Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest Revision - Feb. 29,2024
This is Part V (P-Z) of a five part series that provides an alphabetized list of text (word only) examples of foot stomping cheers. I'm referring to this collection as the pancocojams (Azizi Powell) compilation of foot stomping cheers.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list_40.html for Part II (D - G).
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list_6.html for Part III (H-J).
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list_53.html for Part IV - K-O
****
Latest Revision - Feb. 29,2024
This is Part V (P-Z) of a five part series that provides an alphabetized list of text (word only) examples of foot stomping cheers. I'm referring to this collection as the pancocojams (Azizi Powell) compilation of foot stomping cheers.
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list_40.html for Part II (D - G).
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list_6.html for Part III (H-J).
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list_53.html for Part IV - K-O
****
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTES
"Foot stomping cheers" is the term that I coined in 2000 for a sub-set of children's cheerleader cheers that have distinctive textual structures and distinctive performance styles.
NOTES ABOUT THESE EXAMPLES
Examples given with the citations "cocojams.com" were sent to my now no longer active cultural website cocojams.com which was online from January 2001-November 2014. That website had an easy to use online form for visitors to submit rhyme & cheer examples and comments.
These examples are presented in alphabetical order based on the first number or the first letter of the first letter of the first word. The source (i.e. book, direct collection, or website) is given below the example along with demographic information and/or comments.
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 whose is indicated by the first letter of her name or nickname:
Kick it "T", Kick it T! Kick it T!
Bust it "T", Bust it "T", Bust it!
Swing it "T", Swing it "T", Swing it!
Soloist: I swing my beat at the playground!
(Repeat the entire rhyme with next soloist, and continue repeating in this manner until every one in the group has had one turn as the soloist). The beat used for this cheer is stompstomp clap stompstomp clap.
-African American girls ages 7-12 years old; Lillian Taylor Camp (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1991 or 1992; collected by TMP)
-snip-
"Playground" is a dance style foot stomping cheer that demonstrates the creative ways that children's folk rhymes and cheers are created from a number of different mass media sources. That cheer has the same tune as the 1991 hit Hip Hop and R&B song "Playground" by ABC (Another Bad Creation), a group of young African American teenage boys.
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq_-DZBZOWc&ab_channel=AnotherBCreationVEVO for a YouTube video of that song. That song was included in Aother Bad Creation's debut album entitled "Coolin' at the Playground Ya Know!" released on February 11, 1991 on Motown. The album peaked at number seven on the Billboard 200". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolin%27_at_the_Playground_Ya_Know!
That "Playground" foot stomping cheer also includes lines from other sources. 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 then saying those exact words. In a weird way, that commercial struck some people's funny bone.
"Smack, Jack. Homey don't play that" was Homie D. Clown's ignature line. "Homie D. Clown was a character created by comedian Damon Wayans on the innovative comedy 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. But 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, when children asked Homie questions, he would smack them with a plastic baseball bat. Also, Homie would refuse to perform expected "clown" activities at those children's paries. For instance, if a child asked him to make shapes out of balloons, Homie would smack him or her with his baseball bat and say "Homie don't play that". "Homie don't play that" became a somewhat commnonly used African American vernacular saying for some time, though it's seldom used in 2024. That line meant that it's unthinkable for you to do what you've been asked to do. (It's against your essential nature).
"Foot stomping cheers" is the term that I coined in 2000 for a sub-set of children's cheerleader cheers that have distinctive textual structures and distinctive performance styles.
Read my Pancocojams Editor's Notes that are given in Part I of this series about the history of foot stomping cheers, their textual structure, and how they are (or were) performed.
NOTES ABOUT THESE EXAMPLES
Examples given with the citations "cocojams.com" were sent to my now no longer active cultural website cocojams.com which was online from January 2001-November 2014. That website had an easy to use online form for visitors to submit rhyme & cheer examples and comments.
Alafia Children’s Ensemble was a cultural group for girls and boys ages 5-14 years old that my daughter Tazi Powell and I formed in the 1999 to 2004. in Braddock, Pennsylvania and for girls ages 8-9 years old in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2002-2004.
****
EXAMPLES: P-ZThese examples are presented in alphabetical order based on the first number or the first letter of the first letter of the first word. The source (i.e. book, direct collection, or website) is given below the example along with demographic information and/or comments.
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 whose is indicated by the first letter of her name or nickname:
Kick it "T", Kick it T! Kick it T!
Bust it "T", Bust it "T", Bust it!
Swing it "T", Swing it "T", Swing it!
Soloist: I swing my beat at the playground!
(Repeat the entire rhyme with next soloist, and continue repeating in this manner until every one in the group has had one turn as the soloist). The beat used for this cheer is stompstomp clap stompstomp clap.
-African American girls ages 7-12 years old; Lillian Taylor Camp (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1991 or 1992; collected by TMP)
-snip-
"Playground" is a dance style foot stomping cheer that demonstrates the creative ways that children's folk rhymes and cheers are created from a number of different mass media sources. That cheer has the same tune as the 1991 hit Hip Hop and R&B song "Playground" by ABC (Another Bad Creation), a group of young African American teenage boys.
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq_-DZBZOWc&ab_channel=AnotherBCreationVEVO for a YouTube video of that song. That song was included in Aother Bad Creation's debut album entitled "Coolin' at the Playground Ya Know!" released on February 11, 1991 on Motown. The album peaked at number seven on the Billboard 200". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolin%27_at_the_Playground_Ya_Know!
That "Playground" foot stomping cheer also includes lines from other sources. 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 then saying those exact words. In a weird way, that commercial struck some people's funny bone.
"Smack, Jack. Homey don't play that" was Homie D. Clown's ignature line. "Homie D. Clown was a character created by comedian Damon Wayans on the innovative comedy 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. But 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, when children asked Homie questions, he would smack them with a plastic baseball bat. Also, Homie would refuse to perform expected "clown" activities at those children's paries. For instance, if a child asked him to make shapes out of balloons, Homie would smack him or her with his baseball bat and say "Homie don't play that". "Homie don't play that" became a somewhat commnonly used African American vernacular saying for some time, though it's seldom used in 2024. That line meant that it's unthinkable for you to do what you've been asked to do. (It's against your essential nature).
In the context of this foot stomping cheer, "Bust it!", "Swing it!", and "Kick it!" all mean "Show us how well you dance."
"She kicked her beat" means that the girl danced really well.
****
POPCORN ON THE TRAIN (Example #1)
Popcorn on a train
Watch [girl's name] do her thing
She goes a boom tic tic boom tic boom tic tic boom tic
Popcorn on a train
[The girl whose name is called does a gymnastic motion]
The cheer then repeats from the beginning with the next girl whose name is chanted. That girl also does a gymnastic motion, a different one or one that has been done before.]
[When all the girls have had one turn as the soloist, they all say in unison]
Popcorn on a train.
Popcorn on a train.
Watch The Pinks [group name] do their thing.
We said ah
Boom tic tic Boom tic.
Boom tic tic Boom tic.
Popcorn on a train.
This continues until every girl has had a chance to "do her thing" (meaning "do some acrobatic movement or dance step." The rest of the group stands and watches the "soloist" perform.]
-Ashaletta Johnson, May 14, 2011; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmPUhm9phPM "Popcorn On The Train
The cheer then repeats from the beginning with the next girl whose name is chanted. That girl also does a gymnastic motion, a different one or one that has been done before.]
[When all the girls have had one turn as the soloist, they all say in unison]
Popcorn on a train.
Popcorn on a train.
Watch The Pinks [group name] do their thing.
We said ah
Boom tic tic Boom tic.
Boom tic tic Boom tic.
Popcorn on a train.
This continues until every girl has had a chance to "do her thing" (meaning "do some acrobatic movement or dance step." The rest of the group stands and watches the "soloist" perform.]
-Ashaletta Johnson, May 14, 2011; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmPUhm9phPM "Popcorn On The Train
Here's a comment from Kassie Edwards, 2014
"Y'all must be from st Pete!!!! I can't find anyone outside of st Pete who knows this chant cept we do ours a lil freaky as a child we were fast!!! Lol"
-snip-
"St. Pete" probably refers to St. Petersburg, Florida. However, the video's publisher Ashaletta Johnson (2012) wrote that this video was taken in Durham, North Carolina.
****
POPCORN ON THE TRAIN (Example #2)
popcoooorn on a train and lee-et *name* do her/his thang she said a oomp dad*day* oomp da*day* oomp da*day* oomp da*day*....repeat til every1 goes
-GUEST,17yr old kid at heart:), https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=4300, Children's Street Songs, 20 July 10
POPCORN ON THE CHAIN (Example #3 of "Popcorn On The Train"
Popcorn popcorn on the chain
watch blank do her thang.
she said a lemon a lime
lemon-lime bump n grind.
she turned to the back
she booming in her Cadillac
she turn to the front
and this is what she said,
boom check check boom check,
boom chick* check boom check
boom check check boom check.
Aww she did it!
-Kassie Edwards (St. Petersburg, Florida, 2014; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmPUhm9phPM
-snip-
The word "Blank" means to substitute for a girl's name. Presumably, the cheer immediately starts again from the beginning with the next soloist and continues with that pattern until every member of the group has an equal turn as the soloist.
*The word "chick" is a typo and is
supposed to be "check".
PUMP IT UP
Wait here's another one:
Pump it up, pump pump it up
Pump it up, pump pump it up
My name is (your name)
(it up, pump pump it up)
They call me (nickname)
(it up, pump pump it up)
And when they see me,
(it up, pump pump it up)
They go (say this part while doing a dance):
Pow-Pow, bang bang,
(your nickname)does her own thang.
-DiVa X-ta-C,,(African American woman, no location given), http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=5627, “remember when”; 08-04-2000
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PUMP IT UP (Version #2)
(Everybody says) -Pump it up go 'head, go 'head. Pump it up go 'head. Pump it up go 'head, go 'head. Pump it up go 'head Tasha, go 'head, go 'head. Tasha, go 'head. Tasha, go 'head, go 'head. Tasha, go 'head *
Tasha or the name of the lead person does some kind of dance while she shouts this next part) YOU GOTS TO PUUMP ITT UPPP! Pump it up! Pump Pump it up!
Everybody does the same dance that the leader did while they say the same thing) YOU GOTS TO PUUMP ITT UPPP Pump it up Pump Pump it up
Then you repeat the whole cheer with the next leader who gives her name or her nickname. Everybody has a turn as the leader. The next leader can do the same dance, but when they really want to impress people, they do their own dance.
*I forgot to say that people do foot stomps during this part. It's hard to write it out but the foot stomps go like this (left foot stomps and then clap once; right foot stomps & you clap once, and then the left foot stomps two time and then you clap. Right foot stomps & you clap once).
Go back to the beginning and keep doing this until the leader says her part. Then you stop doing the steps. Nobody says anything or moves while the leader is saying her part. They are all watching her.
After she finishes doing her dance, everybody tries to the same dance that she did while they say YOU GOTS TO PUUMP ITT UPPP Pump it up Pump Pump it up. And then you go back to the beginning of the whole cheer.
I hope you like it.
-Tazi M. Powell (coach); Fort Pitt Cheerleaders; Garfield neighborhood; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 8/10/2007
****
PUMP IT UP (Version #3) [added August 20, 2017]
Words -------------------------------------------------Basic Motion
Pump pump pump pump pump it up------------- tap palms around the circle to start
Pump pump pump it up ---------------------------- step clap rock clap [2x]
Well, my name is [player’s name] -------------------------step clap rock clap
Pump it up --------------------------------------------step clap rock clap
That’s what they call me ---------------------------------step clap rock clap
Pump it up -------------------------------------------[repeat]
My sign is [astrological sign]
Pump it up
And I can work that body oddy oddy --------------shake and improvise
Make sure you don’t hurt that body
Pump pump pump pump
Pump it up
(1992)
From Recess Battles: Playing Fighting, and Storytelling by Anna R. Beresin (University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, 2010, page 104-105, in the section of that book whose sub-title is "Steps"), African American girls, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
-snip-
Here's the introductory comments to this example:
"In 1991, I saw four African American girls doing what looked like a dance step. “Is that a step?” I asked. I wonder whether the dance was choreographed or if they were improvising. “No, no, this is a step”. Step, clap, rock, clap, step, clap, rock, clap, They rocked gently back and forth, clapping their hands lightly on the off beat. At first they sang quietly, but it built into a roar."
[After that example. the book's author wrote]
"The phase pump it up appears in several recordings, including "Pump Up The Jam" by M. Kamosi and T. De Quincy from 1989. Each girl gets a chance to say her name and her astrological sign and work her body."
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note (latest revision Nov. 28, 2020:
The underlined words were written that way in this book. I believe that "underlining" signifies that the steps that are performed when those words are chanted are done with more force (bass sound).
Here's information about the record "Pump Up The Jam" from https://genius.com/Technotronic-pump-up-the-jam-lyrics
"Pump Up The Jam" [was] "Written by [Congolese–Belgian hip hop recording artist] Manuela Kamosi (aliased as Ya Kid K) and Thomas De Quincey (aka Jo Bogaert), “Pump Up the Jam” was Technotronic’s debut single. Its music is heavily based on a track named “Technotronic” that De Quincey had released earlier in the year under the name Pro 24’s.
"Pump Up The Jam" [was] "Written by [Congolese–Belgian hip hop recording artist] Manuela Kamosi (aliased as Ya Kid K) and Thomas De Quincey (aka Jo Bogaert), “Pump Up the Jam” was Technotronic’s debut single. Its music is heavily based on a track named “Technotronic” that De Quincey had released earlier in the year under the name Pro 24’s.
“Pump Up the Jam” peaked at #2 in the UK in late 1989, then also reached #2 in the US in early 1990."...
