Lyr Req: Playground songs

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: Viracocha
Date: 30 Jul 07 - 08:23 AM

Um...playground rhymes... When I was little...

Choosing 'It' games

Ip dip
Sky blue
All out
But you
or
Ip dip
[or 'dog s**t]
You are
Not 'It'
or a huge long one about
Mickey Mouse
In his house
Pulling on his troosers
...But I can't remember any more. Got quite lewd, though. I think he had blue pants too.

A clapping rhyme:

Myyyyyy boyfriend gave me an apple
My boyfriend gave me a pear
My boyfriend gave me a [pretend to kiss other person's cheeks x3]
And I threw him down the stairs

I threw him over London
I threw him over France [fran(t)ss]
I threw him over the USA
And he lost his underpants [note: 'underpants' is just to scan, we usually used 'pants']

IIIIII gave him back his apple
I gave him back his pear
I gave him back his [pretend to kiss other person's cheeks x3]
And he threw me down the stairs

He threw me over London
He threw me over France
He threw me over the USA
And I lost my underpants

There was another verse, but I honestly can't remember where it goes from here.

Skipping games

APPLE CRUMBLE APPLE TART
(the idea was to go through all options for each line, and stop where the 'skipper' tripped. You could go through several times)

Apple crumble apple tart
What's the initial of your true sweetheart?A,B,C,D... [then again for surname - we were precise!]

Will you get married? Yes, no, yes...

[only if yes] Where'll you marry? Church, stable, pigsty, toilet, church...

How many children will you have? 1,2,3...

What kind of children will you have? Girls, boys, both, twins, girls...

[some people let you choose further if you tripped on 'twins' - 'girls, boys, both...' again)


BALLERINA
Ballerina ballerina
Turn around
Ballerina ballerina
Touch the ground
Ballerina ballerina
Double quick
Ballerina ballerina
Do the splits!

The trick was to do it all skipping. Then there was the more dangerous "Helicopter helicopter turn around, helicopter helicopter touch the ground" - not really a skipping game, but someone held the ends of the rope and span like a helicopter. Everyone had to duck and jump, while staying in place. That one was banned :(

Then there was French skipping (with a french-skipping-rope)

Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales (or England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales)
Inside Outside Donkies' TAILS!

Then there was the obscure Kings and Queens arrivin'

KINGS AND QUEENS ARRIVIN'

[We split into two large teams, and each team joined hands, so there were two long strings of people facing each other. We skipped in towards the other team together, then out together.]

Kings and Queens arrivin'
Arrivin'
Arrivin'
Kings and Queens arrivin'
Ipsy Dipsy
Dee-eye-oh
[stop skipping. The first team went into a huddle, and picked a person from the second team. The second team pretended not to be trying to hear. Then the first team skipped in and out, singing:]
The first name is [insert two-syllable insult, such as Smelly]
Smelly
Smelly
The first name is Smelly
Ipsy Dipsy
Dee-eye-oh

[second team - something like:]
Who one Earth is Smelly? (possibly "Who're you callin' Smelly?")
Smelly
Smelly
Who one Earth is Smelly?
Ipsy Dipsy
Dee-eye-oh

[first team]
The second name is [first name of person picked, eg Johnny]
Johnny
Johnny
The second name is Johnny
Ipsy Dipsy
Dee-eye-oh

[then there would be a huge exchange. The first team would want Smelly Johnny, and the second team wouldn't want to hand him over, and offer someone else. I think that bit ceased to be fun and got dropped. The insults could be quite harsh, and the game sometimes was played with teams half-sulking!]

-Viracocha

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: Azizi
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 09:25 PM

Well I meant that I joined Mudcat in Sept 2004. Sorry about that.
Darn if I don't need a proof reader!

Azizi

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: Azizi
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 09:23 PM

In 2003 Q visited my website Cocojams. At that time the focus of Cocojams was to provide examples and my commentary on African American children's games songs,rhymes & chants And secular African American slave songs. [Thank you Q for letting me know about Mudcat, although it took me till Sept. 2005 to join!]

Cocojams'focus has recently changed to that of place where people can share their memories about everyday experiences or eventful experiences. However, Cocojams still includes examples of and commentary on children's games songs, rhymes, and chants. There are also a few examples of African American slavery dance songs; Civil Rights Freedom songs; and African American university Greek letter fraternity and sorority chants.

One example of a handclap rhyme found there is DOUBLE THIS
Double double this this

Double double that that

Double this

Double that

Double this and that.

For more examples visit Cocojams

I am particularly interested in variations of children's rhymes and commentary/demographics about those rhymes as I am working on a book on that subject.
   
Also, you will see a number of my Mudcat posts on Cocojams. You will also find some re-posts from other Mudcatters. The re-posts from Mudcat members were used with their prior permission.

