Child Rhyme Scheming
It occurs to him that children’s songs on tape with book accompaniment emphasize the rhyme and number of syllables so much that the phrases of the songs could be replaced with others whose subject is in no way related to the original, and no one would think twice. The only requirement is that the new phrases must flow with the same rhythm as the old, and rhyme in the same places.
hickory dickory dock,
the mouse ran up the clock.
the clock struck one,
the mouse ran down
hickory, dickory, dock
could morph to
hickory dickory pock
the car rolled off the dock
the dock broke once
the car rolled on
hickory dickory pock
or for that matter
clickery nickery pick
the virus called in sick
the boss got mad
the virus quit
clickery nickery pick
And no one would cry judas. You’d still get laughs and smiles from kids singing along in childlike innocent bliss to the cassette children whose voices sound artificially enthusiastic.