The Freddy Krueger Song Is The Soundtrack Of Horror
One of the main elements of horror films is that they make us look differently at things that appear daily. After all, we can’t stand in traffic behind a logging truck and not fear a horrible death like in the “Final Destination” movies, take a shower in a scary hotel without thinking of that scene from “Psycho” or open a mirrored medicine cabinet without expecting to see a startling figure behind us when we close The closet, as happened in something like a thousand unoriginal horror movies.
“A Nightmare on Elm Street” did the same thing with jumping rope, an action considered very innocent and childish on the one hand and physically healthy on the other. For horror fans, on the other hand, its meanings may be different, which may lead to unpleasant conflicts over The Freddy Krueger Song.
The problem started when my daughter jumped the rope one day because that’s what children do, so it was hard for me to hold back. I started humming the familier Nightmare On Elm Street song, which indicates that Freddy Krueger is about to arrive. “One, Two, Freddy’s Coming For You.” She stopped jumping and looked at me questioningly. She always likes to learn new songs, so she expected me to explain exactly what I sang. The truth is I didn’t know what to do.
At the age of five and a half, girls should know Mickey Mouse, Raw Patrol, Anna, Elsa, and the like, and not horror icon with burnt faces and knife-shaped fingers who murders children in their dreams as punishment for what their parents have done to him in the past. “Ahh… it’s just a song I made up”, I mumbled quietly and looked down. “Hey, look, a ball! Want to play soccer?”.
It All Started As A Children Song
The first question you may ask is what’s the Freddy Krueger Song and how it was born. Like many other things in the world of horror, the roots of what will become one of the songs associated with horror cinema are in different areas: not long ago, we learned, for example, that the Jeepers Creepers song on which the film is based comes from a musical and refers to a horse.
“One, Two, Buckle My Shoe” is a Nursery Song and a counting-out rhyme in which the children perform different tasks according to the song. Although there are several versions of this classic song, in a basic understanding, they have to buckle their shoe, knock on a door, collect and arrange sticks, “meet” a fat hen, and more. Its primary purpose is to teach children to count.
Take a look on One Two Buckle My Shoes lyrics:
One, two, buckle my shoe;
Three, four, knock at the door;
Five, six, pick up sticks;
Seven, eight, lay them straight;
Nine, ten, a big fat hen;
Eleven, twelve, dig and delve;
Thirteen, fourteen, maids a-courting;
Fifteen, sixteen, maids in the kitchen;
Seventeen, eighteen, maids in waiting;
Nineteen, twenty, my plate’s empty
From Child Songs To Detective Thrillers
“One, Two, Buckle My Shoe” began to be sung somewhere in Massachusetts, United States, towards the end of the 18th century. The first time the song appeared in writing was in London, in 1805, where it was part of the book of children’s songs “Songs For The Nursery.” Interestingly, according to the original versions, the song describes the agenda of traditional lace makers in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The meaning of “buckle my shoe” is to get ready to work, and later the actions of entering work in the workshop (closing the door), taking the work tools (“picking up the sticks,” when the reference is probably to the tools that were part of the production machines) are described, repairing the sticks (” put them straight”) and more. Of course, the “big fat hen” raises questions. Some speculate that it refers to a means of support the workers had during their work, like a pillow. Another common interpretation is that this part of the song relates to the dinner, which will likely include a meat dish. In the decades that have passed since then, the poem has received a multitude of different publications, in most cases with a change of a line or a few individual lines.
The song’s name may tell you something if you are a detective fiction fan. In fact, “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe” is the first title of Agatha Christie’s detective thriller. The novel was published in 1940 in the United Kingdom and 1941 in the United States and was later called “The Patriotic Murders” and “An Overdose of Death.” This is one of the novels in the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot series, known to us from masterpieces such as “Death on the Nile” and “Murder on the Orient Express.” Unfortunately, Kenneth Branagh pretty much killed the character and these books in their latest adaptations, but initially, this was one of the most famous and successful detective characters. In “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe,” Hercule Poirot investigates the death of his dentist and discovers that it wasn’t a dental implant that killed him.
