See these comments & lyrics the African American children's rhymes "Satisfied" from Harold Courlander's "Negro Folk Music, USA" {New York, Columbia University Press, pps 150-151; 1966; originally published in 1963}. [Note: I added a few words in brackets for clarity]:

"In the Negro ring game sone shown in Example 18, recorded in Alabama, there are the usual fun-inspired lines without any special significance, but there is an interspersed ironic theme about people who migrate north to better themselves, only to find that their lot has not been improved. This tyype of social allusion is characteristic of adult songs of critical comment, and is found in numerous Negro ring game lyrics. The responsive form of the song is comparable to that of cetain kind of religious or [prison chain]gang singing. The leader sings everything but the last word of each line, which is reserved for the chorus [the rest of the singers]:      

Example 18

SATISFIED
I'm goin up north
sat-is-fied!
And I would tell you
sat-is-fied!
Lord I am
sat-is-fied!
Some people up there
sat-is-fied!
Goin' to bring you back
sat-is-fied!
Aint noth-in' up there
sat-is-fied!
What you can do
sat-is-fied!
Mama cooked a cow
sat-is-fied!
Have to get all the girls [boys]
sat-is-fied!
Their bel-lies full!
sat-is-fied!"

-snip-

[repeat from the beginning, substituting another thing that Mama cooks, such as
"Mama cooked a chicken
sat-is-fied!
Have to get all the girls etc.]"



Azizi