Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?

Subject: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Ely
Date: 20 Sep 03 - 10:58 PM

A woman with two small daughters brought her new kitty into the clinic today. The girls amused themselves by doing hand-clapping games. They knew two verses to "Miss Mary Mack" so I wrote out a third one for them. Their mother looked at it and said, "See? That's the one Grandma was trying to teach you the other day."

When I was in elementary school, EVERYONE did hand-clapping games and knew the rhymes that went with them ("Miss Mary Mack" and the off-color one about Miss Suzy and the steamboat were the most common). We also told each other a lot of ghost stories and urban legends and played creepy games; Bloody Mary, where the ghost is supposed to appear in the bathroom mirror, the hypnosis one that is supposed to make you feel an egg running down your head, Light as a Feather-Stiff as a Board, etc.

I wasn't in school THAT long ago (well, OK, fifteen years). Does anyone here have contact with elementary-school-aged children on a regular basis? Do they still do these things?

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: alison
Date: 20 Sep 03 - 11:31 PM

I saw some ? 12 year old girls doing clapping rhymes at a festival last weekend in Australia but that is the first time I've seen it in years.... we used to do them all the time in Ireland when I was at school....

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Amergin
Date: 20 Sep 03 - 11:48 PM

15 years??? thats a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time....


I seen my young cousins doing such things...but as I was born with the wrong equipment...I never learned any of them....much to the relief of my grampa... ;)

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Ely
Date: 20 Sep 03 - 11:54 PM

I was in ELEMENTARY school 15 years ago; I didn't leave school altogether that long ago. I just can't tell if American children still do these things because I'm not around them. I get the feeling they don't, but maybe I'm just and old and cranky twentysomething who thinks the current generation is too media-saturated and brainwashed ;).

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Allan C.
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 12:02 AM

I remember these also. In my early years in school (mostly in Virginia) it was something often seen done the playground. For reasons unknown, it was an activity done almost exclusively by girls. While there were some rhymes that were accompanied by simple clapping, there were many others that involved two girls, standing face-to-face, palms forward, clapping and slapping each other's hands alternately in a patterned rhythm. The rhymes were substantially similar to those used for jump rope. The fun of it mostly stemmed from repeating the rhyme and clapping pattern faster and faster.

I am sure both of my daughters learned to do this in the lower grades of their schools; but they are 19 and 24 now. I don't know if it is still being done.

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 12:34 AM

Allan - Bratling will teach you a couple next time you are over. She does some with me but I could never hope to reach the speeds that she and her friend Nerissa get to.

The rhymes are more or less the same, but I think they learn the rude ones younger these days.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Ely
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 12:38 AM

We did the jump-rope rhymes too--double-dutch was THE thing, but I was taller than everyone else and they always whacked me in the head with the ropes, so I always had to be a rope-turner rather than a jumper. I know there are some books of jump-rope rhymes out there and I keep meaning to get ahold of one as a sort of folklore research project (they probably don't contain the "rude" ditties, though).

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: MBSLynne
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 06:07 AM

My daughter, who is eight, is still doing clapping rhymes, though the ones she does are different from the ones I did in the 50s and 60s. (These, by the way, are in England). The one she seems to do mostly is:
I went to a Chinese restaurant
To buy me a loaf of bread, bread, bread.
He wrapped it up in a five pound note
And this is what he said, said, said:

My name is
Elvis Presley,
Girls are sexy
Sitting in the back seat
Drinking pepsi.

Where's your father?
Died in a fishtank..Last night
What did he die of?..Raw fish.
How did he die..Like this.

On the "Like this" they pull a strange face as of somebody dead. She says there are various versions of the rhyme. We used to do the first bit, but not the bit beginning with "Elvis Presley"

There's a really interesting social study to be done about those sort of rhymes and their origins. Peter and Iona Opie published some really interesting books on the subject of childrens' games and rhymes etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 07:10 AM

I don't think boys ever did those, at least not in living memory. The nearest thing would have been counting out rhymes.

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: mack/misophist
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 11:24 AM

I've lived most of my life in the inner city and I think there must be 40 - 50 little girls living within, say, 6 blocks of my house. I have NEVER seen any of them playing those old games. The closest they ever came to it - not very - was in the 60's and 70's when they formed groups and hung out practicing close harmony.

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: C-flat
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 11:46 AM

My six year old does the one, already mentioned, about going to the chinese restaurant for a loaf of bread, but it includes a verse of
"Cinderella, Rockerfella, go upstairs and kiss your fella"
Fortunately my ears aren't quick enough to catch the rest of it!

Another I hear regularly is,
A sailor went to sea, sea, sea,
to see what he could see, see, see,
but all that he could see, see, see,
was the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea.

Is it any wonder us boys preferred conkers and chinese burns?

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 11:51 AM

In my area (central VA) I find that the all-caucasian girls don't, the ones with some African ancestry do, and all boys don't. Or no boys do. But I teach my sons as many as I knew (Miss Mary Mack, Miss Lucy had a baby [clean version], etc.), and WE do them, but they don't do those in public. I don't know why it seems to be a "black" thing here, but it does.

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 12:05 PM

"Caucasians"? I thought that term had been dumped along with "Ethiopian"

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Willa
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 03:54 PM

LTS- good to 'see' you again. Primary school girls in the UK do still do these. My niece who is 9 does the one LBS gives, and others I can't remember. In my local area there has been an initiative to teach lunch-time supervisors some of the old playground games, including the skipping games, and get them to pass them on to the children. Most local primary school playgrounds are now marked out for hopscotch and other games.When I was working recently at a centre attached to a primary school it was a treat to watch the children enjoying the games their grannies played as children.

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: LilyFestre
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 04:14 PM

I have an 11-year old that LOVES to play clapping games! One of her favorites goes as follows:

Shame shame shame
I don't wanna go to Mexico
No more more more
There's a big fat policeman
At the door door door
If you grab him by the collar
Boy he's gonna holler

I don't wanna go to Mexico
No more more more!!!!


Here's another.....

Cross down when Mary was one
She learned to suck her thumb
Thumb de-odle, thumb de-odle
Half past one.

Cross down when Mary was two
She learned to tie her shoe
Shoe de-odle, shoe do-odle
Half past two.

Cross down when Mary was three
She learned to climb a tree
Tree de-odle, tree de-odle
Half past three

Cross down when Mary was four
She learned to shut the door
Door de-odle, door de-odle
Half past four

It goes from there.......and yet another.......

Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider
Girls go to college to get more knowledge

Boys go to Venus to get a big penis (*CRINGE* yep....she sings it....)
Girls drink Pepsi to get more sexy!

Michelle =^..^=

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Allan C.
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 04:29 PM

I did a bit of searching and found a few good resources for clapping rhymes and such. Try these:

The Grade School Anthropolgist

Jump Rope Rhymes

An especially good site I found is called, Heard it in the playground which contains a wide variety of things of this sort. Besides a small collection of clapping games displayed there, you can even hear "Miss Mary Mack" on this page from that site:
Clapping games (Netscape version)
or here:
Clapping games (Explorer version)

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Allan C.
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 04:35 PM

Sorry, for some reason those last two links don't seem to go to the specific pages. However, all you need do is to click on GAMES and then on CLAPPING GAMES.

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Tig
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 04:47 PM

It seems to be a seasonal thing - a bit like conkers. I teach primary as a supply (relief) teacher and come across GIRLS playing it every so often. The boys don't seem to.

When I was at college 30 years ago I did my drama special study on playgroung games and I occasionally get the children to do some written work on the current ones. I've found that the skipping and clapping rhymes that are done have change over the years to reflect the current morals/situations,eg they no longer turn their back on the washing machine now they show their knickers to the football teams!! but that basically they are the same as I learnt.

However I can't keep up with the speed they do them now - I'm putting it down to old age :-)!

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: running.hare
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 05:09 PM

I've also known boys enjoy clapping games.... In the privacy of their own homes, but they are basicly considered Girly ocupations.
My Guides (11-14) Love Skipping on a long rope in the hall, but proberbly woudn't take a rope in to school for fear of looking uncool, not to mention the weight of the thing!
A favorate in my early years of midde school was 'eastics' the elastic when not in use fitted in a pocket but involved 3+ girls in the game. our usualryme for this was "England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Inside, outside, inside out. Twisties, [and then whichever position she (or one of her companions) nominated to land on]" The chalenge was then to jump out of the twisted elastic & land in the possition you had nominated, either inside the elastyics, outside the elastics, stradling the elastics, or even right on top of both elastics!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,marthabees
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 05:17 PM

Yep, they still do them. Elementary music teachers using the Orff approach constantly monitor the playground for these and use them in the classroom because they are authentic children folk music. I've heard all the ones mentioned so far here in Florida, except for the anatomical references, but I BET a few of the kids know them.

And yes, it seems to be more a girl thing than a boy thing.

Martha in Florida

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Catherine Jayne
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 05:18 PM

We used to play the elactics games and clapping games and skipping games. One of the rhymes began:

Raspberry, Strawberry, Gooseberry Jam
Tell me the name of your young man....

Sad to say I can't remember the rest of it. I do remember the rhymes mentioned above....and I still play the clapping games with bratling....although she is fast .....I must have slowed down with age!!!

Khatt

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 05:59 PM

Noone has mentioned the relationship between clapping and chanting games and rap and its ancestors.

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Allan C.
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 07:05 PM

Strangely, Patty Cake hasn't been mentioned either.

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 07:14 PM

Which can be combined with mayhem, as in the Crosby/Hope/Lamarr Road movies...

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Joybell
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 07:24 PM

Here in a country town in Australia I've been teaching elderly people old traditional singing-dances,including the clapping games - American Play-party and also other singing dances/games. Because they are self-paced - no taped music used - they are perfect as therapy and as just plain fun. They are remembered from the past by even people with dementia. From the outset I reminded my dancers that these traditions were once taught and passed on by the older members of the community and that it was only now that they were considered children's games only. Anyway the result was that now my original dancers are visiting other groups of elderly people and schools in the area - passing on the tradition to both younger and older people. Of course they also taught me the old games from their childhood. Bit of a diversion, I guess but I'm so proud of them I can't help myself.

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 07:49 PM

Disappeared here in western Canada.

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,alison
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 07:59 PM

we used to call the game with the elastics bands "german jumps" - no idea why


slainte

alison

Subject: RE: BS: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Bev and Jerry
Date: 21 Sep 03 - 11:15 PM

We present folk music programs in schools, mostly elementary schools. We were learning a new story in which we had to do the clapping game "Miss Mary Mack" but neither of us knew it. So, we just asked a girl at the next elementary school and she was happy to teach us. In California, at least, girls still play clapping games but not boys.

Bev and Jerry

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 12:59 AM

Hey, be sure to take a look at Stan Kulikowski's Jumprope Hypertext Archives.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 01:57 AM

Around here, the game you describe as "elastics" was called chinese jumprope, and most of the guys that I grew up with played it in some form or another, whether that was because thats were the girls were, or as we said helped us with our foot work for football (american) or basketball I'm not really sure.

Chip2447

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: DMcG
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 02:55 AM

If you can get hold of "The Singing Game" by Peter and Iona Opie (ISBN 0-19-284019-3) there is an account of these clapping games. They write at one point "Boys sometimes clap fiercely in pairs, to keep warm, or 'to drive the other chap back' and this they call 'Hand Drive'. Girls clap hands to rhymes, which time the hand-beats, and their aim is to go on as long as possible without making a mistake. This kind of clapping has been going on for more than 150 years." These sentences are based on observations in around 1975. Elsewhere in the book there is the comment "the games are now under the haphazard guardianship of girls of about seven to nine." Based on when my daughter played these (she is now seventeen), that 7-to-9 range is still more or less right.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 08:09 AM

When I was working with special needs kids at my school (about three years ago) we ran a "lunchtime club" where they could sit and chat and play improving games (I'm laughing so hard!) What actually happened was they played hangman on the blackbord and did a lot of clapping rhymes.
Most I remember from when I was young, including Hi-Lo-chicca-Lo
and Eeny Meeny Testa Meeny.
I used to know all the claps too!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: Dani
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 08:09 AM

Hot off the presses from 9-yr-old daughter, provenance unknown: "Um, just from my friends and all". Haphazard guardianship indeed!

