In re-reading this thead I see that GUEST,Allison
[Date: 20 Feb 07 - 06:49 PM] example has a tic, toc, tic, toc, tic, toc boom! line. Still, guest Chewkaaa's versions change that line a bit as an expansion on the reference to "dynamite".

**

It might be helpful to explain what I mean by "folk process". Here's one definition from http://www.folklib.net/folkfile/f.shtml :

"folk process (see also oral tradition) the method of learning a song, forgetting some of it, adding bits of your own, and then teaching the song to someone else, complete with changes. This happens all the time, with the expected result that there are often no definitive versions of songs."

-snip-

Here's an excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_music about changing the words of a song {btw, in this context "songs" also include "rhymes"}

"Music transmitted by word of mouth through a community will, in time, develop many variants, because this kind of transmission cannot produce word-for-word and note-for-note accuracy. Indeed, many traditional folk singers are quite creative and deliberately modify the material they learn[citation needed].

Because variants proliferate naturally, it is naïve to believe that there is such a thing as the single "authentic" version of a ballad such as "Barbara Allen (song)." Field researchers in folk song (see below) have encountered countless versions of this ballad throughout the English-speaking world, and these versions often differ greatly from each other. None can reliably claim to be the original, and it is quite possible that whatever the "original" was, it ceased to be sung centuries ago. Any version can lay an equal claim to authenticity, so long as it is truly from a traditional folksinging community and not the work of an outside editor."

-snip-

What makes the Michael Jackson lines so significant is that they are examples of how children's rhymes can document, preserve, and comment on something that happened in real life. However, because of misunderstanding or misremembering the words and/or because of purposeful changes & additions, the lyrics of a song or rhyme are often not an accurate depiction of what really happened.

The facts are that pop singer Michael Jackson's hair got burned while he was singing his hit song "Billie Jean" during the filming of a soft drink commercial. But which soft drink was it? {I can't remember, and there's various brand names of soda pop that are mentioned in different versions of this rhyme}. Also, what caused Jackson to get burned? It wasn't really dynamite. But the word "dynamite" is easier to use in a rhyme than "special effects fire works used while making a commercial". Besides, fire works are created by dynamite or are they?

I believe that it is important to also analyze and preserve information about what rhymes meant to those who recite them because in time people might forget these facts-if they ever knew them. For instance, there probably will come at time that people may read this Hanky Panky/Michael Jackson rhyme and wonder who the heck Michael Jackson is or was. Or if they know this bit of information, they may not know that Michael Jackson's hair caught on fire while filming a soda commercial. Or if they know this, they may not remember the name of the soft drink whose commercial Jackson was filming. And they also may not know what the word "beligene" means.

I can imagine these being "Trivia Pursuits" questions now. I can also imagine some of our great grandchildren arguing over the word beligine in years to come, never realizing that the answer to the question what is a beligene is found right on this Mudcat thread.

But then again, this thread may be long gone by that time.

Too bad.