The Children's Rhyme "Gigalo" ("Jigalow") - Examples & Probable Sources

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Update - January 18, 2024

This pancocojams post provides text, video examples, and comments about the children's playground rhyme "Gigalo" ("Jigalow").

The content of this post is presented for folkloric and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who contributed examples of these rhymes. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post, and thanks to those who are featured in the videos and who published those videos on YouTube.

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTES ABOUT "GIGALO" /"JIGALO" CHEERS/RHYMES
"Gigalo" (also spelled "Jigalo" and similar spellings) is a children's recreational composition that has different performance activities.

I recall reading a YouTube discussion thread in which a commenter recalled playing "Gigalo" in the 1970s, but unfortunately I can't find that comment now.

In the late 1980s I observed my daughter and some of her female friends performing "Gigalo" in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

Given its textual structure and performance activity, I believe that "Gigalo" rhyme is of African American origin. However, it's clear from reading online examples of "Gigalo" that this cheer/rhyme is also known and performed by non-African Americans (mostly girls).

The rhyme/cheer "Gigalo" ("Jigalo") isn't included in any off-line publications of children's rhymes that I have come across. Before the internet it was rare for most African American children's recreational rhymes, singing games, and cheers to be included in books, records, and other publications of children's rhymes. Instead, those rhymes were passed on by word of mouth.

Most publications of children's rhymes only include one adult approved version of certain recreational rhymes and not the multiple versions of rhymes, cheers, and singing games that children really say. The failure to publish examples of African American recreational compositions  is just one aspect of this point, but it is a critical aspect since it appears from my admittedly informal research that many if not most contemporary (1950 to date) American children's recreational rhymes, cheers, and singing games come from African Americans.

In part because recreational rhymes and cheers traditionally weren't written down, many of those compositions are short lived, lasting only for a short space of time in certain neighborhoods. But, for some reason/s, the "Gigalo" ("Jigalo") rhyme/cheer has survived sometimes with changes in its words, but not its tune, and sometimes with some changes in its performance styles.

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HOW THE NAME FOR THIS CHEER/RHYME/SONG IS SPELLED
The word "Gigalo" and "Jigalo" is a folk processed form of the words "Jack a low". "High Low Jack A Low" is the American name for the British card game "All Fours".

Here's information about this card game: 
From http://www.woodburystrings.com/bands-for-hire/high-low-jack/ 
"HIGH-LOW-JACK is one of several names for an old-time card game that originated in the 1600s in England and is still very popular there. Known as All-Fours in England, it was the most popular gambling game in America until after the Civil War when Draw Poker began to overshadow it. It continued to be popular throughout the 19th century, and was most commonly known as Seven Up or Old Sledge. It is still popular today in various forms including Pitch or Auction Pitch."

There are several YouTube videos of children playing a partner hand clap game called "High Low Jack A Lo" (also called Hi Lo Piccalo", "Hi Lo Chickalo" and other similar spellings).Here's one of those videos:

High Lo Jack-a-lo

bml128, Mar 27, 2015

My name is... High low Jack-a-lo Jack-a-lo high low High low Jack-a-lo Jack-a-lo high! As featured in 'Let's Play Up' - a new play by Rosan Chakir that is part of Bluebird Foundation's PlayNation initiative. Now, go outside and play!

-snip-
I haven't come across any YouTube videos for "High Low Jack-a-lo" (or other similar spellings) from the United States. Most of the YouTube videos of this hand clap game are from Great Britain. However, I've read comments from people from Canada and New Zealand who indicate that they play this hand clap game but use the name "Hi Lo Piccolo", "Hi Lo Chickalo" and similar spellings.

My guess is that the "High Low Jack A Low" hand clap game came before the African American "Gigalo" ("Jig a lo") singing games since I believe the names "gigalo" and "jigalo" are folk processed forms of the words "Jack a low".   

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MY USE OF THE SPELLING "GIGALO" FOR THESE RHYMES/CHEERS
I used the spelling "gigalo" when I published an example of that cheer in 2001 on my no longer active cocojams.com website". That example was the one that I saw my daughter and her friends perform in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the late 1980s.

The cocojams.com cultural website was consistently online from 2001 to much of 2014 when I voluntarily deactivated it. Judging from the number of recreational examples that I received on that website's easy to use email form, a lot of that website's readers were children and pre-teens who had probably never seen those examples written down. 