The Freddy Krueger Song: Because Some Pictures Can Talk
With all due respect to children’s songs and detective fiction, we have gathered here to talk about Freddy Krueger. The song “One, Two, Freddy’s Coming For You,” also called “Freddy’s Theme,” is associated with the successful franchise. The Nightmare on Elm Street song is, of course, a parody of the same classic children’s song, with a requested change of the words.
The theme comes to warn the characters of Freddy’s upcoming appearance. It suggests some defensive actions that probably won’t help them: lock the door, equip yourself with a cross as if it were an exorcism, and most importantly – the most effective, but not much applicable – stay up late and never sleep again.
You wanna know how does the Freddy Krueger Song go? Well, these are the original Freddy Krueger song lyrics:
One, Two, Freddy’s Coming For You
Three, Four, Better Lock Your Door
Five, Six, Grab A Crucifix
Seven, eight, better stay up late
Nine, Ten, Never Sleep Again
Where Can You Find The Freddy Krueger Song?
If you’ve seen the various movies in the famous franchise, you probably know The Nightmare on Elm Street song is repeated several times. In almost all of them, it is sung by unidentified children while jumping rope as part of a dream that is about to become a nightmare for one of the characters. It first appears while three girls are playing jump rope, while another girl watches them, though it’s unclear who sings it and whether these girls are among the living or the ghosts of previous mule victims. Nancy sings the song in the bathtub afterward – it’s unclear how she knows it – but it later appears in her dream with other girls jumping rope. You can also find the song in the ending credits of the film.
In A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge, Angela sings the Freddy Krueger song one two, etc. —again, while jumping rope—as part of a dream that the film’s protagonist, Jesse, has in the third film, he appears in Kristen’s dreams, where next to the kids jumping rope there are two playing ball and one riding a tricycle. Later in the scene, it will become clear that these are Freddy’s previous victims. Kristen will later sing the song while resisting obfuscation attempts, and Nancy will also mention it.
The music will appear in all subsequent films in the series, including “Freddy vs. Jason” and the remake of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” from 2010, mainly in dream scenes while children are jumping rope. Freddy Krueger song lyrics are primarily constant, although they changed it slightly in the fifth film (“Nine, ten, he’s back again”).
The Location Is Not Random
The children’s location appearing in these sequences during the music differs in some cases. Still, there is a common denominator in quite a few scenes: they occur near house number 1428 on Elm Street, Springwood, Ohio, United States. This is one of the most critical places in the film series, and of course, also in the countless cultural products made in their wake. The main protagonists in the franchise are living in this house: Nancy Thompson (Heather Langkamp) and Emma in the first film, at least until Emma is burned to death. After that, Jesse Walsh (the protagonist from the second film) and his family will live in the building, among others, and later also Laurie Campbell (Monica Keena) in “Freddy vs. Jason.”
The house on 1428 Elm Street is one of Freddy Krueger’s favorite killing places, even when the victims’ dream doesn’t start at home, as seen in the third film in the series. The reason for this connection is that the property’s previous tenant list includes Freddy Krueger: that is, who he was in his lifetime, after being born from the rape of his nun mother, adopted by an alcoholic who abused him, abused animals himself, married a woman named Loretta, fathered a girl named Catherine and murdering innocent children until he went to prison, was released after about two years and was burned to death by the angry townspeople. It is implied that Krueger and his family were among the tenants of 1428 Elm Street.
From TV To Theme Parks: Other Appereances Of The Freddy Krueger Song
In the TV series “Freddy’s Nightmares,” a version of “The Twilight Zone” in which Freddy showcases the nightmares of the residents of Springwood, Freddy himself sang the song in one of the episodes. Freddy’s theme also appeared in the book series based on the A Nightmare on Elm Street series, often like the films. In the horror attraction Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios in 2016, the Freddy Krueger song from this movie series was part of the horror maze called “Freddy vs. Jason,” which at first glance looks like one of the coolest horror attractions you can find.
So after understanding the origins of Freddy Krueger’s famous song, one can only hope that in the coming years, we will be able to associate jumping ropes with a more pleasant and less scary piece. Otherwise, we’ll have to find other activities with the kids (or not sing songs from scary horror movies next to them).
