JumpStart by Robb Armstrong for April 30, 2012

The truth behind some of these songs where you know the words but not the meaning scares me.

Yes to Prof danglais.At least “Pere Jacques” is good.“Father John”.

I heard that Humpty Dumpty was about a military cannon. how does Oranges and Lemons go?

every time the Target commercial comes on with it’s peppy version of “Alouette”, I wonder what it has to do with adding color and life to clothing and furnishings

don’t remember “Oranges and Lemons”

Snopes on “Ring around the Rosie”

Mistress Mary, Quite Contrary…

I love the version of that song they play in the Target Color commercial. The one with all the acrobats. I found it on Spotify and added it to my playlist, along with the “Day In, Day Out” remix they use in the DSW commercials this year.

Try the Spanish “La Cucaracha”:La cucaracha, la cucarachaYa no puede caminarPor que no tiene, por que le faltaMarijuana que fumar.

The cockroach, the cockroachHe can’t walkBecause he doesn’t have, and needsMarijuana to smoke.

I didn’t know people ate larks. I always thought Alouette was a girls name because it wasn’t a word in the French/English dictionary my French class used in school. I don’t think it had the word for “pluck” either.

An old European delicacy, eaten bones and all, so plucking was all that was required. Tongues were a true prize. No longer. The species is in trouble.

Little skylark, lovely little skylarkLittle lark, I’ll pluck your feathers offI’ll pluck the feathers off your headI’ll pluck the feathers off your headOff your head – off your headLittle lark, little larkO-o-o-o-oh(And adding:)Off your beakOff your neckOff your backOff your wingsOff your feetOff your tail

hahaha…awesome

Why has nobody mentioned “Four and twenty blackbirds baked into a pie”?

As for “Oranges and Lemons”, since that is so specific to the churches of London, it is little-known in the States.

So if you give a dog a bone, does some old person gets whacked and is sent rolling home?

Allan Sherman’s version:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYmNeGEB-fw

If the French meaning behind Alouette turns you off, for gosh sakes don’t google up “Ortolan”. You’ll be appalled.

“je te plumerai” means (roughly) “I will pluck you”