I also used the spelling "gigalo" in the discussion thread about that cheer/rhyme that I started in 2007 on the Internet folk music forum Mudcat http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=100807 [hereafter given as "Mudcat: Gigalo"]. 

One problem with documenting children's recreational rhymes and cheers online is the copycat effect that often occurs when people repeat the spelling if not the words themselves of examples that come across online

I believe that at least some of the examples of that cheer/rhyme that are found in that discussion thread spelled that word "gigalo" instead of "jigalo" or "jigalow" because they read how I spelled that word on cocojams.com and on mudcat.com coupled with the fact that the word "gigolo" is a relatively English common word. 

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SOME ADULTS' OPPOSITION TO CHILDREN PERFORMING RHYMES/CHEERS ENTITLED "GIGALO"("JIGALO") 
Because the word "gigalo" has a sexualized meaning, some adults who aren't aware of the history of those rhymes, believe the gigalo rhymes refer to that sexualized meaning and are opposed to children performing those rhymes/cheers.

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PERFORMANCE ACTIVITIES FOR "GIGALO" ("JIGALO")
Gigalo can be performed as a singing game, a foot stomping cheer, or as a hand clap rhyme with imitative motions. Here are descriptions for each of these performance styles. 

Singing Game
Based on examples of YouTube videos and other online example of "Gigalo" that I have come across (as of January 14, 2024), that rhyme appears to most often be performed as an imitative singing game by children standing forming a circle, but not holding hands with one person at a time standing in the center of the circle. At some point of the song, the "middle person" performs actions that conform to the words of the rhyme and the rest of the people forming the circle then chants and joins with the middle person, imitating that dance or other movement that the middle person is doing . Another term for imitative singing games is "show me your motion" singing games. At the end of that iteration of that rhyme, another person's name is called out, the former middle person rejoins the circle formation, and the game immediately begins again from the beginning with the person whose name was called out as the new middle person

Hand Clap Game with imitative motions 
Gigalo can be performed as a partner or three, four, or more hand clap routine that combines hand claps with imitative motions. Two people, three, or four people chant this rhyme while facing each other and performing a hand clapping routine and imitative movements that conform with the words of this rhyme.

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Foot Stomping Cheer
The textual structure of "Gigalo" (the way the words are structured) fits the definition of a "foot stomping cheers".

Gigalo has a group/consecutive soloists structure which is the signature structure for foot stomping cheers. By "group/consecutive soloist" I mean that the group's voice is heard first, and then a soloist's voice is heard. This pattern of alternating voices continues until a soloist's slightly longer portion occurs. That "soloist portion may be the end of the cheer, or the cheer might end with the group (and, sometimes also the soloist) repeating the soloist's words.

At the end of that rendition of the cheer, the complete cheer immediately starts again from the beginning with a new soloist. The order of soloists is selected before the cheer activity begins. That pattern of consecutive soloists continues until everyone in the group has had one turn as the soloist.

That said, Gigalo" doesn't always fit the alternating foot stomping/(individual) hand clapping pattern that is a core characteristic of foot stomping cheers.

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TEXT EXAMPLES OF "GIGALO" ("JIGALOW" and similar spellings)

(Examples in this post are given in no particular order)

Example #1
All: Gig ah lo-o
Gig gig a lo-o
Gig ah lo-o
Gig gig a lo-o
Group: Hey, Kayla
Kayla: What?
Group: Are you ready to gig?
Kayla: Gig what?
Group: Gigalo
Kayla : My hands up high
My feet down low
And this is the way
I gig a lo
Group: Her hands up high
Her feet down low
And this is the way she gigalos
-Tazi M. Powell.; singing game/foot stomping cheer, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, mid to late 1980s, collected by Azizi Powell in the 1980s and transcribed in the 1990s from an audio tape that was made in the 1990s.

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Example #2 & #3
GIGALO
This is a handclap/foot stomping cheer called Gigolo.
Gig-olo-o
Gig-Gig-olo-o
Gig-olo-o
Gig-gig-olo-o
Group: Hey [girls name]
Girl: Yeah!
Group: Hey [girls name]
Girl: Yeah
Group: show us how yuh get down.!
Girl: what.?!
Group: show us how yuh get down.!
Girl: Well, my hands up high, my feet down low and thats the way I gigolo (does dance/motion of her own)
Group: Well, her hands up high, her feet down low and thats the way she gigolos (group repeats the unique dance/motion)
Repeat with a new girl and new dance/motion.)