May I also say that Cocojams is a work in progress. Your input and support would be VERY greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Azizi

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 05:15 PM

Here comes Rosie,
Blow her big nosie.
Out comes snot,
Nice and hot,
Chewin' gum, chewin' gum.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: GUEST,Jonathan UK
Date: 20 Feb 05 - 04:18 PM

I can recall excerpts rom two songs which date (at least) from the early 1960's. The Davy Crockett reference was presumably from a TV series shown on TV after school in those days. Funnily enough, I don't ever remember hearing more than thatr first couplet:

"Say what you will, school dinners make you ill
Davy Crockett died of Shepherd's pie!"
[followed by laughter f course.]

The other is contemporaneous with the first (so far as I know) - although of course these things may go back generations, just as the playground games do...

"Ugly, mugly custard, bogey snotty pie
All mixed up in a dead dog's eye
Stir it, stir it, stir it thick
Was it all down with a hot cup of sick!"

LOL!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: GUEST,Paul Burke
Date: 19 Nov 02 - 08:40 AM

Have you seen a woman with a big red nose
Looking for a house to let?
A house to let, apply within,
When I go out Jenny Jones* comes in

*name to suit

Skipping song Salford Lancs late 1950's

Also (forgive the language, no one though twice about it then, sadly)

There was a little nigger boy, his knees were double- jointed,
He gave me a kiss and he left me disappointed.
He gave me another, just to match the other,
Oh, Eileen, I'll tell yor mother,
Kissing little nigger boys down by the river.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: GUEST,Penny S. (elsewhere)
Date: 19 Nov 02 - 06:56 AM

Further up on this thread I have attributed a particular rhyme about school dinners to my school. I have now better recall. The first two lines,

Say what you will, school dinners make you ill,
And Davy Crockett died of shepherd's pie,

arrived at our private school from a local secondary modern in Folkestone via a girl with friends there. The second two lines,

All school din-dins
Come from pig bins,

I remember a group of us making up. I gather from other threads that this version has been known in other places. It would be interesting to trace the other places and dates if possible - the year of the Fess Parker Disney film would be probable, if it fits with the Southern Television programme Out of Town, which used the tune as its theme. The South of England would be likely, too, because of the local nature of the programme.

Parallel evolution is possible, of course.

Any help?

Penny

Subject: Lyr Add: ???
From: Snuffy
Date: 21 Feb 00 - 07:22 PM

Charlie, Charlie, chuck-chuck-chuck
Went to bed with three young ducks
One duck died
Charlie cried
Charlie, Charlie, chuck-chuck-chuck


Not last night, but the night before,
Three old tomcats knocking at the door
One had whisky, one had rum
And one had a pancake stuck to his bum


Bonfire night, the stars are bright
Three little angles dressed in white
One had a whistle one had a drum
And one had a pancake stuck to his bum


Wassail!


Snuffy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: wysiwyg
Date: 21 Feb 00 - 04:15 PM

A lot of these will sing either to blues or t Shotnoin Bread, needing only a chorus.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: Osmium
Date: 21 Feb 00 - 04:11 PM

Isla St.Clair has recorded many Children's dities collected from Scotland dating back to when the rocks were formed on recent CD's she has released.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: Mbo
Date: 21 Feb 00 - 04:05 PM

Wow! Garg, field recording for children's songs! What a concept! That Smithsonian does some cool stuff!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: Metchosin
Date: 21 Feb 00 - 04:02 PM

Edith Fowke also put out a book containing 300 songs, rhymes and singing games called Sally Goes Round the Sun, published by McClelland and Stewart.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: GUEST,_gargoyle
Date: 21 Feb 00 - 03:36 PM

The Smithsonian issued a CD (1995?) taken from field recordings and the Library of Congress.....

It appears I have loaned my copy out.

Subject: Lyr Add: ???
From: Metchosin
Date: 21 Feb 00 - 02:58 PM

That one doesn't sound familiar but it reminded me of these:

I had a little dog
His name was Tiny Tim
Put him in the bathtub to see if he could swim
Drank all the water
Ate all the soap
Had to phone the doctor before he choked
In came the doctor
In came the nurse
In came the lady with the big fat purse
Out went the doctor
Out went the nurse
Out went the lady with the big fat purse.

Down the Mississippi
Where the boats go Push

I had a little car
1948
Went around a corner
And I slammed on the brakes

Policeman policeman
Do your duty
Here comes (insert name)
The bathing beauty
She can do the rhumba
She can do the splits
She can lift her dress
Right over her hips.

On a mountain stands a lady
Who she is I do not know
I'll go ask her hand in marriage
She must answer: (pepper - for those that don't remmeber really fast)
Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor
Richman, poorman, beggerman, thief
Doctor, lawyer, Indian chief

Miss Polly had a dolly who was sick sick sick
So she called for the doctor to come quick quick quick
The doctor came with his bag and his hat
And he knocked at the door with a rat tat tat
He looked at the dolly and he shook his head
And he said Miss Polly put the dolly to bed
He sent her to the store for a pill pill pill
Saying I'll be back in the morning with the bill bill bill

From the days in Canada before Medicare.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: black walnut
Date: 21 Feb 00 - 02:04 PM

Sweeties in the jar, Sweeties in the jar, Pick them out, pick them out, Sweeties in the jar.