Dani




Miss Sue
Miss Sue

Miss Sue from Alabama

Her name was Suzianna

Sitting in a rocker

eating Betty Crocker

Watching the clock go

Tick Tock

Tick all around go

Tick Tock

Tick all around

A-B-C-D-E-F-G

Gotta wash that stain right out of me

Gotta Boom-shot

Gotta Boom-shot

Gotta crick in my side

Gotta crick in my side

Salt and pepper said "DO NOT MOVE"

(alternate ending)
Salt and pepper said" DO NOT MOVE,

FIRST ONE TO MOVE IS A BLACK-EYED-PEA
SECOND ONE TO MOVE IS A BEAUTY QUEEN

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kid still do clapping rhymes?
From: muppett
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 10:27 AM

They certainly do, I got together a whole collection of them from a number of schools across the Bradford district along with numerous dipping rhymes (the rhymes used when deciding who's going to be 'it' when playing tig), let me know and I can pass some of them to you

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,bbc at work
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 11:07 AM

I work at a grade 3-5 school in rural New York. I sometimes see the girls doing clapping games, just as we did when I was a child.

best,

bbc

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: M.Ted
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 01:43 PM

When I was a kid, as with Chip2447, both boys and girls played chinese jump-rope, as well as clapping games and jump-rope with rhymes. We did not do and couldn't have even imagined double-dutch, though a fair portion of our playmates were from families who considered themselves to be Dutch--

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,sharyn
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 01:43 PM

I work with kids everyday. Kids of both genders do them. I still hear "Miss Lucy," but the favorite this summer seemed to be:

Lemonade (clap, clap, clap)
Crunchy ice (clap, clap, clap)
Beat it once (clap, clap, clap)
Beat it twice (clap, clap, clap)
Lemonade, crunchy ice,
Beat it once, beat it twice,
Lemonade, crunchy ice,
Beat it once, beat it twice (gets faster and faster and continues until someone misses a clap)

Boys really like this one.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 01:59 PM

When I was in elementary school in County Durham (waaaaaay more than 15 years ago), boys under 7 shared a segregated schoolyard with girls of all ages. All the lads in the Girl's Yard were obliged to twirl rope for them and sing the skipping songs.

On a mountain stands a lady,
Who she is I do not know.
All she wants is gold and silver
All she wants is a nice young man ...

After age 7 you went into the Boy's Yard where you were taught the essentials of British Bulldog and similarly rough games. Talk about culture shock! ;o)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: running.hare
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 04:13 PM

In the unsegregated playground of the early 90's we all played British bull dog *grin*

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Joybell
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 08:19 PM

We played a game called "Puss in the Corner" in Australia in the 1950s. It involved standing on the bench that went around three sides of the shelter-shed (wet-weather area) Someone -"It" stood in the middle and called "Puss Puss" and you had to try to reach the other side without getting caught by "It" There were rules about running straight across or running diagonally. Funny thing is that my American husband talks uses the term "Catty-corner" for diagonal crossovers - across the road etc. Is there a connection?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: tuggy mac
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 08:32 PM

Sounds like the birth of RAP.HO nOOOOOOOOOO!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,dave ruch (on different computer)
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 08:36 PM

bbc,

I wonder what school district in rural ny state you are in? I work doing music programs in schools across 2/3 of NYS, excluding the Hudson Valley down to NYC.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: LadyJean
Date: 22 Sep 03 - 11:28 PM

Two African American girls behind me on the 86B bus were happily chanting:
Oh My! Don't Cry! Mommy's having a baby!
Daddy's going crazy!
If it's a boy I'll give it a toy!
And if it's a girl! I'll give it a curl!
wrap it up in toilet paper! send it down the escalator.
It was accompanied with clapping and gestures. There was also some discussion of wrapping babies in toilet paper, the conclusion being that this would not be a good idea.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Allan C.
Date: 23 Sep 03 - 12:06 PM

It seems to me a link to this thread about The Goose Drank Wine might be appropriate here. I saw girls clapping to this rhyme a few years ago.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Ely
Date: 23 Sep 03 - 12:46 PM

I know of Puss in the Corner but I don't think I ever played it (we played a lot of Red Rover, though, and were very serious about it--it's a wonder we didn't dislocate some shoulders). I also played Fox and Geese a few times in the snow at Meeting but I don't really recall the rules.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: running.hare
Date: 24 Sep 03 - 01:28 PM

LadyJean I love youe example.   How old ish would you say these girls were?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Joybell
Date: 24 Sep 03 - 07:03 PM

Ely - In America? We played "Puss in the Corner" here in Australia but my husband is American - raised in Iowa - and he doesn't remember it although "Catty-corner" is his term.   Where were you brought up?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,chip2447
Date: 25 Sep 03 - 12:43 AM

According to my sister, the teacher, seven, eight and nine year old girls still play it Quite regularly. She says the words are different, but the rhythm is still there.

Chip2447

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Tianna
Date: 30 Dec 05 - 11:42 AM

Yes we do here is one:


Shame, Shame Shame
Alla bostia
i cant come out today
because of yesterday
these boys were in my way
they gave ne 50 cents
to lay down on a bench
they said it woudnt hurt
they stuck it up my skirt
My daddy was surprised to see my belly rise
My moma was disgusted
My brother hated me
My sister came to the hospial to see my baby boy being born
Shame

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Angie
Date: 31 Jul 06 - 11:00 PM

My daughter does them just as I did when I was in grade school. However, the naughtiest I've ever heard was:

Apples on a stick
Make me sick
Make my tummy go two forty six
Not because I'm dirty
Not because I'm clean
Just because I kissed a boy behind a magazine
Hey girls wanna have some fun?
Here comes Johnny with his pants undone
He can wiggle
He can wobble
He can do the splits
But I betcha five bucks he can't do this
Close your eyes and count to ten
If you mess up start all over again
One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten
Big fat hen!

(During the counting, the clappers close their eyes continuing to clap. If they mess up they start back at one. If they make it to 10 they open their eyes and yell "big fat hen!")

I can't believe how little innocence is left among our children. Especially with a chant like "Shame". It's sad really.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Scoville
Date: 31 Jul 06 - 11:03 PM

Joybell--Colorado and Texas, mainly (sorry, name change, but I'm the same person).

Like I said, though, I've only heard of it but never played it, so I could easily have read about it somewhere and not have any first-hand references.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Red and White Rabbit
Date: 01 Aug 06 - 03:20 AM

My daughter goes to a village school and the girls do clapping rhymes mostly even though there are only 60 of them in the school. They did a project last term on playground games and my daughter was amazed that I knew so many handclapping and skipping rope songs that she had learnt ( I cant decide if it was that I knew them or that I must be really old to know them!)

She loves hand clapping to

5 little angels all dressed in white

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Joe Moran
Date: 01 Aug 06 - 04:41 AM

I'm a retired primary school teacher ( north-west England ), and about 10 years ago I became interested in clapping songs and I video taped some girls performing a number of them. From my experience, the fad for clapping songs seemed to come and go.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Scoville
Date: 01 Aug 06 - 08:45 AM

IT was a big deal in my elementary school 20 years ago. The "Miss Suzy" rhyme was the favorite (probably because of the thinly-disguised swear words), but the younger kids did "Miss Mary Mack". Clapping pattern was:

right hands
together
left hands
together
both hands
together
hands on thighs
together

And we'd try to see how fast we could go without messing up.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Clownfish
Date: 01 Aug 06 - 11:06 PM

A bit more history. In my school in Sydney, we did a skipping rhyme: Apple tart, Apple tart, Tell me the name of your sweetheart, A B C D E etc The letter on which you missed the rope was the first letter of your "boyfriend's" name.
The Museum of Childhood in Edinburgh has a black and white film called "The Singing Street" that has some wonderful old singing and rhyming games.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,TIA
Date: 01 Aug 06 - 11:58 PM

My nieces and nephew in Mozambique know the most amazing, complicated, polyrythmic clapping chants I have ever seen. They clap themselves, each other, feet, hands, chests, other body parts...Incredible. They tried to teach my kids, and it just isn't in them in the same way.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Aug 06 - 12:04 AM

Many-but by no means all-contemporary [post-1960s to pick an arbitrary date]African American girls' rhymes, celebrate the twin virtues of toughness [meaning "in-your-face attitude"] and sexiness.

It's my view that this ghetto tough & sexy flava that permeates many Black American children's rhymes [including handclap rhymes] is greatly influencing rhymes that are recited and performed by children of other races and ethnicities and nationalities.

Here's an example of a tough & sexy attitude children's rhyme from African American girls {ages 5-12 years Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, mid 1980s*

HULA HULA
Group                Hula Hula, who think they bad.
Soloist #1        I do.
Group                 Hula Hula, who think they bad.
Soloist #1         I do.
Group                 Ool! You think you bad. {She thinks she bad.}
Soloist #1        Correction, Baby, I know I'm bad.
Group        Ool!         You think you smart.
Soloist #1        Smart enough to break your heart.
Group                Ool, you think you tuff?
Soloist#1        Tuff enough to strut my stuff.
                Cause when I twist
                like this.{Soloist does a hip shaking dance}
                the boys cannot resist.
                And when I turn
                I burn
                and break down like a worm.
{Soloist briefly performs a hip shaking movement or does some other "sexy" dance step}

{Repeat the entire chant with the next soloist until everyone has had one turn as soloist.}

Actually, this example is not a handclap rhyme-at least not the traditional form of handclap rhymes. "Hula Hulaas onc as hai, but a foot stomping cheer. Foot stomping cheers are synchronized, syncopated routines that [usually] girls perform while chanting in a modified response & call pattern while producing bass sounding foot stomps, hand claps [clapping [their own] hands, and, sometimes, slapping their bodies in pattin juba like ways.

*I have found this cheer in Texas, Georgia, and New York in the 1989s. This cheer does not appear to be known among that age group of African American girls in Pittsburgh area in the early 2000s.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Aug 06 - 12:34 AM

'Brickwall Waterfall" appears to be the most widely known handclap rhyme nowadays, judging by how often versions of it are posted on the Internet. This rhyme is so widely known because it was featured in the 2003 American movie "Dickie Roberts, Former Child Star."

As a result of its inclusion in that movie, and because its in-your face attitude typifies popular street culture, the popularity of "Brickwall Waterfall" seems to have crossed racial, ethnic, and nationality lines. However, like other handclap rhymes, the rhyme appears to be 'performed' by far more girls than boys.

Both http://blog.oftheoctopuses.com/000518.php/, and http://www.cocojams.com/index.htm -have multiple versions of this rhyme. The girl who submitted one of these versions to the Cocojams website identified herself as being from England. Another girl who submitted a version of this rhyme identified herself as being from the USA but now living in Japan.

