"Sophisticated Lady" Foot Stomping Cheers (examples and their R&B, Blues, & Other Influences)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision- April 24, 2026

This pancocojams post presents examples of the foot stomping cheer "Sophisticated Lady".

Addendum #1 of this post presents a YouTube video example of Natalie Cole's 1976 R&B song "Sophisticated Lady" and an excerpt of the lyrics for that song.

 Addendum #2 of this post focuses on the inclusion of "number verses" in some Sophisticated Lady" foot stomping cheers and traces the inspiration for those verses to the 1934 Blues song "Kokomo Blues" and the 1936 Blues song "Sweet Home Chicago".

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the creativity of all of those who are mentioned and/or quoted in this post. Thanks to the contributors of examples of these foot stomping cheers. Thanks also to the publishers of these YouTube video or audio files.

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EXAMPLES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN GIRLS' "SOPHISTICATED LADY" FOOT STOMPING CHEERS

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 the girls saying something about "I got hips on me" and "you better not kiss my man" but doesn't remember how the cheer went. 

These girls attended the summer camp that my daughter also attended in 1985 or 1986. Black children from various Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania neighborhoods attended that camp. My daughter said that she and her friends (in the Pittsburgh neighborhood where we live/d) never "did" this cheer. Unfortunately, I don't have any information about the rest of that cheer and how this cheer was performed. 

*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 probably gave her name or nickname and chanted other lines.

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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%$%@ 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-
"Suffocated" is a folk processed for of "sophisticated"

This example has "the n word" given as an n and randomly typed symbols.

This example is an adaptation of the floating verse "If you don't like my apples [or "peaches"} don't shake my tree" that is found in a number of Blues songs.

Versions of the lines "I'm a bad bad girl from a bad bad town, it take a thousand n%$%@ just to hold me down" lines that precede that "If you don't like my apples" verse are found a number of Black children's recreational rhymes and chants (and in different genres of Black secular music). Here's an excerpt of a children's rhyme that I included in
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/06/childrens-examples-of-ah-beep-beep.html "Children's example of rhymes that include the phrase "a beep beep":
"I''m sweet, I'm kind.

I'm soul sister number nine.

Don't like my apples,

Don't shake my tree.

I'm a Castle Square Black.

Don't miss with me."

-John Langstaff and Carol Langstaff, editors: Shimmy Shimmy Coke -Ca-Pop!: A Collection Of City Children's Street Games And Rhymes (New York, Doubleday & Company, 1973, p. 57)

For more information and examples about "if you don't like my apples" songs and rhymes, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/05/partial-chronology-of-songs-with-lyrics.html for the 2024 pancocojams post entitled "Partial Chronology Of Songs With The Lyrics "If You Don't Like My Peaches, Don't Shake My Tree" (Or Similar Lyrics) & The Meanings Of Those Lyrics".

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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" started out as a foot stomping cheer but eventually was performed as a hand clap game.

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SOPHISTICATED LADY (Version #4)
All- Sophisticated lady

Oh, that's me.
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.

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.

**
The original Black Panther movie was first released in the United States on February 16, 2018. Five months later this commenter included the iconic "Wakanda forever" words and gesture from that highly successful movie in this version of the Sophisticated Lady" foot stomping cheer. 

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ADDENDUM #1- THE MAIN SOURCE FOR "SOPHISTICATED LADY" FOOT STOMPING CHEERS

Natalie Cole's 1976 song "Sophisticated Lady" is undoubtedly the source of the "Sophisticated Lady" foot stomping cheers.

Here's a 1990 video of Natalie Cole performing "Sophisticated Lady"

Natalie Cole | Sophisticated Lady | Live 1990

Black Music Archive LIVE!, Jan 31, 2022

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Here's an excerpt of the lyrics for that songthat was written by Chuck Jackson
from https://genius.com/Natalie-cole-sophisticated-lady-shes-a-different-lady-lyrics

[Chorus]

(Sophisticated lady)

Sophisticated lady, yeah

(Sophisticated lady)

Oh

(Sophisticated lady)

That's her name

That's her name

(Sophisticated lady)

Whoa, whoa

Everybody knows how she got her name

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Whoa oh, oh, oh, oh" ...

