Popular Songs & Ads In Children's Rhymes

Subject: Popular Songs & Ads In Children's Rhymes
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Dec 06 - 06:55 AM

What children's rhymes do you know that include lines from popular songs and/or lines from commercial product jingles?

I'll start the ball rolling in my next post.

Thanks in advance for joining in the fun- and at the same time adding to the folkloric preservation, study, and sharing of children's rhymes!

Subject: RE: Popular Songs & Ads In Children's Rhymes
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Dec 06 - 07:06 AM

PLAYGROUND
All:
I've fallin.
I can't get up.
I've fallin
I can't get up.
Smack, Jack!
Homie don't play that.
Kick off your shoes (or "Put up your dukes")
and let's get loose!

All except
the soloist:
Bust it "T", Bust it "T", Bust it!
Swing it "T", Swing it "T", Swing it!
Kick it, "T", Kick it "T", Kick it!
She kicks her beat at the playground,
you know, playground.
{use first initial of the soloist's name or nickname}

{Repeat the entire rhyme with next soloist, and continue repeating in this manner until everybody has had one turn as the soloist}.
-from African American girls ages 7-12 years old; Lillian Taylor Camp; Pittsburgh, PA, early 1990s.

**

"Playground" demonstrates the creative way that children's folk rhymes and cheers are created from a number of different mass media sources. The cheer's title and the lines that begin with "Kick off your shoes and let's get loose" are lifted from the ABC's {Another Bad Creation} 1991 hit R&B song "Playground". The lines "I've fallin' and I can't get up" are from a low budget television commercial for security telephone equipment for the elderly. That commercial featured an elderly woman falling down and saying those exact words. In a weird way, that commercial struck people's funny bone. The rhyme "Smack, Jack. Homey don't play that" was the signature lines of the character "Homie D. Clown". Homey was created by comedian Damon Wayans for the innovative television show In Living Color. Unable to find any other job after being released from prison, Homie worked as a clown at little children's birthday parties. As you might imagine, Homie had no aptitude for leading children's party activities and no patience with the little children's constant questions. At regular intervals in the party, Homie would smack the children asking him questions with a plastic bat. And Homie would refuse to perform the expected "clown" activities saying "Homie don't play that". This saying has become part of African American folk tradition and is used to convey that doing what someone ask you to do is totally out of the question.

Note: "Bust it!", "Swing it!", and "Kick it!" all mean "Show us how well you dance." "She kicked her beat" means she danced really well.

Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsWCfemmUxg to see and hear Another Bad Creation's {ABC} 1991 hit single from their debut album "Coolin' At The Playground Ya Know"

Also see http://www.lyricsdownload.com/another-bad-creation-playground-lyrics.html and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_Bad_Creation for this song's lyrics and for information about this song.

In addition, visit http://valdefierro.com/ilc02.html for information about the In Living Color television series.

Subject: RE: Popular Songs & Ads In Children's Rhymes
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Dec 06 - 07:21 AM

THAT'S THE WAY
1, 2, 3,
HIT IT!
that's the way
uh huh uh huh
i like it
uh huh uh huh
that's the way
uh huh uh huh
i like it
uh huh uh huh
peace. punch
captain crunch.
brick wall. waterfall.
girl you think you know it all?
you don't! i do!
so poof with the attitude.
loser loser with a twist
elbow elbow wrist wrist.
wipe a tear. blow a kiss.
kiss this.
hunnie u aint got none of this.
-posted by k to the c on http://blog.oftheoctopuses.com/000518.php; June 20, 2006

{reposted with permission from that blog's members}

**

"That's the Way un hun un hun I like it" is from KC And The Sunshine Band's 1975 hit song "That's The Way I Like It"

Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBwYwZNO928 to see and hear this song.

Imo, the "That's the way" lines serve as introduction to the very popular "Brick Wall Water Fall" handclap rhyme. This rhyme was popularized by its inclusion in the 2003 "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star" movie. See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325258/quotes for the exact lines that were given in that movie.

Subject: RE: Popular Songs & Ads In Children's Rhymes
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Dec 06 - 08:05 AM

ABC [title]

A.B.C.
It's easy as 1.2.3.
My momma takes care of me.
My father don't yell at me.

Caught you with your boyfriend.
Naughty, Naughty.
Didn't do the dishes.
Lazy, Lazy.
Ate all the candy
Greedy, greedy.
Jumped out the window.
Man, you're crazy!
-Caucasian female between 17-25 years old who said she grew up
in a predominately Black neighborhood in Washington, D.C. in the late 1980s

**

"ABC" is another handclap rhyme. The first two lines are from the Jackson Five's 1970 hit song "ABC".

Click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1FQTO3M10Q for a video clip of this song.

The "caught you with your boyfriend" lines [until the end of the rhyme] are found in a number of "Miss Susie Had A Steamboat" handclap rhymes.

Subject: RE: Popular Songs & Ads In Children's Rhymes
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Dec 06 - 08:21 AM

R&B isn't the only song source that is used for children's rhymes.
Parodies of Christmas carols and other folk songs are also a rich source for children's rhymes.

For example, here's a version of "WE THREE KINGS":

We three kings of Orient are
Tried to smoke a rubber cigar
It was loaded, it exploded
Now we are seeing stars

We two kings of Orient are
Tried to smoke a rubber cigar
It was loaded, it exploded
Now we are seeing stars

I one king of Orient are
Tried to smoke a rubber cigar
It was loaded, it exploded
Now we are seeing stars
-GUEST,Phil; Date: 24 Dec 00 - 02:24 PM

[I clipped this from a Mudcat thread Christmas Parodies, but now I can't find the URL for that thread].

Subject: RE: Popular Songs & Ads In Children's Rhymes
From: Flash Company
Date: 15 Dec 06 - 11:05 AM

We three Kings of Orient are,
Tried to smoke a penny cigar,
It was loaded, it exploded.........

Si-ilent night.....

Circa 1950 in Northwich, Cheshire

Hark the Herald Angels sing,
Beecham's pills are just the thing,
Move you gently, meek and mild,
Two for an adult, one for a child.
If you want to go to heaven,
Just take five or six or seven,
If you want to go to hell,
You'd better take the box as well,
Hark the Herald Angels sing,
Beecham's pills are just the thing.

First four lines reputedly by Sir Thomas Beecham, (it was his family firm!), remainder sung by my Gran, authorship unknown.

FC

Subject: RE: Popular Songs & Ads In Children's Rhymes
From: Scrump
Date: 15 Dec 06 - 11:50 AM

WTF? I posted a couple of kids' Christmas carol parodies earlier and they're gone! Eaten by the 'cat again!

Anyroad, here they are again:

While shepherds washed their socks by night
All seated round the tub
The Angel of the Lord came down
And gave them all a scrub

(there are lots of variations on this)

and

Good King Wenceslas looked out
Of his Morris Minor*
He bumped into a trolley bus**
And ended up in China

(ditto)

* a small British car mainly popular in the 1950s and 60s
** an electric bus powered by overhead lines, once common in UK cities