Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
You know, this show is literally called On
Everything and on everything.
I'm going to have to show y'allthat I really mean on
everything.
So welcome back y'all.
I'm Jay Floyd, your host.
This is a show where I pondersome things.
You know.
We talk about leadership, wetalk about art, we talk about
(00:24):
building business, we talk aboutself-development, but we talk
about everything and it'ssomething that's been bugging me
for, like man, 40 plus years,and that's the Humpty Dumpty
nursery rhyme.
Yes, the Humpty Dumpty nurseryrhyme.
(00:47):
Listen, I was scrollingFacebook today and I saw this
post.
Somebody said the Humpty Dumptynursery rhyme is like a man fell
off a wall and was irreparablyharmed and everybody was just
like he was, I assume, anenormous egg.
(01:08):
I do feel like that's how it isright.
Like I've always been, even asa kid, I was like why would it?
Why would this be an egg?
Like who?
Why would an egg be sitting ona wall?
Why would they send King'shorse?
Why would horses?
Horses are not surgeons.
Why would horses be sent to fixa giant egg and why would the
(01:32):
king's men also be sent?
It always bugged me right,always.
Obviously, this is a nurseryrhyme that came into our
consciousness from other,probably British, I'm guessing
it's a British source.
I have three kids, man, andevery single one of them, as
(01:53):
they were small, and anytimethey would mention Humpty Dumpty
, I would always be like yo,he's not an egg.
Nobody said he was an egg.
Don't fall for things thateasily.
I know you might be thinking,man, why are you so serious on
your kids?
But that's just me.
That's the way I am.
(02:13):
That's the way I was raised.
My mom always told me thinkcritically about things, don't
just accept anything.
And that goes for everything.
Maybe that's why this show iscalled On Everything.
Maybe because I apply the samekind of logic and approach to
everything.
So, yeah, my kids would comehome, or they would, you know,
(02:34):
have some book it would havelike Humpty Dumpty in it and I
would always be like this dude'snot an egg.
Y'all, don't fall for that.
It doesn't make sense.
So today I was like I'm goingto go look this up, I'm going to
(02:56):
finally put an end to thismusing in my head and we're just
going to squash this alltogether Because I know, I know
I'm right, I know this is not anegg.
I don't know why we want toconvince our kids that in some
giant half man, half eggcaricature.
(03:16):
I don't know why that wassomething that Mother Goose
decided to do, but let's go backand look at the history of this
.
So Wikipedia tells us thatHumpty Dumpty is a character in
an English nursery rhyme.
I knew it right.
I knew it Said he is typicallyportrayed as an anthropomorphic
(03:38):
egg.
Obviously, anybody who doesn'tknow, anthropomorphic means
morphing in an anthropologicalway, so having human features,
right.
So anytime you see like bugs,bunny, he's an anthropomorphic
rabbit or bunny.
Right, he's a bunny, but hemoves like a human.
(04:00):
So they're saying that dude istypically portrayed as an egg
who has a human like features.
Uh, although he's notexplicitly described as such,
boom, he never described as such.
So why is he an egg?
I have no idea.
Let's go back to the history.
It said okay, the common one weall know comes from 1882.
(04:28):
Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and allthe king's men couldn't put
Humpty together again.
Right, it's a quatrain, right.
Four bars, four lines, andthat's how it goes.
That's a quatrain, right, four,four bars, four lines, and
that's how it goes.
That's what we all know.
(04:48):
But let's go, it's got to beolder than that and it is Right,
so almost 100 years before.
That is where the first and theearliest known version in a
published in a book calledJuvenile Amusements in 1797 by
Samuel Arnold and it says HumptyDumpty sat on a wall.
(05:10):
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
Four score men and four scoremore could not make Humpty
Dumpty where he was before,right.
And then we get more changesand more changes and more
changes, right?
I think it's really importantto think if you fast forward to
(05:31):
1842, this is before the versionthat we know, right.
Well, actually, let me back upagain 1803.
So like five years after thatfirst version where it said it
couldn't put, couldn't make himwhere he was before, whatever
that means, we get anotherversion that says Humpty Dumpty
(05:51):
sate on a wall.