Here are three examples of this handclap rhyme:

1, 2, 3 HIT IT! {Brickwall Waterfall}
1, 2, 3,
HIT IT!
that's the way
uh huh uh huh
i like it
uh huh uh huh
that's the way
uh huh uh huh
i like it
uh huh uh huh
peace. punch
captain crunch.
brick wall. waterfall.
girl you think you know it all?
you don't! i do!
so poof with the attitude.
loser loser with a twist
elbow elbow wrist wrist.
wipe a tear. blow a kiss.
kiss this.
hunnie u aint got none of this.
http://blog.oftheoctopuses.com/000518.php/;posted by k to the c on June 20, 2006
{reposted with permission from that blogs' members}

-snip-

BRICKWALL WATERFALL
brick wall water fall girl u think u know it all u dont i do so poof with your attitude poof poof.. elbow elbow wrist wrist u can kiss this (point at butt) elbow elbow wrist wrist u can lick this (point at u-know wat) elbow elbow wrist wrist u mess with me u mess with me elbow elbow wrist wrist shut up girl u just got dissed.
-Esoterica; 6/1/2006; http://www.cocojams.com/taunting_rhymes.htm

-snip-

A-B-C HIT IT!
it's called A-B-C Hit It! {and/ or Brickwall Waterfall}. It goes:
A-B-C Hit It! That's the way Uh-Uhh I like it Uh-Uhh.
That's the way Uh-Uhh I like it Uh-Uhh. Brickwall Waterfall
Girl you think you know it all. You don't. I do. So Poof with the Attitude. Peace Punch Captain Crunch. I got something you can't touch.
Bang Bang Cho Cho Train. Wind me up I'll do my thing.
Yummy Yummy 7Up Mess with me I'll beat you up. Wait, Come back.
I think you need a Tic Tac. Not 1 Not 2 But the whole six-pack. I'm not trying to be mean but you need some Listerine. Not a sip not a swallow. But the whole dang bottle.

{PS. To the owner of this website usually the Brickwall rhymes are games you play with your hands. Thanks!!!}
-lauren; S.A T.X ro ; 5/7/2006; http://www.cocojams.com/taunting_rhymes.htm

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 02 Aug 06 - 12:37 AM

Correction:

Since I messed up that sentence, let me take this opportunity to change the way I wrote it:

"Hula Hula" is a foot stomping cheer, and not a handclap rhyme.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: RowanCountyKY
Date: 02 Aug 06 - 01:07 AM

The other day my wife and I saw a mother --a fairly young one-- playing a clapping rhyme game with her daughter. The little girl was eight or nine and both of them were having a great time.

So it ain't dead yet.

Bob
Rowan County KY

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,mcr
Date: 07 Aug 06 - 04:42 PM

i work with 1st graders the whole summer long and they love them!

Miss Mary Mack is very popular

Miss Mary Sue is a new one for me

miss mary sue sue sue
all dressed in blue blue blue
with silver buttons buttons buttons
all down her shoe shoe shoe
she asked her mom mom mom
for 50 cents cents cents
to see the boys boys boys
zip up their flies flies flies

Quack Diddily Oso is also a favorite
there are many versions to it

quack diddily oso quack quack quack
from sandiego ego ego ego
delore delore
they spilled it on the floor-a
1-2-3-4
*better with lots of people person who's hand gets slapped on 4 is out of the game

They don't know that many but i know some more as well

I Went To A Chinese Restuarant

i went to a chinese restuarant
to buy a loaf of bread bread bread
the waiter asked me whats my name and this is what i said said said
myy name is ching ching charlie
Pompom cutie
punch ya in the belly
oops i'm sorry
chinese japanese look at these dirty knees
POW!

Miss Susie Had A steamboat

miss susie had a steamboat
the steamboat had a bell ding-ding!
miss susie went to heaven and the steamboat went to
Hello operator please give me # 9
and if you disconnect me i will chop off your
Behind the refrigerator there was a piece of glass
Miss susie sat upon it and it went straight up her
Ask me no more ?s
please tell me no more lies
the boys are in the bathroom zipping up their
Flies are in the meadow
bees are in their hives
my sister has a boyfriend
and they're kissing in the D-A-R-K D-A-R-K DARK DARK DARK DARK DARK
dark is like the movies
a movies like a show
a show is like a broadway show and that is all i know!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 07 Aug 06 - 05:55 PM

Hello,

Thanks for posting those examples. As a means of providing some folklorical documentation of where these rhymes are recited, it would be great if you would share what city/state you live in {and country since this is an international discussion forum}. It would also be great if you would share what activity is done with the recitation of "Chinese Restaurant" and "Miss Susie...Steamboat". It seems that they are usually done with partner handclap routines. Is this how they are done where you live?

I've seen similar versions of "I Went To A Chinese Restaurant" performed as handclap rhymes [in Pittsburgh, PA area and in Philadelphia,PA}. In the middle of the rhyme and at the end, the two girls [since this usually is a girl activity] attempt to slap or pinch the other partner. I'm curious is this what happens on the words "punch ya in the belly: or "oops i'm sorry" or "POW!".

I have heard "Quack Diddily Oso" recited in Pittsburgh, PA.
That rhyme is very similar to two other rhymes that I have collected from African American children [girls and boys] in Pittsburgh, PA: "Strola Ola Ola" and "Slap Billy Ola." These rhymes and their close cousin "Stella Ella Ola" are performed the same way that you described for Quack Diddlily Ola. I would add that the number need not be "4", but is whatever the group decided before the game began... Also, when there are only two people left, these two stand facing each other as is done with partner handclap rhymes. The person whose hand is not hit at the end or this recitation, is the "winner".

Btw, it's great to play these lightly competitive game with mixed ages of kids, teens, and adults. I've found that boys under 10 years usually like playing these competition clapping games, but refrain from playing the non-competitive partner {or three or four person} handclap rhymes.

See this archived Mudcat thread for examples of Kids chant Stella Ola Ola / Stella Ella Ola

Actually, that title is listed below the title of this thread, along with other threads of children's rhymes.

Enjoy!!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Artful Codger
Date: 07 Aug 06 - 06:10 PM

Yes, kids still do clapping rhymes, but they use the "clap" option on their cell phones and text each other.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Mar 07 - 03:21 AM

I can remember does these back in grade school (Washington State). Which of course was only seven years ago. I knew Miss Sue, I went to a chinese restaurant, conccentration, and miss suzie had a steam boat (lots of endings with this one). And Quack Diddilly Oso was a common recess game. Hey did anyone do the counting rhymes? Eg.
Ink a bink a bottle of ink
cork fell out and you stink
not because your dirty
not because your clean
just because you kissed a (girl/boy) behind a magizine.

or

Inky binky bonky
daddy had a donkey
donkey died
daddy cried
inky binky bonky

or

sunk in the barn yard pi-you (sp?)
who did it come from
not you.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 31 Mar 07 - 10:26 AM

Artful Codger, "kids" to me means children ages 5-12 years. Where I come from, most children who are that age don't have cell phones.

I've observed girls within that age group performing partner, three person, 4 person and group handclaps. It seems that the boys stop doing handclaps around 8 years of age unless its the competitive type handclapping rhymes like Stella Ola Ola [see link above]. Othr than these type of handclaps, boys consider this activity as something girls do.

GUEST 31 Mar 07 - 03:21 AM, here's how I heard a 7 year old African American boy chant the last rhyme you posted
{Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 2004}

Skunk in the barn yard
Pee yew (sp?)
Who did it come from?
from you.

-snip-

I've also heard the first line recited as "stunk in the barnyard" from the same population age group.

In 2004 my daughter taught 2nd grade. Her student's assignment was to recite a counting out rhyme. The "skunk in the barnyard rhyme" works as a counting out rhyme in that the last line can be given as Y-O-U [with the reciter pointing to a person on each letter].
Used in this way, "Stunk in the barnyard" isn't really a handclap rhyme.

Needless to say, some students in that classroom recited other types of children's rhymes besides counting out rhymes.

And no, I didn't suggest this, but-needless to say- I definitely took advantage of that opportunity to collect more children's rhymes.

:o)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Mo the caller
Date: 31 Mar 07 - 11:50 AM

I heard the donkey rhyme in 1953ish as
Inky pinky ponky
Daddy bought a donkey
Donkey died
Mummy cried
Inky Pinky Ponky

Not a handclap, just something someone recired once.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 31 Mar 07 - 04:39 PM

I had never heard of Chinese Jump-Rope until reading this thread so I went and looked it up on wikipedia. How is it that I missed this growing up, I wonder?

Chinese Jump Rope Article

Hand-Clap games were a big part of my childhood. My favorite was an elaborate one set to "Oh Playmate" and we did one to "I'll tell my Ma" which is actually a skip-rope song.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Mo the caller
Date: 01 Apr 07 - 02:48 AM

When did you grow up? It came to England in the late 50s,my sister did it at primary school but I missed it. Somewhere in one of these threads there's a quote from the Opies that confirms this.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Flash Company
Date: 01 Apr 07 - 10:35 AM

Went to visit our Family grave back in the area where I grew up in Mid Cheshire recently. The church, graveyard and church school are in close proximity.
The kids in the playground were singing.....

The farmer's in the dell, the farmer's in the dell,
Ee aye addio the farmer's in the dell....

I thought, 'Oh God, Mum will be getting up to join in!'

Brian Q

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 01 Apr 07 - 09:59 PM

Mo the Caller - I was born march 1964 in New York City. Clearly I missed the Chinese Jump Rope craze. I did know about Conkers, however, something more common in the UK. We used Black Walnuts we gathered from a local golf course. These were horribly messy when fresh and stained your hands. You'd have to find an old one or let a freshly fallen one dry out before use as a conker. If you came up against someone with a fresh one though - you'd beat them but ruin your clothing.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Mo the caller
Date: 02 Apr 07 - 09:36 AM

By the time my children were at school it was 'elastics' and waas played using knicker elastic, my sister knew it as 'American skipping', and scrounged rubber bands to link together. Someone said that there is special stuff sold now (affluence ehh)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,ib48
Date: 03 Apr 07 - 08:49 AM

In between taking drugs and happy slapping,yes,i think they do

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Apr 07 - 05:40 PM

yeah i happen to be a school girl and we love to do clapping games and rhymes one of my favorites goes like this                                                                                        DOWN BY THE BANKS OF HANKY PANKY WHERE THE BULLFROGS JUMP FROM BANK TO BANKY WITH A HIP HOP SHIMY SHIMY POP THE BANK WAS TO FAR AND THEY WENT KERPLOP                                  DIRECTIONS:YOU SIT IN A CIRCLE AND CLAP YOUR ONE HAND THEN TAKE THAT HAND AND CLAP THE PERSON SITTING NEXT TO YOU UNTIL THE END THEN THAT PERSON IS OUT.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Elmo
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 10:57 PM

Hi. My name is Joey Slavinska

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Down Down baby
Date: 30 May 07 - 03:48 PM

I learned Version of Down Down Baby in virginia in the 90's


Down down baby, down by the rollercoaster
Sweet sweet baby, mama never let you go
Shimmy shimmy coca pop, shimmy shimmy pow!

I like coffee, I like tea,
I like a color boy and he likes me
So step back white boy, you don't shine
I'll get the color boy to beat yo' behind

Let get the rhythm of the hands (clap, clap)
We've got the rhythm of the hands (clap, clap)

Let's get the rhythm of the feet (stomp,stomp)
We've got the rhythm of the feet (stomp, stomp

Lets get the rhythm of the head DING-DONG
(move head side to side)
We've got the rhythm of the head DING-DONG (move head side to side)

Let's get the rhythm of the HOT-DOG
(move body around)
We've got the of the HOT-DOG
(move body around)

Put all together and and what do you get....

clap, clap, stomp, stomp, ding-dong, hot-dog

Say them all backwards and what do you get....

hot-dog, ding-dong, stomp, stomp, clap, clap!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,me and my friends love this one
Date: 05 Jun 07 - 08:20 PM

my name is high low peccalow,
peccalow,high low high low
peccalow peccalow yo
thats my name don't ware it out..
high low peccalow peccalow Yo

(try to tap the other person on the forehead before they tap you)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Kim C
Date: 06 Jun 07 - 05:40 PM

The Games Black Girls Play

Had to read this in my folklore class last semester.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,The Hotties from Europe
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 02:48 AM

Duh silly we still do hand clappys, it makes us happy!!!!! Love ya`ll !

