The REAL Origin Of "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" Rhymes (also known as "Shame" & "Shame Shame Shame")

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Revision: May 22, 2025

This pancocojams post provides information about and examples of the "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" rhymes. That rhyme has been widely called "Shame" or "Shame, Shame, Shame" among African American children since the 1980s.

****
The content of the this post is presented for folkloric, historical, cultural, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the contributors of these examples.
-snip-
DISCLAIMER: This post isn't meant to be a comprehensive collection or history of "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" rhymes.

Click the tag "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" for other pancocojams posts on this rhyme. Note that "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" is often called "Shame" or "Shame Shame Shame".

Also, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/10/sources-examples-of-i-dont-want-to-go.html "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" Children's Rhymes (Sources & Text Examples; Part II of 4 Part Series )" for an earlier pancocojams post about "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" rhymes .

****
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
This pancocojams post debunks the belief that the original "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico"  rhyme and contemporary versions of this rhyme are racist toward Mexicans or have anything whatsoever to do with Mexicans, including anything to do with illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States and/or deportation of Mexicans from the USA.

*I recognize that some adults believe that "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" rhymes demean Mexicans, and/or refer to illegal immigration/deportation. However, I think those associations with this rhyme come from adults who don't know the true history of this rhyme, and aren't what most children think of when they chant and play "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" rhymes.

****
THE REAL ORIGIN OF "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO MEXICO NO MORE"
From http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/11/nyregion/fyi-323470.html?mcubz=0 "F.Y.I" by DANIEL B. SCHNEIDER, MARCH 11, 2001
"Macy's Doggerel

Q. Children in New York used to chant a clapping song, almost like a nursery rhyme, about not wanting to go to Macy's. How did it go?

A. Like this:

Oh, I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more

There's a big fat policeman at the door, door, door

He'll pull you by the collar

And make you pay a dollar

Oh, I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more.

The authorship is obscure, but the rhyme was popular by the turn of the 20th century, and might have been associated with an incident that occurred when the modern department store was still in its infancy.

On Dec. 24, 1870, Elizabeth B. Phelps, a suffragist and woman of no small renown, was accused of petty thievery while shopping at Macy's, then at 14th Street and Sixth Avenue. At issue was a box of bonbons that Mrs. Phelps dropped on the floor that day. Margaret Grotty, a salesgirl, asserted that Mrs. Phelps was trying to steal it, while she insisted that it had fallen as she was trying to extract payment from her coin purse while juggling her packages. The store detective was summoned.

Mrs. Phelps's arrest was exhaustively covered by the popular press, and it turned out that several other well-to-do women had been detained at Macy's the same day, for other and seemingly innocent lapses in protocol. A judge threw Mrs. Phelps's case out of court, and Macy's was left to struggle with the perception that, whether due to class animosity or confusion over department store etiquette, innocent shoppers were routinely harassed. Though picket lines and boycotts were planned, they never materialized. The rhyme, whatever its origins, survived well into the 1950's."
-snip-
Notice that this article indicated that "I Won't Go To Macy's" was popular by the turn of the 20th century. However, the first published example of this rhyme wasn't until 1938 (as cited by barry popik in Excerpt #1 below).
-snip-
I addeed italics to highlight that portion of that sentence.

****
MORE EXCERPTS ABOUT AND EXAMPLES OF "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO MEXICO" (Including Other Titles In That Rhyme Family)
These excerpts are given in chronological order based on their publishing date with the oldest dated excerpt /quote given first.

Excerpt #1.
From http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/i_wont_go_to_macys_any_more_more_more_jump_rope_jingle_1938 “I Won’t Go To Macy’s Any More, More More” (Jump-rope jingle, 1938) by Barry Popik, from January 27, 2005
"This New York "jump rope jingle" involves Macy's. It's also in the book Rimbles: A book of children's classic games, rhymes, songs, and sayings (1955, 1956, 1960, 1961) by Patricia Evans, pg. 30.

10 May 1938, New Masses, section two, pg. 109:
I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more!
I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more!
There's a big fat policeman at the door, door, door!
He will squeeze me like a lemon.
A chalachke zol em nehmen.*
I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more!

(Also, as "New York Children's Street Rhymes and Songs", by Fred Rolland, pages 565-567, in Sidewalks of America: Folklore, Legends, Sagas, Traditions, Customs, Songs, Stories and Sayings of City Folk, edited by B. A. Botkin, Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1954 - ed.)

14 April 1946, New York Times, "Jump-Rope Jingles," pg. 109:

I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more.
There's a big fat policeman at the door, door, door.
He takes me by the collar, and makes me pay a dollar.
So, I won't go to Macy's any more. more. more." "
-snip-
*No information is given about the meaning of this line.

