There is an excellent book called Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought From Slavery To Freedom, by Lawrence W. Levine. He is a (now retired) U.C. Berkeley history Prof. who wrote this major study of African American Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century folk culture, his thesis being that there is much to learn through studying the oral traditions of groups that have been traditionally rendered trivial by historians, and that the oral traditions of blues, work songs, play-party songs, games, etc. play an important part in studying African American culture. This is also a very good read - not a dry academic text. It was published in 1978, and if you live near a college, maybe they'll have it in a library. It is a great book, and has good stuff about play party songs in it.

-chanteyranger

"Conciousness" corrected...
-Joe Offer-