Here's another possible source for "Johnny Cockaroo":

Here Comes One Johnny Cuckoo

[African American Georgia Sea Isle Children's Game Song]


Group:
Here comes one Johnny Cuckoo,
Cuckoo, Cuckoo.
Here comes one Johnny Cuckoo,
on a cold and stormy night.

Group:
What did you come for,
come for, come for?
What did you come for,
on a cold and stormy night?

Soloist #1:
I come to be a soldier,
soldier, soldier.
I come to be a soldier,
on a cold and stormy night.

Group:
You are too black and dirty,
dirty, dirty.
You are too black and dirty
on a cold and stormy night.

Soloist #1:
I'm just as good as you are
you are, you are.
I'm just as good as you are
on a cold and stormy night.

(repeat entire song with soloist #2 etc.)

**

"Johnny Cuckoo" is a traditional game song from the Georgia Sea Isles. The song is included in a four CD collection of Southern folk songs (Alan Lomax, Sounds of the South Disc 4 Atlantic Recording Corp, 1993). The song is also included in Bess Hawes & Bess Lomax Hawes' book of Georgia Sea Isle rhymes Step It Down.

This song probably dates from the Civil War era. In my opinion, "Johnny Cuckoo" used dramatic play to teach & reinfornce self-esteem and self-confidence. Hopefully, the children internalized the affirmation that "I'm just a good as you are" for the times when they would experience put downs as children, teens, and adults.

I'm not certain if "Johnny Cuckoo" is still sung in Georgia or elsewhere. I have no knowledge of it from my childhood in New Jersey, and haven't come across anyone who knows it in my adopted city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.