The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #106986   Message #2214411
Posted By: Azizi
13-Dec-07 - 08:21 AM
Thread Name: Mary, Marry, Merry
Subject: RE: Mary, Marry, Merry
Here's a children's rhyme that inclues the word "marry".

We're Riding Here To Get Married

Directions: The girls are in one group and the boys are in another.
In the 1st part of this song, the girls sing & skip 4 steps for each phrase toward the boys and the boys sing while walking 4 steps for each phrase toward the girls. In the 2nd part, after the girls shout "Are you coming?" and the boys shout "No!, the girls try to catch the boy whose name was selected and the boys run away, protecting that boy from being caught by the girls.

[First Part]
Girls:
We're riding here to get married
Married, Married
Riding here to get married.
Ah Rhythm A Diddee
A Diddee High Oh

Boys:
Who you gonna marry?
Marry, Marry
Who you gonna marry?
Ah Rhythm A Diddee
A Diddee High Oh

Girls:
We're gonna marry Johnny *
Johnny, Johnny
We're gonna marry Johnny
Johnny, Johnny
Ah Rhythm A Diddee
A Diddee High Oh

Boys:
How ya gonna get him?
Get Him, Get Him
How ya gonna get him
Ah Rhythm A Diddee
A Diddee High Oh

Girls:
We'll break the doors and windows
Windows, Windows
We'll break the doors and windows
Ah Rhythm A Diddee
A Diddee High Oh

Boys:
You'll get all dirty and greasy
Greasy, Greasy
You'll get all dirty and greasy
Ah Rhythm A Diddee
A Diddee High Oh

Girls:
We're not as greasy and you are
You are, You are
We're not as greasy as you are
You'll get all dirty and greasy
Ah Rhythm A Diddee
A Diddee High Oh

Second Part:
Girls:
Are you coming? {Spoken loudly}

Boys:
NO!(Yelled)

{Theoretically, the girls are suppossed to be chasing the selected boy. However, they chase all of the boys, focusing on a boy who they like}.

* Use the name of the boy selected to "marry".
-Source, Barbara Ray {African American female; memories of her childhood in the 1950s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; collected by Azizi Powell in 1997

**

In my opinion, this is a variant of "Walking On The Green Grass" and "Dukes A Riding". In 2005, I posted this example in this Mudcat thread: thread.cfm?threadid=80573#1466198 "RE: Lyr Add: Walking on the Green Grass"