Lemonade ( clap clap clap )
Crunchy ice ( clap clap clap )
Beat it once ( clap clap clap )
Beat it twice ( clap clap clap )
Lemonade, crunchy ice
Beat it once, beat it twice
Lemonade, crunchy ice
Beat it once, beat it twice
Turn around ( literally )
Touch the ground ( literally )
Give that partner a high five ( literally )
We made 20 dollars at a lemonade stand
Just exactly as we planned
Now how should I should I spend the money with my friends
How bout the candy store
But daddy say don't spend it on that
Cause mommy say that will give you cavities and make you fat
Take it Back
Take it Back
The way you say that, gave me a slap
Right in the back
Slap Slap

Nick Nack
slap slap
aimed exactly too my back

candy bars ( clap clap clap)
lollypops (clap clap clap)
eat it once ( clap clap clap)
eat it twice ( clap clap clap)
Candy bars, jelly beans
now looky there our teeth turned green
now looky there my butt dont fit in my brand new jeans!

Slap Slap
Now I am fat
Mommy aint to happy, thats a fact!

From the Hot Hottie's from Europe
Love Ya`ll ! KISSY WISSY! Like Totally! DUH!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Weirdo`s From the Mental Institution
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 03:13 AM

Now you are wondering why you should listen 2 the weirdo`s from the Mental Institution, well you shouldnt, but listen anyway!

Miss Suzie lie on fluffy old cloud far from the happy cloud 9
Sip`n some tea dream`in a jolly ol` dream
Wish`n she again, could become free
high heavens arent as fine as the house in Florida with the peachy pink door
So she is think`n bout her life before

When Miss Suzie was a baby she went like this...
wa wa
When Miss Suzie was a toddler she went like this...
wa wa, suck my thumb
When Miss Suzie was a child she went like this...
wa wa, suck my thumb, give me a piece of bubble gum
When Miss Suzie was a teenager she went like this...
wa wa , suck my thumb, give me a piece of bubble gum, I left my bra in my boyfriends car
When Miss Suzie was a adult she went like this...
wa wa, suck my thumb, give me a piece of bubble gum, I left my bra in my boyfriends car, eat your peas and dont forget it
When Miss Suzie was a grandma she went like this...
wa wa, suck my thumb, give me a piece of bubble gum, I left my bra in my boyfriends car, eat your peas and dont forget it, get off of my lawn
When Miss Suzie was an angel she went like this...
wa wa, suck my thumb, give me a piece of bubble gum, I left my bra in my boyfriends car, eat your peas and dont forget it, get off my lawn, flutter like a bird
When Miss Suzie was a devil she went like this...
wa wa, suck my thumb, give me a piece of bubble gum, I left my bra in my boyfriends car, eat your peas and dont forget it, get off my lawn, flutter like a bird, I`m gonna kill you ( literally)


From your good good friends, the weirdo's from the MENTAL INSTITION!!!! Gonna Kill you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 08:08 PM

Steven Spielberg used a clapping rhyme in the shocking opening of The Color Purple, when two little girls are playing a clapping game in a cornfield, then one comes out from behind the corn and you see that she's heavily pregnant.

I well remember the gasp of horrified sorrow that came from the Dublin audience the first time I saw that film.

There's a brilliant book - probably long out of print - called All In, All In, which had a bunch of the rhymes used in Ireland. (The name comes from the Irish equivalent of Ally-Ally-Oxenfree, which was a chant of "All in, all in, the game's broke up".)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,tracyjoy
Date: 03 Oct 07 - 11:07 PM

A-B-C HIT IT!
it's called A-B-C Hit It! {and/ or Brickwall Waterfall}. It goes:
A-B-C Hit It! That's the way Uh-Uhh I like it Uh-Uhh.
That's the way Uh-Uhh I like it Uh-Uhh. Brickwall Waterfall
Girl you think you know it all. You don't. I do. So Poof with the Attitude. Peace Punch Captain Crunch. I got something you can't touch.
Bang Bang Cho Cho Train. Wind me up I'll do my thing.
Yummy Yummy 7Up Mess with me I'll beat you up. Wait, Come back.
I think you need a Tic Tac. Not 1 Not 2 But the whole six-pack. I'm not trying to be mean but you need some Listerine. Not a sip not a swallow. But the whole dang bottle.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 08:57 AM

awwwww i loooved these clap games.. me and my fiance were laying in bed the other night trying to remember the rhymes to them.. we came up with a couple but couldn't figure out the whole things.. does anyone know the i went to a chinese restaurant rhyme. the version that has cheese on toast and u put it in the oven with a poke poke poke... all i have is "i went to a chinese restaurant to buy a loaf of bread bread bread the lady at the counter was standing on her head head head she asked me what my name was and this is what i said said said... my name is eli eli chikali chikali ooey gooey bok bok bok.... (missing a verse in here i think.)....cheese on toast and u put it in the oven with a poke poke poke.... there is more to it i just cant remember it... my other favourite was miss mary mack mack mack all dressed in black black black paid 50 cents cents cents to watch the elephant elephant elephant jump over the fence fence fence he jumped so high high high he reached the sky sky sky and didnt come back back back till teh fourth of july july july...

ahhhh fun times!!!!!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,AmyLuLu
Date: 28 Oct 07 - 11:07 AM

Miss Mary Mack

Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack
All dressed in black black black
with silver buttons buttons buttons
all down her back back back
she asked her mother mother mother
for 50 cents cents cents
to see the elephants elephants elephants
jump over the fence fence fence
they jumped so high high high
they touched the sky sky sky
they never came back back back
till the fourth of july ly ly

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Lex11
Date: 29 Oct 07 - 05:34 PM

lemonaid crushed ice
beat it once beat it twice
lemonde crushed ice beat it one beat it twice
turn around touch the ground break it down kick your boyfriend out
of town and freeze.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Amon
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 05:12 PM

We have a different version of "high low peccalow" here (Herts, England).
Instead of peccalow it reads:

My names is ....
High Low Jigga-low
Jigga-low high Low
High Low Jigga-low
Jigga-low high

You hold onto your friend's right hand with yours and your left hands make contact.
When the song says high, you clap above the joined hands, when the song says low you clap below and when the song says Jigga you clap on the joined hands.
The aim is to run through the song as fast as possible without mucking up the clapping.
We're 17 now, but we still sometimes play it if we've nothing better to.
Usually the most muck ups happen on the second line where it goes low high.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: The Doctor
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 05:58 PM

There was a news item on tv the other night, about schools initiated by parents, and the problems they face in England, contrasted with such a school in Sweden. In the film report of the Swedish school there were the girls, in the playground, playing a clapping game. Judging by the rhythm it was something similar to, but not the same as, Miss Mary Mack.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 25 Nov 07 - 09:30 PM

Guest Amon, thanks for posting that High Low Jigga-low
example.

It's a wonder how these rhymes show up throughout the world. Take for instance that jigga low rhyme. This is the first time I've read that version. Usually, I've seen Jigalow* performed not as a handclap rhyme but a foot stomping cheer or cheerleader cheer.

* or "gigalo" I don't think anybody knows what the correct spelling is, probably because there is no correct spelling.


Here's the words to that cheer that I usually hear among African American girls in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA:

GIGALO
All:
Gig ah lo-o
Gig a lo-o
Gig ah lo-o
Gig gig a lo-o
Group:
Hey, Kayla *
Kayla:
What?
Group:
Are you ready to gig?
Kayla:
Gig what?
Group:
Gigalo
Kayla:
My hands up high
My feet down low
And this is the way
I gig a lo
Group:
Her hands up high
Her feet down low
And this is the way she gigalos

* substitute the soloist's name or nickname

{repeat from the beginning with the next soloist, and continue until everyone in the group has a turn as soloist}

Girls stand in a horizontal line. While chanting, they step to a percussive, continual stomp clap/ stomp stomp/clap beat. When the girl who is the soloist responds "What?", she says it with attitude {like "Why are you bothering me to ask a question?"}. When she says "My hands up high my feet down low" She raises her hands and sashays down to the ground, in a sensual manner. When she says "This is the way I gigalo", she does a fancy step to the beat. The group then imitates her foot movement. The cheer then repeats again with the next soloist whose name is called and she does her soloist step.

Btw, recently, I've seen the soloist move to the front of the horizontal line when it's her turn to do her soloist {this does not mean moving in front of the other performers in the center of the line-but just moving in front of where she was standing}. When her soloist turn ends, she moves back to the line. Also btw, the girls don't stand in consecutive order 1 through 4 for instance. And the order of soloist {who is first, second, etc often depends on who calls out those numbers first at the beginning of this informal "play" activity}.

With handclap rhymes, performers {usually but not always girls as young as 5 years and usually no more than 12 years old} stand in place. The emphasis is on chanting while executing hand clap and hand slap partner routines. These routines can also be done with three people or four {two sets of two partners}. There are also larger group handclaps, but those are often lightly competitive while partner/three and four person handclaps aren't.

In contrast, foot stomping cheers are all about the creation of bass sounding percussive sounds made by the feet and also the hands and body patting. These synchronized, chreographed routines are performed by girls about the same age as those doing handclaps, but usually at the upper end of that age group. While foot stomping routines include handclapping, there are no partners-you clap your own hands and never touch the body of anyone else. The performers {like handclap routines, usually girls} basically stand in place or if they do move, they don't move far from their starting place, and they quickly return back to it.
These foot stomping routines are very much like the African American art of steppin.

Here's a link to other text examples of jigalo/gigalow:

Cocojams foot stomping cheers

And here are two links to YouTube videos on the performance of steppin that may help to convey what foot stomping cheers are like {since these two performance arts are very similar}.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DI6k7vd4Qs&NR

{This video shows a young girl demonstrating step moves; including individual handclapping and body patting. "Body patting" used to be called "pattin juba"}

**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDM_R529UQ4&mode=related&search=
{a high school or community step team}

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Dec 07 - 09:15 AM

Yes they do!!! theres one called domino pear and double double this this

domino pe-e-ar
domino saphire
domino saphire
domino pe-e-ear

double double this this
double double that that
double this
double that
double double this that

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,nanasallthat
Date: 11 Dec 07 - 12:08 AM

Miss Sue
Miss Sue
Miss Sue from Alabama

Someone is in your garden
Miss Sue
Miss Sue
Someone is in your garden
Miss Sue from Alabama

Show me what you can do
Miss Sue
Miss Sue
Show me what you can do
Miss sue from Alabama

Is this the way you do
Miss Sue
Miss Sue
Is this the way you do
Miss Sue from Alabama

Hey Hey
A doobie-do-wah
Your mama's broke
And your papa's broke
Turn to the east
Turn to the west
Turn to the very one you love the best
Milk in the pitcher
The butter's in the bowl
Can't catch a sweetheart
To save your soul


I think this is the way we sang this game in Northern Mississippi cira 1965.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 11 Dec 07 - 12:38 AM

GUEST,nanasallthat, thanks for posting that example of Miss Sue. Also, thanks for including demographical information. I'm curious to know how this game was played. Was it a handclap rhyme?

Also, was this game played by African Americans or {and?} White Americans?

And, I'm curious if this rhyme is still recited and played in your area.

Too bad you are a guest and I can't private message {pm} you to ask for more info.

I hope you will respond to these questions, and I hope that you and other guests who post to these threads {discussions} join Mudcat. It's easy to do- just click on membership in the top right hand corner and follow the instructions.

Best wishes,

Ms. Azizi

Btw, it too me a minute to decipher, but let me say I love your name. So you're a grandmother, and you're all that, heh?

Me too :o)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 11 Dec 07 - 12:39 AM

too=took

{But you probably figured that out, right?}

:o))

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Emma
Date: 13 Dec 07 - 01:40 PM

I remember these! I used to live in NY Long Island. I remember one vaguely...

My mother your mother ... 18 Street

had a fight and this is what they said all night

girls drink pepsi to get more sexy boys drink coke to learn how to smoke
girls go to college to get more knowledge boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider
girls eat candy to get more dandy boys....

I forgot the rest.... anyone help me out?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,GUEST: 2mj
Date: 18 Dec 07 - 09:17 PM

These clapping rhymes were so popular that big corporations got in on it . . .