Obviously this is like oldEnglish he sate on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
Three score men and three scoremore cannot place Humpty Dumpty
as he was before.
So we get this idea of can youplace him where he was before,
whatever that means, right?
Kind of feels to me like if yousee some man or person on a
(06:15):
wall and obviously this is a manthey're talking about here, and
obviously this is a man they'retalking about here.
It says he had a great fall,and then there's 30 men.
There's three score men, right,three score, I think that's
what 60, right, I can't rememberwhat a score is.
And then three score, moreright, and they can't get him
(06:36):
where he was before, whateverthat means.
Was the dude drunk and fell offa wall?
Did they try to help him up?
He couldn't make it.
I don't know.
That's typically where my mindgoes, though, and so then you
fast forward like 40 years, 30years.
You get in 1842, a version thatreally shines some light on
(06:58):
things Says Humpty Dumpty,laying a beck with all his
sinews around his neck, 40doctors and 40 rights.
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty torights, alright, okay, here we
go.
Yeah, I got my Denzel on, okay,alright.
(07:19):
Okay, let's get into what thismeans.
So first of all, let's startwith what in the world are senos
right?
I think I've seen this before,and it's like something in the
flesh, right?
It's usually like tendons, theligaments, tendons.
(07:40):
It's a tough band, so we got alot of them around our neck.
That's why our necks are strong.
It's not just muscles in there,it's like connective tissue.
That's what sinews are Now?
40 rights.
So it's 40 doctors and 40rights, w-r-i-g-h-t-s.
(08:01):
I don't know what that means,right.
So let's see if we can lookthat up.
I'm not seeing anything rightaway.
Let's see Dictionary Rightsit's an old thing.
(08:29):
That means a maker or a builder,right.
So this is obviously like wherewe get playwright, shipwright,
uh, wheelwright.
The first thing I was thinkingwas playwright, but I didn't
know about these other ones.
So it's a worker's, skilled inmaking things, right.
So it says usually in woodenobjects, right.
But obviously if you can be aplaywright, you can fix anything
(08:49):
right.
So, okay, 40 doctors and 40rights.
People who are skilled atbuilding things couldn't put
Humpty Dumpty to rights.
I'm guessing that means put himback right again, get him right
.
It's interesting.
This is all before we get ourcommon version, which came like
(09:12):
a year after that one that Ijust talked about.
So I want to bring this upbecause to me, like I said, my
first thought is this dude felloff a wall, is he drunk?
And it makes me think about thegreat ice cube, the great poet,
modern day, 20 and 21st centurypoet.
Um, we're gonna call him a 20thcentury poet, because I don't
(09:34):
know about this modern new icecube music man, but my great,
the great O'Shea Jackson, youknow, when he first came out he
had some songs called Gangsta'sFairytale, some of his best
music, right, and I think a lotof people sleep on it because
they think oh, there's gangstermusic, gangster rap music, it's
(09:55):
all lumped together but Ice Cubeis actually.
I mean, there's no differenceto me between Ice Cube and what
he was doing and any of these.
You know, mother Goose or anyof these people who are writing
these original British funnystories that get passed around
(10:15):
from word of mouth and in thesebook collections, right, so
they're coming up with theselegendary stories.
Same thing.
And Ice Cube once said HumptyDumpty sat on a wall with a
joint drinking some eight ball,and I always think about that.
So for me that's a clear picture.
(10:37):
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
The neighborhood I grew up inwe saw a whole bunch of winos.
People may not know that wordnowadays, they may think like
you know, addict or crackhead oryou know whatever, but in the
80s that I grew up in, the mostcommon kind of like addict,
(10:59):
derelict form of lifestyle youcould find was a wino or and
they typically would be sittingoutside, sitting on a wall,
sitting on a curb.
So my first instinct when I hearthis nursery rhyme is Humpty
Dumpty was a wino and he felloff a wall.
(11:20):
And you can take that literallyor metaphorically.
