Lyrics & Knowledge Personal Pages Record Shop Auction Links Radio & Media Kids Membership Help
The Mudcat Cafesj

Post to this Thread - Sort Descending - Printer Friendly - Home


Origins: Frog in the Meadow/Froggie in the Middle

Joe Offer 02 Feb 22 - 07:12 PM
Joe Offer 02 Feb 22 - 07:15 PM
Joe Offer 02 Feb 22 - 07:17 PM
Joe Offer 02 Feb 22 - 07:28 PM
Joe Offer 04 Feb 22 - 02:44 AM
Share Thread
more
Lyrics & Knowledge Search [Advanced]
DT  Forum Child
Sort (Forum) by:relevance date
DT Lyrics:





Subject: Origins: Frog in the Meadow/Froggie in the Middle
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Feb 22 - 07:12 PM

Somebody asked me about this song, and I had to admit I knew nothing about. I'm guessing it's a play party song. Anybody have any information on it? It's not in any of the many children's songbooks we have indexed here.

But hey, it has an entry in the Traditional Ballad Index and TWO Roud numbers:

Frog in the Middle


DESCRIPTION: Children's game: "Frog in the middle And can't get out. Take a stick And punch him out." (Or "Frog in the meadow, Can't get him out; Take a little stick And stir him about.")
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1921 (Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5); 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: playparty animal
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Scarborough-OnTheTrailOfNegroFolkSongs, p. 130, (no title) (1 short text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5, p. 535, "Frog in the Middle" (1 short text, 1 tune)
McIntosh-FolkSongsAndSingingGamesofIllinoisOzarks, pp. 81-82, "Froggie's in the Meadow" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Skean-CircleLeft-FolkPlayOfKentuckyMountains, p. 8, "Froggie's in the Meadow" (1 short text, 1 tune)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, (Rachel Cranford, collector), "Games and Game Rhymes", Vol. 1, No. 1 (Jun 1948), p. 13, "(Frog in the Mill Pond)" (1 text)

Roud #14047 and 21632
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Frog in the Meadow
NOTES [122 words]: I suspect that there is a good deal more to this game than Scarborough describes. But until we find another version, we're left guessing, e.g., as to how one becomes the "frog" (whom she describes as a child in the middle of a circle, and poked out into the ring). The Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 version is no help; it's just a few words and a tune, with no description. McIntosh-FolkSongsAndSingingGamesofIllinoisOzarks is only a little better; he had a short description, and an informant claimed the game had a moral: "You will be punished if you steal."
Roud seems to split this in two based on whether the frog is in the MIDDLE or in the MILL POND. But the rest is the same, so I regard them as the same. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.1
File: ScaNF130

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2021 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

In his The Lore of the Playground (2011), Steve Roud says on page 50 that "Frog in the Middle" is one of a number of circle games, most of which involve harassment of the poor sucker who ended up in the center of the circle. About "Frog," Roud says:

    ...the key player in "Frog in the middle" must simply stay sitting down with his legs under him. The other children form a ring, and they:
      ...pull or buffet the centre child or Frog, who tries to catch one of them without rising from the floor. The child who is caught takes the place of the centre child...They sometimes sing or say:

        Hey! Hey! Hi! Frog in the middle and there shall lie;
        He can't get out and he shan't get out—Hey! Hey! Hi!

    In an American version from 1831, the people on the outside taunt the frog, with "Frog in the middle and can't catch me," but the person in the centre suddenly jumps to catch one unawares.


Post - Top - Home - Printer Friendly - Translate

Subject: RE: Origins: Frog in the Meadow/Froggie in the Middle
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Feb 22 - 07:15 PM

FROGGIE IN THE MIDDLE

Froggie in the middle
And he can't get out,
He can't get out,
He can't get out.
Froggie in the middle
And he can't get out.
Here's a fly to lure him out!

Source: https://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/f055.html


Post - Top - Home - Printer Friendly - Translate

Subject: ADD: Frog in the Middle
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Feb 22 - 07:17 PM

Hoffman Academy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckWTBJvB7Ss

FROG IN THE MIDDLE

Frog in the middle, frog in the sea;
Frog in the middle, can't catch me.


Post - Top - Home - Printer Friendly - Translate

Subject: ADD: Frog in the Meadow
From: Joe Offer
Date: 02 Feb 22 - 07:28 PM

from Paul DeNovi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeNMTJsUkGk

FROG IN THE MEADOW

Frog in the meadow, can't get him out
Take a little stick and turn him about

One more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awOPLPhFaRs

FROG IN THE MEADOW

Frog in the meadow, can't get him out
Take a little stick and stir him about


Post - Top - Home - Printer Friendly - Translate

Subject: ADD Version Froggy in the Meadow
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Feb 22 - 02:44 AM

This is from Jean Ritchie's Kentucky Mother Goose, by Jean Ritchie with Susan Brumfield, 2015 (Page 16)

FROGGY IN THE MEADOW

Jean taught this game to me in 2005. She explained:

It's not really a song it's a chant, I think they circled around, and they kept their eyes shut. They weren't supposed to watch where he went. And he could hide, but he didn't have to; if there wasn't
any place to hide, he would get behind somebody or something like that. The chant almost a tune, but it was always the same. They'd walk around in a circle, but he's in the middle. But as soon as they start to sing, he ducks out and hides hiimself. And they'd sing:

    Froggy in the meadow; can't get out!
    Take a little stick and stir him all about!
    Kick 'bout, kick him 'bout! Froggy's gone.
    Where's Froggy?


And that almost a tune, you know, but it was always the same. And when they said "stir him all about," they would go in with their arms and fry to hit him, if he was in there. And when they said "kick him 'bout, " they'd kick into the middle, all with their eyes closed. But they kicked first one foot, and then the other, and they would kick each other sometimes. If he hadn't gone, they'd kick him!


Post - Top - Home - Printer Friendly - Translate
  Share Thread:
More...

Reply to Thread
Subject:  Help
From:
Preview   Automatic Linebreaks   Make a link ("blue clicky")


Mudcat time: 8 February 1:37 AM EST

[ Home ]

All original material is copyright © 2022 by the Mudcat Café Music Foundation. All photos, music, images, etc. are copyright © by their rightful owners. Every effort is taken to attribute appropriate copyright to images, content, music, etc. We are not a copyright resource.