Big Mac
Fillet o'Fish
Quarter Pounder
French Fries
Icy Coke
Thick Shake
Sundae, and
Apple Pie

Mc Donald's

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Goose Gander
Date: 18 Dec 07 - 09:46 PM

My wife is a teacher, and some of her students do rhyming chants while they jump rope. I have no idea where the rhymes come from, though.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: bet
Date: 19 Dec 07 - 03:17 PM

Yes they do still do them. I use them in my music classes. It helps teach rhythm and give the kids a chance to move around a bit.    bet

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Mar 08 - 04:35 PM

me and my friends were doing it on the bus and at my competition last night.
and i'm a junior in high school(16) and shes in eight grade (12)
but little kids in elementary school don't do them anymore.
i loved them when i was little though (:

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Guest Tori
Date: 11 Mar 08 - 10:31 AM

i am a teenage girl and i have a teenage sister and we still do clapping games when we get bored like on the bus or whan we have to wait in line fro something.....it usually causes ppl to watch us but its so much fun and we sometimes learn new ones from other girls...
=)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,GUEST
Date: 12 Mar 08 - 06:46 PM

i dont no if this will go in this subjest but its a chear that i no



J to the E to the T to the S
tets kickass from east to west
alll you do is shake your butts
chear 101 you stupid sluts

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Lint_Licker
Date: 13 Mar 08 - 04:59 PM

yup this is 1 i do a lot

Give me a break give me a break break me off a piece of that i neede a piece of that gotta have me some of that KIT KAT BAR!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 14 Mar 08 - 03:31 PM

100

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Boo- south east england
Date: 06 Jun 08 - 05:01 PM

Please someone help me! My sister phoned me to try and remember the rhyme we did as kids, and i cant remember the first lines! ive got the rest though, it goes like this...
.... Watching the clock go tick-tock tick-tock curly wirly,
tick-tock tick-tock curly wirly,
A-B-C-D-E-F-G,
wipe those cobwebs off your knees,
sunlight,
moonlight,
sunlight,
moonlight feast,
the girls in spain wash their knickers in champagne,
and the boys in france do a hula hula dance
and the dance they do is enough to tie a shoe,
and the shoe they tie is enough to ring a bell
and the bell they ring goes DING A LING A LING!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Aryana
Date: 19 Jun 08 - 11:20 PM

Yeah we still do, but some of the latest are,

Down by the banks of the hanky pank were the bullfrogs jump from bank to bank
Say hip hop soda pop
I pledge alegance to the flag
Micheal Jackson makes me gag
Pepsi Cola burns butt
Now we drinkin 7up
7up has no caffine
Now we drinkin Ovaltine
Ovaltine is out of style
Now we drinkin some thing wild
C-O-K-E COKE!

(its played like Stella Ella Oh La)

Stella Ella Oh La
Clap Clap Clap
Singing
Es chigga-chigga
Chigga Chigga
chat chat
Es chigga-chigga
Love Love
Love Love Love Love
5-4-3-2-1

Little Sally Walker
Walking down the street
She didn't know what to do so she stopped
in front of me
She said
Hey Girl Do Your Thing
Do Your Thing Do Your Thing
Hey Girl Do your thing and
Switch!

(this game is played, when the kids gather in a circle a "Sally Walker" is chosen and she walks in a circle then she stops in front of someone and starts dancing and the other girl mimicks her, then by the end of the song, they switch places, and the girl is now sally walker the game repeats until the girls get tired and they all quit)

I said a Boom Chicka Boom
I said a Boom Chicka Chicka Boom
I said a Boom Chicka Rocka Chicka Rocka Boom
Alright Okay Now were gonna do it
her way (then you point)

(yeah not a clapping game but still something popular in Michigan)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 20 Jun 08 - 12:58 AM

Boo- south east england, thanks for sharing that rhyme. See this example called "Miss Sue From Alabama" that gives some beginning lines which are often used with the rhyme that you asked about on 06 Jun 08 st- 05:01 PM:

Miss Sue From Alabama {Version #7}
Hi there. I'm from Mississippi and was in elementary school in the late 80's through early 90's. the version of "Miss Sue" I remember was not listed here. I thought I'd help you out. Last time I heard it, I think it had varied ever so slightly from when I was in school, but this is how I remember it: Miss Sue (clap clap clap) Miss Sue (clap clap clap) Miss Sue from Alabama Sittin' in a rocker eatin' betty crocker watchin' that clock go tick-tock, tick-tock-banana-nana tick-tock, tick-tock banana-nana ABCDEFG-wash those stains right out'a my knees MUSHKA, MUSHKA, MUSHKA FREEZE (as fast as you can) 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10! I never got the last part...sometimes the rule was you had to stay still while you counted, and sometimes it was to count the fastest. The most distinct difference I remember is that there were always three claps after "Miss Sue." I hope that was helpful.
-Allison {Mississippi; late 1980s, early 1990s}; 2/28/2007; http://cocojams.com/handclap_rhymes.htm


**
Click on that link for more examples of rhymes that begin with that "Miss Sue" line. Your example seems to be a combination of the Miss Sue rhyme and a rhyme that is usually called "All The Girls In France". You can also find examples of that rhyme on that Cocojams page.

****

Thanks, Aryana, for sharing those examples here so other people throughout the world can read them. Thanks, also for including how you play them. That way, other people might play them too.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Jun 08 - 05:07 PM

Some say they are alive and well but .... the folksongs are going away.
more about this below.

National Children's Folksong Repository
http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ncfr/
record what you remember and lets put it up for us to hear!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,KLC
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 08:22 PM

Hi I live in East Harlem in New York and hand games are very much alive.

1. Eeny Meeny Sys a leeny, ooh aah tumble leeny, ochy Cochy Liver achy I Love you. Take a peach take a plum not a stick of bubble gum. No peach no plum just a stick of bubble gum. I saw you with your boyfriend last night. I looked through the window. Nosey. I ate a bag of cookies. Greedy. I didn't take a bath. Dirty. I jumped out the window . Now I know you crazy. I like icecream I like tea I like the color boys and they like me so step off white boy you don't shine, I'm gonna get my boyfriend to kick your behind. He'll kick you up, he'll kick you down, he'll kick you all around the town. (very racial driven at the end I know)

2. Down down baby, down down the roller coaster. Sweet sweet baby I'll never let you go, Jimmy Jimmy coco puff Jimmy Jimmy Pow.Jimmy Jimmy coco puff Jimmy Jimmy Pow. Mama mama sick in bed she called the doctor and the doctor said lets hear the rythym of your head, ding dong.lets hear the rythym of your head, ding dong.Lets here the rythym of your hands (clap clap). Lets here the rythym of your hands (clap clap). Lets here the rythym of your feet (stomp stomp). Lets here the rythym of your feet (stomp stomp).Lets here the rythym of the hoooooot stuffff. Lets here the rythym of the hoooooot stuffff. Put it all together and what do you get: ding dong, clap clap, stomp stomp, hooooot stuuuuuffffff, now put it all backwards and what do you get: hottttt stufffff, stomp stomp, clap clap, ding dong.

3. Boom boom chat chat boom boom chat chat boom chat boom chat boom boom chat chat

there is more let me know if you want the lyrics.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 10:10 PM

Hello, KLC!

Thanks for posting those examples. And thanks for including the information about where you live.

Have you considered joining this group? Membership is free and it's easy to join.. Just click on Membership at the top of the page on the right, and follow the easy instructions that come up,

As a member, you can receive private messages. For instance, I'm writing a book on children's rhymes, and would love to ask you more questions about these rhymes.

Even if you don't join Mudcat, please post more. Also, for the sake of reseach and documenting more information about these rhymes, would you please write back and tell how the rhymes you already have shared are performed {I think they're handclap rhymes, is that right?}. And please let us know what you think is the age of most people who do these rhymes.

Two more things, KLC, in your experience, are these rhymes performed by girls {and boys?} and which race or races, ethnic groups have you seen perform them {such as African Americans, Latinos, Whites, Asians}?


Thanks, again!

I hope you do considering joining. Mudcat has a lot of threads {pages of discussions} about many kinds of children's rhymes and we need more people to share and discuss them, especially more younger people. [You can click on one title at a time that is listed up above these messages to visit another discussion]

If you are under 18 years old, perhaps you should ask your parents/guardians about joining this group.

Best wishes,

Ms. Azizi

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: KLC
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 11:43 AM

Hello Azizi,

The children that play these games range from 5 - 12 years old. Both boys and girls play these games but girls are more into it and know a lot more hand games then the boys. The children that I see playing these games are Hispanic, African American, Carribean, Caucasian and Asian because that is the population that I serve at my program.

All games I mentioned before are hand games the actual movements are a little tricky.

Some other ones are:

1. I said a east, a west, I met my boyfriend at the candy store he bought me icecream, he bought me cake, he bought me home with a belly ache, mama mama I feel sick, call the doctor quick quick quick, doctor doctor when I die just close your eyes and count to 5 I said a 1 a 2 a 3 a 4 a 5 I'm alive, 6,7,8,9,10 I'm dead again.

2. My mother your mother live across the street 18, 19 blueberry street every time when it is night the kids come out and start to fight: Boys are rotten made outta cotton, girls are sexy made out of pepsi, boys go to jupiter to get more stupider, girls go to college to get more knowledge. Wrap it up in toilet paper, send it down the escalator. 1st floor stop by your mama, 2nd floor stop by your papa, 3rd floor said you better watch out for the s s the t t the o o the p p spellssss stop. (And they pause to see who moves first)

3. Tweet baby tweet baby, my mama said: shes rocking in the tree top all day long huffing and a puffing and singing that song all the little girls on dainburn street love to hear the birds go tweet tweet tweet, rocking robin tweet twirly rocking robin tweet twirly. Batman and robin flying in the air batman lost his underwear batman says I don't care mamas gonna buy me a brand new pair, rocking robin tweet twirly rocking robin tweet twirly, I went down town to get a stick a butter all i saw was james brown sitting in a gutter took a piece of glass shoved it up his ahhhhh... never saw a motha sucka run so fast (crazy isnt it) rocking robin tweet twirly rockin robin tweet twirly, went to the movies to see king kong all I saw was a rubber ding dong rocking robin tweet twiyly rocking robin tweet twirly, mothers in the kitchen cooking rice, poppa's in the bathroom shooting dice, brothers in jail raising hell, sister's in the corner selling fruit cocktail rocking robin (some children sing other parts not to sure what they are, the words were the same since I was young but now they add things that relate to their time)

3. Candy girl, all my world, look so sweet special treat this is the way we (then they name a dance i.e the whop) Candy girl do the whop the whop all my world do the whop whop look so sweet do the whop the whop special treat do the whop the whop... goes on with different dances mostly what is in at the time.

4. Quack dilly oh so, quack quack quack, hit it, senorita your mama smells like pizza, fello fello fello fello fello, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 ,7, 8,9, 10 (on ten the person tries to hit the other persons hand if they get um that person is out if they miss then the person trying is out. This is usually done in a circle so they one left at the end is the winner.)

5. Nintendo 64, no repeats or hesitations starting with the name of... (anything usually colors, boys, girls, cars, toys, tv shows, movies, etc) they keep up the hand beat and shouting names to someone messes up whoever is left at the end is the winner.

6. Mostly the kindergarteners play Miss Mary Mack sung:
Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack
All dressed in Black Black Black
With silver buttons buttons buttons
all down her back back back
she asked her mother mother mother
for 15 cents cents cents
to see the elephant elephant elephant
jump over the fence fence fence
it jumped so high high high
it reached the sky sky sky
and never came back back back
til the fourth of july lie lie

6. Kindergarteners also play this game that just goes... Thats the way uh huh uh huh I like it uh huh uh huh and just repeat the hand movements and song till someone gets tired and quits.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 11 Jul 08 - 01:40 PM

Hello, KLC.

I see you joined Mudcat. That's great!!!