He could have had a great lifegoing on a lot of things you
know family, job, and thataddiction and the ravages of
that addiction, that diseasemade him fall off a wall.
(11:42):
And then you get these doctorsand these rights, these people
who try to help him get back towhere he was.
And he can't get back thereright.
So you can think about itliterally like right, they said
he had all this sinews aroundhis neck, so he was strong, he
had his head up.
He had his head up, he couldhold his head up right, but
(12:04):
eventually he fell and itcouldn't get him back to that
position he was before, which isunfortunately the most common
story you see for people whofall into that addiction.
So that's where I was thinkingabout it and I know that might
(12:28):
be.
You might feel like man Jay,you're reaching, you might feel
like that's a long way to go fora nursery rhyme, but you know
what?
What else is life for?
We're supposed to think throughthings.
This is how we get creative.
This is how we bring all oflife together.
Trust me, the most sillynursery rhyme thought you could
(12:50):
possibly have has relevance tothe most serious things you have
seen in your life.
Things are not separate andcompartmentalized the way that
our brain can slice them up andcompartmentalize them.
Life really is all connected.
I firmly believe that and Ithink when we think through
these kind of things and whenyou make a habit of thinking
(13:15):
through these things, when youunderstand that the Humpty
Dumpty nursery rhyme doesn'thave to be separate from
understanding addiction andhaving empathy for an addict
that you see on the street, whenyou understand those things, it
helps you in life.
In my opinion, it brings all oflife smaller and into a tighter
(13:37):
perspective.
I just want to land this, lastly, with Humpty Hump, humpty Hump,
the great Shock G.
Well, I shouldn't say Shock Gbecause there's still no proof.
And again, just like there's noproof that Humpty Dumpty was an
egg, there's no proof that thegreat Shock G of digital
(14:01):
underground fame was actuallyHumpty Hump, although we all
know he was.
I think they did a great joband rest in peace to Gregory
Jacobs who was shock G.
I think they did a great job ofman.
(14:23):
He played it for years, I meanall the way up until his death.
He still made it be prettyambiguous of whether he was
truly playing the role of HumptyHump.
(14:44):
Listen to your music title andunderstand that.
Digital Underground is a greatband from the Bay Area in the
80s and 90s and also where TupacShakur got his start as a
dancer and background person androadie for Digital Underground
(15:05):
and eventually rapper forDigital Underground.
The lead artist in the band,leader of Digital Underground is
Shock G.
He's great, he's a rapperproducer and he came up with a
character called Humpty Hump whoput on these glasses and just
(15:27):
danced around crazy on hisglasses and just danced around
crazy and basically in this songhe called himself the Humpty
Dance.
He described himself doing thissong and he basically described
a person, an addict, and Ithink it ties back if you want
(15:47):
to follow that thread with me,ties back to us all having that
visual or example of what thatwino looks like, or crackhead,
if you want to take it there, orcrack addict or opioid addict I
(16:07):
think we've all seen them intheir condition.
It can be something that it canbe utilized as a comedic tool,
but in the end, even that thingthat might make you laugh can be
tied.
You follow the thread back tosomething that's all a human.
It's about human empathy andall of us living together.
So that's what I wanted to gowith it today.
(16:29):
If this throws you off, I don'tapologize.
This is my show.
If you like this, follow me,like this, subscribe, tell your
friends.
Yo, jay Floyd is going to betalking about some deep things.
It may be a little bit all overthe place sometimes, but it's
(16:50):
pretty interesting, hopefully.
All right.
I love y'all for tuning in.
Man, I will talk to y'all later, peace.
You know, this show is literally called On
Everything and on everything.
I'm going to have to show y'allthat I really mean on
everything.
So welcome back y'all.
I'm Jay Floyd, your host.
This is a show where I pondersome things.
You know.
We talk about leadership, wetalk about art, we talk about
(00:24):
building business, we talk aboutself-development, but we talk
about everything and it'ssomething that's been bugging me
for, like man, 40 plus years,and that's the Humpty Dumpty
nursery rhyme.
Yes, the Humpty Dumpty nurseryrhyme.
