MAMA MAMA CAN'T YOU SEE

Mama Mama can't you see
What the army's done to me
Took away my MTV
Now I got to watch Barney
Tic Tac Toe
Three in a row
Your mama got killed
By GI Joe.
Don't stop till your hands get hot
Don't stop till your hands get red
-African American girls, ages 9 years old; Fort Pitt Elementary School; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 10/2006; http://www.cocojams.com/handclap_rhymes_example_0104.htm


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"Mama Mama Can't You See" appears to be a rather widely known handclap rhyme in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. It appears to be performed by girls [up to the age of about 12 years] and boys up to the age of about 8 years old].

The "your mama got killed" line appears to have replaced the "Barney got killed by GI Joe" line that I first heard recited by African American boys and girls in 1999 in Duquesne, Pennsylvania [a city about 12 miles from downtown Pittsburgh]. I find it very troubling that the line about a Barney the purple dinosaur {the fictitious television character that "older" children love to hate} getting killed was replaced with a line about a mother getting killed.

From 1999-2007, I heard the "Barney got killed by GI Joe" line within this rhyme on a number of occassions throughout numerous African American neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, PA area. I'm not sure how widespread that "mama got killed" line was or is. However, I also heard that specific line chanted at the same school-with different girls of the same ages-in 2007. At that time, I asked the girls to repeat the rhyme again to see if they would say it the same way, and they did so. More research needs to be done to ascertain if this replacement line is widespread and if this rhyme is still even "done" in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. One indication that the children's rhyme "Mama Mama Can't You See [and not the military cadence version] is known outside of Pittsburgh is that rhyme being posted by Mom from Bama on this Mudcat thread:

thread.cfm?threadid=102055&messages=48

Mom from Bama [presumably "Alabama"] indicated that she learned this rhyme from her two small girls. The girls' example contains the "Barney got killed by GI Joe" line.