Here's a comment from that article:
"Our grammar school in Newark, NJ had one city block cordoned off to serve as a play yard until the school bell rang. There, we played games such as this rhyme bouncing a rubber ball under our legs (Oh, I won’t go to Macy’s any more more more...)--so sweet, so innocent. Now, I can afford to go to Macy’s, but I would trade it in a minute for a rubber ball, my cousin Mary, Mary Ellen Flynn and the rest of the gang at St Columba’s. Those were the days, my friend".
-Posted by Elizabeth Garris on 01/05

****
Excerpt #2
From http://mudcat.org/jumprope/jumprope_display.cfm?rhyme_number=130
"I won't go to Macy's (* A big store in New York *)
Anymore, more, more.
There's a big fat policeman
At the door, door, door.
He takes me by the collar.
He makes me pay a dollar.
I won't go to Macy's
Anymore, more, more.

Source: Abrahams (1969)"

****
Excerpt #3
From The James T. Callow Computrized Folklore Archive, https://libraries.udmercy.edu/archives/special-collections/cfa/index.php?field=boggsNum&term=C750.522&start=50#

Shame [title]
Shame, Shame, Shame,
I don't want to go to Mexico, no more more more.
There's a big fat policeman at the door door door.
He'll grab you by the collar, make you pay a dollar.
I don't want to go to Mexico, no more more more.
 

Submitter comment: This is said in many clapping games.

Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT

Subject headings: Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Game Verse Game Verse

Date learned: 00-00-1987

****
Excerpt #4
From: African American girls and boys in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, collected by Azizi Powell, multiple times in some African American Pittsburgh neighborhoods; first collection year: 1998

I DON'T WANT TO GO TO MEXICO
Shame Shame Shame.
I don’t want to go to Mexico
no more, more, more.
There’s a big fat policeman
at the door, door, door.
He’ll grab you by the collar
(and) make you pay a dollar.
I don’t want to go to Mexico
no more, more, more.
Shame.

-snip-
My comments:
Judging from the number of online examples of this rhyme, including the number of YouTube videos, "I Don’t Want To Go To Mexico” appears to be a widely known hand clap rhyme in the United States. Like most hand clap rhymes, it is recited in unison by the players while they stand facing each other and do a hand clap routine.

I collected this version in 1998 from a number of school aged African American girls and boys living in various Pittsburgh, PA. neighborhoods.

****
Excerpt #5
From: African American girls from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (during a family reunion in Atlantic City, New Jersey- These are the collector's elementary school age female cousins-Breeana and Tonoya, collected by Azizi Powell, 2001

I DON'T WANT TO GO TO MEXICO
Shame Shame Shame.
I don’t want to go to Mexico
no more, more, more.
There’s a big fat policeman
at door, door, door.
He’ll grab you by the collar
If he pulls you by the collar
Girl, you better holler
I don’t want to go to Mexico, no more, more, more
Shut the door!”

 
My comments:
I asked these cousins (who I had just met that day] if they knew the rhyme "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico." They said they did and showed me how they played it. They played it the same way that I had seen it played in Pittsburgh. 

Each partner tries to be the first to say “shut the door!”. Whoever says it first, lightly taps the other player on the shoulder or on the side of their head and then points to them in a “Got ya!” manner.

I didn't refer to this rhyme by "Shame Shame Shame" or any other name and I don't remember them doing so either.

****
Excerpt #6
From https://journeys.dartmouth.edu/folklorearchive/15622-2/childrens-games-based-around-touch/shame/
"Shame

Hand Clapping Game

Myself

Nashville, TN

Around 2006 or 2007

Informant Data:

C. D. was born in New Haven, CT in 2000. He moved to Nashville, TN in 2002. C.’s parents are from Western Massachusetts and are of British, German, Polish, and Lithuanian heritage. C. attended public schools during his childhood and is currently a junior at Dartmouth College.

Contextual Data:

C. learned this hand game from his classmates while attending the public elementary school in his neighborhood. These hand clapping games were usually played by girls, but this one was commonly known among both girls and boys. This was the only hand clapping game that C. completely knew how to play. This game was often played at lunch, during recess, or while socializing outside of school hours.

Item:

This game is for two players. It starts with both players pressing their own hands together with palms facing each other. The players then touch each other’s pressed hands three times with their own pressed hands, first with their right hands touching, then their left hands, then their right hands again. This is done smoothly and at a steady rhythm. While the players are doing this, they begin the rhyme by saying “Shame, shame, shame.” After doing this, the players place their left hands against each other with their palms facing outward and begin using their right hands to clap either their own left hand or the other player’s right hand. This clapping happened in the following sequence:

C T C B C T T T C B C T C B B B C T C B C T C B C T C B C T T T

Here, C means that each player claps their own left hand, T means that the players clap each other’s right hands above their left hands, and B means that the players clap each other’s right hands below their left hands. The clapping happened at the same rhythm as the previous hand touching. While the clapping occurred, the following rhyme was chanted:

“I don’t wanna go to Mexico no more, more, more.

