Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest Revision: October 2, 2018
This pancocojams post features examples of a sub-category of children's songs & rhymes that I refer to as "trading rhymes".
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who contributed examples and/or videos that are featured in this post.
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/06/abc-its-easy-as-1-2-3-playground-rhyme.htmlfor the closely related pancocojams post entitled "ABC It's Easy As 1, 2, 3" Playground Rhyme & Its R&B Record Source"
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE:
"Trading rhymes" is my title for a category of children's rhymes in which throughout the rhyme one defective item is traded (exchanged) for another item which also turns out to be defective. In the United States, probably the most widely known example of these rhymes is "Hush Little Baby, Don't Say A Word" *Papa's gonna buy you a mockinbird" (given as Example #4 below.)
FEATURED EXAMPLES
(These examples are presented in alphabetical order based on the first letter of the title.)
Example #1: ABC (IT'S EASY AS 123)
ABC (it's easy as 123) hand game
juliacreates13, Published on Aug 12, 2012
[September 2018: This 2012 video is no longer available, but here are the lyrics for that example from that I transcribed from that video: original:
Abc, easy as 123
My momma takes care of me
My daddy watches MTV
Ooh ahh I want a piece of pie
Pie too sweet I wanna piece of meat
Meat too rough I wanna ride a bus
Bus too full I wanna ride a bull
Bull too black I want my money back
Money back too green
I wanna jelly bean
Jelly bean not cooked
I wanna read a book
Book not read I wanna go to bed
Bed not made I want some lemonade
Lemonade too sour
I wanna take a shower
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Example #2:
abc its easy as 123 handshake
sarah ware, Published on Jun 7, 2013
i hope u enjoy and have fun ps it is not easy !!!!!!
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Here's my transcription of that rhyme from this video:
Abc, it's easy as 123
My momma takes care of me
My daddy watches MTV
Ooh ahh I want a piece of pie
Pie too sweet I wanna piece of meat
Meat too rough I wanna ride a bus
Bus too full I wanna ride a bull
Bull too black I want my money back
Money back too green
I wanna jelly bean
Jelly bean not cooked
I wanna read a book
Book not read I wanna go to bed
Bed not made I want some lemonade
Lemonade too sour I wanna take a shower
Shower too cool I wanna go to school
School too dumb I wanna suck my thumb
Thumb too dirty I wanna ride a birdy
Birdy too slow I wanna blow my nose.
So close your eyes
And count to ten
Whoever messes up has to go back
And start all over again.
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10.
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Example #3: GRAY AND BLACK HORSES
I went to de woods an' I couldn' go 'cross.
So I paid five dollars fer an ole gray hoss.
De hoss wouldn' pull so I sol it for a bull.
De bull wouldn't holler, so I sol it for a dollar.
De dollar wouldn't pass, so I throwed it id de grass.
Den de grass wouldn't grow. Heigho! Heigho!
Source: Thomas W. Talley Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise; originally published in 1922; http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm, p. 45.
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Example #4: HUSH LITTLE BABY, DON'T SAY A WORD
BY MOTHER GOOSE
Hush little baby, don't say a word,
Papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird.
And if that mockingbird won't sing,
Papa's gonna buy you a diamond ring.
And if that diamond ring turns to brass,
Papa's gonna buy you a looking glass.
And if that looking glass gets broke,
Papa's gonna buy you a billy goat.
And if that billy goat won't pull,
Papa's gonna buy you a cart and bull.
And if that cart and bull turn over,
Papa's gonna buy you a dog named Rover.
And if that dog named Rover won't bark,
Papa's gonna buy you a horse and cart.
And if that horse and cart fall down,
You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town!
Source: The Dorling Kindersley Book of Nursery Rhymes (2000)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46950/hush-little-baby-dont-say-a-word
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Example #5: OLD AUNT MARIA JUMPED IN THE FIRE
Ernest T. Bass serenade Charlene Darling "Old Aunt Mariah" (jump in the fire, fire too hot...)
