False information

Still confused
We sang it in the Midlands.

Just sing along! 😁

missdeke

Indigo8

The version in the part of London where I grew up was:

The big ship sails down
The illy alley oh etc.
On the first day of September

Where is all this leading? What has this to do with false information? Why did I join this thread?

In the part of London (east) I came from it was the on the alley alley o. Not sure what this thread is about either or why I commented on it. [confused}

I grew up in Bow, London E3 during the 1950s.
Still confused

' Land of Counterpane' yes it reminds me of days in bed at home with tonsillitis, measles, mumps although I didn't have toy soldiers.

ponies Posies - thanks autocorrect!

Most nursery rhymes have their origins back in history

Ring a ring a roses was about the bubonic plague. The roses referred to the rash, the ponies to the flowers carried to ward off the smells.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary may have been about Queen Mary I, Bloody Mary.

I remember The Big Ship sailed from the primary school playground in the 1950s - in the south of England, nowhere near the Manchester Ship Canal. I think that people formed a line, in pairs, and the pair at the end skipped down the middle and took their places at the end, and so on.

Being from Liverpool we sang this song and clapped in the street. We just thought it was about all the trade ships in Liverpool docks.
We called the walk ways in between and behind streets in Everton where we lived jiggers.

* some as far back as the 1400s!

Whatever the origin … this skipping rhyme has been around for decades… maybe for over a Century or more. Ding Dong Bell comes from 1580! The Manchester Ship Canal was completed in the late 1800s. The Titanic sank in 1912… so when did this rhyme first appear?
Most nursery rhymes have their origins back in history, some as far back as and many we used to sing/ chant are horrible, some involving killing, but we still chanted them as they were cemented in tradition and we really didn’t think about what they said/ meant!
I used to sing the Alley AlleyO in the 1940s in Gloucester … others talk about it being from the North or in London, or all over the UK … there are a lot of suggestions as to what it means or where it came from, obviously a lot were formed in different locations and related to the local naval events going on at the time.
Basically none of this is ‘false’… it’s all suppositions that have grown into local ‘folk-lore’. As a child you believe what you are told… the answer is NO ONE knows… until someone spots it in an old book or some archive perhaps?

Just to add to the confusion. I was told the 'alley, alley oh' was the Thames and the big ships were Dutch raiders in the 17th century which had to be fought off! That did actually happen.

Doodledog

Wasn't the song the theme tune to a 'kitchen sink' film of the 60s? A TasteOf Honey, maybe?

Yes, sung by children in Salford in the film.

The theme tune was 'A Taste of Honey'

I Certainly can’t prove it but the rhythm - whilst good for clapping ir skipping would also work for pulling on ropes so it might well have started life as a sea shanty !

Wasn't the song the theme tune to a 'kitchen sink' film of the 60s? A TasteOf Honey, maybe?

Indigo8

The version in the part of London where I grew up was:

The big ship sails down
The illy alley oh etc.
On the first day of September

Where is all this leading? What has this to do with false information? Why did I join this thread?

In the part of London (east) I came from it was the on the alley alley o. Not sure what this thread is about either or why I commented on it. [confused}

I'm also confused and I also thought it was about Manchester ship canal !

In my version it was "on" not through.

Well I am going to add to the confusion! My dear Mum used to talk about a poem, something about “China-going P & O’s” I searched and searched the internet because at first I thought it was “Ocean-going P & O’s” but eventually found the poem which was written by Rudyard Kipling! I think it might also have something to do with another of his quirky poems “The Crab that played by the Sea”. Some of these old poems used to fascinate me as a child. One in particular was “The Land of Counterpane” by Robert Louis Stevenson, which I found very poignant. I can also remember various songs and rhymes we would chant as children, usually when skipping. Happy days!

I always assumed the "alley, alley oh" was referring to the back alleys where so many children used to play years ago!

The Big Ship Sails on the Alley-Alley-O is a traditional singing circle game with actions which is great fun for a group of children to sing together.
This was sung in many English playgrounds in the 1950’s and 60’s and the Alley-O refers to the Manchester Ship Canal, Liverpool Docks and the Atlantic Ocean. This canal is often referred to as the gateways of to the Atlantic.

www.letsplaykidsmusic.com/big-ship-sails-on-the-alley-alley-o/

We sang the same skipping song in Yorkshire too but only the first and third verses, never heard the other two.

Oh I’m more confused now - Quora?

We just sang the first verse.

Google claims its what Babssaid.

I cant recall seeing skipping and skipping ropes in primary playgrounds now, they still have lots of running around games - is hopscotch still a "thing"?

Georgesgran

I’m surprised Whingey hasn’t come back to explain.

Ah, a lightbulb moment for me. I used to use the Quora website until I realised that some people get paid to submit a certain number of posts. Many of the posts made no sense at all ("Why didn't the UK/Canada/Australia help the US in WW2?" -- that kind of thing). So now, the lightbulb pings on.

MissInterpreted

Is it just me who's confused here?

I like to think I'm reasonably intelligent but, try as I might, I can't come up with anything except "Whaaat the....?"

I’m surprised Whingey hasn’t come back to explain.