Why was the peanut sitting on the railroad track; it's heart all a-flutter?

Maybe a homeless guy on a train tossed out a dud?

Perhaps the peanut’s heart was racing because he couldn’t get help to get off the track, since he was so small

I don’t get it either. I find most children’s songs, or the ones we’re used to seeing, to either be about death or injury. What kind of message are we sending to our children through these songs?

For ex: Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down, broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after.

Ring around the rosy, pocket full of poseys, ashes, ashes, we all fall down.

Then there’s Goosey Goosey Gander with the rhyme ending in you throwing a man down the stairs.

It’s all about a child’s imagination and how to use it. It could have been a butterfly, but a child would connect more with a peanut and food, rather than a butterfly that jus flies.

This is about fun with words. It isn’t suppose to mean anything. When I was very young,I fondly remember fun stuff like the following:

There once was a foxy, his name was Loxy. That is why, they called him Foxy Loxy.

There once was a henny, her name was Penny. That is why, they called her Henny Penny.

There once was a turkey, his name was Lurkey. That is why, they called him Turkey Lurky.

There once was a ducky, his name was Lucky. That is why, they called him Ducky Lucky.

It’s from an earlier, more subtle time where song lyrics were fun and playful. I don’t think there was any big meaning to the song. It looks like a song that plays with old nursery rhymes and seems to be similar to songs like Baby Bumblebee or John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt. Too bad today’s kids don’t sing these type of songs anymore.

The whole song is: It Ain’t Gonna Rain No More . Another version can be found here about ⅔ down the page.

Chorus: It ain’t gonna’ rain no more no more.
It ain’t gonna’ rain no more….no more!
How in the heck can I wash my neck
If it ain’t gonna rain no more?

Way down South not so far off
A bluebird died of the whooping cough.
He whopped so hard with the whooping cough
He whopped his head and tail right off! (repeat chorus)

Way down South where bananas grow
A grasshopper stepped on an elephant’s toe.
The elephant said with tears in his eyes,
“Pick on someone your own size!” (repeat chorus)

A peanut sittin’ on a railroad track,
His heart was all a flutter.
Down the line came Number 9.
Squish, squish, peanut butter! (repeat chorus)

This particular peanut was having a rough day. Before work he spilled coffee on his shell. On the way to work he had to get gas.. the cashier at the gas station said his shell was looking a bit smooth (a condition not becoming of a peanut’s shell). At work he discovered that a co-worker had taken credit for his work and was getting a promotion (he would snitch if it weren’t for the blackmail pictures of him in the nude at the last party during which he went totally nuts). After work he got stuck in traffic. He decided to abandon his car (the peanut version of Falling Down ) . Some Coconuts mugged him, stole his wallet, and gave him a pretty nasty crack in his shell. Upon arriving home he snuck in to change w/out becoming embarrassed at his condition. He caught his wife with his best friend the walnut, who admittedly was bigger. The phone rings. He answers. Its Planters. They no longer wish to use him as their spokesperson.

Naturally, life in shambles, he proceeds to the tracks and sits down. He desperately searches his mind for some reason to live while number 10 comes bearing down on him. His heart flutters. He chuckles morosely as the phrase “choosy moms choose..” floats through his head. Squish. Peanut Butter.

He wakes up. His wife is next to him. Relieved that it was all a horrible dream he gets up to prepare for work. Drowsily he prepares some coffee. He spills some on his shell.

It is a metaphor for powerlessness in society. A peanut cannot get out of the way of the locomotive and the locomotive cannot steer away from the peanut. It is a deeply tragic situation and the jaunty humorous tone of the song is entirely misplaced. I would be worried at the effects of these lyrics on impressionable children. Peanut butter is an abomination.

@linguaphile seeing the other lyrics places these in a different context, because they are all about other real disasters people typically faced: drought, whooping cough, bullying, and, in this context I suppose, being squished by the big machine. It is a lament of poverty.

Thanks for finding that.

I think that the lyrics may be humorous, but I’m not sure they were truly fun. More like gallows humor. There’s nothing we can do about this, so let’s just make fun of ourselves.

I think the peanut stanza is a little more metaphorical than the other stanzas, which is kind of interesting, but that maybe because it is a more politically subversive message. It could be a kind of communist party class awareness song, laying the ground for children to grow up with an awareness of class war and class consciousness.

I don’t know, but I once put a quarter on a track in the morning. That evening, it was still there between the rails flat and slightly bowed.

That would be…. what? Quarter butter?