And speaking of long held urban legends about songs (and rhymes), there's always "Ring Around The Rosie".

Subject: RE: Origins: Ring Around The Rosey's History??
From: GUEST,the black death - PM
Date: 25 Jan 05 - 05:51 PM

Ring around the rosie- the red "mark" 1st sign that you had the plague.
pocket full of posies- The flowers that People carried to the smell of the bodies down.
Ashes ashes- They burned the bodies sence no one wanted to bury them.
Or Achoo Achoo- the snezzing that came with the plague.
We all fall down- The plague spared no one. Rich, poor, old or young it would kill you..
This is the real meaning of the childhood song that we sang.

thread.cfm?threadid=49672#2382361


-snip-

That thread has several witty alternate meanings for the words to that well known children's rhyme. I'll take the liberty of posting one example:

Subject: RE: Origins: Ring Around The Rosey's History??
From: Nerd - PM
Date: 31 Jan 05 - 01:49 PM

Actually, it's about that favorite schoolyard pastime, the kick up the arse!

The "Rosey" is not a facial cheek but the cheek of someone's arse. The "ring" is the mark made by the hobnail boot of a person administering a swift kick. The Pocket full of posies is the back pocket of the victim's trousers, at which the kick was traditionally aimed, and the rest of the rhyme is:

"arses, arses, we all fall down!"

-snip-

But, in spite of the fact that this rhyme's connection to the plague was roundly debunked, as of this date, the last post to that thread is:

Subject: RE: Origins: Ring around the Rosy / Rosey
From: GUEST,joeeeyyy - PM
Date: 19 Jan 09 - 08:19 PM

its about the plauge