Examples Of The United Kingdom Playground Rhyme "Eye Shoe Anna"/"Died In A Fish Shop" (And Similar Titles)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Revision- April 22, 2022

This pancocojams post documents all of the examples of the playground rhyme "Eye Shoe Anna"/"Died In A Fish Shop" or similar titles that I've found as of this date. 

"Eye Shoe Anna"/"Died In A Fish Shop" or similar titles have  been chanted while jumping (skipping) rope or as part of a partner hand clap game. 

All of the examples of these rhymes are from the United Kingdom.

Addendum #1 of this post showcases  two examples of the "died in a fish shop" verse without the "Eye Shoe Anna" [or similar words] portion.

Addendum #2 of this post showcases an example of a somewhat similar rhyme from African American culture.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who shared examples of these rhymes.
-snip-
This is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on children's playground rhymes that include reference to death. 

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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/10/were-british-playground-rhymes-eye-shoe.html for a 2025  pancocojams post that is an updated version of this 2022 post with additional examples and other content. The title of that post is "Were The British Playground Rhymes "Eye Shoe Anna" (or similar titles) & Their "Died In The Fish Shop" Lines Originally Meant To Be An Insult Chant?"

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
The general mission of this pancocojams blog is "to showcase the music, dances, language practices and customs of African Americans and of other people of Black descent throughout the world,"

Many of the playground rhymes, children's singing games, and children's cheerleader cheers (including foot stomping cheers) that I showcase on this pancocojams blog may be very familiar to African Americans now or may have been very familar to African Americans in the past. 

However, (as is probably largely the case with this particular post), some other examples of children's rhymes and singing games that I feature on this blog may be (or may have been) much less familiar or not at all familiar to African Americans in particular and/or to other Black people throughout the world. As such, some pancocojams posts on these subjects may largely or even completely fall outside of the scope of the above cited mission statement for this blog.

I feature those examples of rhymes, singing games, and cheers on pancocojams because I'm interested in those subjects in general and because I want to use this platform to document, enjoy, analyze,  and archive those subjects.  

I encourage pancocojams readers to join me in collecting, enjoying, sharing, analyzing, and archivinge examples of children's playground rhymes, singing games, and cheerleader cheers so that people now and in future generations will know and better understand those creative composition and performance routines. 

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OVERVIEW OF THE "EYE SHOE ANNA" RHYMES
What I'm calling the "Eye Shoe Anna" family of rhymes include references to a child's mother or father dying at a chip shop. The first verse of these rhymes includes the line "Eye Shoe Anna" or a similar sounding line. 

My guess is that "Eye Shoe Anna" and the other similar words in these examples are folk processed forms of the greeting "Hi" followed by the female first name "Susanna"  or the female double name "Susie Anna". Also, my guess is that "Eye Shoe Ella" is a folk proceesed form of the greeting "Hi" and the female double first name "Sue Ella".

The first verse notes that all of the boys on the soccer field (given in most of these examples as the "football pitch") greet a girl who they see walking by. The girl is then asked "How's your mother? (or "How's your father?". The girl responds that her parent is all right, but follows that comment with the statement that she (or he)  "died in the chip shop (or fish shop) last night" . The girl is then asked what her parent died of  and she responds "raw fish". The rhyme ends with one of the chanters falling back into her partner's arms or both of the chanters mimicking  "death poses".

The "How's your mother (or father") verse culminating in the end of the rhyme can be found independent of the beginning portion of the "Eye Shoe Anna" verse. This is demonstrated by the two examples in Addendum #1 of this post.

If you are familiar with this rhyme, please share the example that you know with demographic information i.e where you learned it, when you chanted it or heard it chanted, and what performance activity (such as handclap game, skipping/jumping rope ( if any your performed while chanting this rhyme.

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EXAMPLES OF "EYE SHOE-ANNA" AND SIMILARLY TITLED UNITED KINGDOM RHYMES

These examples are given in chronological order based on the example's publishing date.

EXAMPLE #1: EYE SHOE-ANNA

"I am a primary school teacher in the UK and as my final year dissertation of my teaching degree
(18 months ago) I produced a dissertation entitled "Can Children's Playground Culture Affect
Their Classroom Experience". This dissertation covered all aspects of children's playground rhymes (clapping, skipping and dipping).

[…]

Below is a collection of rhymes I have collected during my research.

Clapping Rhyme Eye-Shoe-Anna

I met a little dustbin girl
Called Eye-Shoe-Anna
All the boys in the football team
Said Eye-Shoe-Anna

How is your mother?
Alright
Died in the fish shop last night
What did she die of?
Raw fish
How did she die?
Like this".
-Mark, 1/25/97, https://groups.google.com/g/alt.culture.us.1970s/c/25GUvi8yqqo?pli=1
-snip-
Other rhymes are included in that post.

