Morbid Innocence.

Thanks to the unexpected and not to mention very unwelcome sudden breakdown of my car’s muffler, I had to lay over today’s rehearsal until Saturday. Bad Luck sure knows how to piss one off.

Trying to let go of my annoyance over the matter, I treated myself to some good old Looney Tunes cartoons (Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume 1). It refreshed my memories of the lazy Saturday mornings, having friends over watching cartoons over a nice warm cup of chocolate milk (i.e. Milo or Ovaltine). The wacky misfortunes and crazy bumping offs of Coyote, Daffy Duck, and co. cracked me up all the time (they still do actually).

This led me to realizing how surprisingly bold some nursery rhymes and children’s songs were in terms of death. Three of which, in particular, struck me most:

Now I lay me down to sleep,
and pray to God my soul to keep.
If I die before I wake,
I pray to God my soul to take.

Rock-a-bye baby in a treetop,
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.
I don’t know why she swallowed a fly.
Perhaps she’ll die.
[...]
There was an old lady who swallowed a horse.
She’s dead of course! *laughter*

Oddly enough, these never seemed to have bothered nor daunted me when I used to chant them myself during my childhood. Hell, “Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep” was even my bedtime prayer! Thoughts of never waking up again the next morning did not occur to me even once way back then.

One of the amazing things about being a kid is the carefree attitude. It’s nice to look back at those moments at times when things you never worried about as a kid tend to get frighteningly serious (and sometimes really ugly) as you grow older.

From the episode: “Rabbit Seasoning“

Alright, it wasn’t really that dreadful. Here was the last sign.

 

 

Tags: nursery rhymes, looney tunes, bugs bunny, childhood, cartoons, coyote, daffy duck