And thanks for those other rhymes. I'm particularly happy to see a version of "Candy Girl". My daughter and her friends chanted a slightly different version of "Candy Girl" in the late 1980s in Pittsburgh, PA and I haven't seen another version until the one you posted.

Best wishes,

Azizi

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Robyn
Date: 22 Jul 08 - 05:00 PM

I'm still in primary the'thats the way uh uh huh is different to the way we do it but then again they all vary.

Thats the way
Uh huh
uh huh
uh huh
I like it
uuh huh
uh huh
thats the way
uh huh
uh huh
i like it
JIT IT RIGHT NOW!
Scooby Scooby Dooby Dooby Doo
Scooby Dooby Scooby Dooby Doo!
YO!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 22 Jul 08 - 10:47 PM

I work at an after school program/ summer day camp on the Lower East Side, New York, New York.

MY GOD DO THEY DO CLAPPING GAMES!

Quack didi oso,
slide,
numbers,
eeny meany,
down down baby (later converted by Nelly in one of his rap songs),
tweet baby,
miss mary mack,
shame shame,
mama mama can't you see?,
. . . I'm sure the list goes on and on.

There's one that involved the feet instead of the hands now too which I never saw when I was little. You have to hold your partners shoulders and then perform a serious of kicks aside each other's legs and through them. . . If that makes any sense without the visual

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 23 Jul 08 - 12:00 AM

GUEST,guest,22 Jul 08 - 10:47 PM,

Thanks for that list of titles and the demographical information re your location.

If you read this, would you please also post demographical information regarding the race/ethnicity, gender, and ages of the children who performed these rhymes.

Given my research on children's rhyme, including my direct experiences, I'd guess that you're talking about African American girls & Latino girls {ages 5-13 years}

Is this correct?

Also, does the rhyme that you called "Shame Shame Shame" have the lines "I don't want to go to mexico no more more more/there's a big fat policeman at the door door door" etc

And does the rhyme that you refer to as "tweet baby" have the lines "he rocks in the tree top/ all night long/huffin and a puffin and a-singing his song/all the little birds on Jaybird street/love to hear the robin go tweet tweet tweet"?

Also, do the girls in your after school program also do cheerleader cheers in which they basically stand in place and chant formulaic verses to the sound of the bass sounding foot stomps and {their own} hand claps and/or body pats?

If so, I'd looove to know which chants they do.

I wish you were a member of this forum so I could private message you. I'm writing a book on children's rhymes & cheers, and I'm interested in having more examples from New York.

Here's a link to my website if you want to check it out and see whether any of the foot stomping cheers read like the ones you've seen.

www.cocojams.com [ foot stomping cheers page]

Unfortunately, Cocojams is a text only website. Eventually I want to add some sound clips and video clips.

Thanks, guest,guest for sharing that list of handclap rhyme. And thanks, in advance, for any additional information & examples that you might share.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Jul 08 - 06:12 AM

Thank you all of you for all this information!

I´m currently working on a small article about immigrant kids doing handclapping games in norwegian in Oslo.

Two turkish-norwgian 7-year-olds sing what is a norwegian translation of the english song "A sailor went to sea":

En sjømann dro til ABC
For å lære litt om ABC
Men da han kom til ABC
så var det bare ABC

(A sailor went to ABC/to learn a little about ABC/but when he came to ABC/all there was was ABC)

En sjømann dro til Kina
For å lære litt om Kina
Men da han kom til Kina
Så var det bare Kina

(Same with China)

En sjømann dro til India
For å lære litt om India
Men da han kom til India
Så var det bare India

(Same with India)

En sjømann dro til Island
For å lære litt om Island
Men da han kom til Island
Så var det bare Island

(Same with Iceland)

En sjømann dro til ABC
For å lære litt om Kina
Men da han dro til India
Så var det bare Island

(Then the verses are mixed-up. The girls usually end the game in laughter!)

It is extremely interesting for me to learn that the handclapping games are associated with black girls! In Oslo we seem to have inherited the gender, but not the colour issue. Both immigrant and norwegian girls do these.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 23 Jul 08 - 08:15 AM

From: GUEST,23 Jul 08 - 06:12 AM

Thank you for your interesting and informative post. I'm eager to learn moe about continuity & changes in English language children's rhymes that are recited in other languages.

Guest, 23 July 08-06:12 AM, you wrote "It is extremely interesting for me to learn that the handclapping games are associated with black girls!"

I would like to clarify any comments that I might have made that led you to this conclusion, by posting this excerpt from a portion of a book I'm writing on English language children's rhymes:

There are multiple sources for the text of American [United States] children's playground rhymes {the term "rhymes" as used here includes handclap games, ring [circle] games, jump rope rhymes, foot stomping cheers, and other types of usually rhyming chants}.

a)Verses of or references included in American [United States] children's playground rhymes come from a variety of sources including other handclap games & ring {circle} games from the United States, and other nations, but particularly the Great Britain

[italics used for emphasis]

b)Verses of or references included in American playground rhymes may also come from Mother Goose & other nursery rhymes; R&B songs;
Hip-Hop songs; Rock & Roll songs including references to R&B/Hip Hop, and Rock & Roll dances; cheerleader cheers, particularly dance style cheerleader cheers; fraternity & sorority steppin chants; drill team chants; gospel songs, particularly Black gospel songs; dance songs from 19th century African American slavery; songs from other cultures; and other types of songs.

c} Verses of or references included in American playground rhymes also come from folk customs such as the dozens insult exchange; contemporary street sayings & street slang; older/no longer used folk sayings & slang; military cadences; lines from or references to television shows or movies, including characters from those shows and stars from those shows; lines from television commercials; lines from product jingles; and references to popular cultural interest such as fashion, and sun sign astrology

Since the influence of African American culture is so deep, intertwined, and widespread in historical and present day American culture, it's not surprising that many of the textual sources of children's playground rhymes have come from and continue to come from African Americans. However, it would be inaccurate to say that all children's playground rhymes originate with African Americans. There may even be some basis for stating that the origin of most of American children's handclap rhymes and circle game songs that are still being played now did not originate among African Americans, though most of the text, and the performance activities have been adapted by African Americans.

That said, with regard to a relatively new style of playground rhyme-foot stomping cheers-most of the text originates in African American culture. And the performance activity of foot stomping cheers-which features girls usually standing in place while chanting call & response rhyming lines to their creation of bass sounding foot stomps alternating with {individual} handclaps or body pats-also clearly comes from traditional & contemporary African American culture

Click here for more information from my Cocojams website about foot stomping cheers

**

In my opinion, understanding the "originally" intended meaning of words & phrases in children's playground rhymes is often dependent on knowing the racial/ethnic origin of those rhymes. One example of this is the line "my name is [insert name]/I'm number nine/kickin it with Genuwine

These lines are from "Hollywood Swingin" {and similar titles}, a foot stomping cheer that later became a partner handclap rhyme. It's quite easy to misinterprete these lines if you didn't know that "kickin' it" means "spending social time with" and that "Genuwine" is the name of a popular male R&B singer.

"The spades go" is an interesting example of a phrase that has been separated from its original meaning. This phrase is found in a number of different children's handclap rhymes, among them this one:

The spades the spades the spades go iny miny popsa kiney i love bomaragn a hop a scoth a liver roch a peach a plum i have a stick of chewing gum and if u want the other half this is wut you say: amen amen amendiego sandieago bostn bruins rah rah rah boo boo boo criss cross apple sauce do me a favor get lost while ur at it drop dead either that or lose ur head bang on trash cans bang on tin cans i can u can nobody else can sitting on the bench nuthing to do along comes some one..cohey coochey coo! andu tickle the other person
By Sally on Friday, May 6, 2005 - 08:07 pm:
http://www.streetplay.com/discus/

In my opinion, the phrase "the spades go" originally meant "The Black people go", depending on one's culture "spades" is a mildly or highly derogatory referent for Black people. Of course, I very much doubt that most-or any-child reciting this rhyme knows the original meaning of this phrase.

In summary, there are many sources for American children's playground rhymes. In my opinion, a person would be wrong if he or she indicated that all of the text of these rhymes originated with Black Americans. However, in my opinion, a person would be on much more solid ground if he or she indicated that much of the text for American playground rhymes either came from or was & is heavily influenced by past & present African American cultures.

-Azizi Powell

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 23 Jul 08 - 11:13 AM

All I have to offer is this observation: last month I was the Rocks & Minerals speaker at a Girl Scout camp, and I heard the girls doing clapping rhymes as I passed the meadow where they hung out. They ranged in age from 6 to 11.

So they're still doing it, I'm happy to say.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Ida Tolgensbakk Vedeld
Date: 28 Jul 08 - 05:05 AM

Hi again!

Thank you Azizi Powell for your informations! One more question: in Denmark and Norway the handclapping songs are almost uniquely something girls do. Boys might do them at home or in the classroom, but seldom "in public" / on the street.

Is this still the case in USA?

PS The danish folklore archive have a site where it is possible to hear kids clap&sing.

http://www.dafos.dk/brug-arkivet/kilder-online/boernetraditioner/en-soemand-tog-til-si-si-si.aspx

This is the "A sailor went to sea" - a common song in both Denmark and Norway since the 1970s.

This time I remember to sign with my name!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 28 Jul 08 - 09:50 AM

Hello, Guest,Ida Tolgensbakk Vedeld

With regard to your thank you to me, "You're welcome"! I love collecting, sharing, and studying versions of children's playground rhymes. It's great to find other people who are also interesting in doing these things too.

**

Ida, thanks for letting us know about that website. Here is its hyperlink:

http://www.dafos.dk/brug-arkivet/kilder-online/boernetraditioner/en-soemand-tog-til-si-si-si.aspx

Is there a way built in feature on the Internet that that page can be translated to English? If not, Ida Tolgensbakk Vedeld, would you please translate what the English words are to this rhyme? Thanks!

Btw, I like the inclusion of the photographs on that page. I have a large collection of children's rhymes on my website at http://cocojams.com/.

Unfortunately, there are no photographs, videos, or song clips on my website. Hopefully, I'll eventually be able to add those features, but that words only website is the best that I can do by myself.

**

Ida, you wrote that "in Denmark and Norway the handclapping songs are almost uniquely something girls do. Boys might do them at home or in the classroom, but seldom "in public" / on the street". And you asked if that was the same in the USA.

In my experiences as an African American woman who grew up in the state of New Jersey in the 1950s, and who has lived in the state of Pennsylvania since 1969, the answer to your question depends on which kinds of handclapping songs you are talking about and whether they are directed to participate in circle games during school {as a fun, end of period group activity or for other reasons-see my last comment in this post about circle handclap games}.

In the states that I mentioned, among Black Americans {and I think Americans of other races/ethnicities [by "ethnicity" I mean "Latinos"/Hispanics which are not considered a race in the USA"], I think that some boys between the ages of 5-7 may do partner handclaps. But most boys that age and older don't because they have come to realize {as the results of comments from other boys and girls} that these games are considred "girl games".

I think that after age 7, few boys "do handclaps" at home and they definitely don't do so in the classroom or the playground or the streets.

But, in my experiences of conducting an after-school program & summer sessions in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania {1997-2004} and working as a substitute teacher in an African American school {2008} that most Black boys ages 5-12 will not start a circle handclap game such as "Strolla Ola Ola", "Quack Dilly Osa" or "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky"Ah , but when they are directed by teachers or other adults to join in a competitive circle handclap game, they will join in those games and they appear to enjoy doing playing them once they get started.

All these games involve children {and/or teenagers and adults} standing [or sitting]in a circle and while chanting the words to the rhyme, starting with a designated person who is part of that circle, with each word, each child slaps the hand of the person to his or her right. At the end of each rendition on the chant, a person whose hand is slapped is out. This continues until there are only two people left. Those people face each other, and slap each others hands while chanting the rhyme {similar to what is done in partner handclaps}. Whoever's hand is slap at the end of this rendition is out, and the remaining person is the winner.

