Active Topics | Member List | Search | Help | Register | Login
The John Byrne Forum MOBILE
Byrne Robotics | The John Byrne Forum
Topic: Oranges and Lemons… Post Reply | Post New Topic
Author
Message
John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 135314
Posted: 02 September 2025 at 4:16pm | IP Logged | 1 post reply

LINK

My favorite nursery rhyme from childhood. No wonder I was always a nervous wreck!

(Incidentally, I learned it in the present tense. Say the bells…)

Back to Top profile | search
 
William Costello
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 30 August 2012
Location: United States
Posts: 778
Posted: 03 September 2025 at 12:38am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

It's also the name of the XTC album released in 1989. One of the first CDs I purchased when I shifted away from album to the CD format.



Back to Top profile | search
 
John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 135314
Posted: 04 September 2025 at 10:55am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

Not exactly my point.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Mike Benson
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 04 January 2010
Location: United States
Posts: 851
Posted: 04 September 2025 at 11:22am | IP Logged | 4 post reply

Here comes the chopper! 

Interesting to me is the fact that, when these morbid and violent rhymes were first conceived, there really was a chopper!  
Back to Top profile | search
 
John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 135314
Posted: 04 September 2025 at 11:28am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

“Choppers” lasted a long time. The French last used the guillotine the same year the original STAR WARS was released!
Back to Top profile | search
 
William Costello
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 30 August 2012
Location: United States
Posts: 778
Posted: 12 September 2025 at 3:44pm | IP Logged | 6 post reply

If you ask the Google AI where XTC got the name of the album from, GOOGLE AI says this:

"The title for XTC's 1989 album Oranges & Lemons comes from an old English nursery rhyme, the same source referenced in the lyrics of their previous album's song, "Ballet for a Rainy Day"The bright, psychedelic nature of the album's music and album art also contributed to the choice, evoking vivid, contrasting colors."

Is that actually true? Who knows? Saying that, I was actually encouraged to use Micorsoft CoPilot (another AI engine) when I was developing questions for an online Master's course last Spring. It was a little scary when the answers came in from CoPilot and the answers were basically correct.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Jim Muir
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 26 June 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 1387
Posted: 12 September 2025 at 3:57pm | IP Logged | 7 post reply

Could be worse, JB... at least your favourite nursery rhyme
wasn't Ring-a-ring-o-roses.

(Having said that, pretty much any olde English rhyme has a
dark background to it!)
Back to Top profile | search
 
John Byrne

Grumpy Old Guy

Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 135314
Posted: 12 September 2025 at 4:47pm | IP Logged | 8 post reply

Yes. “Nursery Rhymes”, like Bugs Bunny cartoons or the Flintstones, were not originally created for children. Many of them were political commentary at a time when making such could be as much as your life was worth.
Back to Top profile | search
 
Peter Martin
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 17 March 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 16293
Posted: 12 September 2025 at 8:33pm | IP Logged | 9 post reply

We used to sing this at playschool and IIRC there was some kind of dance/actions that involved passing through a pair of kids' arms and ended with them chopping down on the poor unfortunate passing through at that point ... May not be remembering this 100% correctly though. It was a long time ago!
Back to Top profile | search
 
Bill Collins
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 26 May 2005
Location: England
Posts: 11439
Posted: 13 September 2025 at 5:15am | IP Logged | 10 post reply

Sounds similar to my vague memory Peter.
Back to Top profile | search e-mail
 
James Woodcock
Byrne Robotics Member


Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 8319
Posted: 13 September 2025 at 6:55am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

Yep, we did that too.
Back to Top profile | search e-mail
 

If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login
If you are not already registered you must first register

  Post Reply | Post New Topic |

Forum Jump

 Active Topics | Member List | Search | Help | Register | Login

You are currently viewing the MOBILE version of the site.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL SITE