tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post2101337602750837867..comments2024-03-28T07:58:41.643-04:00Comments on pancocojams: "Such A Getting Upstairs" (Lyrics & Morris Dance Videos)Azizi Powellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-47763920931197979712013-12-09T09:22:09.008-05:002013-12-09T09:22:09.008-05:00Thank you Anonymous December 9, 2013 at 5:29 AM fo...Thank you Anonymous December 9, 2013 at 5:29 AM for your informative comment. I appreciate those additional references.<br /><br />I agree that from my reading "Getting Upstairs" was identified as a minstrel song in England, having been introduced there by White American black-faced minstrels.Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-16688144380114864592013-12-09T05:29:01.707-05:002013-12-09T05:29:01.707-05:00A version of the lyrics appears in Frederick Marry...A version of the lyrics appears in Frederick Marryat's novel 'Poor Jack'(1840) , sung by a fictional black character called Opposition Bill, a retired sailor:<br />'On board of a man-of-war dey hauled me one day,<br />And pitch me up de side just like one truss of hay.<br /> Such a getting upstairs I neber did see,<br /> Such a getting upstairs.<br /><br />..And so on for five more verses, describing the hard life of a sailor. Whether Marryat knew the song already or invented his own verses to suit his fiction, I don't know. He had been in North America and the West Indies and naturally also served with black sailors, so may have been familiar with the song before it became more widespread. Or it may have been one of the songs spread by blackface minstrel troupes, which were hugely popular in London from 1836 onwards, when Thomas D. Rice began the craze there. <br /><br />In the mid 19th c it seems to have been identified in England as a 'minstrel' song. (I say this because it crops up in a musical burlesque version of Macbeth performed April 1853 at the Olympic Theatre, along with others such as 'Lucy Neal', 'Who's dat knockin on de door', 'Jim Crow' etc. See reference in Wikipedia to the actor Frederick Robson.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5893219718076521675.post-84747776983852639292013-10-29T21:11:23.596-04:002013-10-29T21:11:23.596-04:00As a collector of contemporary English language ch...As a collector of contemporary English language children's playground rhymes, I was surprised to find out that there was a Morris dance that includes the line "I love coffee, I love tea". That line is used as the title of a huge family of playground rhymes. Examples of those rhymes are also known as "Shimmy Shimmy Co Co Pa" and "Down Down Baby".<br /><br />Prior to the 1970s or so in the United States, those playground rhymes appear to have been performed as jump rope rhymes. But since that time, hand clapping has taken the place of jumping rope with those rhymes and almost all other previously jump rope rhymes.<br /><br />The melody of the "Getting Upstairs" Morris dance is the same as or very similar to that of "I Love Coffee" rhymes. However, the tempo of those rhymes is slightly faster, and those rhymes are chanted in a sing song like manner and not sung like the "Getting Upstairs" song was sung in one of the featured videos to this post.<br /><br />The partner hand clapping that the Morris dancers do is the same or similar to other partner hand clap patterns*, <br /><br />Furthermore, the parallel line formation that the Morris dancers use is the same formation that is documented in the 1967 film of African American school girls performing some hand clapping/ singing games. A clip of that film "Pizza Pizza Daddy-o". can be found by clicking this link: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2YodFqZ7nQ" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2YodFqZ7nQ</a>. <br /><br />Besides the costumes, bells, and hand held handkerchiefs, one main difference between the performance of the "I Love Coffee" playground rhymes and the "Getting Upstairs" Morris dance is that the Morris dancers are men while most playground rhymes are performed by girls, mostly ages 6-12 years. Another crucial difference between Morris dances and hand clap games is that Morris dancers move across a performance space while persons performing hand clap games chant rhymes while standing in one spot.<br /><br />*Other hand clap games are done with three people and four people (two sets of partners). Also, some mildly competitive hand slapping games such as "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" and "Stella Ella Ola" are performed by groups of people. Azizi Powellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14963772326145910073noreply@blogger.com