Some dim fragments from my far-off childhood:


Eeny meeny pepsi seeny
Alabama, boo!
Hoochie kootchie, donna loochie,
OUT GOES YOU!   

(This was obviously a counting-out rhyme, with 'nonsense' words - though some have theorized that such gibberish is actually a phonetic rendering of actual words in an unfamiliar language, distorted by oral transmission... anybody here want to take a stab at that theory?)




Had a little car, nineteen-(sixty)-eight,
Went around the
Coooooooooorrrrrrrrr-ner,
Slammed on the brakes!
Brakes wouldn't work,
Bumped into a lady,
Bumped into a man,
Bumped into a policeman,
Man o man!
Policeman caught me, put me in jail,
All I had to drink was ginger ale!
How many bottles did I drink? (count up while skipping Pepper)



(Susan) and (Johnny) sittin' in a tree
K I S S I N G
First comes love, then comes marriage,
Then comes (Johnny) with the baby carriage!

(Everyone has doubtless heard that one. Here's a more risque variant I heard at the Kiwanis Boys and Girls Club in Hamilton, Canada, about twelve years ago...)

(Susan) and (Johnny) sittin' in a car
Are they nekkid? Yes they are!
The car goes ZOOM! (Johnny) goes BOOM!
That's how they got together so soon!



"Say say my playmate, come out and play with me" was popular for both skipping, clapping, and elastic games.

And finally, there was "In the land of Oz" which was also multipurpose.


In the land of Oz
where the ladies smoke cigars
Every puff they take
is enough to kill a snake
When the snakes are dead
they put roses in their head
When the roses die
They put diamonds in their eye
When the diamonds break
It is nineteen-(sixty)-eight!

This of course had its own risque variant: "In the land of Oz / where the ladies don't wear bras / but the men don't care / cause they don't wear underwear!"