It also, like so many phrases ('ring a roses' for example*), has a very dark meaning, originally referring to being hanged, dancing at the end of a rope.
But what it means to later song writers like here or Tom Traubert's Blues for instance, is what they want it to mean. They themselves might not be aware of its origins.
*Forgive me, in case anyone didn't know, that particular nursery rhyme goes back to the Black Death. The posey to ward off the smell of death, tishoo tishoo, sneezing was a symptom, and 'all fall down'. Well, that's obvious, innit?
It also, like so many phrases ('ring a roses' for example*), has a very dark meaning, originally referring to being hanged, dancing at the end of a rope.
But what it means to later song writers like here or Tom Traubert's Blues for instance, is what they want it to mean. They themselves might not be aware of its origins.
*Forgive me, in case anyone didn't know, that particular nursery rhyme goes back to the Black Death. The posey to ward off the smell of death, tishoo tishoo, sneezing was a symptom, and 'all fall down'. Well, that's obvious, innit?