(00:47):
Listen, I was scrollingFacebook today and I saw this
post.
Somebody said the Humpty Dumptynursery rhyme is like a man fell
off a wall and was irreparablyharmed and everybody was just
like he was, I assume, anenormous egg.
(01:08):
I do feel like that's how it isright.
Like I've always been, even asa kid, I was like why would it?
Why would this be an egg?
Like who?
Why would an egg be sitting ona wall?
Why would they send King'shorse?
Why would horses?
Horses are not surgeons.
Why would horses be sent to fixa giant egg and why would the
(01:32):
king's men also be sent?
It always bugged me right,always.
Obviously, this is a nurseryrhyme that came into our
consciousness from other,probably British, I'm guessing
it's a British source.
I have three kids, man, andevery single one of them, as
(01:53):
they were small, and anytimethey would mention Humpty Dumpty
, I would always be like yo,he's not an egg.
Nobody said he was an egg.
Don't fall for things thateasily.
I know you might be thinking,man, why are you so serious on
your kids?
But that's just me.
That's the way I am.
(02:13):
That's the way I was raised.
My mom always told me thinkcritically about things, don't
just accept anything.
And that goes for everything.
Maybe that's why this show iscalled On Everything.
Maybe because I apply the samekind of logic and approach to
everything.
So, yeah, my kids would comehome, or they would, you know,
(02:34):
have some book it would havelike Humpty Dumpty in it and I
would always be like this dude'snot an egg.
Y'all, don't fall for that.
It doesn't make sense.
So today I was like I'm goingto go look this up, I'm going to
(02:56):
finally put an end to thismusing in my head and we're just
going to squash this alltogether Because I know, I know
I'm right, I know this is not anegg.
I don't know why we want toconvince our kids that in some
giant half man, half eggcaricature.
(03:16):
I don't know why that wassomething that Mother Goose
decided to do, but let's go backand look at the history of this
.
So Wikipedia tells us thatHumpty Dumpty is a character in
an English nursery rhyme.
I knew it right.
I knew it Said he is typicallyportrayed as an anthropomorphic
(03:38):
egg.
Obviously, anybody who doesn'tknow, anthropomorphic means
morphing in an anthropologicalway, so having human features,
right.
So anytime you see like bugs,bunny, he's an anthropomorphic
rabbit or bunny.
Right, he's a bunny, but hemoves like a human.
(04:00):
So they're saying that dude istypically portrayed as an egg
who has a human like features.
Uh, although he's notexplicitly described as such,
boom, he never described as such.
So why is he an egg?
I have no idea.
Let's go back to the history.
It said okay, the common one weall know comes from 1882.
(04:28):
Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and allthe king's men couldn't put
Humpty together again.
Right, it's a quatrain, right.
Four bars, four lines, andthat's how it goes.
That's a quatrain, right, four,four bars, four lines, and
that's how it goes.
That's what we all know.
(04:48):
But let's go, it's got to beolder than that and it is Right,
so almost 100 years before.
That is where the first and theearliest known version in a
published in a book calledJuvenile Amusements in 1797 by
Samuel Arnold and it says HumptyDumpty sat on a wall.
(05:10):
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
Four score men and four scoremore could not make Humpty
Dumpty where he was before,right.
And then we get more changesand more changes and more
changes, right?
I think it's really importantto think if you fast forward to
(05:31):
1842, this is before the versionthat we know, right.
Well, actually, let me back upagain 1803.
So like five years after thatfirst version where it said it
couldn't put, couldn't make himwhere he was before, whatever
that means, we get anotherversion that says Humpty Dumpty
(05:51):
sate on a wall.
Obviously this is like oldEnglish he sate on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
Three score men and three scoremore cannot place Humpty Dumpty
as he was before.
So we get this idea of can youplace him where he was before,
whatever that means, right?
Kind of feels to me like if yousee some man or person on a
(06:15):
wall and obviously this is a manthey're talking about here, and
obviously this is a man they'retalking about here.
It says he had a great fall,and then there's 30 men.
There's three score men, right,three score, I think that's
what 60, right, I can't rememberwhat a score is.
