A seemingly scary nursery rhyme: a children’s song that gives you the chills when you hear it
When you think of children’s songs, you probably picture the cute tunes kids sing in daycare or kindergarten.
But did you know that some of them have chillingly scary lyrics when you listen to the whole song? In this article, we’ve gathered nursery rhymes that turn out to be frightening once you dig into the lyrics.
You’ll also learn the intriguing backgrounds behind these songs—not just the scare factor—so if there’s a nursery rhyme you’ve always wondered about or never quite understood the meaning of since you were a child, be sure to check it out!
- A spine-chilling scary song: masterful tracks that evoke fear and eerie recommended songs
- A spine-chilling, terrifying song. Japanese music that evokes madness and horror.
- Children’s songs and nursery rhymes about the moon
- Recommendation of Scary Music: That Song That’s Actually Frightening
- [Dark Side] Songs with scary lyrics. Tracks that make you shiver with chilling phrases.
- [Surprising!] A children’s song that originated overseas. That familiar nursery rhyme is actually…
- [Hinamatsuri Songs] A roundup of classic Girls’ Day tunes and unexpected Hinamatsuri tracks
- Japanese counting songs: nostalgic temari (handball) songs and children’s folk songs
- Snake Song: Children's song, nursery rhyme, and hand-play song
- Children’s songs of the world: songs passed down and sung by children overseas
- Children’s songs to sing on a rainy day / children’s songs with a rain theme
- Didn't want to know?! Fascinating and scary trivia & fun facts
- Anpanman Songs: List of Theme Songs, Insert Songs, and Character Songs
Actually scary nursery rhymes: children's songs that give you the chills (21–30)
rainfallsakushi: kitahara hakushū / sakkyoku: nakayama shinpei
A children’s song born from lyrics by the poet Hakushu Kitahara and music by composer Shinpei Nakayama, who created numerous popular songs.
It was selected as one of the 100 Best Japanese Songs, and many people likely remember its lively melody that evokes the carefree innocence described in the lyrics.
In fact, there is an urban legend that it depicts a child waiting for a sick mother, and it is said that uttering the lyrics from the third verse onward—there are five verses in total—will bring a curse.
There is even an anecdote that schools forbid singing all the verses.
It’s a children’s song that carries rumors unimaginable from its bright image.
Sparrows’ SchoolSakushi: Shimizu Katsura / Sakkyoku: Hirota Ryūtarō
From the title “The Sparrow School” and the chirping sounds in the lyrics, one imagines an adorable scene of little sparrows gathered together.
However, on closer reading, a rather chilling picture emerges: the sparrow teacher cracks a whip, and the pupils chirp in unison.
It’s said to emphasize group behavior and discipline, but when you think about it calmly, it might be a remarkably extreme scene.
First published in the February 1922 issue of Shōjo-gō, the song has been widely beloved ever since.
When singing it together as a children’s song, it may be best not to probe its meaning too deeply…
Hana Ichi MonmeSakushi: Shiina Yoshiharu / Sakkyoku: Shiina Yoshiharu, Yamaguchi Hiroo
A children’s game where two groups sing and compete to win members from each other.
In kanji, it’s written as “花一匁” (Hana Ichi Monme).
Since “monme” was a unit used for silver coins in the Edo period, the song is outwardly said to depict the buying and selling of flowers in that era.
However, there’s an urban legend that “flower” was slang for a young woman, so “So happy to have bought it” expresses delight at getting one cheaply, while “So upset to have given a discount” suggests being beaten down on price.
It’s a nursery rhyme whose innocent, childlike singing can feel all the more chilling, evoking a historical backdrop when reducing the number of mouths to feed was said to be common.
goldfishSakushi: Kitahara Hakushū / Sakkyoku: Narita Tamezō
A children’s song with lyrics by the poet Hakushū Kitahara, whose chilling blend of childlike affection and cruelty sends shivers down the spine.
True to the words themselves, the depiction of a child’s loneliness over a beloved mother who doesn’t come home—and the horror-tinged act of killing goldfish as a way to distract from that loneliness—stands out.
An adult might have ways to cope with loneliness or go out to look for someone, but within the small world of a child who can only wait, the emotional instability at play makes us question whether it’s shallow to condemn it as simply “cruel” based on the text alone.
For better or worse, it captures a distinctly childlike quality; it’s a profound nursery song that can’t be dismissed as merely frightening.
soap bubbleSakushi: Noguchi Ujō / Sakkyoku: Nakayama Shinpei
A children’s song with lyrics by the poet Ujo Noguchi, first published in the Buddhist children’s magazine Kin no To during the Taisho era.
Its somewhat otherworldly melody, tinged with the flavor of a hymn, is likely one many people hummed in their childhood.
It’s said the lyrics were written as a requiem for the songwriter’s child who passed away too soon, and when read with that in mind, a different scene comes into view.
It is a nursery rhyme that we hope to preserve for the future, one that embodies the original role of song—carrying emotions too heavy to bear on its own.
Iroha poem
An anonymous Buddhist text said to have been composed between the 10th and 11th centuries, written using every kana without repetition.
It is said to be the song of someone who has realized the impermanence of all things, and today it’s also famous for being associated with the 48 curves of Irohazaka in Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture.
Although many people may find the song hard to understand at first hearing, there is an urban legend that if you break the original text into segments of seven characters and read the last character of each segment in sequence, it spells out “to ga nakute shisu” (“to die without guilt”), suggesting it expresses the regret of someone executed for a crime they did not commit.
It’s a song with a chilling yet thought-provoking urban legend, involving a format reminiscent of modern social media’s vertical acrostics.
Pinky promise
Intertwining fingers with the vow to always keep a promise made with someone.
It’s a song many people have sung naturally since childhood, but some may have felt that, when you read the lyrics as they are, there are actually many frightening phrases.
Also, “yubikiri genman” is written as “指切り拳万,” and since “拳万” means being struck by thousands or tens of thousands of fists, it originally carried the meaning that if you broke the promise, your finger would be cut off, you would be punched thousands of times, and furthermore, you would be made to swallow a thousand needles.
It is a nursery rhyme that conveys just how important it was at the time not to break promises or rules, and it evokes a level of fear that would be unthinkable in the modern day.