Tipsy-Topsy T-I-O

Subject: Tipsy-Topsy T-I-O
From: LGeyser
Date: 29 Nov 98 - 04:21 PM

We also sang a game song that isn't in your database:

Here comes the king a-riding, a-riding, a-riding,
Here comes the king a-riding - for Tipsy Topsy T - I - O.

(This was sung by a single person, playing the king, as he danced forward towards a line of others with the first line and then danced back to where he had come from while singing the second line. The setup was similar to Red Rover, or the Farmer in the Dell.)
The line then danced forwards and backwards while singing back at him:
What are you riding here for, here for, here for,
What are you riding here for - for Tipsy Topsy T - I - O.

(There followed a series of this type of thing.)

King - I've come to take a wife, wife, wife,..
Group - You can't have none of us, none of us, none of us,..

King - Why can't I have none of you, none of you, none of you,..
Group - You're face is black and dirty, dirty, dirty,..

King - Then I won't pick none of you, none of you, none of you,..
Group - Well, you can have one of us, one of us, one of us,..

(At this point, following that excellent exercise in grammar, the king would come forward and pick someone to stand beside him as his wife. From then on, the two would be singing the King's part. They would then continue to choose a son, a daughter, a nurse, a dog, a cat, a cow, and however many people, or animals, or things were required to continue until there was only one person left in the Group. At that point he/she became the King/Queen and the process was continued. If the person playing the royalty was a girl, she sang that she was the Queen, coming to take a husband. The only verse that was not danced forward and backwards was "Your face is black and dirty" which was sung with the backside waggling towards the opposite side.)
I have no idea where this Tipsy Topsy T - I - O came from. Everyone knew it where I lived (in a War Housing Project) in Cleveland, Ohio in 1944. I was 9 or 10 at that time.
Thank you,
Lucy Geyser
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