Sausages in the pan, sausages in the pan, Turn them over, turn them over, Sausages in the pan.

Biscuits in the tin, Biscuits in the tin, Shake them up, Shake them up, Biscuits in the tin.

Fire on the floor, Fire on the floor, Stamp it out, Stamp it out, Fire on the floor.

Ghosties in the house, Ghosties in the house, Shoo them out, Shoo them out, Ghosties in the house. ..............................................

and i remember a skipping song that went something like this...

My mother and your mother were hanging up the clothes. Your mother hit my mother right in the nose. What colour was the blood? Red, black, red, black,....

i think the rope went fast on 'red, black...', and you jumped until you tripped the rope. does that one sound familiar to anyone?

~black walnut

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: GUEST,PM
Date: 21 Feb 00 - 01:53 PM

We used to play skipping ropes to this song: Jelly on a plate, jelly on a plate, wibble wobble, wibble wobble, jelly on a plate. We would skip pretending we were wobbling like a jelly.

The next verse was: Sausage in a pan, sausage in a pan, sizzle sazzle, sizzle sazzle, sausage in a pan. To that we would cross and uncross our feet as we jumped. There were many other verses but I can't remember them. Anyone else know?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: Mbo
Date: 21 Feb 00 - 11:54 AM

I was weird! Kids didn't really understand my singing of Hank Williams Jr. songs on the playground when I was 7. They probably didn't even know what country music was! "You've got it made in the shade, sugar--but don't let that tree fall down on you!" Yeah-yeah!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: GUEST,Patrish
Date: 21 Feb 00 - 04:18 AM

Dave are you going to Jims birthday do?
Patrish

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 20 Feb 00 - 10:58 PM

Kid's songs, along with bawdy songs and army/navy songs are probably the purest examples of the folk tradition extant. Botkin collected som, Tony Schwartz collected some, Pankake collected some. So did many others, and I'd be delighted if somebody posted some of them.

Some of my personal favorites:

Margarite, go wash your feet, the Board of Health is across the street.

I should worry, I should care, I should marry a millionaire;
He should die,I should cry, I should marry another guy.

I should worry, I should fret, I should marry a suffragette...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: Barky
Date: 20 Feb 00 - 08:52 PM

Ahem:
Jaimie and Richie,
Sittin in a tree.
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
First comes love,
then comes marriage,
then comes baby in a baby carriage!

~Barky

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: Penny S.
Date: 20 Feb 00 - 01:18 PM

Two items from the school I went to between 7 and 14. I believe the first originated there, and it remains unfinished. The tunes should be obvious.

Say what you will, school dinners make you ill,
And Davy Crockett dies of shepherds' pie.
All school din-dins come from pig-bins,
Why, O why?

(At the end of each day, the pig men came and collected waste food in galvanised metal dustbins, hence pig-bins.)

Oh, the Yellow Rose of Texas,
The Man from Laramie,
Went to Davy Crockett's,
To have a cup of tea.
The tea was so delicious,
They had another cup,
And left poor Davy Crockett,
To do the washing up.

Penny

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 19 Feb 00 - 07:35 PM

I assume you've checked out some of the published sources, such as Peter and Iona Opie's Lore and Language of School Children, Oxford University Press, and William Wells Newell's Games and Songs of American Children which was first published in 1883 (reprinted by Dover in 1963) which might well be the first example of published field-collected children's material in America. Edith Fowke's Sally Go Round the Sun colorfully presents some recent children's playground material gathered in Canada.

The Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture produced an album of kid's material, too. I can't recall the title, off-hand, but they included a song, "Roaches No More," that I collected 33 years ago from some neat African-American girls from Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Feb 00 - 07:20 PM

Hi, Dave & Christine - there was a terrific resource at the University of West Florida called the "Jumprope Hypertext Archive." It's gone now, darn it. I wasn't smart enough at the time to save an HTML copy of the archive. I later found a text file of it, but it isn't as pretty. I'd be glad to e-mail it to you. Click on my name below to e-mail me if you'd like a copy.
You may also enjoy our two "Naughty Kids" threads, here (click) and here (cluck).
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Playground songs
From: Snuffy
Date: 19 Feb 00 - 07:00 PM

Enter @kids in the Lyrics search box - there's well over 100. You could also try @playparty.

Wassail!

V

Subject: Playground songs
From: GUEST,Christine Savage & Dave Minikin
Date: 19 Feb 00 - 06:08 PM

We are currently looking for playground songs and tunes, old and new. This could be songs you recall from childhood, or have heard recently being sung.