What's happened to our children's songs? Why do they (whoever they are) adulterate them so? Today's example is "Little Bunny Foo Foo." If you aren't familiar with this song, here's the gist: Bunny Foo Foo keeps "scooping up the field mice and bopping 'em on the head." Each time he does this, the good fairy comes down and tells him to knock it off or he'll be turned into something awful (like a goon). Eventually BFF uses up his chances and gets turned into a goon. End of song.
Enter the religious establishment and the flower children gone astray. The old song -- which mentions the unconscionable abuse of field mice (never mind that their attacker is warned and even suffers the consequences of his actions) -- has been changed. The new lyrics change only Bunny Foo Foo's actions: He no longer bops the mice; now he kisses them on the head. The rest is the same -- same good fairy, same warning, same consequence, same result.
What is the message our misguided friends have given the children?
Bopping is so bad it can't be sung about? No. These toddlers never heard the other version.
They might get that kissing on the head is bad, but why?
Is it the cross-species aspect?
Are the field mice underage?
Is Foo Foo an adult?
A mousophile?
Maybe he's a religious leader and therefore no longer allowed to offer a simple kiss on the head to a young mouse?
Maybe we've mistakenly believed he was kissing their heads, when he was really kissing their heads?
Oh, to be around a hundred years from now and read the way our culture is described. Of course, if kissing on the head is punishable by being turned into a goon, who'll be around to describe us?
