Mo, re the song: "Going round the mountain, two by two," I found this song in a book-sorry can't remember the name-something like "Children's Games From Many Lands"...

And even though the book said that "Going round the mountain etc" was a circle game, I believe it had evolved from a partner {two people} promanade {walking or strutting} around the yard or room.

This makes better sense to me because of the words. But also there was a drawing with the song of a vertical line of couples {two children a boy and a girl, or two boys, or two girls walking outdoors. I can't remember if "the couple" held hands or not.

**

Clearly, I should have selected another "circle, with a person in the middle" song then Going Round The Mountain".

Here's a song that African American girls {5-12 years or so} still know -still meaning 1997-2006-last time I checked:

GOING TO KENTUCKY
We're going to Kentucky
We're going to the fair
To see the sister Rita *
With the flowers in her hair **
[Oh] shake it sister Rita
Shake it all you can
Cause all the boys ***
Are watchin you
So do the best you can

Rumble to the bottom
Rumble to the top
Turn around
And touch the ground
Until you holler
S-T-O-P
Speeells
Stop.

This soung comes from various sources, including girls and boys ages 5-12 years old Alafia Children's Ensemble, Braddock, PA 1997, and Alafia Children's Ensemble, Pittsburgh, 1998

* for a boy in the center, the group was directed to say "brother Rico" [that the group didn't know what to say for a boy is a reflection of the fact that -outside of adult directed organized play activity such as Alafia Children's Ensemble- boys don't usually play this game.]

** for a boy in the center, the group was directed to say "flowers in his hand"

*** for a boy in the center, the group says "cause all the girls are watching you" etc

**** On the words "S-T-O-P", the person in the center 'closes' her eyes , covers her eyes by putting her right hand over her eyes, extends her left arm and points while she twirls around in the center of the circle. The person who she is pointing to on the word "Stop" is the new center person. The new center person quickly goes to stand in the center, the old center person quickly rejoins the circle, and the game immediately begins again .

-snip-

Throughout the years since I've been collecting children's rhymes, I've seen this 'game' played by African American girls in various Pittsburgh African American neighborhoods. I've heard the girl referred to as "Sister Rita", "Sister Reena" and rarely "Senorita". "Sister Rita" and "Sister Reena" are folk etymology versions of "senorita", as Spanish word meaning "little woman" that these African American girls didn't know.

By the way, I'm not saying that this song is of African American origin, or that African American girls are the only ones who sing it and play it this way. I'm just sharing what I observed. Fwiw,I don't recall playing or singing "Goin To Kentucky" [or "Goin 'Round The Mountain"] in my childhood.