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RAZZLE DAZZLE
"I hate these cheers, they are for like the 1st grade, here is a good chant:
Razzle Dazzle, razzle dazzle hi we are the Hornets and we are number one and in this razzle dazzle has just began so if you see us step aside cause we dont take no jive, razzle dazzle razzle dazzle Oh she thinks she bad, lord honey we know we're bad our skirts are green our shirts are white, step to us be ready to fight, razzle dazzle razzle dazzle."
-Cassie and Becca ; 5/22/2006, cocojams.com
****
RAZZLE DAZZLE (Version #2)
*=one clap razzle dazzle (***) razzle dazzle (***) our names are cats (or any other team) we're number one our reputation has just begun. so if u see us just step aside, cats (or other team) baby dont take no jive. (GROUP 1) ohhh they think their bad. (GROUP 2) correction baby we know we're bad. (GROUP 1) ohh they think their hot. (GROUP 2) ladies....PLEASE!!!
-Hannah, 9/25/2006, cocojams.com
****
RAZZLE DAZZLE (Version #3)
Razzle Dazzle (all the girls are in a circle, one girl goes in the middle to sing)
my name is ____ i'm number 1,
my razzle dazzle has just begun
so if you see me better step aside
cause this bad girl don't take no jive
(everybody else in the cirle:) ooh. she thinks she's bad
correction baby, i KNOW i'm bad
ooh. she thinks she's fine
fine enough to blow YOUR mind
razzle dazzle uh huh uh huh
razzle dazzle uh huh.
WOO WOO razzle dazzle uh huh
uh huh razzle dazzle uh huh.
WOO WOO (repeat with everybody in the circle)
-liz ; 6/22/2007, cocojams.com
****
RAZZLE DAZZLE (Version #4)
Hiya great site! Here is a cheer: (Where it says Emily change it to your name)
Razzle Dazzle(clap clap clap) Razzle Dazzle(clap clap clap) My name is Emily I'm number one My Razzle Dazzle has just begun So when you see me step aside. You know Emily Don't take no Jive (Everybody) OOh She thinks she's bad (person speaking previously) No, baby I know I'm bad.
-Emiii; 5/21/2007, cocojams.com
****
REALLY
All: Really
Ah Hah.
Really.
Ah Hah.
Soloist #1: Really my name is Lisa.
Really my sign is Aries.
Group: Say what?
Soloist #1: Ah Aries.
Group: Say what?
Soloist #1: Cause I’m F-I-N-E fine.
Like a D-I-M-E. dime.
Don’t waste my T-I-M-E. time.
I’ll blow your M-I-N-D mind.
Cause I’m a pro.
Group: Say what?
Soloist #1: A P-R-O.
Group: Say what?
Soloist #1: Cause I’m a triple P.
Triple R.
Triple O.
Sexy pro.
(Repeat entire cheer with next soloist until everyone has had a turn as soloist)
-Lillian Taylor Camp, AA girls 5-13 years old; AA boys 5-7 years from various Pittsburgh neighborhoods, PA, 1991, 1992
****
REALLY (Version #2)
Hey Yall are takin me back!!!
Does anyone remeber the cheers we used to do?
Really uh uh really uh uh
Really my name is kisses
really my sign is scopio
say what
scorpio
say what
cause I'm more than a dollar I can make your boyfriend holler cause I'm sweet and fine like a bottle of wine cause I'm a pro
say what
a P R O
say what
I'm a triple P triple R triple O
a sexy pro.
- kisses (Milton, Fl USA); http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=3; 01-01-2001
****
REALLY (Version #3)
Really uh huh really uh huh really my name is
(say your name) really my sign is (say your sign)
say what a (say your sign) say what cause Im
f I n e fine like an d i m e dime dont waste my t i me
time Ill blow your m i n d mind
-Deajaih; Pittsburgh, PA, 2/21/06, cocojams.com
****
REALLY (Version #4)
Really, Really,
Really my name's_________
Really my sign is ________
more than a dollar
makes my man holla
he's a pro, P-R-O
Whoa!
-norelation, http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/43158-Hood-Cheers/page3, 8/18/2006
****
REALLY (Version #5)
"My boyfriend really did it!!
He really really really took me to the ocean!!!
He really really really showed me commotion!!!
He really really really!
I said really!
Say what now!
Really my name is ____
Really my sign is ____
Really etc etc.!!!!!!
-Yolanda Wells, 2015, (comment in discussion thread for vlog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfzHL_1PdbY
Let's Discuss: Black Girl Childhood Hand Games and Sing Songs")
-snip-
This example was reformatted from sentence form to line form for this post. It was part of the following comment:
"So interesting! Wow I was just talking about the same thing! I thought it was just me and one other person! I am so happy you posted this! I was wondering if we and other black girls were some how connected on some level like radio waves or something? I didn't know what to think! Because as you were saying, "How were these songs transmitted?! We just played singing them!"...
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ROCK STEADY
Thank you ladies for the blast from the past, I was born in 1980 and I miss this thank you so much❤❤.. I'm trying to remember one my sister and her 7 home girls use to do: "Rock Steady hey tonya are you ready, to what, To Rock Steady well you take my Rock, Rock, Rock and my Steady".. I think that's how it weant
-
-snip-
RAZZLE DAZZLE
"I hate these cheers, they are for like the 1st grade, here is a good chant:
Razzle Dazzle, razzle dazzle hi we are the Hornets and we are number one and in this razzle dazzle has just began so if you see us step aside cause we dont take no jive, razzle dazzle razzle dazzle Oh she thinks she bad, lord honey we know we're bad our skirts are green our shirts are white, step to us be ready to fight, razzle dazzle razzle dazzle."
-Cassie and Becca ; 5/22/2006, cocojams.com
****
RAZZLE DAZZLE (Version #2)
*=one clap razzle dazzle (***) razzle dazzle (***) our names are cats (or any other team) we're number one our reputation has just begun. so if u see us just step aside, cats (or other team) baby dont take no jive. (GROUP 1) ohhh they think their bad. (GROUP 2) correction baby we know we're bad. (GROUP 1) ohh they think their hot. (GROUP 2) ladies....PLEASE!!!
-Hannah, 9/25/2006, cocojams.com
****
RAZZLE DAZZLE (Version #3)
Razzle Dazzle (all the girls are in a circle, one girl goes in the middle to sing)
my name is ____ i'm number 1,
my razzle dazzle has just begun
so if you see me better step aside
cause this bad girl don't take no jive
(everybody else in the cirle:) ooh. she thinks she's bad
correction baby, i KNOW i'm bad
ooh. she thinks she's fine
fine enough to blow YOUR mind
razzle dazzle uh huh uh huh
razzle dazzle uh huh.
WOO WOO razzle dazzle uh huh
uh huh razzle dazzle uh huh.
WOO WOO (repeat with everybody in the circle)
-liz ; 6/22/2007, cocojams.com
****
RAZZLE DAZZLE (Version #4)
Hiya great site! Here is a cheer: (Where it says Emily change it to your name)
Razzle Dazzle(clap clap clap) Razzle Dazzle(clap clap clap) My name is Emily I'm number one My Razzle Dazzle has just begun So when you see me step aside. You know Emily Don't take no Jive (Everybody) OOh She thinks she's bad (person speaking previously) No, baby I know I'm bad.
-Emiii; 5/21/2007, cocojams.com
****
REALLY
All: Really
Ah Hah.
Really.
Ah Hah.
Soloist #1: Really my name is Lisa.
Really my sign is Aries.
Group: Say what?
Soloist #1: Ah Aries.
Group: Say what?
Soloist #1: Cause I’m F-I-N-E fine.
Like a D-I-M-E. dime.
Don’t waste my T-I-M-E. time.
I’ll blow your M-I-N-D mind.
Cause I’m a pro.
Group: Say what?
Soloist #1: A P-R-O.
Group: Say what?
Soloist #1: Cause I’m a triple P.
Triple R.
Triple O.
Sexy pro.
(Repeat entire cheer with next soloist until everyone has had a turn as soloist)
-Lillian Taylor Camp, AA girls 5-13 years old; AA boys 5-7 years from various Pittsburgh neighborhoods, PA, 1991, 1992
****
REALLY (Version #2)
Hey Yall are takin me back!!!
Does anyone remeber the cheers we used to do?
Really uh uh really uh uh
Really my name is kisses
really my sign is scopio
say what
scorpio
say what
cause I'm more than a dollar I can make your boyfriend holler cause I'm sweet and fine like a bottle of wine cause I'm a pro
say what
a P R O
say what
I'm a triple P triple R triple O
a sexy pro.
- kisses (Milton, Fl USA); http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=3; 01-01-2001
****
REALLY (Version #3)
Really uh huh really uh huh really my name is
(say your name) really my sign is (say your sign)
say what a (say your sign) say what cause Im
f I n e fine like an d i m e dime dont waste my t i me
time Ill blow your m i n d mind
-Deajaih; Pittsburgh, PA, 2/21/06, cocojams.com
****
REALLY (Version #4)
Really, Really,
Really my name's_________
Really my sign is ________
more than a dollar
makes my man holla
he's a pro, P-R-O
Whoa!
-norelation, http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/43158-Hood-Cheers/page3, 8/18/2006
****
REALLY (Version #5)
"My boyfriend really did it!!
He really really really took me to the ocean!!!
He really really really showed me commotion!!!
He really really really!
I said really!
Say what now!
Really my name is ____
Really my sign is ____
Really etc etc.!!!!!!
-Yolanda Wells, 2015, (comment in discussion thread for vlog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfzHL_1PdbY
Let's Discuss: Black Girl Childhood Hand Games and Sing Songs")
-snip-
This example was reformatted from sentence form to line form for this post. It was part of the following comment:
"So interesting! Wow I was just talking about the same thing! I thought it was just me and one other person! I am so happy you posted this! I was wondering if we and other black girls were some how connected on some level like radio waves or something? I didn't know what to think! Because as you were saying, "How were these songs transmitted?! We just played singing them!"...
****
ROCK STEADY
Thank you ladies for the blast from the past, I was born in 1980 and I miss this thank you so much❤❤.. I'm trying to remember one my sister and her 7 home girls use to do: "Rock Steady hey tonya are you ready, to what, To Rock Steady well you take my Rock, Rock, Rock and my Steady".. I think that's how it weant
-
-snip-
Editor's Note: "Rock Steady" is a well known cheerleader cheer. While that cheer may be performed with foot stomping and hand clap movements, most examples that I've come across don't have the group/alternating soloist textual structure. However, the example that is given above appears to have a foot stomping cheer (like) structural pattern. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/rock-steady-childrens-cheers-examples.html for a pancocojams post on "Rock Steady" cheers.
****
ROCK THE BOAT [Pancocojams Editor's Note]
There are "traditional" foot stomping cheer version of "Rock The Boat" and there are adapted mainstream versions of that cheer. A significant difference between traditional & mainstream cheerleader versions of "Rock The Boat" cheers is that the "command, refusal, command, compliance" [crcc] pattern of some early examples of these foot stomping cheers.
****
ROCK THE BOAT [Pancocojams Editor's Note]
There are "traditional" foot stomping cheer version of "Rock The Boat" and there are adapted mainstream versions of that cheer. A significant difference between traditional & mainstream cheerleader versions of "Rock The Boat" cheers is that the "command, refusal, command, compliance" [crcc] pattern of some early examples of these foot stomping cheers.
"Command, refusal, command, compliance" [crcc] is my term a small number of foot stomping cheers in which the group commands (or demands) that the soloist do something and the soloist refuses, saying "no way". The group repeats its command and this time the soloist acquieses saying "Okay". (Alternatively, the soloist acquiese and just does what is asks of her without saying "Okay" or anything else that indicates her agreement.)
A number of "Rock The Boat" cheers that have been adapted to mainstream cheerleading in which the soloist is asked to do something and immediately complies (agrees to do what is asked of her or just does what is asked of her without saying "Okay").
In "traditional" foot stomping cheer examples of these cheers, the soloist's initial refusal to comply with the group's command is part of the "tough" street girl persona. A "tough girl" does what she wants to do when she wants to do it. Nobody can tell her what to do and when to do it. The fact that the girl initially refuses to do what is demanded of demonstrates or suggests that the girls (and their community) place a high value on being independent and not (immediately) acceding to orders the (or expectations) that others have for you.
The immediate compliance that is found in mainstream cheerleading eamples of these cheers creates a different tone for those cheers and also conveys an entirely different cultural message. I believe that t these are crucial differences.
**
The earliest dated examples that I've collected for "Rock The Boat" cheers are from the 1980s. The source for the "Rock The Boat" portion of these cheers is the Hues Corporations' 1973 R&B song with that title. The "Rock The Boat" dance movements were probably the lean to the side and smoothly (gently) swing their hips from side to side while singing. Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfBwsG8ubFw for a YouTube video of The Hues Corporations' song "Rock The Boat".
**
The question "Can you rock the boat" should be interpreted as "Will you show us how you do the "Rock the boat" dance?" and not "Are you able to do that dance?" The dance that is referred to in this cheer is probably the
The question "Can you rock the boat" should be interpreted as "Will you show us how you do the "Rock the boat" dance?" and not "Are you able to do that dance?" The dance that is referred to in this cheer is probably the
I doubt that many girls who chanted "Rock The Boat" were aware of its Hues Corporation Disco source. I also doubt that the girls who chanted/chant the traditional "demanding" foot stomping version of "Rock The Boat". Also, I doubt that girls who chanted "Rock the boat" or any other "command/compliance" cheers consciously recognize the message that the cheer conveys with those "command" (or demand) and refusal to comply lines.
ROCK THE BOAT (Version #1)
Rock the boat,
Rock, rock the boat
[repeat]
My name is Yasmin (rock the boat)
I know I'm fine (rock the boat)
Just like my sign (rock the boat)
My sign is Leo
I go bang-bang choo choo train
Wind me up and I do my thing
Reeses pieces butter cup
Don't mess with me, cause I'll mess you up,
Rock the boat, rock rock the boat...