And then three score, moreright, and they can't get him
(06:36):
where he was before, whateverthat means.
Was the dude drunk and fell offa wall?
Did they try to help him up?
He couldn't make it.
I don't know.
That's typically where my mindgoes, though, and so then you
fast forward like 40 years, 30years.
You get in 1842, a version thatreally shines some light on
(06:58):
things Says Humpty Dumpty,laying a beck with all his
sinews around his neck, 40doctors and 40 rights.
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty torights, alright, okay, here we
go.
Yeah, I got my Denzel on, okay,alright.
(07:19):
Okay, let's get into what thismeans.
So first of all, let's startwith what in the world are senos
right?
I think I've seen this before,and it's like something in the
flesh, right?
It's usually like tendons, theligaments, tendons.
(07:40):
It's a tough band, so we got alot of them around our neck.
That's why our necks are strong.
It's not just muscles in there,it's like connective tissue.
That's what sinews are Now?
40 rights.
So it's 40 doctors and 40rights, w-r-i-g-h-t-s.
(08:01):
I don't know what that means,right.
So let's see if we can lookthat up.
I'm not seeing anything rightaway.
Let's see Dictionary Rightsit's an old thing.
(08:29):
That means a maker or a builder,right.
So this is obviously like wherewe get playwright, shipwright,
uh, wheelwright.
The first thing I was thinkingwas playwright, but I didn't
know about these other ones.
So it's a worker's, skilled inmaking things, right.
So it says usually in woodenobjects, right.
But obviously if you can be aplaywright, you can fix anything
(08:49):
right.
So, okay, 40 doctors and 40rights.
People who are skilled atbuilding things couldn't put
Humpty Dumpty to rights.
I'm guessing that means put himback right again, get him right
.
It's interesting.
This is all before we get ourcommon version, which came like
(09:12):
a year after that one that Ijust talked about.
So I want to bring this upbecause to me, like I said, my
first thought is this dude felloff a wall, is he drunk?
And it makes me think about thegreat ice cube, the great poet,
modern day, 20 and 21st centurypoet.
Um, we're gonna call him a 20thcentury poet, because I don't
(09:34):
know about this modern new icecube music man, but my great,
the great O'Shea Jackson, youknow, when he first came out he
had some songs called Gangsta'sFairytale, some of his best
music, right, and I think a lotof people sleep on it because
they think oh, there's gangstermusic, gangster rap music, it's
(09:55):
all lumped together but Ice Cubeis actually.
I mean, there's no differenceto me between Ice Cube and what
he was doing and any of these.
You know, mother Goose or anyof these people who are writing
these original British funnystories that get passed around
(10:15):
from word of mouth and in thesebook collections, right, so
they're coming up with theselegendary stories.
Same thing.
And Ice Cube once said HumptyDumpty sat on a wall with a
joint drinking some eight ball,and I always think about that.
So for me that's a clear picture.
(10:37):
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
The neighborhood I grew up inwe saw a whole bunch of winos.
People may not know that wordnowadays, they may think like
you know, addict or crackhead oryou know whatever, but in the
80s that I grew up in, the mostcommon kind of like addict,
(10:59):
derelict form of lifestyle youcould find was a wino or and
they typically would be sittingoutside, sitting on a wall,
sitting on a curb.
So my first instinct when I hearthis nursery rhyme is Humpty
Dumpty was a wino and he felloff a wall.
(11:20):
And you can take that literallyor metaphorically.
He could have had a great lifegoing on a lot of things you
know family, job, and thataddiction and the ravages of
that addiction, that diseasemade him fall off a wall.
(11:42):
And then you get these doctorsand these rights, these people
who try to help him get back towhere he was.
And he can't get back thereright.
So you can think about itliterally like right, they said
he had all this sinews aroundhis neck, so he was strong, he
had his head up.
He had his head up, he couldhold his head up right, but
(12:04):
eventually he fell and itcouldn't get him back to that
position he was before, which isunfortunately the most common
story you see for people whofall into that addiction.
