Our Hotwives

"Ride a cockhorse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse.
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
She shall have music wherever she goes."

This is a Mother Goose nursery rhyme that seems to be fading out of the collections and from cultural memory.

I heard it as a kid. I'm 68. I asked my son, 33, about it. He claims no recollection, though I'm certain we read it to him pre-K and that his grandmother did. Maybe we only read Mother Goose stuff when he was a toddler, earlier than his earliest memories, especially since it was one of many, many books read to him.

The Mother Goose literature goes back to Tudor England. As universal over a long time period as universal gets where English is spoken.

Like many of these rhymes, the themes and inside jokes are often adult and perhaps naughty in nature. And they sometimes touch deep, unspoken human cravings and mysteries.

The imagery in this one grabbed me out of nowhere last week.

The lusty, lovely, and possibly promiscuous woman, celebrating her sexuality, bawdy reputation and availability on a showy horse. And it doesn't sound like she's riding side-saddle. The symbols are suggestive. Kind of expresses the attitude of our lovely hotwives.

It's a very erotic portrayal, IMO.

Anyone who agrees?

Anyone who thinks I need to get my mind out of the gutter?

Please cast your vote and please comment and further the discussion. Thanks, hh.

Goosey, goosey gander
Whither do you wander?
"Upstairs, downstairs and in my lady's chamber.
There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers
So I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs."

Sounds like a bull's story.

Mary, Mary quite contrary
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row

A rhyme satirising Queen Mary (Bloody Mary) an unpleasant queen who specialised in burning Protestants at the stake.
She was married to the King of Spain and desperate for an heir. She could not get pregnant (garden grow).
Meanwhile, he was fucking several ladies in waiting (pretty maids).

These rhymes and many more nursery songs are 'hit' songs that have remained popular for nearly 500 years.
It would be sad if they were to die out. Don't parents read or sing to their children anymore?
No wonder literacy rates are so poor.
54321

Thanks for posting such an interesting reply, 54321.

I had forgotten Goosey Gander, but your post brought it back immediately. I could actually recall and hear the voices of my beloved mother and g-ma Nammy reciting it to me.

For me, that was like unwrapping a gift.

It also hit me over the head as I was thinking about "Quite contrary," that the Monkees' 1966 song "Mary, Mary" is a derivative of the nursery rhyme.

A cuckold's plea not to leave him. Mickey Dolenz singing, basically, fuck whoever you want but please come home to me when you finish:

"Where you go I will follow.
Just one thing I will tell 'ya,
I'd rather die than to live without 'cha.
Mary, Mary, where you going to?"

Don't worry, folks, I won't be posting polls about who remembers the Monkees.