Lyr Req: Mama Buy Me a China Doll

Subject: Momma Buy Me A China Doll
From: Night Owl
Date: 24 Jun 02 - 02:40 AM

Just one of those SILLY songs that gets into my head and WON'T leave until I get it right!! Didn't find anything in the Forum or DT search. I learned it at a Folk Festival in Tennessee a loooooong time ago.

It's a FUN "long-ride-in-the-car-take-turns-adding-your-own-verses" children's song.....wondering if anyone else is familiar with it??

So far I remember........

"Momma buy me a china doll x3
Do, momma, do.

With what will I buy you a china doll?

You can sell Daddy's feather bed.

Where will your Daddy sleep?

He can sleep out in the barn.

But where will the horses sleep?"

My daughter and I would add verses...switching different animal's beds....(chickens took pigs' bed, pigs took goat's beds, goats took horses' beds, etc.)

Hope SOMEONE can fill in the blanks.....a verse about a garden gate????...and somehow the last verse brings it back to the first verse, similar to "Hole In The Bucket".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Momma Buy Me A China Doll
From: masato sakurai
Date: 24 Jun 02 - 03:21 AM

The sheet music (PDF file) is HERE.

~Masato

Subject: Lyr Add: BUY ME A CHINA DOLL (trad Ozarks)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 24 Jun 02 - 04:17 AM

MILKING PAIL (a version of this song) is in the DT (Click here for other sets of lyrics and background info).

An entry at The Traditional Ballad Index:

Milking Pails (China Doll)
DESCRIPTION: The child begs, "Mama, buy me a china doll." The mother asks where the money will come from. The child proposes selling Papa's bed. Mama asks where Papa will sleep. The child keeps proposing ideas, each more impractical. Finally Mama ends the discussion
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1894 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: commerce children family mother playparty
FOUND IN: US(So) Britain (England)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 356, "Buy Me a China Doll" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MILKPAIL
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Chiney Doll

Notes: Randolph's informant claims to have learned this in Oklahoma. I know of only two verified American collections, though: Randolph's, and a version ("Chiney Doll") by Almeda Riddle. Thus American texts, and the "China Doll" wish, may be confined to the Ozarks. On the other hand, Newell's text, "Milking-Pails" (from England) is so close in form (if not in the object of desire) that the song must be considered ancient, and Gomme has more than a dozen British texts. The British version is a singing game, though the American texts seem to have lost this trait. - RBW
File: R356

................................................................................

BUY ME A CHINA DOLL
("Sung by Mrs. Janaet Shreve, farmington, Ark., Jan. 28, 1942. Learned about 1900 near Chelsea, Okla., on an Indian reservation."--Randolph)

Mamma, buy me a china doll,
Buy me a china doll,
Buy me a china doll,
Oh mamma dear.

Where will the money come from?
Where will the money come from?
Where will the money come from?
Oh daughter dear.

Sell papa's feather-bed,
Sell papa's feather-bed,
Sell papa's feather-bed,
Oh mamma dear.

Where will papa sleep?
Where will papa sleep?
Where will papa sleep?
Oh daughter dear.

Sleep in the piggies' bed,
Sleep in the piggies' bed,
Sleep in the piggies' bed,
Oh mamma dear.

Where will the piggies sleep?
Where will the piggies sleep?
Where will the piggies sleep?
Oh daughter dear.

Sleep in the horse's stall,
Sleep in the horse's stall,
Sleep in the horse's stall,
Oh mamma dear.

Where will the horses sleep?
Where will the horses sleep?
Where will the horses sleep?
Oh daughter dear.

Tie 'em down by the river side,
Tie 'em down by the river side,
Tie 'em down by the river side,
Oh mamma dear.

Where will the rope come from?
Where will the rope come from?
Where will the rope come from?
Oh daughter dear.

Take down the children's swing,
Take down the children's swing,
Take down the children's swing,
Oh mamma dear.

Where will the children swing?
Where will the children swing?
Where will the children swing?
Oh daughter dear.

Swing on the garden gate,
Swing on the garden gate,
Swing on the garden gate,
Oh mamma dear.

Yes, and get a licking too,
Yes, and get a licking too,
Yes, and get a licking too,
Oh daughter dear.

(SOURCE: Vance Randolph, Ozark Folksongs, vol. III, No. 356 (pp. 46-47; with music)

~Masato

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Click to play

Subject: Lyr Add: CHINA DOLL
From: masato sakurai
Date: 24 Jun 02 - 04:35 AM

Another version:

CHINA DOLL
(trad. American)

Mama won't you buy me a china doll, china doll, china doll
Mama won't you buy me a china doll, oh do, Mommy do

How'm I gonna buy you a china doll?
We can sell Daddy's featherbed
Then where will your Daddy sleep?
He can sleep in the puppy's bed
Then where will the puppy sleep?
He can sleep in the piggy's pen
Then where will the piggy root?
He can root in the front yard
Then where will my children play?
They'll be playing with the china doll
Mama won't you buy me a china doll?

