Here I Am, Little Jumping Joan

Here I am, little jumping Joan

When nobody's with me,

I 'm always alone.

I never thought much of Mother Goose once I started reading serious literature like "The Hardy Boys" and "Tom Swift Jr". Mother Goose was for babies, not me. I was a big kid with big kid concerns that Mother Goose would never understand. Silly little rhymes to make babies smile was all Mother Goose was good for.

Then I went to college. One of my Lit classes focused on Mother Goose for week or so. That is when I figured out the not so subliminal messaging that some people thought was nestled in almost every rhyme. Many have felt the rhymes were often political, oftentimes critical, and more than occasionally satirical; especially once one learned the point of the poem in the first place. 

The point. What was the point of the poems other than to entertain children? Well, six, seven hundred years have passed now and there is still no agreement on what the poems were about, who wrote them, when they were written and where did it all originate. 

Mother Goose is a perfect example of Truth being manipulated to fit into the convenience of present day mores and attitudes. There is no hard line factual truth surrounding Mother Goose. It is up to the beholder what, where, and who the stories and rhymes are about. 

Anyway, "Here I am, Little Jumping Joan" is a Mother Goose rhyme my mother in law used to say all the time according to my wife and that is why she has recited it herself regularly for the last forty years. Hearing it makes me smile. Hearing it tells me things are not as screwed up as I often think they are. 

A bit of silliness? Or something deeper? ........ Both, I think.

Keep it 'tween the ditches ............................................

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There is only one tune that will do for this post. From 1989, here is "Three Little Pigs", by Green Jelly. An unconventional take on the original. Makes me laugh every time I hear it.