The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #10803 Message #1281470
Posted By: Azizi
26-Sep-04 - 12:02 PM
Thread Name: Cadence or Marching Songs
Subject: RE: Cadence or Marching Songs
CET mentioned the marching song "Mama Mama can't you see". Can he {she?} or anyone else please post the words to that chant? Thanks.
Until I read that post I didn't connect the two "Mama, Mama can't you see" children's handclap rhymes that I had collected with army marching chants. Both rhymes start the same.
Mama Mama can't you see
what that's army done to me.
Then the rhymes change up. One continues with these words:
It took away my MTV
now I got to watch Barney
Tic tac toe
three in a row
Barney got shot {killed} by GI Joe.
Don't stop till your hands get hot
Don't stop till your hand gets red.
{Then girls and boys do fast hand clap routine}
The other version says:
It made me clean the living room.
It made me clean the bathroom.
It said Michael Jackson is a fag.
Put him in a garbage bag.
Tick tac toe
three in a row.
Tickle yourself!
--
{Both collected from African American girls and boys, Pittsburgh, Pa area, 1999, 2000}
Has anyone else heard rhymes like these used by children?
What these rhymes say about the children's values and "political" views is a whole 'nother story...