Lincoln Malone, Published on Dec 29, 2012
Old Aunt Maria, jump in the fi-ah,
Fire too hot, jump in the pot,
Pot to black, jump in the crack,
Crack to high, jump in the sky,
Sky to blue, jump in canoe,
Canoe too shallow, jump in the tallow,
Tallow too soft, jump in the loft,
Loft to rotten, jump in the cotton,
Cotton so white she stay there all night.
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[I converted this rhyme to line formation.]
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This family of rhymes is also known as "Old Man Obadiah Jumped In The Fire". Click http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=72705 for examples & commentary about these rhymes.
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Example #6: OOH AH I WANT A PIECE OF PIE
I learned it at summer camp as a clapping game:
Winston tastes good just like a cigarette should
Just like an - ooh, ah, I want a piece of pie
Pie too sweet, I want a piece of meat
Meat too brown, I want to go to town
Town too far, I'll have to take a car
Car too black, I want my money back
Money too green, I want a limosine
..... I want some lemonade
Lemonade too sour, by now we have the power
To close our eyes and count to ten
Whoever messes up has to do it again.
And at this point, the clapping pattern got more complicated and the players closed their eyes and counted to ten.
-Guest, Chocolate Pi; http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=26926 , October 26, 2000
"Lyr Req: Oh my, I want a piece of pie"
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The "Winston taste good/like a cigarette should" lines are lifted from a 1954 cigarette commercial. In these rhymes, that couplet has subsequently been given as "Snickers taste good/ [just] like a candybar should".
Some examples of this large rhyme family begin with "ABC (it's easy as 123" and other examples begin with "Take A Peach Take A Plum". As is the case with many other playground rhymes, these lines are found in other rhymes, including "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky". The phrase "ABC Hit It" which usually prefaces the lines "that's the way I like it" are sometimes found in a different family of playground rhymes.
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/06/abc-its-easy-as-1-2-3-playground-rhyme.html for more examples of "ABC It's Easy As One Two Three".
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Example #7: THERE WAS A MAN AND HE WAS MAD
There Was an Old Man and He Was Mad
Pete Seeger - Topic
Published on May 21, 2015
Provided to YouTube by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
There Was an Old Man and He Was Mad · Pete Seeger
American Folk, Game and Activity Songs
℗ 2000 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
Released on: 2000-01-25
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Lyrics:
There once was a man and he was mad
so he jumped into a pudding bag.
The puddin bag it was so thick
that he jumped into a walking stick.
The walking stick it was so narrow
he jumped into a wheelbarrow.
The wheelbarrow began to break
so he jumped into a chocolate cake.
The chocolate cake it was sour
So he jumped into a case of flour.
The case of flour caught on fire
and blew him up to Jeremiah. Whew!
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell
In the context of this song, "mad" means "crazy".
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Example #8: THERE WAS A MAN OF DOUBLE DEEDS
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=72705
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Old man 'badiah/Jumped in the fire
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Sep 09 - 06:14 PM
The form of this poem is very old. Here is another one.
There was a man of double deed,
Who sowed his garden full of seed;
When the seed began to grow,
'Twas like a garden full of snow;
When the snow began to melt,
'Twas like a ship without a belt;
When the ship began to sail,
'Twas like a bird without a tail;
When the bird began to fly,
'Twas like an eagle in the sky;
When the sky began to roar,
'Twas like a lion at my door;
When my door began to crack,
'Twas like a stick across my back;
When my back began to smart,
'Twas like a penknife in my heart;
And when my heart began to bleed,
'Twas death, and death, and death indeed.
Anon.
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Click http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27195/27195-h/27195-h.htm Thomas W. Talley Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise; originally published in 1922;, p. 208 for a version of "There Was A Man Of Double Deeds" that is entitled "Man Of Words".
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