-Yasmin H. (Latina female; memories of East Brooklyn, New York, in the late 1980s), 2/25/04
-snip-
Yasmin noted that te words in parenthesis were chanted by the other members of the cheerleading squad.
****
ROCK THE BOAT
Hey all! Did anyone do cheers? Me and my girls used to "battle" other groups of girls from different neighborhoods. My favorite:
Rock the boat
rock, rock the boat
Rock the boat
rock rock the boat
My name is Mocha
(chorus sings) Rock the boat
I'm feeling fine
(chorus)Rock the boat
Just like my sign
(chorus)rock the boat
My sign is GEMINI
I say bang, bang choo-choo train
wind me up and I do my thang
Reeses Pieces, Butter cup
you mess with me and I'll F*ck you up
If my momma EVER knew I was cursing like that!!
-Sexy Mocha (Brooklyn, New York), http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=5627 Remember When, 7/31/2000
-snip-
This is the way this cheer was written in that comment.
****
ROCK THE BOAT (Version #3)
We are the {school's mascot} rock the boat! We're feelin fine rock the boat! Mess with us rock the boat! We'll blow your mind rock the boat! I said a bing-bang choo-choo train come on {school's mascot} lets do our thang. our reeces peices our buttercup all you gotta do is warm us up! we know karate we know cungfu..mess with us and we'll use it on you!
-Kelley; 12/10/2006, cocojams.com
****
ROCK THE BOAT (Version #4)
heres a cheer i learned last year
hey rock my boat
no way no way rock my boat ok ok she slides
she glides she on that donkey ride she
wants u and u to rock her boat too
-jessica ; 2/20/2007, cocojams.com
ROCK DAT BOAT (Version #5)
my names (girls name)(group says)rock da boat
(person says)i am feeling fine (groups says)rock
da boat (person says)you mess with me(group
says)rock da boat(person says)i`ll blow you mind
(group says) rock da boat
-Olivia ; 3/10/2008, cocojams.com
****
ROCK THE BOAT(Version #6)
Oh! I remember how we did it at camp, now. The counselors would choose a camper and we'd sing the song.
Something like this:
Her name is Liesl! Rock the boat
She's doin' fine! Rock the boat
She'll do her thing! Rock the boat
She'll blow your mind! Rock the boat
Hit it!
Bang bang, choo choo train,
Wind her up, she'll do her thing,
No Reese's Pieces, no buttercup,
She'll show you how to pump it up!
She knows karate
She knows Kung Fu!
*__ __ __ __ __ __ ooo!
Rock clap the boat clap
Rock clap rock the oohah! oohah!
Rock clap the boat clap
Rock clap rock the oohah! ooh!
And it would repeat with another camper
*I forgot what goes there, but the blanks are syllables, and it rhymes with the 'ooh' sound
-Liesl Lockheart, 2015, [example from a commenter in the discussion thread for "Do You Remember 90s Handgames?".] That YouTube vlog no longer available.
-snip-
That YouTube vlog was hosted by a young Asian woman from Canada. That vlog included examples of children's rhymes from the host and her viewers from various nations throughout the world. The host described some of the examples that she and her viewers shared as being "violent, creepy, and racist".
That YouTube vlog was hosted by a young Asian woman from Canada. That vlog included examples of children's rhymes from the host and her viewers from various nations throughout the world. The host described some of the examples that she and her viewers shared as being "violent, creepy, and racist".
****
[Examples #7- #11 are my transcriptions of YouTube videos that are embedded in the pancocojams post "http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/examples-of-childrens-cheer-rock-boat.html
ROCK THE BOAT [Version #7]
Rock the boat. Don't tip it over.
Rock the boat. Don't tip it over.
Hey, Aniya. "Hey what?"
Hey, Aniya. "Hey what?"
Can you rock the boat? "No way."
Can you rock the boat?! "Ok."
She slides. She slides. She do The Butterfly.
She dips. She dips. She shakes her little hips!
-ti55, Mar 16, 2008, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY
-snip-
This is my transcription of "Video #1". This cheer is composed using the traditional foot stomping cheer structure. The "rock the boat/don't tip it over" line is a clear indication that this cheer was heavily influenced by The Hues Corporations' 1973 record "Rock The Boat".
Rock the boat. Don't tip it over.
Hey, Aniya. "Hey what?"
Hey, Aniya. "Hey what?"
Can you rock the boat? "No way."
Can you rock the boat?! "Ok."
She slides. She slides. She do The Butterfly.
She dips. She dips. She shakes her little hips!
-ti55, Mar 16, 2008, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY
-snip-
This is my transcription of "Video #1". This cheer is composed using the traditional foot stomping cheer structure. The "rock the boat/don't tip it over" line is a clear indication that this cheer was heavily influenced by The Hues Corporations' 1973 record "Rock The Boat".
*****
ROCK THE BOAT [Version #8]
I learned
"Hey ____!"
"Hey what?"
"Hey ____!"
"Hey what?"
"Can you rock the boat?"
"I might"
"Can you rock the boat?"
"Alright!"
"Rock the boat, Don't tip it over,
Rock the boat, Don't tip it over"
-TheKaitybugs, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY, 2012
****
ROCK THE BOAT [Version #9]
Rock the boat and don’t tip it over
Rock the boat and don’t tip it over
My name is ___
(rock the boat)
I cheer for bulldogs
(rock the boat)
And if I didn’t*
(rock the boat)
it goes a little something like this
bang bang get it get it
Ah!
And pull that spirit.
[continue with the next girl who says the same words except her name]
-mlisa73, Uploaded on Dec 23, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKGOoqGcWvw
-snip-
This is my transcription of this cheer.
* "And if I didn't" is usually given as “and when I do). Those words make more sense in the context of this cheer.
****
ROCK THE BOAT [Version #10]
this is how we do it at my school:
rock the boat dont tip it over
rock the boat dont tip it over
my name is __
yeah!
im feelin fine!
yeah!
u mess with me
yeah!
ill blow ur mind
so bang bang choo choo train
u look at me and i do my thang
no recces pieces no butter cup
i kno karate i kno kung fu
u mess with ill mes with u!
i kno its tottaly off to wat everyone else is sayin but thats wat we sing on the bus all the time.
-slimeshady100, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY, 2010
****
ROCK THE BOAT [Version #11]
[Editor's note: I assigned numbers for the lines to provide an text analysis of this example. The group's lines are indicated by "G" in brackets. The soloist's lines are indicated by "S" in brackets. The entire group's lines are indicated by G&S in brackets.]
we do it like this for cheerleading
1. rock the boat dont tip it over [G&S]
2. rock the boat dont tip it over [G&S]
3. hey_____, [G]
4. hey what? [S]
5. hey_____, [G]
6. hey what? [S]
7. can u rock the boat? [G]
8.no way [S]
9. can u rock the boat? [G]
10. Ok [S]
11. she slides she slides *
12. she gets on a horse and rides,
13. she dips she dips,
14. she shakes her little hips
15. she wants you and you
16. to rock the boat too
-Brooke Esposito, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY, 2011
*It seems that this line until the end of the cheer might be chanted only by the Group but those lines might also be chanted by the Group plus the soloist.
ROCK THE BOAT [Version #8]
I learned
"Hey ____!"
"Hey what?"
"Hey ____!"
"Hey what?"
"Can you rock the boat?"
"I might"
"Can you rock the boat?"
"Alright!"
"Rock the boat, Don't tip it over,
Rock the boat, Don't tip it over"
-TheKaitybugs, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY, 2012
****
ROCK THE BOAT [Version #9]
Rock the boat and don’t tip it over
Rock the boat and don’t tip it over
My name is ___
(rock the boat)
I cheer for bulldogs
(rock the boat)
And if I didn’t*
(rock the boat)
it goes a little something like this
bang bang get it get it
Ah!
And pull that spirit.
[continue with the next girl who says the same words except her name]
-mlisa73, Uploaded on Dec 23, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKGOoqGcWvw
-snip-
This is my transcription of this cheer.
* "And if I didn't" is usually given as “and when I do). Those words make more sense in the context of this cheer.
****
ROCK THE BOAT [Version #10]
this is how we do it at my school:
rock the boat dont tip it over
rock the boat dont tip it over
my name is __
yeah!
im feelin fine!
yeah!
u mess with me
yeah!
ill blow ur mind
so bang bang choo choo train
u look at me and i do my thang
no recces pieces no butter cup
i kno karate i kno kung fu
u mess with ill mes with u!
i kno its tottaly off to wat everyone else is sayin but thats wat we sing on the bus all the time.
-slimeshady100, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY, 2010
****
ROCK THE BOAT [Version #11]
[Editor's note: I assigned numbers for the lines to provide an text analysis of this example. The group's lines are indicated by "G" in brackets. The soloist's lines are indicated by "S" in brackets. The entire group's lines are indicated by G&S in brackets.]
we do it like this for cheerleading
1. rock the boat dont tip it over [G&S]
2. rock the boat dont tip it over [G&S]
3. hey_____, [G]
4. hey what? [S]
5. hey_____, [G]
6. hey what? [S]
7. can u rock the boat? [G]
8.no way [S]
9. can u rock the boat? [G]
10. Ok [S]
11. she slides she slides *
12. she gets on a horse and rides,
13. she dips she dips,
14. she shakes her little hips
15. she wants you and you
16. to rock the boat too
-Brooke Esposito, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY, 2011
*It seems that this line until the end of the cheer might be chanted only by the Group but those lines might also be chanted by the Group plus the soloist.
****
ROCK THE BOAT [Version #12]
ROCK THE BOAT [Version #13]
ROCK THE BOAT (Version #14)
ROCK THE BOAT [Version #12]
Rock the boat
don’t tip it over
Rock the boat
don’t tip it over
Hey guys
Hey what
Rock the boat
No way
Rock the boat
Okay
I slide I slide
I get on the horse and ride
I want you and you to rock the boat too.
-
ROCK THE BOAT [Version #13]
Leader: My name is (players name)
Team: Rock the boat
Leader: I'm feeling fine
Team: Rock the boat
Leader: Mess with me
Team: Rock the boat
Leader: I'll blow your mind
Team: Rock the boat
Team: I said a bang, bang choo choo train
Team: Rock me out while I do my thing
Team: I know karate, I know Kung Fu
Team: You mess with me, I'll mess with you
Team: Don't tip it over
Team: If you do
Team: This game is over
Team: R-O-C-K rock it baby, rock it
Team: B-U-S-T but it baby. bust it
-Fastpitch Softball TV Show, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMUbayycB10&ab_channel=FastpitchSoftballTVShow , Sept. 8, 2013
This weeks
Fastpitch Softball Cheer is "Rock The Boat"
ROCK THE BOAT (Version #14)
Rock the boat
Dont tip it over
Rock the boat
Dont tip it over
Hey “Name”!
Hey what?
Can you rock the boat?
No way!
Can you rock the boat?
Okay!
She slides
She slides
She get on her horse and rides
She wants you
And you
To rock the boat too!
-https://blackandmarriedwithkids.com/rock-the-boat-dont-tip-it-over/ Lamar Tyler [no date given, but the earliest comment for this article is Sept. 22, 2008]
-snip-
Lamar Tyler, the author of this article identified himself as a Black father whose six year old daughter is part of a cheerleading squad. Tyler writes that the cheer is inappropriate for children. He writes "Where does get on the horse and ride come from in a song about rocking the boat. Then when they do that they have this little gesture where the raise one hand above their head like they’re riding the pony?" Tyler also embeds this YouTube video of a young girl chanting "Rock the boat" and doing the butterfly (dance). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9QuTsAtQPY (The words to that example of the Rock The Boat are given as Example #7 in this collection. Tyler's post prompted some readers to share their versions. Those versions are found immediately after this one.
****
ROCK THE BOAT (Version #15)
this is really good but me and my friends made another one
wich is this:
hay”name”
hay what
hay ”name”
hay what
can you rock the boat?
i might
can you rock the boat?
i tride
i slide
i glide
iget on he donkey and ride
because i want you and you
to rock the boat too
rock the boat dont tip it over
rock the boat dont tip it over
beause i want you and you to rock the boat too!!!
-Randy, May 2,2009, https://blackandmarriedwithkids.com/rock-the-boat-dont-tip-it-over/ [comment]
**
ROCK THE BOAT (Version #16)
Rock the boat
Dont tip it over
Rock the boat
Dont tip it over
Hey "Name"
Hey what?
Can you rock the boat?
I might
Can you rock the boat? (louder)
All right!
I slide
I glide
I get on the donkey and ride
I want you
And you
To rock the boat too!
-Ludy Santana, March 28, 2011, https://blackandmarriedwithkids.com/rock-the-boat-dont-tip-it-over/ [comment]
****
ROLL CALL [Version #1]
Remember....
roll call sha boom bop bop sha bomm,(repeat 2 times)...
my name is (?) CHECK!
I'm in the (?th) CHECK!
I got (boy's name) CHECK!
on my MIND... CHECK! CHECK!
then you move to the next girl!
- AKA2D '91 (no location given); http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=2, “remember when”
****
ROLL CALL [Version #2]
I learned this from Bring It On (awesome movie RECOMENED!) Roll Call! My name is (your name)(i am rough and tough,etc.) yeh ( and when i shake it Etc.)
yeah (The boys go I Mommy etc.) Whoo Roll call ( next person in line does the same thing until every one is done Every body all together - we are the (your team name) And we are tough And when once we've won we've kicked some but. Goooo (your team's name) I love your site it is one of my resources to get some new awesome cheers from all the great captains or not.
Luv ya
-K-del ; 6/11/2007, cocojams.com
-snip-
Here's some information about the meaning of "i Mommy" in that line "The boys go i Mommy""
"i" is probably "Aye", a still popular interjection that means something like "Hey!". "Mommy" is a somewhat common informal referent for a female. Some African Americans and people from other races/ethnicities may also refer to baby girls and young girls as "mommy" or "little mama".
