl and the Pussy-Cat.
   Eensy-Weensy Spider.
2. Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.
   Humpty Dumpty.

The eensy-weensy spider is called itsy-bitsy in the U.S. In other English-speaking countries, however, it's eensy-weensy!

1. London Bridge Is Falling Down.
   Little Jack Horner.
2. Old MacDonald.
   Row, Row, Row Your Boat.

London Bridge is generally presumed to mean Tower Bridge, but they're not the same thing. The original London Bridge is now in Arizona, where it was bought as a tourist attraction and moved nearly 5,000 miles!

1. If You're Happy and You Know It.
   Old Mother Hubbard.
2. Eensy-Weensy Spider.
   Hey Diddle Diddle.

It's unclear who this refers to. It may be about Cardinal Wolsey refusing to divorce King Henry VIII from Katharine of Aragon. However this is considered a leap by some scholars.

1. Georgie Porgie.
   The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.
2. It's Raining, It's Pouring.
   Three Blind Mice.

The old woman in the shoe is an old song. It may just be about women who have more babies than they can care for, but it also may be making fun of King George II.

1. Oranges and Lemons.
   The Muffin Man.
2. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
   Hey Diddle Diddle.

Do you know the Muffin Man, who lives on Drury Lane? Of course you do! In Victorian times, you couldn't just pop to the shop for baked goods. You had to order from the Muffin Man, who would deliver. Muffins are more like bread than cake in England, so this is not an unhealthy choice.

1. Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cake.
   Georgie Porgie.
2. The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.
   Old Mother Hubbard.

If you didn't have an oven back in the day, you'd make things and then take them to the baker to cook. He would mark them with a symbol or letter to ensure the right person got their cake back.

1. If You're Happy and You Know It.
   The Lion and the Unicorn.
2. Rock-a-Bye Baby.
   Kookaburra.

This song is about the wars between England and Scotland that resulted in the creation of the United Kingdom. From 1707, the two were united. The lion is the symbol of the English crown, the unicorn the symbol of the Scottish.

1. Old Mother Hubbard.
   Jack Sprat.
2. Old MacDonald.
   The Owl and the Pussy-Cat.

Jack Sprat was what short people were called in the 1600's. This is thus a really old song that joined the nursery rhyme pantheon when it was included in Mother Goose's Melodies in the 1700s.

1. Little Jack Horner.
   Hickory Dickory Dock.
2. Pat-a-Cake, Pat-a-Cak.e
   The Grand Old Duke of York

Little Jack Horner is an old song that may refer to Jack Horner, a known servant of Henry VIII. It's more distinct origin and meaning is unclear.

1. Oranges and Lemons.
   The Hokey Pokey.
2. Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.
   Mary Had a Little Lamb.

This song is from a music hall tradition dating to Victorian times. It's called the Hokey Pokey in the U.S. and Hokey Cokey on the other side of the Atlantic. It's not clear how or why it changed.

1. Eensy-Weensy Spider.
   Old Mother Hubbard.
2. The Wheels on the Bus.
   Oranges and Lemons.

This song has no bigger meaning. It is literally about the bus, the wheels, and how they work together. It's for children to amuse themselves on boring bus rides.