OOOORRR:

Gig-olo-o
Gig-Gig-olo-o
Gig-olo-o
Gig-gig-olo-o
Group: Hey [girls name]
Girl: Yeah!
Group: Hey [girls name]
Girl: Yeah
Group: show us how yuh get down.!
Girl: what.?!
Group: show us how yuh get down.!
Girl: Well my back aint right my bra too tight my hips keep shakin from left to right and THATS the way I gigolo (does dance/motion of her own)
Group: Well my back aint right my bra too tight my hips keep shakin from left to right and THATS the wa she gigolos(group repeats the unique dance/motion)

(Repeat with a new girl and new dance/motion.)
-Guest, 17yr old kid at heart:); http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=4300&messages=171 "Children's Street Songs"; July 20, 2010

Editor: Note that the informant indicates that "this is a hand clap/foot stomping cheer." It's possible, and perhaps likely, that she (or he) could have used the phrase "foot stomping cheer" in imitation of my use of that phrase in earlier posts on that discussion thread.

The "show us how you get down" line is found in in mid 1980s foot stomping cheer "Get Down"... The lines "my back is aching/my bra's too tight" are commonly found in the very popular hand clap rhyme "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train".

-snip-
Most examples of "Gigalo" are posted online without any information about their performance activity. Here are two such examples:

Example #4 Gigalo: performance activity unknown

JIGALO
here is the real version ppl.

HEY(Girls name)
Girl:what?
ME: are you ready to jigalo?
girl:yeah!
Both: my hands up high!
My feet down low!
This is the way I jigalo!
jig-a-low
jig-jig-a-looow
jig-a-low
jig-jig-a-looow
(you keep repeating until you get bored. You also do a little dance :) hoped this helped
-Guest, meesha ; "Mudcat: Gigalo" ; May 17, 2010

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Example #5 performance activity unknown
JIGALOW
my friend taught me this.

my hands up high
my knees down low
but this the way i jigalow
the sky is blue
the grass is green
and this the way I do my thing
your daddy cook
your momma bake
but this the way my booty shake
-No name; 2/15/2007 ; Cocojams:FSC

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Example #6:
Refrain (Unison)
Jig-a-low, jig, jig-a-low
Jig-a-low, jig, jig-a-low

Part I
(Call) Jasmine: Hey Stephanie!
(Response) Stephanie: Say what?
Jasmine: In-troduce yourself!
Stephanie: Know what?
Jasmine: In-troduce yourself!
[They exchange roles here.]
Stephanie: My name is Ste-phanie
Jasmine: Yeah!
Stephanie: I got the mucle.
Jasmine: Yeah!
Stephanie: To do the hu-stle
Jasmine: Yeah!
Stephanie: I do my thang
Jasmine: Yeah!
Stephanie: On the video screen
Jasmine: Yeah!
Stephanie: I do the ro, ro, ro, ro, ro-bot (punctuates each syllable with Do Do Brown)
Jasmine: She do the ro, ro, ro, ro, ro-bot (Jasmine imitates Stephanie's version of the dance)

Refrain (Unison)
Jig-a-low, jig, jig-a-low
Jig-a-low, jig, jig-a-low

Part 2
Stephanie: Hey Jasmine!
Jasmine: Hey what?
Stephanie: Are you ready?
Jasmine: To what,?
Stephanie; To jig
Jasmine: Jig-a-low?
(unison): jig what?

[Exchanged roles again]

Jasmine: Well, My hands up high, my feet down low.
and THIS's the way I jig-a-low
[Jasmine creates a stylized move on THIS's]
Stephanie: Well, My hands up high, my feet down low.
and THIS's the way she jig-a-low
[Stephanie mimics Jasmine's stylized move on THIS's.]
-Kyra D. Gaunt' book The Games Black Girls Play: Learning The Ropes From Double -Dutch To Hip-Hop (University Press, New York, 2006, page 82);
-snip-
This example combines the foot stomping cheer "Jigalow" with the foot stomping cheer "Introduce Yourself".

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GIGALO VIDEO EXAMPLES
Example #1: playing gigalo at cheer camp



Uploaded by bby209angl on Aug 3, 2010

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Video Example #2: Playing jigalo



Regan Leigh Woodruff, Uploaded on Jan 28, 2009

just a bunch of people dancin'
-snip-
Notice how the people playing this game aren't doing any foot stomps while they sing "Gigalo".

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Video Example #3: shows us how you gigolo!



Uploaded by yfcsharmel on Sep 9, 2008

Yfc camp september 5-7 2008.

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