**
The words "we've kicked some but"= "butt" and mean something like "We really overpowered that other team".
****
ROLL CALL [Version #3]
Is the Midwest up in hea? I see some of y'all!
1) Roll call check me out, roll call check me out
My name is ____, check
I go to school, check
I know I'm cool, check
Cause I can turn around, touch the ground, get back up and party down. *We said this as we were doing it. My party down was usually a variation of the cabbage patch with lots of 'tude.*
-DoublePlatinum, June 25, 2018 https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/black-girl-rhymes-what-was-yours-growing-up.1196979/page-3
WARNING: Some of the examples in lipstickalley.com include profanity, sexually explicit content, and/or the "n word".
-snip-
"'tude"= "attitude" [i.e. "sassiness"]
****
ROLL CALL [Version #4]
When I was in junior high (1980), we cheerleaders had a similar chant,for people you can't rhyme).
roll call sha boom bop bop sha bomm,(repeat 2 times)...
my name is (?) CHECK!
I'm in the (?th) CHECK!
I got (boy's name) CHECK!
on my MIND... CHECK! CHECK!
then you move to the next girl!
- AKA2D '91 (no location given); http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=2, “remember when”
****
ROLL CALL [Version #2]
I learned this from Bring It On (awesome movie RECOMENED!) Roll Call! My name is (your name)(i am rough and tough,etc.) yeh ( and when i shake it Etc.)
yeah (The boys go I Mommy etc.) Whoo Roll call ( next person in line does the same thing until every one is done Every body all together - we are the (your team name) And we are tough And when once we've won we've kicked some but. Goooo (your team's name) I love your site it is one of my resources to get some new awesome cheers from all the great captains or not.
Luv ya
-K-del ; 6/11/2007, cocojams.com
-snip-
Here's some information about the meaning of "i Mommy" in that line "The boys go i Mommy""
"i" is probably "Aye", a still popular interjection that means something like "Hey!". "Mommy" is a somewhat common informal referent for a female. Some African Americans and people from other races/ethnicities may also refer to baby girls and young girls as "mommy" or "little mama".
**
The words "we've kicked some but"= "butt" and mean something like "We really overpowered that other team".
****
ROLL CALL [Version #3]
Is the Midwest up in hea? I see some of y'all!
1) Roll call check me out, roll call check me out
My name is ____, check
I go to school, check
I know I'm cool, check
Cause I can turn around, touch the ground, get back up and party down. *We said this as we were doing it. My party down was usually a variation of the cabbage patch with lots of 'tude.*
-DoublePlatinum, June 25, 2018 https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/black-girl-rhymes-what-was-yours-growing-up.1196979/page-3
WARNING: Some of the examples in lipstickalley.com include profanity, sexually explicit content, and/or the "n word".
-snip-
"'tude"= "attitude" [i.e. "sassiness"]
****
ROLL CALL [Version #4]
When I was in junior high (1980), we cheerleaders had a similar chant,for people you can't rhyme).
Roll call, shaboom shaboom
Roll call, shaboom shaboom
Hi, I'm Julie,
I'm "funny"
so check me out!!
do, do, do
-Anonymous, September
4, 2020 , http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-right-rhyming-pattern-for-shabooya.html The Right Rhyming Pattern For Shabooya Roll Call (2nd copy) [comment section]
-snip-
I'm adding this example in this foot stomping cheer list although I have no idea whether any foot stomping was done while people chanted this. This cheer might be an adaptation of a cheer that included the words "shabooya roll call" or it might be a precursor of "shabooya roll call". It's likely that the consecutive soloist pattern for both of those cheers were the same, i.e. the cheer immediately beginning again with a new soloist who says her name and something about herself before saying the words "so check me out".
****
SCORPIO (Fragment)
...what about just standing in the school yard @ recess time saying cheers:
Scorpio, sco scorpio...
My name is _______ "scorpiooo, sco scorpio.."
And I'm a Taurus "scorpio..." (why we called it scorpio, I'll never know...)
- tickledpink, http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=3; 12-30-2000,
-snip-
Each girl gives her sun sign and then the other say “Scorpio-oo scor scror piooo”
This cheer probably has the same tune as “Gigalo”. This reflects interest general public had in sun sign astrology)
****
SHAPUYA ROLL CALL [Version #1]
i actually got these from a movie but i reckon they're good
shapuya-sha sha shapuya- roll call
shapuya-sha sha shapuya roll call
my name {ur name, {yeh}
i like to party {yeh}
but when i shake it{yeh}
the boys say ai mami!
shapuya-sha sha shapuya- roll call
my name{ ur name }{yeh}
grant you 3 wishes {yeh}
yo see me shake it {yeh}
coz im delicious!
shapuya-sha sha shapuya- rol call
my name {ur name }
Yeh} get outta my face {yeh}
coz when I shake it {yeh}
it's like an earthquake!
-loyola {northern territory aus}; 10/21/2006, cocojams.com
****
SHABOOYA ROLL CALL (Version #2)
This cheer is the best!! Shabooya Sha Sha Shabooya Roll Call My name is ____ {person's name} I like to party so when the boys see me shake it they say Ay Mammi!!
-Rihana ; 11/22/2006; cocojams.com
****
SHABOOYA ROLL CALL (Version #3)
I don't have a comment but here is my Cheer
Sha Booya! Sha booya sha sha sha booya roll call Sha booya sha sha sha booya roll call my name is ________ (persons name) i like to party so when the boys see me shake it they say ayi mammi You use 3 wishes to see me shake it so when the _____{Crew's name} shake it its like an earrrrrthquaake!!
-Rihana & Alyssa; 11/26/2006; cocojams.com
****
SHABOOYAH! (Version #4)
[We All Call] Shabooyah! Shah! Shah! Shaabooyahh! [Main Person] Mah name is Kelsey [All] Yeah [Main Person] Ah like to party! [All] Yeah [Main Person] And when A Shake it The boys say OOH BOOTY LICIOUS x And it goes on and on and on with different people being the main characters :D
i got this song off Bring It On All Or Nothing
-K3LS3Y From Scotland; 5/10/2007, cocojams.com
****
SHABOO YA (Example #5)
i have a cheer shaboo ya yeah yeha shaboo ya roll call my name is sam and i like to jam when the boys see me they say hey mama!!!
-samantha; 6/7/2007, cocojams.com
****
SHABOO YA (Example #6)
Hi my name is Kaylee i am a real cheerleader for the bulldogs at my school so I hope you like this cheer:.....sha boo ya sha sha sha boo ya rode call my name is
_________ (yyeeaahh)i like to party (yeaahh) when i shake it (yeaahh) the boys say i mammi sha boo ya sha sha sha boo ya rode call my name is _________ (yyeeah) you got 3 wishes (yeeahh) when i shake it (yeaah) i'm all elicious sha boo ya sha sha sha boo ya rode call my name is __________ yeeahh) get out my face yeaah)when i shake yeeah)its like a hurricane sha boo ya sha sha sha boo ya rode call!!! (enjoy with 3 peeps)
-Kaylee; 3/14/2008, cocojams.com
-snip-
In the context of this cheer, "peeps" means "people" (friends)
****
SHAKE WHAT I GOT IN MY SKIRT
My name is Makayla and I'm hear today to shake what I got in my skirt.
I could turn around and I could hit the ground and shake what I got in my skirt.
Everybody takes a turn saying their name and saying the same thing.
-Makayla, African American Female; 12 years; Fort Pitt Accelerated Learning Academy; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania}; collected by Azizi Powell, 5/9/2008; from informal survey with girls being asked to write down some rhymes and cheers that they knew
-snip-
Makayla wrote the word "hear" instead of "here".
****
SHAKE WHAT I GOT IN MY SKIRT (Version #2)
My name is Raya and I'm here to say
I can shake what I got in my skirt.
I can turn around
And touch the ground
And I can shake what I got in my skirt.
-Raya & Sha'ona,(African American girls, age 11) Fort Pitt Accelerated Learning Academy; Pittsburgh, PA; 6/12/2008; collected by Azizi Powell, 6/12/2008
-snip-
In 2008 I collected several foot stomping cheers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from Fort Pitt Accelerated Learning Academy, the same public elementary school that has been my primary source for the collection of children's playground rhymes & cheers. Unlike other foot stomping cheers that begin with a group voice, and are structured around a dialogue between the group & the soloist, all the words in these cheers are spoken by the soloist. The designated soloist chants the lyrics while executing the universal foot stomping cheer routine of foot stomps that alternate with individual hand claps or body pats.
The other member or members of that group are silent while they perform the same foot stomping cheer route from its beginning to the end of that rendition. At the end of that soloist's rendition of the cheer, the cheer immediately begins from the beginning with the same words, except for the substitution of the new soloist's name, nickname, or other personal information.
****
SHOO, SHOO, SHARIDA (Added August 20, 2017)
Words ----------------------------------Basic Motion
Shoo shoo Sharida ------------------------step, step clap, rock, clap
My name is Violet --------------step, step clap, rock clap
Shoo shoo Sharida
That’s what they call me
Shoo shoo Sharida
My sign is Pisces
Shoo shoo Sharida
And I can break it down-------------------------improvise
Shoo shoo Sharida
Real sexy now
Shoo shoo Sharida
Now take my goal post
-From Recess Battles: Playing Fighting, and Storytelling by Anna R. Beresin (University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, 2010, page 106, in the section of that book whose sub-title is "Steps"), African American girls, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1992
****
SHOW ME HOW YOU GET DOWN (also known as "Show Me How To Get Down" or "Get Down)
...what about just standing in the school yard @ recess time saying cheers:
Scorpio, sco scorpio...
My name is _______ "scorpiooo, sco scorpio.."
And I'm a Taurus "scorpio..." (why we called it scorpio, I'll never know...)
- tickledpink, http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=3; 12-30-2000,
-snip-
Each girl gives her sun sign and then the other say “Scorpio-oo scor scror piooo”
This cheer probably has the same tune as “Gigalo”. This reflects interest general public had in sun sign astrology)
****
SHAPUYA ROLL CALL [Version #1]
i actually got these from a movie but i reckon they're good
shapuya-sha sha shapuya- roll call
shapuya-sha sha shapuya roll call
my name {ur name, {yeh}
i like to party {yeh}
but when i shake it{yeh}
the boys say ai mami!
shapuya-sha sha shapuya- roll call
my name{ ur name }{yeh}
grant you 3 wishes {yeh}
yo see me shake it {yeh}
coz im delicious!
shapuya-sha sha shapuya- rol call
my name {ur name }
Yeh} get outta my face {yeh}
coz when I shake it {yeh}
it's like an earthquake!
-loyola {northern territory aus}; 10/21/2006, cocojams.com
****
SHABOOYA ROLL CALL (Version #2)
This cheer is the best!! Shabooya Sha Sha Shabooya Roll Call My name is ____ {person's name} I like to party so when the boys see me shake it they say Ay Mammi!!
-Rihana ; 11/22/2006; cocojams.com
****
SHABOOYA ROLL CALL (Version #3)
I don't have a comment but here is my Cheer
Sha Booya! Sha booya sha sha sha booya roll call Sha booya sha sha sha booya roll call my name is ________ (persons name) i like to party so when the boys see me shake it they say ayi mammi You use 3 wishes to see me shake it so when the _____{Crew's name} shake it its like an earrrrrthquaake!!
-Rihana & Alyssa; 11/26/2006; cocojams.com
****
SHABOOYAH! (Version #4)
[We All Call] Shabooyah! Shah! Shah! Shaabooyahh! [Main Person] Mah name is Kelsey [All] Yeah [Main Person] Ah like to party! [All] Yeah [Main Person] And when A Shake it The boys say OOH BOOTY LICIOUS x And it goes on and on and on with different people being the main characters :D
i got this song off Bring It On All Or Nothing
-K3LS3Y From Scotland; 5/10/2007, cocojams.com
****
SHABOO YA (Example #5)
i have a cheer shaboo ya yeah yeha shaboo ya roll call my name is sam and i like to jam when the boys see me they say hey mama!!!
-samantha; 6/7/2007, cocojams.com
****
SHABOO YA (Example #6)
Hi my name is Kaylee i am a real cheerleader for the bulldogs at my school so I hope you like this cheer:.....sha boo ya sha sha sha boo ya rode call my name is
_________ (yyeeaahh)i like to party (yeaahh) when i shake it (yeaahh) the boys say i mammi sha boo ya sha sha sha boo ya rode call my name is _________ (yyeeah) you got 3 wishes (yeeahh) when i shake it (yeaah) i'm all elicious sha boo ya sha sha sha boo ya rode call my name is __________ yeeahh) get out my face yeaah)when i shake yeeah)its like a hurricane sha boo ya sha sha sha boo ya rode call!!! (enjoy with 3 peeps)
-Kaylee; 3/14/2008, cocojams.com
-snip-
In the context of this cheer, "peeps" means "people" (friends)
****
SHAKE WHAT I GOT IN MY SKIRT
My name is Makayla and I'm hear today to shake what I got in my skirt.
I could turn around and I could hit the ground and shake what I got in my skirt.
Everybody takes a turn saying their name and saying the same thing.
-Makayla, African American Female; 12 years; Fort Pitt Accelerated Learning Academy; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania}; collected by Azizi Powell, 5/9/2008; from informal survey with girls being asked to write down some rhymes and cheers that they knew
-snip-
Makayla wrote the word "hear" instead of "here".
****
SHAKE WHAT I GOT IN MY SKIRT (Version #2)
My name is Raya and I'm here to say
I can shake what I got in my skirt.
I can turn around
And touch the ground
And I can shake what I got in my skirt.