See the links listed above for the Mudcat threads on "Stella Ella Ola" and "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky".

By the way, the only reason why I went into all that detail about dates, geographical location, and race is that any of these details might make a difference in the answers to questions about which age groups and genders play {or "do" as I say and as I've heard African Americans say} handclap rhymes.      

**

Ida, have you considered joining Mudcat? It's free and easy to do. Come on and join the number of us here who are interested in talking about children's playground rhymes and other subjects!

I hope you will join!

[This comment about joing Mudcat is for Ida and for any other guest who is reading this discussion thread].

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Srut Miss Suzie
Date: 21 Nov 08 - 04:52 PM

I was trying to locate the words, renditions of this old school childrens game. Mmmmm, it sent me to your conversation. Pray tell, can anybody help.

SLD

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 21 Nov 08 - 05:45 PM

SLD,

"Strut Miss Suzie" is also known as "This-a Way Valarie", or at least these two African American and/or Afro-Caribbean singing games are very closely related to each other.


See this YouTube video clip of the 1967 Bill Eberien and Bess Lomax Hawes film "Pizza Pizza Daddy-o" that shows African American girls performing "This-A Way Valerie" and other singing games

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2YodFqZ7nQ

-snip-

Here are the words to that song as captured by that film:

"THIS-A-WAY VALERIE

References: Trent-Johns p. 14-17; Abrahams p. 130; Hawes-Jones (Zudie-0). I have also heard a tape of this game being played by Negro children in Austin, Texas. The children habitually played this game all the way through: That is, until everyone, whether skilled or inexpert, had had a turn to dance down between the lines. It is also notable that the basic formation never traveled during play; occasionally, the children, while holding hands during the first verse, would side-step slightly back to their original position. This was always done spontaneously, without direction or discussion.

This-a-way, Valerie,

Valerie, Valerie,

This-a-,gay, Valerie

All day long.

Oh, strut, Miss Lizzie

Lizzie, Lizzie

Strut, Miss Lizzie

All day long.

Oh, here come another one

Just like the other one,

Here come another one

All day long".

http://www.folkstreams.net/context,201

{Sorry, for some reason, the Mudcat clicky feature isn't working on my computer right now}

**

Also, here are two other versions of that song with performance instructions:

This Way Valerie
"This game works best with a fairly large group. You will need to have the girls get a buddy and then form 2 lines with the buddies facing each other. As soon as you have them in 2 straight lines they can start singing the song:

This way Valerie, That way Valerie,
This way Valerie all the way home.

Girls join hands with their buddy and sing this part while moving arms in a sawing motion - back and forth

Strut Miss Lucy, strut Miss Lucy,
Strut Miss Lucy all the way home.

Head girl in one line passes between the 2 lines making up any movement she wishes and falls in at the foot of the opposite line

Here comes another one just like the other one.
Here comes another one all the way home.

Buddy of the previous girl copies the movements just done by her buddy as she passes between the 2 lines and then joins the foot of the opposite line.

Both lines move up a wee bit and repeat the song over and over and over again until everyone has had a turn. The girls will eventually start getting quite creative in their actions if you play this many times."

http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/thiswayvalerie.html

**

"Strut Miss Lucy (This Way Valerie)
(to the tune of "Shortnin' Bread")

Thanks very much to Jean, Barb, and Gail, who all helped me to piece together this song.

The girls line up in two lines facing each other. Each girl grabs hands with their partner and move arms alternately forward and back while singing the verse:

This way Valerie, that way Valerie,
This way Valerie, all the way home.

Take a couple of steps back and the head couple do the next two verses while everyone else sings and claps their hands. The girl on the right side struts down the line doing any action she wants. When she gets to the ends she joins the line on the left:

Strut Miss Lucy, strut Miss Lucy,
Strut Miss Lucy, all the way home.

The girl on the left copies the actions of the first girl during the next verse and when she gets to the end she joins the line on the right.

Here comes another one, just like the other one,
Here comes another one, all the way home".

http://dragon.sleepdeprived.ca/songbook/songs3/S3_96.htm

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: paula t
Date: 04 Dec 08 - 06:02 PM

I use clapping rhymes as part of my year 3 and 4 music lessons along with skipping,selection and ball game rhymes. We learn some, look at ostinato, beat, etc. and then eventually move on to compose our own. The children love doing them.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Virginia Ann Marie
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 03:49 PM

I still do hand games cause im only 11.heres one that i know by heart:
1 2 3 4
i met my boyfriend at the candy store
he bought me ice cream
he bought me cake
he brought me home with a belly ache.
mother mother i feel sick
call up the docter quick quick quick
the docter said that iull be fine
hooray hooray im still alive!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 04:21 PM

Thank you, Virginia Ann Marie, for sharing the words you know to that hand clapping game.

Happy Holidays!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Shoyu
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 07:02 PM

I went to a workshop on playground games the other day (I'm a music teacher). It was great, I remembered loads of them from when I was a child and learned some new ones. Some of them were REALLY hard!

I find when I do them in lessons the kids love them. They also love making up their own clapping and action songs and teaching me and the rest of the class.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Virginia Ann Marie
Date: 22 Dec 08 - 10:51 PM

Azizi i hope you too have a merry christmas indeed.Goodnight from london england.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 04 Mar 09 - 04:53 PM

It's March 2009 and I'm just reading this post.

I'm sorry.

I hope that Virginia Ann Marie didn't think that I was being rude.

I hope that she and everyone else had a good Christmas and will be happy, healthy, and creative this year.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Sarah
Date: 18 Jun 09 - 09:09 AM

I am now in 8th grade, and when I was younger me and my class mates played all of those handgames. To this day, anytime we get bored in school we play them. I have noticed that the younder kids at our school don't know the lyrics or hand motions to the games but are fascinated when we play them.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 18 Jun 09 - 10:10 AM

Hi, GUEST Sarah.

Thanks for sharing your comment with us and thanks for providing some demographical information-your grade in school. It would be great if you would also share where you live (for the purposes of this discussion forum-city,state if in the USA, or city, country if outside of the USA). That helps people who study the topic of contemporary children's playground rhymes get a sense of what is going on in different areas.

It's a shame that some younger children are missing out on the creativity of saying and performing children's hand games. I wonder what they are doing in place of this past time.

Thanks again.

Ms. Azizi

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Guest, Chloe
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 10:44 AM

We did clapping games when I was in primary, but the words weren't exactly like I've seen them. One was 'A-B-C Together' and we did 'Miss Suzy.' I think I've heard the one about the Chinese Restaurant (variant with Elvis Presley).
But this is funny: I also know Eenie Meenie Sicileeny, with different words to the ones I've found on the net. I know it from a two-week holiday in Greece when I was eleven. It was a resort, most of the other girls were English. So these rhymes are still getting passed around! (I never saw any boys do clapping rhymes or skipping rope games - and we never played skipping rope games either).
I think I'm about equivalent of eighth or ninth grade, but I don't know if younger pupils still play these games because there's a split between primary and secondary - when I came back from that holiday, I never bothered to teach any of my friends Eenie Meenie because we were in High School and too 'grown up.'
By the way, Azizi: I live in Scotland. Children still play creative playground games, but they more involve running around - tag, piggy-in-the-middle, Granny Greensteps.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 11:31 AM

Hi Chloe!

Thanks for sharing that information and including demographical information-your grade equivalent, your gender, where you live, and where you learned the particular rhymes that you mentioned.

With regard to the running around games*, I have a general sense of how kids play "tag" (I think that that game is probably very similar all around the world). But I'd appreciate you sharing how do you play "piggy-in-the-middle" and "Granny Greensteps". I've never heard of those games before.

Thanks again,

Ms. Azizi

*There a some other Mudcat discussion threads about playground games(In the partial list above, they are described as "playground songs or playground games).

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Uly
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 03:11 PM

I think "Piggy in the Middle" is the same game as Monkey in the Middle or as Keepaway.

Growing up, I always knew Monkey in the Middle and Keepaway as two different games - the first was a real game, where if the person in the middle caught the whatever-it-was they switched with whoever had missed catching it and the game went on; and the second was not a game at all but a form of bullying. But I've been told not everybody had the same conventions.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 03:24 PM

Thanks, Uly.

I've never heard of Monkey in the Middle or Keepaway either.

Are these English (or British) children's games? You mentioned someone in the middle catching something. Is that "something" usually a ball? Are the players girls and/or boys? What is the usual age range? And do the players chant anything while playing this games?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Uly
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 03:03 AM

Never heard of either?

Piggy in the Middle is, I believe, the British name for those games, though I'm American. (There was a whole conversation in the Brit-picking comm on LJ recently, that's how I know this.)

I haven't played Monkey in the Middle in a long time, and I mostly only ever played with my sister - no chanting, you just throw whatever's handy (usually a ball or a frisbee) until you're bored.

Keepaway is... it's that thing you see in movies or TV where somebody snatches somebody's hat or jacket or book and throws it around while the poor sap is trying to get it back. Which is really a boy thing. Girls bully each other differently, usually, don't they? (Funnily enough, in my years of MASSIVE BULLYING growing up, nobody ever pulled this on me.)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Caroline
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 01:04 AM

CHINESE RESTURAUNT:

This is the version I had always done - i Didn't see it anywhere else.

I went to the chinese rest-ur-aunt
to buy a loaf of bread, bread, bread
they asked me what my name was
and this is what I said, said, said

My name is ee-ay, ee-ay
nick-a-ny, nick-a-ny
pom-pom-poodle
willie-willie whiskers

my name is
Elvis Presley
girls are hmm - hmm (the good odl days when sexy was a bad word)
sitting in the hot tub
drinking diet pepsi

My name is
Chief Roast Beef

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,me
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 07:14 PM

we do these ones(we're in gr 5):

double double this this
double double that that
double this double that
double double that that

Miss suzie had a steamboat
it even had a bell (ding ding)
the steamboat went to heaven,
miss suzie went to
HELLo operator,connect me number 9
and if you disconnect me, ill kick
your fat behind the fridgerator, there
was a pane of glass, miss lucy sat upon
it, and popped her big fake
ask me no more questions,ill tell u no more lies,
the boys are in the bathroom zipping up there flies r
in the meadow,bee's r in the park, miss lucy and her
boyfriend r kissing in the dark-er then the ocean, darker
then the sea, darker than the underwear my mommy puts on
me. SEE!?!

I went to a chinise resterant to order me some bread bread bread
the waiter asked me for a name and this is what i said

My name is hi lo picklo
picklo hi lo, hi lo picklo picklo
YO!

Gimme a break,gimme a break, break me off a piece of that kit kat bar
choclaty taste, makes my day, break me of a piece of that kit kat bar
i don't care what people say, just break me off a piece of that,gotta have a piece a that, gimme a piece of that KIT KAT BAR!


and Lemonade, and alot more!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 02:01 PM

yes they do in our school anyway

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Catherine
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 11:47 PM

I'm from a small town in Australia, The kids here at the local primary school still do them but as time has gone on they have got progressivly ruder.
My five younger sisters and three younger brothers LOVE playing hand clapping games. Even at school! The kids still play elastics here too! The chants they sing playing elastics is "England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Inside, Outside, Inside, ON... Then they have to jump on both sides of the elastics. I am 18 and i still enjoy playing these games with my younger siblings and my neices and nephews. Learning the new chants is always fun! I'm one of 12 (HUGE family) and all 12 of us have had fun with clapping games.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Azizi
Date: 04 Jul 09 - 08:02 AM

Thanks to all who have shared versions of this rhyme with us.

Special thanks to those who remembered to add when and where (geographical location) they learned it.


**

Guest Catherine, I have five siblings. But I've known two families (whose children are now in their 20s and 30s) who have had 10 and 12 children. Some of the children were adopted.