(From HERE)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Momma Buy Me A China Doll
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Jun 02 - 07:20 AM

Wow, well done, Masato!

I heard the tune to this last night, when on the phone with Night Owl..it's great to have the words, too.

All the best,

kat

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Momma Buy Me A China Doll
From: Night Owl
Date: 25 Jun 02 - 01:24 PM

You ARE awesome Masato!!!! Thank you for the research you did....and giving me back the song. (AND for the links you found...Tom Knight's page is NEAT!!)

I guess the version I learned was a combination of your first and second posts. I learned it in the early seventies, from a woman in her nineties, who knew the song from when she was a child.

Thanks again for this one......and ALL the other songs/history you find for us here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Momma Buy Me A China Doll
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 May 03 - 11:46 PM

The tune sounds awfully familiar to me. Is is "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush"?
-Joe Offer-

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Momma Buy Me A China Doll
From: masato sakurai
Date: 19 May 03 - 01:54 AM

Joe, I agree with you, it's "Mulberry Bush". As Iona & Peter Opie say in The Singing Game (Oxford, 1985, p. 275), "Twentieth-century versions are usually sung to the tune of 'Nuts in May' [i.e., "Mulberry Bush]." The tune is a descendant of "Nancy Dawson", from which other songs, such as "I Saw Three Ships" and "Garden Hymn", are derived.

Almeda Riddle didn't sing it ("Mama, Buy Me a Chiny Doll"; the first version, and the second version, with audio) to that tune; it's a little closer to "Aunt Rhody" than to "Mulberry."

Alic Bertha Gomme's two versions in The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, vol. 1 (1898; Dover, 1964, p. 376) are:

X:1
T:Milking Pails #1
M:C
S:Monton, Lancashire (Miss Dendy); London (A.B. Gomme)
L:1/8
K:Eb
E>E E/F/G A2F2|G2E2F2B,2|E>E E/F/G A2F2|B>G A/F/D E4||
Bc/A/ GFE4|]
w:Last bar only. London version.

X:2
T:Milking Pails #2
M:C
S:Earls Heaton, Yorks. (H. Hardy)
L:1/8
K:A
A A B c d c A2|d c B2c B A2|A A B c d cB2|c2e e c B A2||

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Momma Buy Me A China Doll
From: black walnut
Date: 19 May 03 - 09:37 AM

I recorded a lullaby variant on "Up and Over the Moon!":

Mama bring me a china doll
Mama bring me a china doll
Mama bring me a china doll
Please Mama do

Papa bring me a starry sky
Papa bring me a starry sky
Papa bring me a starry sky
Please Papa do

Sister bring me a blanket of wool
Sister bring me a blanket of wool
Sister bring me a blanket of wool
Please Sister do

Brother bring me a sailing ship
Brother bring me a sailing ship
Brother bring me a sailing ship
Please Sister do

The tune is very close to Masato's above.

~black walnut

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Momma Buy Me A China Doll
From: black walnut
Date: 19 May 03 - 09:39 AM

[I mean WAAAY above....2nd entry]

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Momma Buy Me A China Doll
From: harpgirl
Date: 19 May 03 - 10:52 AM

I sang this song for years in Arkansas after hearing Almeda Riddle do it at a Rackensack Meeting. She would stand with great dignity and wave her hands back and forth as if she were skulling the air, to maintain her tempo. I loved Almeda's singing and I have been greatly influenced by her. harpy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Momma Buy Me A China Doll
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)
Date: 19 May 03 - 03:14 PM

With our family, it was thus:

Mommie buy me a big glass doll,
A big glass doll, a big glass doll;
Mommie buy me a big glass doll-
Do, Mommie, do.

What shall I buy it with? (3x)
Do, baby, do.

Sell Poppie's featherbed.

Where shall your Poppie sleep?

Sleep in the horse's barn.

Where shall the horsie sleep?

Tie him to the riverbank.

If you don't hush I'll give you a spank!
(Child interrupts, yells, "DO MOMMIE DO!" and runs. Mommie chases, and if she catches the "baby," gives her a play-spank.

Jean Ritchie-Ritchie Family traditional song/game-Kentucky

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Momma Buy Me A China Doll
From: kytrad (Jean Ritchie)
Date: 19 May 03 - 03:16 PM

P.S. The music is different from that described above, however...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Momma Buy Me A China Doll
From: harpgirl
Date: 06 Aug 03 - 01:59 PM

re

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Momma Buy Me A China Doll
From: harpgirl
Date: 06 Aug 03 - 02:02 PM

MILKING PAIL

"Buy me a milkin-pail,
Mither, mither."
"Betsy's gane a-milkin,
Beautiful dochter."

