I marvel at the enduring popularity of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", considering how few true farmers there are actually left in the USA. Nevertheless, people can still relate - how about that?

The (extremely boring) point has been put to me (by loads of would-be historians) that "Nursery Rhymes are often allegories for historical events in the United Kingdom... zzz" oh wait, did I fall asleep? Annoyingly, I was thinking to myself "What is the political point of Old MacDonald?" as Dakota sang it to me this morning. Annoying because it distracted from my enjoyment of her "big finish" ending with the E,I,E,I,O designed to bring the audience to their feet. That's when it hit me: "I bet this is some stupid rhyme about the great vowel shift and that there is a really tedious ling paper on it"

Guess what? There is such a paper.
What's more: Thanks to Google, I found it almost immediately: here it is.