Anyway, I wanted to take this opportunity to especially thank you for sharing this rhyme and others with us-and for remembering to add demographical information. I believe that it's important to add such information as it helps people like me who not only like to read these rhymes but also like to study how the words & the performance of rhymes may change over time and place, and how rhymes may be different at the same time but within different populations. Of course, another reason to share examples of rhymes is to perform them-but most people who are member of this forum aren't performing rhymes anymore.

Which brings me to a point, Catherine and other guests, please consider joining Mudcat. Membership in this forum is free and easy to do. Just click on the word "Membership" near the right hand corner at the top of this page and follow those easy instructions. You will have to give an email address, but no one else sees it but the moderators.

One advantage of being a member is that you are able to have a listing of all your posts to this forum. Another membership perk is that you can get private messages (like emails) from members, and can send them to members.

Of course, you don't have to join Mudcat to post comments here. I just wanted you and other guests to know that you would be welcome if you joined.

Best wishes,

Ms. Azizi

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Emily
Date: 13 Apr 10 - 03:32 PM

You know, I have seen many versions of Miss Susie had a Steamboat, but I have never, on any website, seen the way I used to do it. It's pretty much all the same, but the ending is different. It went like this:

Miss Susie had a steamboat, the steamboat had a horn
Toot! Toot!
Miss Susie went to heaven, the steamboat went to
Hello operator, give me number 9, and if you disconnect me
I'll chop of your behind the 'fridgerator, there was a piece of
glass, Miss Susie fell upon it and broke her little
Ask me no more questions, tell me no more lies,
the boys are in the bathroom, zipping up thier flies
Are in the meadow, the bees are in their hives,
Miss Susie and her boyfriend are kissing in the D-A-R-K
Dark! Dark! Dark! Darker than the ocean, darker than the sea
Darker than the black boy that just kissed me, YUCK! (wipe face)

Haha, I've never seen anybody post that ending before, so I just thought I'd share it.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: Bettynh
Date: 14 Apr 10 - 08:58 AM

from Indiana

New York State

Kenya

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,NK
Date: 18 Mar 11 - 09:34 AM

Remembering this one from elementary school (but you had to do it whilst standing:

Mr. Dan Dan Dan
Mr. Dan Dan Dan
Hug me
Kiss me
Say that you love me
*stretching legs* I love you

Mr. Dan Dan Dan
Mr. Dan Dan Dan
Punch me
Kick me
Say that you hate me
*stratching legs* I hate you

This goes on until everybody falls and the person that could stretch the most and keep on standing wins.

---

Another one is:

My mother your mother lived down street
18 19 marble street
And every time they had a fight
This is what they say all night

Boys go to Jupiter to be more stupider
Girls go to mars to be rockstars

Itsee bitsee lollipop, itsee bitsee bo
Itsee bitsee lollipop, the boys love you!

----
Last:

Ameena *clap clap clap*
Superstina *clap clap clap*
Lazy boys *clap clap clap*
Super girls *clap clap clap*
*now faster*
Ameena
Supersteena
Lazy boys
Super girls
S
T
O
P
STOP
*no one moves*
The first to move loses and the last to stay in one position without moving wins.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,brittany
Date: 04 Jun 11 - 08:51 AM

yes at least i do like

Shame,shame,shame,
I dont wanna go to mexico,
no more more more,theres
a big fat policeman,
at the door door door,if you
grab him by the collar boy you better
hollar if you grab him by the pants,
boy you betta dance,i dont wanna go to mexico
no more more more shut the door
Im 13 and i still play that

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Megan
Date: 07 Jul 11 - 01:12 AM

I'm from New Orleans and I'm remember a lot of these mentioned, but I don't see one that I'm DYING to remember - it was in nonsense words and it was a pretty complex clapping game that sounded like this...

Bo-bo see-otton-cotton....

Ringing a bell for anyone?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Oct 11 - 08:42 AM

I'm 34 and from Australia. I don't know if any clapping games are still being played by the young kids, but I've been trying to remember the ones I played when I was in primary school.

Miss Mary Mak:
We had the same version that everyone has mentioned here, though I could have sworn we said that the cat jumped so high, not the elephant. Plus, one of my cousins had the surname of Mak, so I loved playing it whenever I visited her.

The hand clapping went like this:
*With two girls facing each other)*
         Miiiss
(hands crossed in front, touching own shoulders)
         Maaa-
(own hands touching your knees, straight down)
         -ryyyy
(clap your own hands together)
         Mak!
(slap your right hand only with the other girl's right hand, in effect crossing your arm in front of you, and then clap your own hands together)
         Mak!
(slap your left hand only with the other girl's left hand, then clap your own hands)
         Mak!
(slap your right hand only with the other girl's right hand)
         All dressed in black, black, black
(repeat hands movements)

Etc. until the end of the song, going faster and faster, repeating the song until someone fumbles.

Ronald McDonald:
We sang a slightly different version, but I can't, for the life me, remember it.

Under the Apple Tree. This was our version:

Under the apple tree
My boyfriend said to me
Kiss me, hug me,
tell me that you love me

Under the apple tree
My boyfriend said to me
Get lost!

Chinese Checkers:
We sang a different version. I think this is how it went:

I went to a Chinese restaurant
To buy a loaf of bread
I asked him what his name was
And this is what he said
Myyyy naaaaame is
Chinese Checkers
Cheese on toast
Put it in the oven
And poke, poke poke!

I remember a couple of games too. One was Crocodile, crocodile. My school playground had a couple of huge tractor tyres, laying down and embedded in the ground. Us kids would stand on top of the tyre, with one kid standing in the hole in the middle, designated "it". Then we would chant this song:

Crocodile, Crocodile, can I cross the river?
If not, why not, what's your favourite colour?

"It" would shout a colour (i.e. Pink!) and any kid wearing that colour tried to jump to the other side of the tyre without being tagged by "it". If tagged, that kid became "it" and the old "it" joined the other kids on the tyre for the next chant. And so on.

Another game I played with my cousins was "Red Light, Green Light". There were a lot of us in roughly the same age group, so this was a popular game for us at get togethers.

All of us lined up at one end of the back yard, this was the starting line.

One kid, designated "It", went up to the other end of the bark yard (the finish line) and had their back turned to the rest of us.

"It" would start the game by yelling out "Green Light!" which meant that you could start walking up to the finish line. You weren't allowed to run.

It would then yell out either Green Light! or Red Light! at any moment.

If It yelled Green Light!, you were safe to keep creeping to the finish line. If It yelled Red Light!, you had to freeze so that when he/she spun around, you weren't caught moving and had to go back to the starting line and creep up again.

To make it harder knowing which was Red Light or Green Light, It would half turn whenever yelling out "Green Light", trying to trick us into actually freezing. You could freeze, actually, but that meant other peeople were overtaking you by not freezing. You had to pay attention to words, not actions.

The first person to get to the finish and tag It was the winner.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Anonymous
Date: 22 Jun 13 - 01:44 PM

It goes like this:

Apple on a stick, makes me sick,
Makes my heart beat 2-4-6

Not because you're dirty, not because you're clean,
Not because you kissed a boy behind the magazine!

Boys and girls are having fun,
Here comes the lady with the big fat bum!

She can wibble, she can wobble, she can even do the splits,
But I betcha, I betcha, she can't do this

Close your eyes and count to 10, If you mess up, then you're not my friend -
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

You didn't mess up, so you're still my friend
This is the end of Chapter 10
Amen..........Amen!

Also:

Down, down baby, down by the rollercoaster
Mama never let you go cause you're the one I wan't the mosta
Shimmy shimmy coca pop, shimmy shimmy pow!I like coffee, I like tea, I like a colour boy and he likes meSo step back white boy, you don't shineI'll get the colour boy to beat yo' behindLet get the rhythm of the hands (clap, clap)We've got the rhythm of the hands (clap, clap)Let's get the rhythm of the feet We've got the rhythm of the feet
Lets get the rhythm of the head DING-DONGWe've got the rhythm of the head DING-DONG
Peace!


Also:

Friends are like sisters, friends are like bliss,
Friends are like anything that goes a little like this –

We go up, down, turn around, hug, hug, hug, hug,
Drinkin' hot choc 'till the day is done from the mug.

Friends are like sisters, friends are like bliss,
Friends are like anything that goes a little like this –

We go up, down, turn around, hug, hug, hug, hug,
Talkin' on the phone 'till the day is done.

Friends are like sisters, friends are like bliss,
Friends are like anything that goes a little like this.
(Never let each other get down...)


Also:

Lemonade (clap clap clap)
Crunchy ice (clap clap clap)
Beat it once (clap clap clap)
Beat it twice (clap clap clap)
Lemonade, crunchy ice
Beat it once
Beat it twice
Lemonade, crunchy ice
Beat it once,
beat it twice
Shush! 

Also:

Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, all dressed in black, black, black,
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons, all down her back, back, back.

She asked her mother, mother, mother, for 50 cents, cents, cents,
To watch the elephants, elephants, elephants, jump over the fence, fence, fence.

They jumped so high, high, high, they reached the sky, sky, sky,
They never came back, back, back until July, -ly, -ly!


Also:

There's a party 'round the corner, please, please come,
Bring your own cups and saucers and your own cream bun!

Who. Is. Your. Loved. One?
*whoever it is* will be there throwing peanuts in the air
Singin' la, la, lumber. Singin' Singin' la, la, lumber.

King, queen, jack, ace!




Basically, clap songs rock...
#clap

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,gobbledegook
Date: 22 Jun 13 - 01:50 PM

I know one...

Pepsi cola, pepsi cola.
Ali ali pussycat, ali ali pussycat -

The boys got the muscles,
The teachers can't count,
The girls got the sexy legs -
Ya better watch out!

You gotta hypnotise,
Paralyse,
Turn around,
And faint!



lolz

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 21 Aug 13 - 11:23 PM

I once played a part in an outdoor "Passion Play" (Lake County, Calif.) and at the end, when all of us who'd acted in the play came down the hill to greet the audience, a grown daughter of a friend came up and celebrated the event by drawing me right into a hand-clapping game. This was some year between 1983 and 2000, I reckon. It involved clapping our own hands, clapping each other's hands, sometimes straight across and other times crossing them, and I think some twirling of the arms. Can't remember if it had a chant with it - I don't think so. I'd seen such before, but it was my initiation, and my first and only go at it. (And it was sooooooo FUNNNNNNNN !!!!!)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Aug 13 - 02:06 AM

complex cmqpping the the Banana Boat Song in the primqrt school playground: think it was a radio hit at the time.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,Ashanta
Date: 12 Mar 14 - 07:55 PM

Lol its funny I still do them and im 16

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Mar 14 - 10:48 AM

Guillaume
Le méchant homme
Qui a tué un million d'hommes

Sa femme
La Béatrice
Qui est la reine des saucisses

Elle mange
Des pot's d'orange
Et des saucisses à la sauce blanche

Le dimanche
En robe blanche
Et le samedi en bikini
Ouistiti!

Current in Belgium in the late 1990s

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,ADalton
Date: 04 Oct 14 - 01:20 AM

I was in elementary school when this thread started. I remember:

Down by the banks of the Hanky-Panky
Where the bullfrogs jump from bank to banky
Where the eeps, ops, soda-pops,
Froggy missed a lilly and he went ker-plop.

Also something like:

Girls go to college to get more knowledge
Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider
Girls go to Mars, to get more candy bars!

And one that started:
Down down baby,
I can do karate


I'm sure there were more, but I don't remember them at the moment.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,ADalton
Date: 04 Oct 14 - 01:22 AM

Forgot to add that I went to school in Los Angeles, CA.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
From: GUEST,ADalton
Date: 04 Oct 14 - 01:41 AM

And now that I've looked it up I've realized that we actually said "Girls take showers to get more powers" rather than "Girls go to college to get more knowledge". I knew that there was a line I wasn't remembering, and when I saw the "college" one online I thought that must be it.

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I'm going to close this thread because it's been a magnet for Spam. -Joe Offer-