The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #29995   Message #1596939
Posted By: Azizi
03-Nov-05 - 09:51 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: I'm a little dutch girl
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: I'm a little dutch girl
Here's a handclap rhyme that is similar to the Dutch girl rhyme found upthread:

Note: __ Corresponds to a space between two words

        Wooble Wooble Wooble and the deep blue sea
        I am a little __ first grade *
        as pretty as can __ be be.
        And all the boys around my house
        go crazy over __ me me.

        My boyfriend's name is __ Yellow.
        He comes from Ala__bama
        with 25 toes
        and a pickle on his nose
        and this is how the story goes.

        One day I was ah __ walkin
        I saw my boyfriend __ talking
        to a very pretty girl
        with strawberry curls.
        And this is what she said

        "I L-O-V-E __ love you."
        "I K-I-S-S __ kiss you."
        "I A-D-O-R-E __ adore you"
        So S-T-O-P. STOP!

Source: elementary school age African American and Vietnamese girls {6 years old} Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2000

Directions:
This rhyme is recited in unison by girls. The girls stand and form a circle. Each girl fi and holds the "pinky" (small finger) of the person standing next two them on each side. The girls recite the introductory line "Wooble Wooble Wooble and the deep blue sea" while swinging their arms back and forth in rhythm with each word. "Deep blue sea is chanted faster than "Wooble Wooble Wooble".

The group then let goes of the little fingers and begins chanting the rhyme. At an acknowledged starting point in the circle, one person lightly slaps the hand of the person to her right of her as she and the group chants one word of the song. With each word, the child whose hand has been slapped then slaps the hand of the child on her right.

The action continues around the circle. The person whose hand is slapped at the last word "Stop" is out. When the number of players is down to two people, the two girls stand facing each other and take turns slapping each other's hand with each word. The person whose hand is slapped at the end of that rendition of the rhyme is out, and the other person is the "winner".

* The girls said 'first grade' instead of 'first grader'. In 200e some of the same girls recited this rhyme along with other girls. A few of the girls started out saying "I am a little ___ first grade" and one of them said "We're in the second grade now" So the group changed the words to "second grade" {not "second grader"}

****

I also collected this rhyme in 2004 from two girls {7 & 9 years old} who attended the same Pittsburgh elementary school as the other girls. The introductory phrase that was used for this rhyme was "Zing Zing Zing at the bottom of the sea". The two girls performed this rhyme as a partner handclap. The routine started with the same exact pinky sequence described above and then moved to back & forth handclap motions.In that version, the boy was talking to a "to a very pretty girl with cherry curls".

At the end of the rhyme the girls said "Get your black hand off of me" while attempting to slap each other on the forehead. Of course, each girl leaned back so she couldn't be slapped.

I have also heard this rhyme performed without any introductory phrase.