yes, it was. a lot of nursery rhymes have their origins in something pertaining to life of the era. i also have a book - the real 12 days of christmas - that details the origins of the christmas carol.
there's seems to be a controversyin - sing a song of sixpence. snopes has it as blackbeard's recruiting poster and 'mostly true stories: urban legends revealed' says that it isn't so. okay - do we have a tie breaker?