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EXAMPLE #2: HI SHOE ELLA

I know a little Dutch girl
Called
Hi
Shoe
Ella
All the boys at the football club say
Hi
Shoe
Ella
How is your father
All right
Died at the chip shop
Last night
What was he eating
Raw fish
How did it happen
Like this
-DevilBunny; February 13, 2003
 http://msgboard.snopes.com/message/ultimatebb.php?/ubb/get_topic/f/95/t/000442/p/1.html Skipping and Clapping Rhymes.

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EXAMPLE #3: EYE, SHOE, SHARELLA

You may not know these unless you went to school in the UK lol:

[...]

And then there's this one that I only remember part of...

Eye, shoe, sharella
And all the boys on the football pitch went
Eye, shoe, sharella
How is your mother?
Alright!
Died in the fish shop?
Last night!
What was she eating?
Raw fish!
How did she die?
Like this! *falls over*
-TYCP ShaMar 26, 2010, https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/jjb/did-you-play-clapping-games-as-a-kid-t607897.html

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EXAMPLE #4: HIGH SHOE HANNAH

I know a girl called High Shoe Hannah
The boys in the football team go H.S.H.
How's your mother
All right, White
Died in the fish shop
Last night,
What did she die of?
Raw fish,
How did she die?
Like this,"
-Bobby, 5/13/2012, http://www.inthe00s.com/archive/inthe80s/smf/1109960765.shtmlThose clapping songs

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EXAMPLE #5: HI SHOE-SHIRVANNA

There was a little gypsy girl called
Hi-Shoe-Shirvanna (no idea what that is lol!)
All the boys on the football team go
Hi-Shoe-Shirvanna
How is your Mother?
All right!
She died in the fish chop
Last night!
What was she eating?
Raw fish!
How did she die?
Liiiiiiiiiiike this!

*mimics dying*

God how morbid! This one had actions to go with it inbetween the claps to!
-Sheryl L(10), 15/06/2012; https://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/being-mum-794/parenting-advice-192/434766-playground-clapping-rhymes-your-childhood-2.html

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EXAMPLE #6: EYE SHOE SHALALALALA 

When I was younger me and my friends used to do:

I met a little Indian girl called eye, shoe, shalalalala
All the boys on the football pitch loved eye, shoe, shalalalala
How's your father (alright)
Died In the chip shop (last night)
What was he eating (raw fish)
How did he die?
Like this!! Then you fall in the others arms
-Tre55dhb, 27/05/2014,  https://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/being-mum-794/parenting-advice-192/434766-playground-clapping-rhymes-your-childhood-3.html

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EXAMPLE #7- HIGH HEEL TRANNER

One day I met an Irish girl
Called High Heel Tranner (stand on tiptoe, touch heel, show off wiggles)
All the boys t the football pitch
Said High Heel Tranner
How’s your mother
All right
Died in a fish shop
Last night.
What did she die of?
Rotten fish (wavy hand motion)
How did she die of
Like this (fall back in partner’s arms)
LETCHLADE, 2010

This rhyme has been around at least since the 1980s, when it began “I’m a little Dutch girl /Called Hi Susie Anna"...
-https://books.google.com, Steve Round, The Lore of the Playground: One hundred years of children's traditions , Clapping games [page] 323; 2010

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ADDENDUM #1 -"DIED IN A FISH SHOP" VERSES WITHOUT THE "EYE SHOE ANNA" TYPE VERSE

Example #1: I WENT TO THE CHINESE RESTAURANT

My daughter, who is eight, is still doing clapping rhymes, though the ones she does are different from the ones I did in the 50s and 60s. (These, by the way, are in England). The one she seems to do mostly is:
I went to a Chinese restaurant
To buy me a loaf of bread, bread, bread.
He wrapped it up in a five pound note
And this is what he said, said, said:

My name is
Elvis Presley,
Girls are sexy
Sitting in the back seat
Drinking pepsi.

Where's your father?
Died in a fishtank..Last night
What did he die of?..Raw fish.
How did he die..Like this.

On the "Like this" they pull a strange face as of somebody dead. She says there are various versions of the rhyme. We used to do the first bit, but not the bit beginning with "Elvis Presley"
-MBSLynne, 21 Sept 03, https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63097  Do kid still do clapping rhymes?

