Thanks to all who have posted information & lyrics about those songs that predate Rockn Robin.

I've been trying to track down the earliest sources that I can for selected American {particularly African American} children's playground rhymes.

I think this nails the sources for verses of Rockin Robin, which is usually called "Tweeleelee" {or some similarly spelled and pronounced word} in many African American communities throughout the USA {since 1972, when Michael Jackson recorded his version of "Rockin Robin"}.

For those interested, I have posted 10 versions of "Tweeleelee" on website. Most of these examples were sent in by that site's visitors. Here's the link to that page:

http://cocojams.com/handclap_rhymes.htm

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I'm curious if anyone knows if a similar verse to this one below is part of any of those old songs that you've mentioned:

Here's the verse found in many versions of the children's handclap rhyme Tweeleelee {alternate words in given in parenthesis}

I went downtown
to get a stick of butta {butter}
I saw James Brown layin {or "sittin", or "poopin", one version I collected from a Black fraternity/sorority website suggested that the word here was F**king}
In the gutta {gutter}
He had a piece of glass
Stuck up his ass {though most children either say "butt" or they completely omit that word}
I never saw a Black man {this is probably the clean substitute for the n-word}
run so fast.

-snip-

Here's an example of the entire handclap rhyme, with no changes to the poster's spelling/typos:

swing swing swing to te usa hey hey rockin in atreeto all day long huffin and a puffin and singin that song all the lil birdies on jaybird street love to here therobins go tweet tweet tweet rockin robintweet tweetalee rockin robin tweet tweetalee mama in he kitchen cookin fried rice daddy oUt side shootin some dice brothA in jail drinkin gingerale sista roun te corner sellin FRUIT COCTAIL rockin robin tweet tweetalee rockin robin tweet tweetalee batman and robin flyin in the air batman lost his underwear batmn said i dont care cause robingoin to by me azillion more pair rockinrobin tweet tweetalee iwent down town to getsum btta saw james brown sittin ina gutta gotta piece of glass stuck it up his i neva seen a black man runso fast rockinrobin tweet tweet alee
-j-mil; 3/19/2005 ; {African American male; Maryland http://blog.oftheoctopuses.com/000518.php

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Here's another version of that "last" verse along with the poster's comments:

i went down town to get a stick of butter
and saw james brown sitting (people cursed on my block) in the gutter
i took a piece of glass and stuck it up his (you know what)
i never saw a (kids are mean) run so fast.

we even played that in college.

hmmm...those hand games were violent and had curses in them, huh?

holla at me if you remember
-MaMaBuddha; {African American female}; Harlem {New York, New York}; 7/31/2000}

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/archive/index.php/t-5627.html

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Thanks, again for the interesting information about the possible {probable?} sources for the song & the handclap rhyme Rockin Robin {Yweeleelee}!