“Humpty Dumpty” the rhyme has quite a history with it’s origins being rooted in the term being a reference to a rather dull person in the 17th Century. The rhyme we know and love (do we love it?) surfaced in 1803 in an English work titled “Mother Goose’s Melody”.
The original lyrics were set down as follows:
“Humpty Dumpty sate on a wall,
Humpti Dumpti had a great fall;
Threescore men and threescore more,
Cannot place Humpty dumpty as he was before”
(spellings exactly as presented)
The lyrics evolved into what we more or less know today:
“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again”
Mr. Emperor and Mr. Vader
What brought all of this on was my recent re-viewing of “Star Wars Return of the Jedi” from 1983! I had forgotten much of the storyline so I sat through it again probably after first viewing it back in ’83 (I’m not what you would call a “Trekkie”. I didn’t remember Darth Vader succumbing after saving his son from the evil Emperor.
Very, Very EvilBut what I remembered even less was the unmasking of Darth Vader just before he passes away. I waited with baited breath for Luke to carefully undo Darth’s headgear – and then delicately remove it to reveal – LORD ALMIGHTY! Lying there on his deathbed barely clinging to his last breath was HUMPTY DUMPTY!
Vader JR
And if Darth and Humpty stuck together you could almost imagine “Tweedledum and Tweedledee” via Lewis Carroll and “Through the Looking Glass” from 1871 – book which also introduced Humpty Dumpty in literature vs. children rhymes.
Some Humpty’s and a Few Dumpty’s
Of these – I only own a copy of Jimmy Nicol and the Shudubs “Humpty Dumpty” the 12-day fill in drummer for the Beatles in 1964 when Ringo was ailing. Other than that – Nicol sort of had that ‘Humpty’ kind of look as it turns out.
