Here is a
neglected Mother Goose rhyme. I have put it to a tune.
*****
There was an old
woman tossed up in a basket,
Ninety-nine times
as high as the moon;
And whither she
went I just had to ask it,
For in her hands
she carried a broom.
“Old woman, old
woman, old woman,” said I,
“Whither, O
whither, O whither so high?”
“To sweep the
cobwebs off the sky.”
“May I come with
you?”
“Aye, by-and-by.”
hi-C F G F A A A G
A G A# A#
A A# A hiC hiC G F
E F
A F G F A A G A G
A# A#
A A# A hiC hiC G F
E F
hiE hiF hiC hiC
hiC A A A# A A# hiC
hiC hiD hiC hiC
hiD hiC hiC A# A G
G F F A A G G A#
A# A A# hiC
hiC
G F E F
***
I
love this nursery rhyme, it’s so dreamlike. I never heard it as a child; only
shortly after becoming a father; so I heard it fresh with adult ears. It was
indeed with me... by and by.
It
comes in many varieties:
blanket/basket
seventeen/seventy/ninety-nine
in
her hand/under her arm
“And
I’ll be with you bye-and-by” /
“May I come with you?” “Aye,
by and by.”
2*3*2*2
= 24 choices. I happen to like this particular mutation. This is a rhyme you
have to co-create.
Who
is she? A maid? A witch? An angel? A goddess? An astronaut? All of the above?
I
like to think of the web-sweeping as the clearing of the mind during sleep.
The
last-line choice creates ambiguity. Is she coming back to us or are we flying
off with her?
***
Here
are some historical notes:
http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/OO2544.html
And
from
http://www.mothergooseclub.com/rhymes_parent.php?id=177
Dr.
E. F. Rimbault, editor of “Nursery Rhymes” published in 1846, claims that “The
Old Woman in a Basket” alludes to James II, the last Catholic monarch to rule
over England, Scotland, and Ireland. His claim was possibly influenced by the
fact that the rhyme’s associated tune is “Lilliburlero,” which “danced James II
out of three kingdoms.” The song “Lilliburlero” mocks Irish Catholic Jacobite
values. Another theory, published in “Mother Goose’s Melody,” (1765) states
that the rhyme was written about Henry V by parties opposed to his war in
France.
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