-Raya & Sha'ona,(African American girls, age 11) Fort Pitt Accelerated Learning Academy; Pittsburgh, PA; 6/12/2008; collected by Azizi Powell, 6/12/2008
-snip-
In 2008 I collected several foot stomping cheers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from Fort Pitt Accelerated Learning Academy, the same public elementary school that has been my primary source for the collection of children's playground rhymes & cheers. Unlike other foot stomping cheers that begin with a group voice, and are structured around a dialogue between the group & the soloist, all the words in these cheers are spoken by the soloist. The designated soloist chants the lyrics while executing the universal foot stomping cheer routine of foot stomps that alternate with individual hand claps or body pats.
The other member or members of that group are silent while they perform the same foot stomping cheer route from its beginning to the end of that rendition. At the end of that soloist's rendition of the cheer, the cheer immediately begins from the beginning with the same words, except for the substitution of the new soloist's name, nickname, or other personal information.
****
SHOO, SHOO, SHARIDA (Added August 20, 2017)
Words ----------------------------------Basic Motion
Shoo shoo Sharida ------------------------step, step clap, rock, clap
My name is Violet --------------step, step clap, rock clap
Shoo shoo Sharida
That’s what they call me
Shoo shoo Sharida
My sign is Pisces
Shoo shoo Sharida
And I can break it down-------------------------improvise
Shoo shoo Sharida
Real sexy now
Shoo shoo Sharida
Now take my goal post
-From Recess Battles: Playing Fighting, and Storytelling by Anna R. Beresin (University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, 2010, page 106, in the section of that book whose sub-title is "Steps"), African American girls, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1992
****
SHOW ME HOW YOU GET DOWN (also known as "Show Me How To Get Down" or "Get Down)
SHOW ME HOW YOU GET DOWN (Version #1)
All: I saida D-O-W-N. That’s the way we get down.
D-O-W-N. That’s the way we get down.
Group: Hey, Danielle.
Danielle: What?
Group: Show us how you get down.
Danielle: No way.
Group: Show us how you get down.
Soloist: Okay. I said D-O-W-N.
And that’s the way. That’s the way. That’s the way
I get down.
Group: She saidah D-O-W-N.And that’s the way.
That’s the way. That’s the way she gets down.
Repeat the entire cheer with next soloist who says her name.
This continues from the beginning until everyone has had a turn as soloist.
-T. M. P.(African American female; memories of Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania, East Liberty/Garfield neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
mid to late 1980s,also collected in same neighborhoods in early to mid 1990s);
Collected by Azizi Powell, 1998
SHOW ME HOW TO GET DOWN (Version #2)
Hey (a name) say what, show me how to get down, no way, show
me how to get down, ok, we stump our feet, we move to the beat we turn around,
touch the ground and that's the way we do it. ok
-Khamya; (African American female, age 8; (Garfield
neighborhood, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania); 3/21/2006
SHOW ME HOW TO GET DOWN (Version #3)
QuartQuart: hey (insert a name) Hey what?(2*) show me
how to get down.No way show me how to get down
okay. Hands up high feet down low this is how I rodeo.
(repeat but at the end say ) hands up high feet down low
this is how I drop it low. drop it low drop drop it low.
-QuartQuart; 4/23/2006; cocojams.com
SHOW ME HOW YOU GET DOWN (Version #4)
Group (except soloist): Hey Ree Ree
Soloist (Ree Ree): What.
Group: Show us how you get down
Ree Ree: Too Shy.
Group: Show us how you get down.
Ree Ree: With ah D
The O
The W
The N
And that’s the way
you get down.
The group repeats the entire cheer with the next soloist
saying her name or nickname. Continue until everyone has a one turn as the
soloist.
-Riantai (Ree Ree); African American female; 8 years old;
Faison Primary School (Homewood area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania); October 30,
2009
SOPHISTICATED LADY (Version #1)
All -Sophisticated lady,
who rocks?
Sophisticated lady,
who rocks?
[...]
-collected by Tazi Powell, 1980s from girls at Lillian Taylor camp, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area.
-snip-
Sometime in the early 1990s* my daughter Tazi shared the beginning words and verses (soloists' lines) to a cheer called "Sophisticated Lady" that she vaguely recalled hearing other Black girls chant in the mid or late 1980s. She said that the girls might have said the word "suffocated" instead of the word "sophisticated". My daughter also vaguely remembers saying something about "I got hips on me" and "you better not kiss my man" but doesn't remember how the cheer went.
*The early 1990s was when I began to formally write down the cheers that my daughter and her friends chanted as well as the cheers my daughter or I observed or audiotaped or otherwise collected.
This is the only part of this cheer that my daughter remembers. Following the usual pattern for foot stomping cheers, one girl propably gave her name or nickname and chanted other lines.
****
SUFFOCATED LADY (Version #2 of "Sophisticated Lady")
Suffocated lady, Suffocated la-dy(this is said twice), then the first girl would sing
I'm a bad bad girl from a bad bad town, it take a thousand [n word] just to hold me down, if you don't like my apples don't you pick em (not them) off my tree cause I'm after you're lover and he's after me. (this is repeated until every girl in the circle gets her turn)
-cbwells26; (African American female, FT. Worth, TX , Tarrant), http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=4, remember when”, 01-02-2001
-snip-
This example has "the n word" given as an n and randomly typed symbols
The words "I'm after your lover and he is after me" iare similar to lines that I've come across in various historically Black Greek letter fraternity, sorority, and little sister organization chants entitled "One And One And One Make Three" . Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/03/examples-of-historically-black_53.html for examples of these chants.
****
SOPHISTICATED LADY (Version #3)
Sophisticated Lady
Sophisticated Lady, that me
Sophisticated Mama, that's you
Well, my name is _________ and I'm foxy fine
If you tip me over I will blow your mind
SOPHISTICATED LADY (Version #3)
Sophisticated Lady
Sophisticated Lady, that me
Sophisticated Mama, that's you
Well, my name is _________ and I'm foxy fine
If you tip me over I will blow your mind
and that's all I remember from that one
- IHEARTWRITING, http://nothingliketheninetys.blogspot.com/2008/08/etet.html, August 3, 2008 “I Heart The 90s”
-snip-
I reformatted this example to add a space between the last line of this "cheer"and the contributor's comment.
This example was categorized as a hand game, but the "Well my name is" line suggests that it's actually a foot stomping cheer.
Some cheers were later performed as hand clap games (i.e. "Hollywood Swinging" and "Gigalo" to name two examples). Therefore it's possible that this version of "Sophisticated Lady" was performed as a hand clap game.
****
SOPHISTICATED LADY (Version #4)
All- Sophisticated lady
- IHEARTWRITING, http://nothingliketheninetys.blogspot.com/2008/08/etet.html, August 3, 2008 “I Heart The 90s”
-snip-
I reformatted this example to add a space between the last line of this "cheer"and the contributor's comment.
This example was categorized as a hand game, but the "Well my name is" line suggests that it's actually a foot stomping cheer.
Some cheers were later performed as hand clap games (i.e. "Hollywood Swinging" and "Gigalo" to name two examples). Therefore it's possible that this version of "Sophisticated Lady" was performed as a hand clap game.
****
SOPHISTICATED LADY (Version #4)
All- Sophisticated lady
Oh, that's me.
Sophisticated lady
2 4 6 3
Soloist #1 (woman in video) -Well, my name is Essie
And I'm five foot tall
[It appears that some words that were chanted here weren't said in this video.]
If you see my man
You betta not give him a call
I got hips to party
And I love my man (Crosses her arms over her chest in the American Sign Language sign for Love and the Wakanda Forever gesture)
If ya try to hurt him
[This part is faster]
I would tip ya for your body [These words are recited while the woman leans forward in an aggressive stance and hits her hands on top of each other in imitation of hitting someone else. Her daughter (?) also imitates these motions.
???
and don't forget I'll break your hiney ["Hiney" means =butt.]
Heeey.
All -Sophisticated lady
Oh, that's me.
Sophisticated lady
Oh, that's me.
2 4 6 3
Soloist #2 [young girl in video] -Well, my name is KK
And I'm four feet tall
If you see my man
Don't you give him a call
I got hips to party (She swivels her hips while chanting this.)
And I love my man (Crosses her arms over her chest in the American Sign Language sign for Love and the Wakanda Forever gesture)
If you try to hurt him
[This part is chanted faster]
I would tip ya for your body
???
and don't forget I'll break your hiney [These words are recited while the girl leans forward in an aggressive stance and hits her hands on top of each other in imitation of hitting someone else. Her mother (?) also does these motions at the same time as her daughter.]
Heeey
-Alexander approved, May 28, 2018; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdY3ekZxkOw&ab_channel=AlexanderApproved
Sophisticated lady
Oh, that's me.
Sophisticated lady,2 4 6 3
Soloist #1 (woman in video) -Well, my name is Essie
And I'm five foot tall
[It appears that some words that were chanted here weren't said in this video.]
If you see my man
You betta not give him a call
I got hips to party
And I love my man (Crosses her arms over her chest in the American Sign Language sign for Love and the Wakanda Forever gesture)
If ya try to hurt him
[This part is faster]
I would tip ya for your body [These words are recited while the woman leans forward in an aggressive stance and hits her hands on top of each other in imitation of hitting someone else. Her daughter (?) also imitates these motions.
???
and don't forget I'll break your hiney ["Hiney" means =butt.]
Heeey.
All -Sophisticated lady
Oh, that's me.
Sophisticated lady
Oh, that's me.
2 4 6 3
Soloist #2 [young girl in video] -Well, my name is KK
And I'm four feet tall
If you see my man
Don't you give him a call
I got hips to party (She swivels her hips while chanting this.)
And I love my man (Crosses her arms over her chest in the American Sign Language sign for Love and the Wakanda Forever gesture)
If you try to hurt him
[This part is chanted faster]
I would tip ya for your body
???
and don't forget I'll break your hiney [These words are recited while the girl leans forward in an aggressive stance and hits her hands on top of each other in imitation of hitting someone else. Her mother (?) also does these motions at the same time as her daughter.]
Heeey
-Alexander approved, May 28, 2018; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdY3ekZxkOw&ab_channel=AlexanderApproved
-snip-
This is my transcription of a YouTube video of a cheer that a Black woman and a young girl (her daughter (?) chanted. Additions and corrections are welcome.
This is my transcription of a YouTube video of a cheer that a Black woman and a young girl (her daughter (?) chanted. Additions and corrections are welcome.
The woman and girl clap their hand and move back and forth while chanting. They also do a lot of imitative movements to match the words that they chant.
****
SOPHISTICATED LADY (Version #5)
Sophisticated Lady, that me
Sophisticated Mama, that's you
Well, my name is _________ and I'm foxy fine
If you tip me over I will blow your mind
and that's all I remember from that one
-IHEARTWRITING, August 3, 2008
-snip-
This example was categorized as a hand game. However, "Well my name is ____ " suggests that people took turns chanting this line by themselves. In contrast, hand games are chanted in unison.
SOPHISTICATED LADY (Version #5)
Sophisticated Lady, that me
Sophisticated Mama, that's you
Well, my name is _________ and I'm foxy fine
If you tip me over I will blow your mind
and that's all I remember from that one
-IHEARTWRITING, August 3, 2008
-snip-
This example was categorized as a hand game. However, "Well my name is ____ " suggests that people took turns chanting this line by themselves. In contrast, hand games are chanted in unison.
****
STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN
Group: Stop, Look, and Listen
Soloist #1: My name is Shana
Group: Stop, Look, and Listen
Soloist #1: My sign is Aries
Group: Stop, Look, and Listen
Soloist #1: Mighty, Mighty Aries
Group: Stop *
Look *
and Listen*
* recited slower than previously words; for “stop use gesture used by Diana Ross & The Supremes in their song Stop in the Name of Love: hand held waist high palm up facing forward, arm half extended
-TMP; remembered from the mid 1980s, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; transcribed by Azizi Powell in 1996
****
TABA
This is a call and response chant from the late 70's early 80's Elkhart Indiana
All: Taba Taba Tab. First person: My name is Sonji.
Rest of Group: Tab. First person: I go to school.
Group: Tab. First person: I'm supercool.
Group: Tab I used to gamble. Group: Tab
First person: But now I don’t. Group: Tab
First person: And never will. Group: Tab
First person: Me and my man. Group: Tab
First person: In the van. Group: Tab
First person: Had a fight. Group: Tab
First person: Last night. Group: Tab
First person: He knocked me down.
Group: Tab. First person: I got back up
Group: Tab. First person: And kicked his butt childhood.
The chant starts over again with the next person in the group and so on.
-Sonjala A. (African American female); 3/15/2008, collected by Azizi Powell
-snip-
The term "childhood, in this example, is probably a folk processed form of the exclamation “chile please”.
****
TELEPHONE (Version #1)
tele-phone, te-te-lephone
hey "bitsy"?
hey what?
your man is on the phone
girl, tell him i ain't home
he only want me for my hips, my lips, my booty and my this(and point to, well your "womanliness")
i know we were some fresh little girls
- bitsy196; Greekchat date 6-25-2003? [I can't find this example in Greekchat discussion threads. It appears some Greekchat threads were combined and this commenter's screen name may have been changed.
***
TELEPHONE (VERSION #2)
Words--------------------------------------------------------------Basic Motion
Telephone tel telephone---------basic step: clap, step, clap as above, only slower
Telephone tel telephone---------repeat
Yo Tasha
Yo
You’re wanted on the telephone
Who is it?
A boy
I know what he wants
He wants my lips my tits -----------------pointing shyly
My grass and my ass
Telephone tel telephone---------basic step: clap, step, clap as above, only slower
Telephone tel telephone---------repeat
Yo Tasha
Yo
You’re wanted on the telephone
Who is it?