There’s a big fat policeman at the door, door, door.

He’ll grab ya by the collar,

Make you pay a dollar,

I don’t wanna go to Mexico no more, more, more.”

After this rhyme was finished, each player tries to tap the other on the head with their right hand, yelling “Shame” when they do so. Whichever player taps the other first is the winner. When playing with boys, there is an implicit understanding that each player tries to hit the other player on the head as hard as they can. This element of pain infliction is not present when playing with girls."

****
Excerpt #7
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63097 "Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?"

Guest Brittany, June 4, 2011

"I do [still play hand games.]

Shame,shame,shame,
I dont wanna go to mexico,
no more more more,theres
a big fat policeman,
at the door door door,if you
grab him by the collar boy you better
hollar if you grab him by the pants,
boy you betta dance,i dont wanna go to mexico
no more more more shut the door

Im 13 and i still play that"

****
Excerpt #8
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AClapping_game/Examples
"Shame, Shame, Shame
Shame, shame, shame (Both people put their hand together and go back and forth)
I don't want to go to mexico no (middle, top, middle, right hand grab, left hand grab)
more, more, more. (slap thigh, snap, clap right hands)
There's a big fat policeman(clap back of right hands, clap, back and forth)
at the door, door, door (middle, top, middle, right hand grab)
grabbed me by the collar, (left hand grab, slap thigh, snap, clap right hands)
made me pay a dollar. (clap back of right hands, clap, back and forth)
I don't want to go to mexico no (middle, up, middle, right hand grab, left hand grab)
more, more, more. (slap thigh, snap clap right hands)
SHAME! (both people point at the other's face)

alternate lyrics:
Shame, shame, shame, I don't want to go to Hollywood no more, more, more. There's a fake Michael Jackson at the door, door, door. Grabbed me by the hips, kissed me on the lips, I don't want to go to Hollywood no more, more, more SHAME! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.194.118.238 (talk) 04:39, 27 July 2014 (UTC)"

****
Excerpt #9
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55TnrD5re5g [This link no longer active as of  at least Nov. 5, 2019 ]
[Pancocojams Editor's Note: This link is to a vlog hosted by a young Asian woman from Canada. The vlog and its numerous comments document and provide comments about the large amount of violence, "weirdness", and racist (especially toward Asians) words and performance activities that are found in contemporary children's rhymes. A number of commenters shared violent rhymes from non-English speaking nations, particularly from various nations in Europe and from various nations in South America. WARNING: Some of these examples include profanity and what is commonly known as the "n" word.]

1. TheParadoxSocks, 2015
"Here's one I did at my school
"Shame, shame, shame,
I don't wanna go to Mexico
No more, more, more,
There's a big fat policeman at the
Door, door, door
He'll grab you by the collar
Make you scream and holler,
I don't wanna go to Mexico
No more, more, more.

I never thought anything of it until once when I was 17 I sang it to a couple of my current friends, much to their horror, then immediately realized it's a song about deportation."

**
2. Jordan Smith, 2015
"We had two Mexico ones:

shame shame shame
I don't wanna go to Mexico no more more more
there's a big fat policeman at the door door door
he'll grab you by the collar, make you pay a dollar,
I don't wanna go to mexico no more more more
SHAME ON YOU

or:
shame shame shame
I wanna go to Mexico some more more more
there's a cute boy knockin on the door door door
he'll grab you by the hips, kiss you on the lips
I wanna go to Mexico some more more more
SHAME ON YOU"

**
3. Andrea Mercier, 2015
"We had one that was like
I wanna go to mexico some more, more , more
There's a big fat police man at the door,door,door
If you open the door he'll pee on the floor
I don't wanna go to mexico no more, more, more

Mexico alternated with Hollywood and the fat police man sometimes were 2 cute boys who'd grab you by the hips and kiss you on the lips. Both honestly sounded really gross to us and more funny then anything."

**
4. Melanie Niemann, 2015
"our version of that was slightly different.
"I don't wanna go to mexico no more more more
there's a big fat policeman at the door door door
he'll grab you by the collar and make you pay a dollar
I don't wanna go to mexico no more more more
shame!

But I wanna go to mexico some more more more
there's a really cute guy at the door door door
he'll grab you by the hips, and kiss you on the lips
oh I want to go to mexico some more more more
shame!"

**
5. _DontFeedTheOtaku _, 2015
"the one i heard was changed to Disney world " i don't wanna go to Disney world no more more more!
There's a creepy costumed princess at my door door door!
she grabbed me by the neck made me write a check!
i don't wanna go to Disney world no more more more!
SHAME smack in the face"

**
6. Excess Sleeper, 2015
"+_DontFeedTheOtaku _ Whoa dude, that's dark"

**
Reply
7. _DontFeedTheOtaku _, 2015
"+Tiana Buchanan I know right?! WE WERE 6!!"

**
8. Evan F, 2015
"For the Mexico one after the rhyme we'd shout "SHAME!" and whoever said it first got to push the other's forehead back with two fingers."

