undyingking: (Default)
undyingking ([personal profile] undyingking) wrote2010-02-22 10:12 am
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Hop Little Bunny

A friend (WINOLJ) recently posted a video of one of her children singing a song called "Hop Little Bunny". (Note: this is not the song for very young children in which the bunnies are asleep, are they ill? and wake up.) It goes "Ho-op, ho-op, hop little bunny / Ho-op, ho-op, hop little bunny / Ho-op, ho-op, hop little bunny / Ear-lye in the morning."

Now when I was young we sang a different song to this same tune. But ours was not about little bunnies hopping: instead, it dealt with the very serious question of how best to discipline alcoholism in the serving ranks of Her Majesty's Navy. In successive verses, various punishments were suggested, each crueller and more unusual than the last. It certainly impressed me with a profound respect for the dedication (and ingenuity) of those who defend our freedom on the high seas. I'm not sure if today's generation will really gain the same lesson from the travails of the little bunny in the modern version. But maybe that's a good thing?

[Poll #1528940]

[Edit: I'm blethering on about the song called "What Shall We Do with the Drunken Sailor?"]

[identity profile] undyingking.livejournal.com 2010-02-22 10:59 am (UTC)(link)
That second one sounds a bit sizeist...

[identity profile] bateleur.livejournal.com 2010-02-22 11:04 am (UTC)(link)
I shall complain to the school at once. Or at least as soon as I've come up with an alternative adjective that still scans!

[identity profile] ar-gemlad.livejournal.com 2010-02-22 12:21 pm (UTC)(link)
but...but... it's blackbirds! Not black birds.
How about blue tits? That scans just fine.

[identity profile] bateleur.livejournal.com 2010-02-22 12:22 pm (UTC)(link)
tits?

Do you even have to ask? ;-)

[identity profile] ar-gemlad.livejournal.com 2010-02-22 12:26 pm (UTC)(link)
You should be grateful that European shag has too many syllables.