Your man
I know what he wants
He wants my lips my tits
My grass and my ass
Telephone tel telephone
Telephone tel telephone---------repeat
Yo Tasha
Yo
You’re wanted on the telephone
Who is it?
A girl
I know what she wants
She wants my man
Goddamn
She’s getting out of hand
Telephone tel telephone
Telephone tel telephone
Yo Tasha
Yo
You’re wanted on the telephone
Who is it?
Your ex
I know what he wants
He wants my lips my tits
My grass and my ass
--From Recess Battles: Playing Fighting, and Storytelling by Anna R. Beresin (University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, 2010, pages 110, 111, in the section of that book whose sub-title is "Steps"), African American girls, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1992
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor: This is a very long cheer (step) for one soloist. I wonder if a different girl said the lines given after the lines "Telephone Tel Telephone" were said two times.
****
TELEPHONE (Version #3)
The one from camp was
All: A-ring a-ring a-ringa ring ring ring Hey [1]!
1: I think I heard my name!
All: Hey [1]!
1: I think I heard it again!
All: You're wanted on the telephone!
1: If it's not [2] then I'm not home!
All: A-ring a-ring a-ringa ring ring ring Hey [2]!
Etc.
-Re Allyssa, Mar 10, 2017, https://kintsugi.seebs.net/threads/childrens-rhymes.5542/page-2
****
TELEPHONE (Version #4)
Ours were a little less fresh but we had some too..it was really less innocent with the tweens ex. telephone ×4 who is it a boy , I know what he wants he wants my lips my tits my booty and my hips Telephone x4 who is it? a girl...I know what she want...she want my man Go* Dam* that B is outa hand.I think some were changed to match the new places they traveled to as the 'urban' sociallandscape formed. Wow we never said part about the baby on call the doctor quick quick quick...but yes wow the true meaning is so clear now. I know a lot were outdated even in 90s bc words like Colored boy...but I think a lot if these got more risque over time, with other girls and with the great migration to cities.
TELL IT (Version #1)
My name is Mocha (Tell it, tell it)
I'm on the line (Tell it, tell it)
I wanna do it (tell it, tell it)
with Nas' sign (Tell it, tell it)
And you know what? (what?)
My man will rough you up.
Hey!!!
The alternate version said, "and you know what? My man don't do enough".
-Miss Mocha, http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=31403&page=5,03-28-2003
-snip-
"Nas" is the stage name for an American rapper. His Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nas indicates that he started his recording career in 1991, but his highly regarded album Illmatic wasn't released until 1994. This information suggests that this version of "Tell It" was probably not chanted until 1994. The word "sign" here means Nas' astrological sun sign, or by inference, with Nas or with a male who has Nas' sun sign.
Note this is not Lil Nas X who recorded "Old Town Road".
Btw, my guess is that these "Tell it" girls' rhymes were inspired by the 1966 hit R&B song "Tell It Like It Is" which was recorded by Aaron Neville and then by other vocalists.
****
TELL IT (Version #2, added March 26, 2020)
One of my line sisters remembered this "mannish" version of "Tell It":
My name is ___________ (Tell it, tell it)
I'm on the line (Tell it, tell it)
smoking reefer and drinking wine
And you know what (What?)
And you know what (What?)
I have a man (Tell it, tell it)
He looks alright (Tell it, tell it)
But he can do it do it do it do it allllll night (Say what!)
She swears they used to say this in elementary school (We're both 23/24). I wonder what those little girls are chanting now.
-Symphony08, http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/archive/index.php/t-31403.html, 03-26-2003
-snip-
"Line sisters" -women who pledged and joined a particular chapter of a historically Black Greek letter sorority at the same time.
****
TELL IT (TELL IT LIKE IT IS) (Version #3)
tell it, tell it, tell it like it is
uh oh!
tell it, tell it, tell it like it is
me: my name is Goddess
homegirls: tell it, tell it
me: I'm on the line
homegirls: tell it, tell it
me: and I'm gon' do it
homegirls: tell it, tell it
me: with a Scorpio sign
homegirls: tell it, tell it
me: and you know what?
homegirls: what?
me: and you know what?
homegirls: what?
(alternate replies)
me: my man was rollin on the ocean, he was rollin on the sea, and the best part about it, he was rolling on me (insert fast azz 8 year old sexy move here)
OR
me: I'm just gon' kick yo butt
-GODDESS!, http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/43158-Hood-Cheers/page2?s=c36b81842e44a5cd4a49678538954ac4
****
TELL IT TELL IT (Version #4)
"tell it, tell it
tell it like it is.
I go to school
(tell it tell it)
Smoking kools
(tell it tell it)
I walk the streets
(tell it tell it)
10 times a week
(tell it tell it)
I'm number third
(tell it tell it)
Smoking herb (tell it tell it)....
& the nonsense continues. Smh... my grandmother wouldn't let us sing that one.
-Chrystal Smith (Chicago, Illinois), July 14, 2017 (comment in discussion thread for vlog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfzHL_1PdbY
Let's Discuss: Black Girl Childhood Hand Games and Sing Songs")
-snip-
I reformatted this example from sentence form to line form.
Soloist #1: My name is Shana
Group: Stop, Look, and Listen
Soloist #1: My sign is Aries
Group: Stop, Look, and Listen
Soloist #1: Mighty, Mighty Aries
Group: Stop *
Look *
and Listen*
* recited slower than previously words; for “stop use gesture used by Diana Ross & The Supremes in their song Stop in the Name of Love: hand held waist high palm up facing forward, arm half extended
-TMP; remembered from the mid 1980s, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; transcribed by Azizi Powell in 1996
****
TABA
This is a call and response chant from the late 70's early 80's Elkhart Indiana
All: Taba Taba Tab. First person: My name is Sonji.
Rest of Group: Tab. First person: I go to school.
Group: Tab. First person: I'm supercool.
Group: Tab I used to gamble. Group: Tab
First person: But now I don’t. Group: Tab
First person: And never will. Group: Tab
First person: Me and my man. Group: Tab
First person: In the van. Group: Tab
First person: Had a fight. Group: Tab
First person: Last night. Group: Tab
First person: He knocked me down.
Group: Tab. First person: I got back up
Group: Tab. First person: And kicked his butt childhood.
The chant starts over again with the next person in the group and so on.
-Sonjala A. (African American female); 3/15/2008, collected by Azizi Powell
-snip-
The term "childhood, in this example, is probably a folk processed form of the exclamation “chile please”.
****
TELEPHONE (Version #1)
tele-phone, te-te-lephone
hey "bitsy"?
hey what?
your man is on the phone
girl, tell him i ain't home
he only want me for my hips, my lips, my booty and my this(and point to, well your "womanliness")
i know we were some fresh little girls
- bitsy196; Greekchat date 6-25-2003? [I can't find this example in Greekchat discussion threads. It appears some Greekchat threads were combined and this commenter's screen name may have been changed.
***
TELEPHONE (VERSION #2)
Words--------------------------------------------------------------Basic Motion
Telephone tel telephone---------basic step: clap, step, clap as above, only slower
Telephone tel telephone---------repeat
Yo Tasha
Yo
You’re wanted on the telephone
Who is it?
A boy
I know what he wants
He wants my lips my tits -----------------pointing shyly
My grass and my ass
Telephone tel telephone---------basic step: clap, step, clap as above, only slower
Telephone tel telephone---------repeat
Yo Tasha
Yo
You’re wanted on the telephone
Who is it?
Your man
I know what he wants
He wants my lips my tits
My grass and my ass
Telephone tel telephone
Telephone tel telephone---------repeat
Yo Tasha
Yo
You’re wanted on the telephone
Who is it?
A girl
I know what she wants
She wants my man
Goddamn
She’s getting out of hand
Telephone tel telephone
Telephone tel telephone
Yo Tasha
Yo
You’re wanted on the telephone
Who is it?
Your ex
I know what he wants
He wants my lips my tits
My grass and my ass
--From Recess Battles: Playing Fighting, and Storytelling by Anna R. Beresin (University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, 2010, pages 110, 111, in the section of that book whose sub-title is "Steps"), African American girls, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1992
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor: This is a very long cheer (step) for one soloist. I wonder if a different girl said the lines given after the lines "Telephone Tel Telephone" were said two times.
****
TELEPHONE (Version #3)
The one from camp was
All: A-ring a-ring a-ringa ring ring ring Hey [1]!
1: I think I heard my name!
All: Hey [1]!
1: I think I heard it again!
All: You're wanted on the telephone!
1: If it's not [2] then I'm not home!
All: A-ring a-ring a-ringa ring ring ring Hey [2]!
Etc.
-Re Allyssa, Mar 10, 2017, https://kintsugi.seebs.net/threads/childrens-rhymes.5542/page-2
****
TELEPHONE (Version #4)
Ours were a little less fresh but we had some too..it was really less innocent with the tweens ex. telephone ×4 who is it a boy , I know what he wants he wants my lips my tits my booty and my hips Telephone x4 who is it? a girl...I know what she want...she want my man Go* Dam* that B is outa hand.I think some were changed to match the new places they traveled to as the 'urban' sociallandscape formed. Wow we never said part about the baby on call the doctor quick quick quick...but yes wow the true meaning is so clear now. I know a lot were outdated even in 90s bc words like Colored boy...but I think a lot if these got more risque over time, with other girls and with the great migration to cities.
-Colorfully, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfzHL_1PdbY&ab_channel=EbonyJanicePeace , Let's Discuss: Black Girl Childhood Hand Games and Sing Songs, Ebony Janice Peace
TELL IT (Version #1)
My name is Mocha (Tell it, tell it)
I'm on the line (Tell it, tell it)
I wanna do it (tell it, tell it)
with Nas' sign (Tell it, tell it)
And you know what? (what?)
My man will rough you up.
Hey!!!
The alternate version said, "and you know what? My man don't do enough".
-Miss Mocha, http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=31403&page=5,03-28-2003
-snip-
"Nas" is the stage name for an American rapper. His Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nas indicates that he started his recording career in 1991, but his highly regarded album Illmatic wasn't released until 1994. This information suggests that this version of "Tell It" was probably not chanted until 1994. The word "sign" here means Nas' astrological sun sign, or by inference, with Nas or with a male who has Nas' sun sign.
Note this is not Lil Nas X who recorded "Old Town Road".
Btw, my guess is that these "Tell it" girls' rhymes were inspired by the 1966 hit R&B song "Tell It Like It Is" which was recorded by Aaron Neville and then by other vocalists.
****
TELL IT (Version #2, added March 26, 2020)
One of my line sisters remembered this "mannish" version of "Tell It":
My name is ___________ (Tell it, tell it)
I'm on the line (Tell it, tell it)
smoking reefer and drinking wine
And you know what (What?)
And you know what (What?)
I have a man (Tell it, tell it)
He looks alright (Tell it, tell it)
But he can do it do it do it do it allllll night (Say what!)
She swears they used to say this in elementary school (We're both 23/24). I wonder what those little girls are chanting now.
-Symphony08, http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/archive/index.php/t-31403.html, 03-26-2003
-snip-
"Line sisters" -women who pledged and joined a particular chapter of a historically Black Greek letter sorority at the same time.
****
TELL IT (TELL IT LIKE IT IS) (Version #3)
tell it, tell it, tell it like it is
uh oh!
tell it, tell it, tell it like it is
me: my name is Goddess
homegirls: tell it, tell it
me: I'm on the line
homegirls: tell it, tell it
me: and I'm gon' do it
homegirls: tell it, tell it
me: with a Scorpio sign
homegirls: tell it, tell it
me: and you know what?
homegirls: what?
me: and you know what?
homegirls: what?
(alternate replies)
me: my man was rollin on the ocean, he was rollin on the sea, and the best part about it, he was rolling on me (insert fast azz 8 year old sexy move here)
OR
me: I'm just gon' kick yo butt
-GODDESS!, http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/43158-Hood-Cheers/page2?s=c36b81842e44a5cd4a49678538954ac4
****
TELL IT TELL IT (Version #4)
"tell it, tell it
tell it like it is.
I go to school
(tell it tell it)
Smoking kools
(tell it tell it)
I walk the streets
(tell it tell it)
10 times a week
(tell it tell it)
I'm number third
(tell it tell it)
Smoking herb (tell it tell it)....
& the nonsense continues. Smh... my grandmother wouldn't let us sing that one.
-Chrystal Smith (Chicago, Illinois), July 14, 2017 (comment in discussion thread for vlog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfzHL_1PdbY
Let's Discuss: Black Girl Childhood Hand Games and Sing Songs")
-snip-
I reformatted this example from sentence form to line form.
"Number third" is probably a typo for "Number three".
****
TELL IT (TELL IT LIKE IT IS (Version #5)
Tell it tell it tell it like it is (uh hun)
tell it tell it tell it like it is
My name Nicole (tell it tell it)
I’m on the line (tell it tell it)
And I can do it (tell it tell it)
To the Capricorn sign (tell it tell it)
And you know what? (what?)
And you know what (what?)
Your man was in my body and he did some karate and he
knocked on my door, but he didn’t get no more.
-Black Girlhood Celebration: Toward a Hip-hop Feminist Pedagogy
By Ruth Nicole Brown, published in 2008; Page 43 Google books.
****
TELL IT TELL IT (Version #6)
My name is ______________ (Tell it Tell it)
Zodiac sign my sign (Tell it Tell it)
And if you don't like it (Tell it Tell it)
You can kiss my behind (Tell it Tell it)
You know what? (What?)
You know what? (What?)
My name ________and I can do it like this! (do a dance)
-Honeykiss1974, http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/archive/index.php/t-31403.html, 03-26-2003
-snip-
The "1974" in her screen name is probably her date of birth which means that this cheer may be from the mid 1980s.