So that's where I was thinkingabout it and I know that might
(12:28):
be.
You might feel like man Jay,you're reaching, you might feel
like that's a long way to go fora nursery rhyme, but you know
what?
What else is life for?
We're supposed to think throughthings.
This is how we get creative.
This is how we bring all oflife together.
Trust me, the most sillynursery rhyme thought you could
(12:50):
possibly have has relevance tothe most serious things you have
seen in your life.
Things are not separate andcompartmentalized the way that
our brain can slice them up andcompartmentalize them.
Life really is all connected.
I firmly believe that and Ithink when we think through
these kind of things and whenyou make a habit of thinking
(13:15):
through these things, when youunderstand that the Humpty
Dumpty nursery rhyme doesn'thave to be separate from
understanding addiction andhaving empathy for an addict
that you see on the street, whenyou understand those things, it
helps you in life.
In my opinion, it brings all oflife smaller and into a tighter
(13:37):
perspective.
I just want to land this, lastly, with Humpty Hump, humpty Hump,
the great Shock G.
Well, I shouldn't say Shock Gbecause there's still no proof.
And again, just like there's noproof that Humpty Dumpty was an
egg, there's no proof that thegreat Shock G of digital
(14:01):
underground fame was actuallyHumpty Hump, although we all
know he was.
I think they did a great joband rest in peace to Gregory
Jacobs who was shock G.
I think they did a great job ofman.
(14:23):
He played it for years, I meanall the way up until his death.
He still made it be prettyambiguous of whether he was
truly playing the role of HumptyHump.
(14:44):
Listen to your music title andunderstand that.
Digital Underground is a greatband from the Bay Area in the
80s and 90s and also where TupacShakur got his start as a
dancer and background person androadie for Digital Underground
(15:05):
and eventually rapper forDigital Underground.
The lead artist in the band,leader of Digital Underground is
Shock G.
He's great, he's a rapperproducer and he came up with a
character called Humpty Hump whoput on these glasses and just
(15:27):
danced around crazy on hisglasses and just danced around
crazy and basically in this songhe called himself the Humpty
Dance.
He described himself doing thissong and he basically described
a person, an addict, and Ithink it ties back if you want
(15:47):
to follow that thread with me,ties back to us all having that
visual or example of what thatwino looks like, or crackhead,
if you want to take it there, orcrack addict or opioid addict I
(16:07):
think we've all seen them intheir condition.
It can be something that it canbe utilized as a comedic tool,
but in the end, even that thingthat might make you laugh can be
tied.
You follow the thread back tosomething that's all a human.
It's about human empathy andall of us living together.
So that's what I wanted to gowith it today.
(16:29):
If this throws you off, I don'tapologize.
This is my show.
If you like this, follow me,like this, subscribe, tell your
friends.
Yo, jay Floyd is going to betalking about some deep things.
It may be a little bit all overthe place sometimes, but it's
(16:50):
pretty interesting, hopefully.
All right.
I love y'all for tuning in.
Man, I will talk to y'all later, peace.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes present: Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial
Introducing… Aubrey O’Day Diddy’s former protege, television personality, platinum selling music artist, Danity Kane alum Aubrey O’Day joins veteran journalists Amy Robach and TJ Holmes to provide a unique perspective on the trial that has captivated the attention of the nation. Join them throughout the trial as they discuss, debate, and dissect every detail, every aspect of the proceedings. Aubrey will offer her opinions and expertise, as only she is qualified to do given her first-hand knowledge. From her days on Making the Band, as she emerged as the breakout star, the truth of the situation would be the opposite of the glitz and glamour. Listen throughout every minute of the trial, for this exclusive coverage. Amy Robach and TJ Holmes present Aubrey O’Day, Covering the Diddy Trial, an iHeartRadio podcast.
Good Hang with Amy Poehler
Come hang with Amy Poehler. Each week on her podcast, she'll welcome celebrities and fun people to her studio. They'll share stories about their careers, mutual friends, shared enthusiasms, and most importantly, what's been making them laugh. This podcast is not about trying to make you better or giving advice. Amy just wants to have a good time.