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Example #2: MY NAME IS ELVIS PRESLEY

My name is,
Elvis Presley,
Girls are sexy,
Sitting in the back seat
Drinking Pepsi,
How is your mother?
All right!
Died in a fish shop,
Last night!
What did she die of?
Corned beef!
How did she die?
Like this (mimes death)

It makes no sense...
-username91207, 2008, https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=680317&page=3

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ADDENDUM #2 -AUNT JENNY DIED

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/aunt-jenny-died-childrens-playground.html for 2013 pancocojams post entitled "Aunt Jenny Died" & Other Similar African American Playground Rhymes. That post showcases a video which has an African American rhyme with the title "The Postman Died" in its background. That post also features several other African American examples of rhymes which are similar to portions of "Eye Shoe Anna". Here's an excerpt of one of those rhymes: 

"Aunt Jenny died.
Group:
How did she die?
Soloist:
She died like this. [The soloist makes a funny pose such as raising one of her legs and raising her arm at the same time & freezing in place.]
Group:
She died like this. [The group tries to exactly imitate the soloist's pose]
Soloist:
She died like that. [The soloist strikes a new pose]
Group:
She died like that.
[The group tries to exactly imitate the soloist's pose. The soloist and the group repeat the same sequence with the mention of other relatives until "momma" is mentioned]
Soloist:
My momma livin'.
Group:
Where she livin'.
Soloist & group in unison:
Well she lives in a place called Tennessee.
Jump up Tenna Tennessee [The entire group performs the movements as indicated by the words]"...

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Visitor comments are welcome.

"Aunt Jenny Died" & Other Similar African American Playground Rhymes That Mention Death

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Revision: May 31, 2023

This is Part I of a four part pancocojams series that presents examples of and source songs/rhymes for the African American children's rhyme "Aunt Jenny Died" (or other similar  titles) that mention death.

This post features a video example and several text examples of this rhyme. In addition, this post includes titles, hyperlinks,  and information about several songs/rhymes that I believe to be sources for the "Aunt Jenny Died" rhyme.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/jenny-jones-and-other-related-folk-songs.html for Part II of this series. Part II of this series provides examples of the song "Jenny Jones" and versions of that folk song.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/jenny-jenkins-folk-song-with-lyrics.html for Part III of this series. That post provides information & examples of the song "Jenny Jenkins".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/jamaican-folk-song-come-to-see-janie.html.

Part IV of this series provides an example of the Jamaican song "Come To See Janie".

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who I have quoted in this post. Thanks to the children who recited this rhyme in that video and the producer of this showcased film clip (who may have arbitrarily decided to include that rhyme.) Thanks also to the publisher of that video on YouTube. 

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PART I: VIDEO & TEXT EXAMPLE OF "THE POSTMAN DIED" (A rhyme that is related to "Aunt Jenny Died")
Editor's note: This entire video is very worthy of viewing. However, for the purpose of this post, please focus on the rhyme found in the background of 5:01-5:56 of this video [The clearest rendition of the same rhyme is found at 5:34-5:56.]

"We Shall Not Be Moved: African Americans in the South, 18th Century to the Present"

SouthernHistorical Uploaded on Oct 22, 2009

A preview of the Southern Historical Collection's exhibit, "We Shall Not Be Moved: African Americans in the South, 18th Century to the Present". The exhibit is on view in the Melba Remig Saltarelli Exhibit Room on the third floor of Wilson Library at UNC Chapel Hill, from Oct. 8, 2009 through Feb. 5, 2010. The exhibit is free and open to the public. For more information about the exhibit, please email Biff Hollingsworth at biff@unc.edu
-snip-
Transcription of that rhyme:

Lead - The postman died
Group- (How did he die)
He died like this
(He died like this)
The postman living
(Where he livin)
Lead & Group -He livin outside Tennessee
He got a short _ _ and a _ _*
He can twist his thing everywhere he please
Hands up tuchie tuchie tuchie
Hands down tuchie tuchie tuchie
Touch the ground tuchie tuchie tuchie
Turn around tuchie tuchie tuchie
I never went to college
I never been to school
But when it comes to boogie
I’m an educated fool.
-snip-
Transcription by Azizi Powell. Additions & corrections are welcome. The end lines are heard in the background at 5:25 of this film.

I was unable to decipher the words represented by dashes. Italics means that I'm not certain of those words.

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A TEXT VERSION OF "AUNT JENNY DIED"
Soloist:
Aunt Jenny died. .
Group:
How did she die?
Soloist:
She died like this. [The soloist makes a funny pose such as raising one of her legs and raising her arm at the same time & freezing in place.]
Group:
She died like this. [The group tries to exactly imitate the soloist's pose]
Soloist:
She died like that. [The soloist strikes a new pose]
Group:
She died like that.
[The group tries to exactly imitate the soloist's pose. The soloist and the group repeat the same sequence with the mention of other relatives until "momma" is mentioned]
Soloist:
My momma livin'.
Group:
Where she livin'.
Soloist & group in unison:
Well she lives in a place called Tennessee.
Jump up Tenna Tennessee [The entire group performs the movements as indicated by the words]
Jump back Tena Tennesse
Jump in Tena Tennesse
Jump out Tena Tennessee
Well I've never been to college
I never been to school.
But when it comes to boogie [On the word "boogie", while still standing in place, the entire group does a hip shaking dance movement] The girls don't have to do the exact same movement]
I can boogie like a fool.
You go in, out, side to side.
You go in, out, side to side.
-African American children's rhyme, collected from African American female Barbara Ray (memories of her childhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1950s); collected by Azizi Powell, 1998 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
-snip-
"Boogie" means "dance".