TETHER BALL [TEATHERBALL] (Version #1)
I have been taken BACK!!!! But I remember one that surprisingly (sp?) has not been said.I grew up in LA and I am sure this made across the US (Don't laugh at how I spell this stuff:
Teatherball, teatherball ooh sha asha
Teatherball, teatherball ooh sha asha
My name is _______, teatherball
I got Warren, teatherball
On my mind, teatherball
That boy, teatherball
I'm GONNA MAKE HIM MINE!
Teatherball, teatherball ooh sha asha
Teatherball, teatherball ooh sha asha
- bitsy196; http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=4; “remember when”’-06-25-2003
-snip-
“Tetherball is a North American game for two opposing players. The equipment consists of a 10 ft (3.2 m), stationary metal pole, from which is hung a ball from a rope, or tether. The two players stand on opposite sides of the pole. Each player tries to hit the ball one way; one clockwise, and one counterclockwise. The game ends when one player manages to wind the ball all the way around the pole so that it is stopped by the rope.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetherball
****
TETHER BALL (Version #2)
Little black girls at Windsor Hills Elementary School in Los Angeles, CA during the early 1990s chanted this rhythmic taunt in a circle on the playground:
(all) Tether ball (clap), tetherball (clap)
(all) ooosha-asha (twist body/butt from side to side)
(all) Tether ball (clap), tetherball (clap)
(all) ooosha-asha (twist body/butt from side to side)
(solo) My name (clap) is __________
(all) Tether (clap) ball
(solo) I'm (clap) (some adjective/adjective clause that describes yourself)
(all) Tether (clap) ball
(solo) You mess (clap) with me
(all) Tether (clap) ball
(solo) I'll (clap) (some adverbial clause that rhymes with your adjective/adjective clause and describes what you'll do to someone/how you'll protect yourself)
(all) Tether (clap) ball
-Milan W; (Los Angeles, California), November 18, 2009, cocojams.com
****
TETHER BALL (Version #3
...Then there was this other call & response cipher (which I don't hear too many people mention outside my generation and region)...
Tether ball, tether ball/
Oosha, asha!/
Tether ball, tether ball/
Oosha, asha!/
My name's (enter your name)
(tether ball),
super cool,
(tether ball)
You mess with me
(tether ball)
You's a fool (tether ball)
I got this man
(tether ball)
On my mind (tether ball)
You mess with him
(tether ball)
Your butt is straight up mine.
Oooh.
Tether ball,
tether ball/
Oosha, Asha! etc.
-- You make up your own rhyme of bravado...
-Nikkole Salter (Los Angeles, California), comment in discussion thread for vlog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfzHL_1PdbY
Let's Discuss: Black Girl Childhood Hand Games and Sing Songs")
-snip-
I reformatted this example from sentence form to line form.
Read this commenter's other example given under the title "Who Shakes The Best" below.
****
THAT'S THE WAY (Example #1)
All: That’s the way
Un hun Un hun
I like it
Un hun Un hun
That’s the way
Un hun Un hun
I like it
Un hun Un hun
Soloist #1: Lakeisha’s my name
Group: Un hun Un hun
Soloist #1: And love is my game.
Group: Un hun Un hun
Soloist #1: Red is my color
Group: Un hun Un hun
Soloist #1: And don’t you worry ‘bout my lover {or “Don’t you worry ’bout no other”}
Group: Un hun Un hun
-snip-
TMP, memories of 1980s (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), transcribed by Azizi Powell in 1996.
****
THAT'S THE WAY (Example #2)
. That's the way uh huh uh huh~ I like it.. uh huh uh huh. My name... Is Mel Bell.. Uh huh uh huh.... my sign... is scorpio... uh huh uh huh... I live... in Harlem... uh huh uh huh and boys... are on my mind ind ind ind... that's the way... I like it... OR My name... Is crystal.. Uh huh uh huh.... my sign... is virgo... uh huh uh huh... I live... in Brooklyn... uh huh uh huh and school... is on my mind ind ind ind... that's the way... I like it...
- JeSuisMelBell, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zEcsIfe6lU&ab_channel=Geneas
"90’s hands games !!!!!, Geneas, Nov. 4, 2018
****
TINGALING A LING
Entire Group -Tingaling A Ling
School bells ring
Boolicka, Boolicka
1st Soloist - And (soloist's name or nickname) sings.
(Soloist does a brief step move or dance move).
The cheer then immediately repeats from the beginning with the next pre-selected soloist who says her name/nickname and does a different step or dance move in the same brief length of time. This continues until every member of the group has had one turn as the soloist.
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area African American girls at Lillian Taylor Camp (around 10-13 years old) , taped by camp counselor Tazi M. Powell in the early 1990s , transcribed by Azizi Powell from cassette tape in 1996
This cheer is based on Jamaican Dancehall artist Shabba Ranks' 1992 hit song "Tinga-ling".
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/shabba-ranks-tinga-ling-ling-with.html for a pancocojams post on that song.
****
TUITY FRUITY
Group except soloist: Tuity Fruity shake your booty
(Yeah) Watch Nasya do her duty
Nasya: I won’t
Group: Why not?
Nasya: My back is achin and my belt’s too tight.
My butt is shakin from left to right.
Hey jump in, pull it, and jump out.
Jump in, pull it and jump out
[Continue with the next girl].
-Nasya; African American female, 8 years; Faison Primary School (Homewood area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania); October 30, 2009
****
TWO WAY PASS AWAY
All: Two way pass away. Two way pass away.
Soloist #1: Well, my name is Shana.
Group: Two way pass away.
Soloist #1: And if you don’t like it,
Group: Two way pass away.
Soloist #1: You can kiss what I twist.
And I don’t mean my wrist.
-African American girls (around 8-12 years old), Braddock, Pennsylvania*, collected by Azizi Powell, 1985
(Repeat the entire cheer from the beginning with the next soloist and continue repeating until every member of the group has had one turn as the soloist.)
-snip-
*I previously incorrectly credited this "Two Way Pass Away" cheer to Rankin, Pennsylvania in 1985.
I have been taken BACK!!!! But I remember one that surprisingly (sp?) has not been said.I grew up in LA and I am sure this made across the US (Don't laugh at how I spell this stuff:
Teatherball, teatherball ooh sha asha
Teatherball, teatherball ooh sha asha
My name is _______, teatherball
I got Warren, teatherball
On my mind, teatherball
That boy, teatherball
I'm GONNA MAKE HIM MINE!
Teatherball, teatherball ooh sha asha
Teatherball, teatherball ooh sha asha
- bitsy196; http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=4; “remember when”’-06-25-2003
-snip-
“Tetherball is a North American game for two opposing players. The equipment consists of a 10 ft (3.2 m), stationary metal pole, from which is hung a ball from a rope, or tether. The two players stand on opposite sides of the pole. Each player tries to hit the ball one way; one clockwise, and one counterclockwise. The game ends when one player manages to wind the ball all the way around the pole so that it is stopped by the rope.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetherball
****
TETHER BALL (Version #2)
Little black girls at Windsor Hills Elementary School in Los Angeles, CA during the early 1990s chanted this rhythmic taunt in a circle on the playground:
(all) Tether ball (clap), tetherball (clap)
(all) ooosha-asha (twist body/butt from side to side)
(all) Tether ball (clap), tetherball (clap)
(all) ooosha-asha (twist body/butt from side to side)
(solo) My name (clap) is __________
(all) Tether (clap) ball
(solo) I'm (clap) (some adjective/adjective clause that describes yourself)
(all) Tether (clap) ball
(solo) You mess (clap) with me
(all) Tether (clap) ball
(solo) I'll (clap) (some adverbial clause that rhymes with your adjective/adjective clause and describes what you'll do to someone/how you'll protect yourself)
(all) Tether (clap) ball
-Milan W; (Los Angeles, California), November 18, 2009, cocojams.com
****
TETHER BALL (Version #3
...Then there was this other call & response cipher (which I don't hear too many people mention outside my generation and region)...
Tether ball, tether ball/
Oosha, asha!/
Tether ball, tether ball/
Oosha, asha!/
My name's (enter your name)
(tether ball),
super cool,
(tether ball)
You mess with me
(tether ball)
You's a fool (tether ball)
I got this man
(tether ball)
On my mind (tether ball)
You mess with him
(tether ball)
Your butt is straight up mine.
Oooh.
Tether ball,
tether ball/
Oosha, Asha! etc.
-- You make up your own rhyme of bravado...
-Nikkole Salter (Los Angeles, California), comment in discussion thread for vlog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfzHL_1PdbY
Let's Discuss: Black Girl Childhood Hand Games and Sing Songs")
-snip-
I reformatted this example from sentence form to line form.
Read this commenter's other example given under the title "Who Shakes The Best" below.
****
THAT'S THE WAY (Example #1)
All: That’s the way
Un hun Un hun
I like it
Un hun Un hun
That’s the way
Un hun Un hun
I like it
Un hun Un hun
Soloist #1: Lakeisha’s my name
Group: Un hun Un hun
Soloist #1: And love is my game.
Group: Un hun Un hun
Soloist #1: Red is my color
Group: Un hun Un hun
Soloist #1: And don’t you worry ‘bout my lover {or “Don’t you worry ’bout no other”}
Group: Un hun Un hun
-snip-
TMP, memories of 1980s (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), transcribed by Azizi Powell in 1996.
****
THAT'S THE WAY (Example #2)
. That's the way uh huh uh huh~ I like it.. uh huh uh huh. My name... Is Mel Bell.. Uh huh uh huh.... my sign... is scorpio... uh huh uh huh... I live... in Harlem... uh huh uh huh and boys... are on my mind ind ind ind... that's the way... I like it... OR My name... Is crystal.. Uh huh uh huh.... my sign... is virgo... uh huh uh huh... I live... in Brooklyn... uh huh uh huh and school... is on my mind ind ind ind... that's the way... I like it...
- JeSuisMelBell, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zEcsIfe6lU&ab_channel=Geneas
"90’s hands games !!!!!, Geneas, Nov. 4, 2018
****
TINGALING A LING
Entire Group -Tingaling A Ling
School bells ring
Boolicka, Boolicka
1st Soloist - And (soloist's name or nickname) sings.
(Soloist does a brief step move or dance move).
The cheer then immediately repeats from the beginning with the next pre-selected soloist who says her name/nickname and does a different step or dance move in the same brief length of time. This continues until every member of the group has had one turn as the soloist.
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area African American girls at Lillian Taylor Camp (around 10-13 years old) , taped by camp counselor Tazi M. Powell in the early 1990s , transcribed by Azizi Powell from cassette tape in 1996
This cheer is based on Jamaican Dancehall artist Shabba Ranks' 1992 hit song "Tinga-ling".
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/shabba-ranks-tinga-ling-ling-with.html for a pancocojams post on that song.
****
TUITY FRUITY
Group except soloist: Tuity Fruity shake your booty
(Yeah) Watch Nasya do her duty
Nasya: I won’t
Group: Why not?
Nasya: My back is achin and my belt’s too tight.
My butt is shakin from left to right.
Hey jump in, pull it, and jump out.
Jump in, pull it and jump out
[Continue with the next girl].
-Nasya; African American female, 8 years; Faison Primary School (Homewood area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania); October 30, 2009
****
TWO WAY PASS AWAY
All: Two way pass away. Two way pass away.
Soloist #1: Well, my name is Shana.
Group: Two way pass away.
Soloist #1: And if you don’t like it,
Group: Two way pass away.
Soloist #1: You can kiss what I twist.
And I don’t mean my wrist.
-African American girls (around 8-12 years old), Braddock, Pennsylvania*, collected by Azizi Powell, 1985
(Repeat the entire cheer from the beginning with the next soloist and continue repeating until every member of the group has had one turn as the soloist.)
-snip-
*I previously incorrectly credited this "Two Way Pass Away" cheer to Rankin, Pennsylvania in 1985.
Here's how I collected this cheer: While we waiting for more children to come to the African storytelling session that I was scheduled to perform, I asked the girls who were present what rhymes and cheers they knew. I wrote the cheers down as the girls performed them and asked them to repeat them when I wasn't sure about the words. I recall these girls performing more than two cheers. However, the only other cheer that I now have in my files is a version of "Cheerleader".
The girls stood in a horizontal line to perform this and other cheers. I remember that a few girls would sit out some of the cheers. I believe that was because they didn't know that particular cheer that well and therefore weren't sure about their ability to "keep to the beat" or remember the words. (Remembering the words to "Two Way Pass Away" was easy because the only change in words for each soloist was that soloist's name or nickname.)
I didn't note down the names of the girls who performed "Two Way Pass Away" as I did for the only other cheer that was performed during that session which I still have notes for. However, since most of the girls performed all of the cheers that they shared during that session, it's likely that the same girls whose names I documented for that version of "Cheerleader" were the ones who performed "Two Way Pass Away". Those girls were Shayla, Shana, Shana, Jamie, and Jackie. Note that this "Two Way Pass Away" cheer includes the name "Shana", one of the names for the girls who performed "Cheerleader". (I didn't give fake names to the chanters in these examples). The only difference is that I wrote that those girls who performed that version of "Cheerleader" were 10-12 and I wrote that the girls who performed "Two Way Pass Away" were 8-12 years old.
I didn't note down the names of the girls who performed "Two Way Pass Away" as I did for the only other cheer that was performed during that session which I still have notes for. However, since most of the girls performed all of the cheers that they shared during that session, it's likely that the same girls whose names I documented for that version of "Cheerleader" were the ones who performed "Two Way Pass Away". Those girls were Shayla, Shana, Shana, Jamie, and Jackie. Note that this "Two Way Pass Away" cheer includes the name "Shana", one of the names for the girls who performed "Cheerleader". (I didn't give fake names to the chanters in these examples). The only difference is that I wrote that those girls who performed that version of "Cheerleader" were 10-12 and I wrote that the girls who performed "Two Way Pass Away" were 8-12 years old.
(Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list.html for Version #4 of "Cheerleader: Braddock, Pennsylvania 1985).
