Cockles and Mussels

In a more light-hearted post (because I've said what I had to say about the Chaos at the Capitol this week), I was watching an episode of the 60s show "Wild Wild West" earlier this week and Artemis was singing the song "Cockles and Mussels" at one point. I learned (or was forced to sing) "Cockles and Mussels" while in elementary school, which raises a question for me. Why were Detroit Public School kids, like myself, in the 1970s forced to sing songs like "Cockles and Mussels" (alive, alive oh)? Who thought it would be a good idea to have these kids, the majority of whom were black, sing a song about an Irish woman (Molly Malone) selling her wares on the streets? Strangely, I recall the song being a huge crowd-pleaser in school. Everyone seemed to enjoy singing it, particularly the chorus, so maybe the school system powers that be were right in making "Cockles and Mussels" part of the music curriculum. 

We sang other songs in school that I now consider odd such as "Little Houses" (made of ticky-tacky), "Nana Kru" (jump into my canoe / Nana, I paid my dowry for you), "Eleanor Rigby" (lyrics not necessary). I was talking with someone I work with a few years ago who's a year older than I am and we were discussing songs we had to sing in school and he told me he was forced to sing John Lennon's "Woman" in elementary school. Huh? That takes the cake. This guy grew up in Boston. Wow. And I'm complaining about "Cockles and Mussels." 

The 1970s were a strange time to be a kid, for a variety of reasons.