The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #97228 Message #1910118
Posted By: Azizi
15-Dec-06 - 07:06 AM
Thread Name: Popular Songs & Ads In Children's Rhymes
Subject: RE: Popular Songs & Ads In Children's Rhymes
PLAYGROUND All: I've fallin. I can't get up. I've fallin I can't get up. Smack, Jack! Homie don't play that. Kick off your shoes (or "Put up your dukes") and let's get loose!
All except the soloist: Bust it "T", Bust it "T", Bust it! Swing it "T", Swing it "T", Swing it! Kick it, "T", Kick it "T", Kick it! She kicks her beat at the playground, you know, playground. {use first initial of the soloist's name or nickname}
{Repeat the entire rhyme with next soloist, and continue repeating in this manner until everybody has had one turn as the soloist}. -from African American girls ages 7-12 years old; Lillian Taylor Camp; Pittsburgh, PA, early 1990s.
**
"Playground" demonstrates the creative way that children's folk rhymes and cheers are created from a number of different mass media sources. The cheer's title and the lines that begin with "Kick off your shoes and let's get loose" are lifted from the ABC's {Another Bad Creation} 1991 hit R&B song "Playground". The lines "I've fallin' and I can't get up" are from a low budget television commercial for security telephone equipment for the elderly. That commercial featured an elderly woman falling down and saying those exact words. In a weird way, that commercial struck people's funny bone. The rhyme "Smack, Jack. Homey don't play that" was the signature lines of the character "Homie D. Clown". Homey was created by comedian Damon Wayans for the innovative television show In Living Color. Unable to find any other job after being released from prison, Homie worked as a clown at little children's birthday parties. As you might imagine, Homie had no aptitude for leading children's party activities and no patience with the little children's constant questions. At regular intervals in the party, Homie would smack the children asking him questions with a plastic bat. And Homie would refuse to perform the expected "clown" activities saying "Homie don't play that". This saying has become part of African American folk tradition and is used to convey that doing what someone ask you to do is totally out of the question.
Note: "Bust it!", "Swing it!", and "Kick it!" all mean "Show us how well you dance." "She kicked her beat" means she danced really well.