"Sell my faither's feather-bed,
Mither, mither."
"Whaur will yer faither lie,
Beautiful dochter?"

"Pit him in the boys' bed,
Mither, mither."
"Whaur will the boys lie,
Beautiful dochter?"

"Pit them in the pigs' sty,
Mither, mither."
"Whaur will the pigs lie,
Beautiful dochter?"

"Pit them in the saltin-tub,
Mither, mither."
________________________________________________________

Montgomerie SNR (1946), 132 (no. 171), a little Scottified
from Chambers PRS (1870), 36. Very defective and a bit
garbled.

Gomme I.376 ("Milking Pails") has several better versions,
though none from Scotland, which enable us to fill out the
rest, somewhat like the following:

Mary's gone a-milking,
Mother, mother,
Mary's gone a-milking,
Gentle sweet mother o' mine.

[similarly:]

Take your pails and go after her,/ Daughter, daughter.
Buy me a pair of new milking pails.
Where's the money to come from?
Sell my father's feather bed.
What's your father to sleep on?
Put him in the truckle bed.
What are the children to sleep on?
Put them in the pig-sty.
What are the pigs to lie in?
Put them in the washing-tubs.
What am I to wash in?
Wash in the thimble.
Thimble won't hold your father's shirt.
Wash in the river.
Suppose the clothes should blow away?
Set a man to watch them.
Suppose the man should go to sleep?
Take a boat and go after them.
Suppose the boat should be upset?
Then that would be an end of you.

[A.B. Gomme, from a London nursemaid, 1876.] The verses are
sung by one child, the Mother, and a line of others holding
hands, who advance and retire as they sing the first, third,
and alternate verses. The Mother replies in the other
verses; at the last verse, all run off, and Mother pursues
and beats them. The first (or last) caught becomes Mother in
a new game.
Willa Muir Living With Ballads (1965), 20-1 (with tune), has
part of a game very reminiscent of this, although its incipit
seems to have been like "Three Dukes" and similar games
(qq.v.): some strangers have arrived, and mother asks the
daughters where they will be put. They answer: "Put them in
the boys' bed, mother, mother./ Put them in the boys' bed, La
la la/La la la." Similarly: "Where will the boys sleep,
daughter, daughter/ Sleep in the wash-tub/ Where shall we
wash the clothes"--at which point improvisation can begin,
suggesting various improbable answers ("porridge pot", etc.),
until it is recommended that clothes, dishes, and boys should
all be tossed into the midden, and the game breaks up in
laughter. [She finds a related game in Ireland, "Mother will
you buy me a milking can".]
Opies Singing Game (1985), 271 (no. 63, "Milking Pails"), with
Gomme's tune, noting that twentieth-century versions are
usually sung to Nuts in May.

@Scots @English @kids @questions
filename[ MILKPAIL
MS



Here it is for you...hg

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mama Buy Me a China Doll
From: GUEST,Nancy Lethcoe
Date: 23 Oct 10 - 03:44 AM

We sang this as children in the 1940s and I sang it with my daughter.She loved to sing the mother´s role! I think my mother learned it from her great aunts.We sang the version above by Mrs. Janeat Shreve.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE MILK PAILS
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Oct 10 - 12:19 AM

From Gammer Gurton's Garland by Joseph Ritson (London: R. Triphook, 1810), page 45:


THE MILK PAILS.

Betty's gone a milking, mother, mother;
Betty's gone a milking, dainty fine mother of mine:
Then you may go after, daughter, daughter;
Then you may go after, dainty fine daughter of mine.

Buy me a pair of milk pails, mother, &c.
Where's the money to come from, daughter? &c.

Pawn my father's feather-bed, mother, &c.
Where's your father to lay? daughter, &c.

Lay him in the maid's bed, mother, &c.
Where is the maid to lay? daughter, &c.

Lay her in the pig-stye, mother, &c.
Where are the pigs to lay? daughter, &c.

Lay them at the stair-foot, mother, &c.
There they will be trod to death, daughter, &c.

Lay them by the water-side, mother, &c.
There they will be drowned, daughter, &c.
Then take a rope and hang yourself, mother, &c.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mama Buy Me a China Doll
From: GUEST,Sulo
Date: 26 Feb 14 - 03:55 PM

I remember the last section :

Swinging on the garden gate,
Swinging on the garden gate,
Swinging on the garden gate,
Do Mamma Do.
(Spoken quickly and loudly)... Then catch a whippin,
Don't Mamma Don't!