I collected this rhyme from Barbara Ray as part of her response to a voluntary, written survey on children's rhymes that I conducted with fellow staff at my [then] work site. Barbara wrote that girls stood in a circle or semi-circle while chanting this "song". She later performed "Aunt Jenny Died" for me during a break at our work site.

For what it's worth, I don't have any memory of this rhyme from my childhood in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the 1950s.

Note that “aunt” in this rhyme might not have originally referred to a relative as in the Southern region of the United States until the end of slavery, the term "aunt" was used as the instead of "Mrs" or "Miss". Those titles were reserved for White females.
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/05/ladies-and-gentlemen-children-too.html for a 1973 rendition of portion of this rhyme by the Jazz vocalist group The Pointer Sisters. That group chanted the portion that begins with "Ladies & Gentlemen, Children Too".

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TEXT EXAMPLE OF "OLD MISS ONION DIED"
We used to play a related game when I was young. Players sit in a circle. The leader starts with the statement to player on her left who questions her, then turns to the player on his left in turn. All players continue the action or contortion until it returns to them the next time when they *add* another action or contortion. The object is to not laugh, but maintain an air of solemn sympathy.

"Old Miss Onion Died."
"How did she die?"
"Closing one eye"
...
[next time round]
"Old Miss Onion Died."
"How did she die?"
"Mouth awry"
...
"Waving goodbye"
...
"One leg held high"


There might have been more; don't remember.

Did anyone else ever play that one? Guess I had a weird enough childhood."
-:Judy Cook, 17 Feb 05, http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=76201 , Origin of Aunt Jenny Died?
-snip-
This post is from rhis discussion thread about "Aunt Jenny Died" that I started in December 2004 on the Folk music/Blues forum called Mudcat: . To date, I've not found any other versions of "Old Miss Onion Died" online or off-line.

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TEXT EXAMPLE OF "MAMA'S DEAD" 
This isn’t a hand clap game, instead its played with several kids, one is the leader (it’s kinda long)

Leader says: "Momma’s dead"
Kids say: "How’d she die?"
Leader says: Oh, she died like this (leader strikes a pose)
Kids say: Oh, she died like this (kids duplicate the pose)
The leader repeates the above 2-3 more times, then says: "Momma’s livin"
Kids: "Oh, how is she livin"
Chorus: "Oh, she’s livin in the country, gonna move to town,
She’s gonna shake her shimmy til the sun goes down
She’ss gonna wear her dresses up above her knee,
She’ss gonna do what she wants, where ever she be
Hands up, tootsee, tootsee, tootsee, tootsee
Hands down, tootsee, tootsee, tootsee, tootsee
Turn around, (say tootsee 4 times)
Touch the ground (say tootsee 4 times)
Peaches on the table (extend right hand), pears on the floor(extend left hand)
Jump back baby, I don’t love you no more

The following part we would hop front, back and side and say:

"To the front to the back to the side by side" (say once more)

I don’t remember all of the rest....except something about an educated fool
-OHR, 7/28/2004; https://www.nappturality.com/forums/threads/81695-Clapping-Rhymes-hand-Games/page7
-snip-
It appears from this discussion that all of the participants in the napptuarality.com discussion forum are African American women. The name npptuarality refers to wearing one's nappy hair naturally.. 

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MY OPINION ABOUT THE SOURCE FOR THE "NEVER WENT TO COLLEGE" VERSE IN THESE RHYMES
An early example of the floating verse "I've never been to college, never been to school" is found on (pp 71-72} of the 1925 book On The Trail Of Negro Folk Songs by the White American folklorist Dorothy Scarborough. Here's that song (presented with explanations given in parenthesis). Note: That book spells out what is now known as "the n word". For the purposes of this post I've written that word as "N__".

Chorus:
Old Jesse was a gemman {gentleman}
Among de olden times.

Verse 2
N__ never went to free school,
Nor any odder college.
An' all de white folks wonder whar
Dat N_ got his knowledge.
He chawed {chewed} up all de Bible.
An' den spat out de Scripter,
An' when he 'gin {begin} to arger {argue} strong,
He were a snortin' ripter!
-snip-
According to Dorothy Scarborough, the song "Ole Jesse" is from Alabama. This song shouldn't be confused with another traditional African American plantation song entitled "Uncle Jesse."

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This concludes Part I of this series.

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