**
9. Rachel Rea, 2015
"The one my school sang was:
"Shame, shame, shame,
I don't wanna go to Mexico
No more, more, more
There's a big fat police man
at the door, door, door
He'll grab you by the hips
Kiss you on the lips
I don't want to go to Mexico
No more, more, more"
And then we would say shame on you before the other person."

**
10. Sierra Gale, 2015
"My favorite was
Chain chain chain
I don't wanna go to mexico no more more more
There's a big fat policeman at my door door door
He grabbed me by the hips
And kissed me on the lips
I don't wanna go to mexico no mo"

**
11. Lynn Abrams, 2015
"we have one at my school that goes

idont wanna go to mexico
no more more more
there is this really tall guy at the door door door
he'll grab you by the hips
kiss you on the lips
i dont wannna go to mexico
no more more more
(then you try to see who can slap the other on the forehead faster and say shame)"

12. Talia Smid, 2015
"Chang chang chang
I don't want go go to Mexico no more more more
There's a big fat policeman at the door door door
Grab you by the collar. Make you pay a dollar
I don't want to go to Mexico no more more more

re more more
vicious race to say CHAIN first"

**
13. JadeOmega, 2016
"#1: I don't want to go to mexico no more more more there's a big fat policeman at the door door door if he pulls you by the collar, girl you better hollar I don't want to go to mexico no more more more SHUT THE DOOR"

****
Excerpt #10
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55TnrD5re5g
Marel Smietana, 2015
"I played this:
I don't want to go to Mexico no more, more, more
There's a big fat policeman at the door, door, door
He grabbed me by the collar
Made me pay a dollar
I don't want to go to Mexico no more, more, more SHAME
(whoever yelled SHAME and hit the other player's head first won)"

****
Excerpt #11 [added 9/5/2017]
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KL0LNtitYM
1. Love10n, 2016
"I think the one I learned was Shame I dont wanna go to mexico no more mroe more, theres creepy boys at my door. They grab you by the hips, Then kiss you on the lips. Shame shame shame.
Er, thats all I remember, been a LONG time sense i've done it!"

**
2. Breanna Buchanan, 2016
"what about the one shame shame shame I don't won't to go to mexico no more more more there's a big policeman stand at my door door door he grabbed me by my hips and made me miss his lips I don't won't to go to mexico no more more more"

*****
SHOWCASE YOUTUBE EXAMPLES

Example #1: .SHAME HAND GAME - MEXICO | TI&NAISH



CanadianQueen76, Published on Jun 30, 2013

SHAME lyrics:
SHAME - SHAME - SHAME
I don't want to go to Mexico
no MORE - MORE - MORE

There's a big fat police man at the
DOOR - DOOR - DOOR
He will hang you by the collar
make you pay a dollar
I don't want to go to Mexico
no MORE - MORE - MORE
SHAME
-snip-
This video was given as video #2 when this pancocojams post was first published. However, the video that was given as #1 is no longer available. I wrote this comment about that video:

"The introductory hand slap or hand clap is different from the actual hand clapping pattern that is used for the rhyme. That hand clapping routine usually has the distinctive over/under pattern that is shown in this video"... 

That same introductory hand clap routine pattern is also shown in the Ti & Naish video that is now #1.
  
****
Added November 6, 2019
Example #2: 90’s hands games !!!!!



Geneas, Nov 4, 2018
-snip-
This video begins with what one of the women said is "an old version" of "Shame Shame Shame" and is followed by a "new version" of that rhyme.

Here's my transcriptions of those rhymes:
version #1:
Shame Shame Shame
I don't want to go to Mexico no more more more
There's a big fat policeman at the door, door, door.
He will pull you by the collar
Make you scream and holler
I don't want to go to Mexico no more.

The words to version #2 of "Shame Shame Shame" is the same except for some of the hand clap routine movements and repeating "no more more more" at the end of the rhyme.

**
Here's a comment* from that video's discussion thread:
aymimi, 2019
"Our "Shame Shame Shame" goes:

Shame Shame Shame
I don't wanna go to Mexico no more more more
There's two hot guys by the door door door
They'll grab you buy the hips and kiss you on the lips
I don't wanna go to Mexico no more more more
-snip-
The publisher of that video responded to this comment with the word "really?"

This YouTube video's discussion thread is still open since this video features two adults and thus is not affected by the February 28, 2019 YouTube ban on comments for videos that feature children. Some of the comments in this video are made by self-identified children. However, some comments in that discussion thread include profanity, sexualized references, and violence.

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.