I've come across multiple versions of the "Cheerleader" foot stomping cheer, although none of the other examples of that cheer are the same as that Braddock, Pennsylvania version. In contrast, that 1985 session remains the only place that I've come across the "Two Way Pass Away" cheer. I never saw those girls or the woman who hosted that session again. I regretted failing to ask the girls some questions about that "Two Way Pass Away" cheer (for instance, did any of their families have any connection to New Orleans, Louisiana and any connections to the Mardi Gras Indians). In 1990, when the Talbot Towers public housing development was torn down Iremember regretting that I'd further lost the opportunity and find out more information about that "Two Way Pass Away" cheer.
I believe that the phrase "two way pass away" is derived from the Mardi Gras Indian chant "Tu Way Pock A Way". When I heard this cheer performed in 1985, I didn't know anything about the Mardi Gras Indians, and I've never heard the chant "Tu way pocka way" or the song "Hey, Pocky-a Way". I remember writing the cheer down as "Too way pass away" and I remember asking the girls what those words meant. They said that they didn't know what it meant. It was only after I learned about the Mardi Gras Indians (in the mid 1990s) that I began using "Two" as the spelling for that word instead of "Too".
I believe that the phrase "two way pass away" is derived from the Mardi Gras Indian chant "Tu Way Pock A Way". When I heard this cheer performed in 1985, I didn't know anything about the Mardi Gras Indians, and I've never heard the chant "Tu way pocka way" or the song "Hey, Pocky-a Way". I remember writing the cheer down as "Too way pass away" and I remember asking the girls what those words meant. They said that they didn't know what it meant. It was only after I learned about the Mardi Gras Indians (in the mid 1990s) that I began using "Two" as the spelling for that word instead of "Too".
****
WE ARE THE RIDGEWOOD GIRLS
We are the Ridgewood girls
We are the get-fresh crew
My name's "Sweety" (believe it or not that was the name I had chosen for myself)
My sign's Leo
This is how I show it off: (strike individual pose)
-Yasmin H., visual artist (New York City, New York), 2/25/04 (memories of East Brooklyn, New York, in the late 1980s.)
-snip-
This example and several others on this page are from an email that I received from Yasmin H. Here is an excerpt from her email:
"We would begin each performance session with this piece because every girl had to go through this process and so it became the "introduction" piece. I also want to point out with the above piece that the term "get-fresh crew" was something we had borrowed from the then popular "Get-Fresh crew" which was a hip-hop act consisting of Dough E. Fresh and Slick Rick. The beats in our cheers and even song-tunes usually mimicked popular hip-hop beats of the time."
****
WE WILL ROCK YOU (Version #1)
...it wasn't exactly a rhyme, but for some reason we'd sing Queen's "We Will Rock You" on the bus together??? and stamp/clap to it??? this part specifically:
buddy, you're a young man, poor man/swingin' in the street/gonna take on the world someday/got mud on your face/you big disgrace/kickin' your can all over the place
then the chorus. the singing was, invariably, terrible, especially because the range of those lines is pretty big, since, y'know, Freddie Mercury. :P
for reference, this all was like 2008-2012 or so, so fairly recently!
-esotericPrognosticator, Mar 11, 2017; https://kintsugi.seebs.net/threads/childrens-rhymes.5542/page-2
-snip-
The 4/4 percussive beat for the Pop song "We Will Rock You" is a good example of the beat that is used for foot stomping cheers.
****
WHAT YOUR HEART BEATING FOR
What your heart beatin for?
What your heart beatin for?
You scared?
What your heart beatin for?
You scared?
I’m not
But they is.
I’m not
But they is.
They betta fall back
Before they get slapped [or cracked].
My name is Raya
And I’m not with that.
[the next soloist immediately starts the cheer again and says the same thing except she gives her name or nickname at the end.
-Canraya E, African American female, 11; and Sha’ona K, age 11, collected by Azizi Powell, June 2008
-snip-
This is a cheerleading cheer that the girls learned from the Garfield Gators. Both girls do foot stomping, individual handclapping chant, the soloist is the only one who talks, the other girl does foot stomping along with her but didn’t say anything.
The second girl is silent and expressionless. She id doing the same foot stomping beat as the soloist while that girl speaks.
This taunting cheer was performed to foot stomps that alternated with (individual) hand claps}. Both girls said the first two lines and then one girl said the rest of the cheer. The second girl continued to do the foot stomping movement while the first one said the chant and continued to do the foot stomping movement. The cheer was then repeated from the beginning with the new "soloist" who says her name and the exact same words. Sometimes minor changes are made, for instance instead of saying "slapped", you can say "cracked".
****
WHO ROCKS THE HOUSE
Group: Who rocks the house i s3d {girls nam3} rocks the house And when {girlsname3} rocks the house She rocks it all the way down!! Example: Start with the first girl, Group: Who rocks the house I sed Lexy rock the house And when Lexy rocks the house She rocks it all the way down. Group: {Go on to the next girl} Who rocks the house i sed Stacy rocks the house And when Stacey rocks the house she rocks it all the way down.
-L3XY!! -11/4/2007, cocojams.com
****
WHO ROCKS THE HOUSE (Version #2)
who rocks the house i said (other teams name) rocks the house and when (other teams names) rocks the house they rock it hold u p wait a minute this aint right cause we aint in it who the rockd the house i said (your teams name) rocks the house and when (your team name) rocks the house we rock it all the way down.
-a best cheer; 12/1/2007, cocojams.com
****
YOU AINT GOIN NO WHERE
Entire Group: You ain’t goin no where
no where
You ain’t goin no where
You ain’t goin no where
no where
You ain’t goin no where
Hey Shadeya
Shadeya
(Soloist #1): Too shy
Group: Introduce yourself
Shadeya: I’ll try
My name is Shadeya
I cheer for Garfield.
My sign is Libra.
And when I’m up
Group: When she’s up.
Shadeya: I’m hot stuff.
Group: She’s hot stuff.
Shadeya: And when I’m down.
Group: And when she’s down.
Shadeya: Don’t mess around.
Group: Don’t mess around
Shadeya: Don’t make me scream
cause you will be _knocked _out.
-snip-
" __ " means to pause a beat. * name your community or school athletic cheerleading team; "my sign" means the person's astrological sun sign.
Repeat the entire cheer from the beginning with the next soloist who says her name or nickname, the name of the sport or community team she cheers for. The girl doesn't have to really be a cheerleader. She is engaging in dramatic play- that is-she's pretending to be a cheerleader.
Continue this pattern until every one in the group has had one turn as the soloist.
-Shadaya, Fort Pitt School; (Garfield), 2002; collected by Azizi Powell; I also collected the exact same cheer in 2008 from Conraya and another girl from the same school.
****
This concludes Part V of this series.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments and additional versions of these cheers and/or examples of other cheers are welcome.
We are the Ridgewood girls
We are the get-fresh crew
My name's "Sweety" (believe it or not that was the name I had chosen for myself)
My sign's Leo
This is how I show it off: (strike individual pose)
-Yasmin H., visual artist (New York City, New York), 2/25/04 (memories of East Brooklyn, New York, in the late 1980s.)
-snip-
This example and several others on this page are from an email that I received from Yasmin H. Here is an excerpt from her email:
"We would begin each performance session with this piece because every girl had to go through this process and so it became the "introduction" piece. I also want to point out with the above piece that the term "get-fresh crew" was something we had borrowed from the then popular "Get-Fresh crew" which was a hip-hop act consisting of Dough E. Fresh and Slick Rick. The beats in our cheers and even song-tunes usually mimicked popular hip-hop beats of the time."
****
WE WILL ROCK YOU (Version #1)
...it wasn't exactly a rhyme, but for some reason we'd sing Queen's "We Will Rock You" on the bus together??? and stamp/clap to it??? this part specifically:
buddy, you're a young man, poor man/swingin' in the street/gonna take on the world someday/got mud on your face/you big disgrace/kickin' your can all over the place
then the chorus. the singing was, invariably, terrible, especially because the range of those lines is pretty big, since, y'know, Freddie Mercury. :P
for reference, this all was like 2008-2012 or so, so fairly recently!
-esotericPrognosticator, Mar 11, 2017; https://kintsugi.seebs.net/threads/childrens-rhymes.5542/page-2
-snip-
The 4/4 percussive beat for the Pop song "We Will Rock You" is a good example of the beat that is used for foot stomping cheers.
****
WHAT YOUR HEART BEATING FOR
What your heart beatin for?
What your heart beatin for?
You scared?
What your heart beatin for?
You scared?
I’m not
But they is.
I’m not
But they is.
They betta fall back
Before they get slapped [or cracked].
My name is Raya
And I’m not with that.
[the next soloist immediately starts the cheer again and says the same thing except she gives her name or nickname at the end.
-Canraya E, African American female, 11; and Sha’ona K, age 11, collected by Azizi Powell, June 2008
-snip-
This is a cheerleading cheer that the girls learned from the Garfield Gators. Both girls do foot stomping, individual handclapping chant, the soloist is the only one who talks, the other girl does foot stomping along with her but didn’t say anything.
The second girl is silent and expressionless. She id doing the same foot stomping beat as the soloist while that girl speaks.
This taunting cheer was performed to foot stomps that alternated with (individual) hand claps}. Both girls said the first two lines and then one girl said the rest of the cheer. The second girl continued to do the foot stomping movement while the first one said the chant and continued to do the foot stomping movement. The cheer was then repeated from the beginning with the new "soloist" who says her name and the exact same words. Sometimes minor changes are made, for instance instead of saying "slapped", you can say "cracked".
****
WHO ROCKS THE HOUSE
Group: Who rocks the house i s3d {girls nam3} rocks the house And when {girlsname3} rocks the house She rocks it all the way down!! Example: Start with the first girl, Group: Who rocks the house I sed Lexy rock the house And when Lexy rocks the house She rocks it all the way down. Group: {Go on to the next girl} Who rocks the house i sed Stacy rocks the house And when Stacey rocks the house she rocks it all the way down.
-L3XY!! -11/4/2007, cocojams.com
****
WHO ROCKS THE HOUSE (Version #2)
who rocks the house i said (other teams name) rocks the house and when (other teams names) rocks the house they rock it hold u p wait a minute this aint right cause we aint in it who the rockd the house i said (your teams name) rocks the house and when (your team name) rocks the house we rock it all the way down.
-a best cheer; 12/1/2007, cocojams.com
****
YOU AINT GOIN NO WHERE
Entire Group: You ain’t goin no where
no where
You ain’t goin no where
You ain’t goin no where
no where
You ain’t goin no where
Hey Shadeya
Shadeya
(Soloist #1): Too shy
Group: Introduce yourself
Shadeya: I’ll try
My name is Shadeya
I cheer for Garfield.
My sign is Libra.
And when I’m up
Group: When she’s up.
Shadeya: I’m hot stuff.
Group: She’s hot stuff.
Shadeya: And when I’m down.
Group: And when she’s down.
Shadeya: Don’t mess around.
Group: Don’t mess around
Shadeya: Don’t make me scream
cause you will be _knocked _out.
-snip-
" __ " means to pause a beat. * name your community or school athletic cheerleading team; "my sign" means the person's astrological sun sign.
Repeat the entire cheer from the beginning with the next soloist who says her name or nickname, the name of the sport or community team she cheers for. The girl doesn't have to really be a cheerleader. She is engaging in dramatic play- that is-she's pretending to be a cheerleader.
Continue this pattern until every one in the group has had one turn as the soloist.
-Shadaya, Fort Pitt School; (Garfield), 2002; collected by Azizi Powell; I also collected the exact same cheer in 2008 from Conraya and another girl from the same school.
****
This concludes Part V of this series.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments and additional versions of these cheers and/or examples of other cheers are welcome.
Here's an excerpt about "Steps" from the 2010 book "Recess Battles: Playing Fighting, and Storytelling" by Anna R. Beresin:
ReplyDelete[page 105
"Stepping is the African American art of polyrhythmic handclapping and foot stomping that is a circle or line game, often with call-and-response singing and turn taking. A proud tradition at many predominately African American schools and among African Americans groups at predominately White institutions, steps are akin to cheerleading and a cousin to both handclapping and marching. The steps that are performed at the Mill School yard exclusively concerned the body, skill. and the complex role of being an attractive young woman. They involved singing, clapping, stamping feet, and improvising with other steppers. Although professional and competitive steppers are both male and female, only girls engaged in stepping on the playground. The rhythms are complex and syncopated, and the formation is typically a small circle. In most cases, each stepper is introduced by name and given a chance to perform a solo move.
Unlike jump rope, step lyrics tend to be overtly sexual. Steps were taken much more seriously than hand-clapping games, which usually ended in laughter. Some traditional step themes involved ritual insults: poverty, physical ugliness, stupidity, and promiscuity.
Rarely recorded
[page] 106
among females, ritual insults are a way of practicing coolheadedness about the body in an insulting world. Originally expurgated from collections of children's lore, taboo rhymes such as these have been recorded for what they really are: honest reflection of the issues with which real children wrestle."
[This excerpt is continued in the next comment.]
Here's a continuation of an excerpt about "Steps" from the 2010 book "Recess Battles: Playing Fighting, and Storytelling" by Anna R. Beresin:
Delete[page] 106
The girls who did double-dutch jump rope also did steps, which were exclusively the domain of African-American working class girls at the Mill School, those who traveled by bus from less affluent neighborhoods. It was secret repertoire of the body, sometimes labeled "nasty" by the girls themselves. But when they were assured that they would not get in trouble for singing to me, they sang even louder than they did for "Big Mac" or any other rope rhyme.Stepping offered the girls a chance to improvise and "show their motions"...
-snip-
Here are three of the titles of "Steps" [which I refer to as foot stomping cheers] that Anna R. Beresin documented in her book:
Shoo Shoo, Sharida
Fly Girl
and
Hollywood.