Here's the example of "last night and the night before" that contains a female target for racialized* interaction.

I'm posting this for the sake of the historical record, and to provide yet another example of a contemporary children's rhyme that is made up of several independent** rhymes and which includes the line "last night and the night before".

* I'm not sure if "racialized" is even a word. What I mean by it is an example or situation which adds the issue of race when that issue may not have previously been there before.

** "Independent rhymes are those that can be recited by themselves, though they also can be used in combination with other rhymes. Another term for independent rhymes are "stand alone verses".

[Btw, I'm writing this last comment in particular for those who might happen upon this thread by way of a search engine and may not know these terms. I believe that most Mudcatters know more than me what an independent verse or rhyme is.


eeney meeney dessemenney
shoo ba tumbaleeney
ochy cochy liberache
i love you
take a peach, take a plum
take a stick of bubble gum
no peach no plum
no stick of bubble gum
i like coffee i like tea
i like the other girl and she likes me
so stand back white girl don't be shy
i'll get another girl to kick your behind
last night and the night before looked through your peephole and guess what i saw
you didn't wash the dishes lazy
you didn't flush the toilet nasty
you jumped out the window you must be crazy
thats why we call you
ochy cochy liberachy i love you
-jenn (jenijenn) on Tuesday, November 12, 2002

http://www.streetplay.com/discus/ Shimmy Shimmy Cocoa Pop

-snip-

Imo, the above rhyme is made up of the following parts:

1. The first independent verse begins with "eeney meeney dessemenney" and ends with "i love you.". This verse serves as an introduction to what probably is a handclap rhyme. In my observations, the handclap actions for the introduction are usually different than the handclap actions for the rest of the rhyme. For instance, two girls may face each other and while reciting the introduction, they hold each other hands, and swing them from right to left in time with the rhyme. At the conclusion of the introdcution, the girls might perform a right hand/left hand slap alternating with clapping their own hands.

2. The second independent rhyme begins with "take a peach and ends with "no stick of bubble gum."

3. The third independent rhyme begins with "i like coffee i like tea" and ends with the word "behind."

4. The fourth independent rhyme begins with "last night and the night before" and ends with the line "looked through your peephole and what guess what I saw. The words "guess what I saw" acts as a seque into the last independent verse.

5. The fifth independent verse starts with "you didn't wash the dishes lazy lazy" and ends with "you jumped out the window you must be crazy"

6. The rhyme finishes with the ending phrase "thats why we call you
ochy cochy liberachy i love you'. This ending echoes the introductory verse.

Fwiw, each of these "independent verses" noted above are commonly found in online collections of contemporary {USA} English language children's rhymes where the examples are submitted by children and youth themselves and not by an adult posting rhymes that are are the remembrances of other adults. However, also for what it's worth, I haven't found many examples of rhymes that end by echoing the introductory lines as this one does.