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ADDENDUM #2-  INSPIRATION FOR "ONE AND ONE MAKES TWO" AND SIMILAR WORDING IN SOME "SOPHISTICATED" (AND CERTAIN OTHER)  FOOT STOMPING CHEERS

The 1934 African American Blues "Kokomo Blues" is inspiration for these words and the words "One and one and one make three/you better watch your man/cause your man is watching me"  (or similar words) 

Here's a YouTube sound file of Kokomo Arnold singing that Blues song:

Old Original Kokomo Blues - Kokomo Arnold

CharlesDavidPollock, Feb 13, 2012

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Click https://genius.com/Kokomo-arnold-old-original-kokomo-blues-lyrics for the lyrics for that song. Here's the first verse of that song

"One and one is two, mama

Two and two is four

You mess around here, pretty mama

You know you got to go

Cryin', oooh, baby don't you want to go

Back to the Eleven Light City

To sweet old Kokomo"...
-snip-
"Kokomo Blues" is the precursor for Robert Johnson's 1936 Blues song "Sweet Home Chicago". 
That seminal Blues song includes two number verses:

[Verse 3]

Now one and one is two, two and two is four

I'm heavy loaded baby, I'm booked, I gotta go

Cryin', baby, honey, don't you want to go

Back to the land of California, to my sweet home Chicago

[Verse 4]

Now two and two is four, four and two is six

You goin' keep on monkeyin' 'round here friend-boy

You goin' get your business all in a trick"...

Click https://genius.com/Robert-johnson-sweet-home-chicago-lyrics for the complete lyrics for that song.

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Historically Black Greek letter organizations changed "Kokomo Blues" and "Sweet Home Chicago" "number" lyrics to similar words such as "one and one and one make three/ you better watch your lover cause your lover's watching me". 

I've come across these lines or similar to lines in various historically Black Greek letter sororities, historically Black Greek letter fraternities, or little sister groups* chants such as those entitled "One And One And One Make Three" . Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/03/examples-of-historically-black_53.html for a list of historically Black Greek letter fraternities and sororities chants that include those "number" examples and similar "number" examples.

Here's an example of a "One And One And One Makes Three" chant:

 

One and one and one makes three.
You better watch your man
cause your man is watchin me.

So if you came her with your man
you better hold him tight.
Cause you damn sure better believe
He’ll be leaving here with a Q Pearl tonight.
-a member of Q Pearl, 1990s {East Coast, USA}; posted by Azizi, 12/05;
also featured in Meharry College step show video, (with the name "AKA" substituted for "Q Pearl) late 1990s; transcribed and posted by Azizi, 12/2005.
-snip-
The source of the phrase "one and one and one makes three" is the song "Kokomo Blues". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/12/kokomo-blues-as-source-of-beatles-lyric.html for a pancocojams post about this song, the fraternity and sorority examples, and its use in a Beatles song.
-snip-

*Little sister groups" is an informal reference for college/university groups of women who were/are? unofficially (and some would say "illegally") affiliated with one of the five historically Black Greek letter fraternities that are members of the National Pan Hellenic Council (also known as "The Divine Nine").

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DO YOU REMEMBER THE "SOPHISTICATED LADY" [or "SUFFOCATED LADY"] CHEER? 
 If so, for the folkloric record, please add the words to and information about the version of this cheer in the comment section below. Thanks!

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Thanks for visiting pancocojams. 

Visitor comments are welcome. 

List Of Examples Of Foot Stomping Cheers (Numbers - C) Complete Reprint

Edited by Azizi Powell

[This is a complete reprint of a post that was originally published in 2016. The latest revision of that post was in 2023. That revision was an example of a cheer that began with Numbers-C that I had just found online, and not a newly composed cheer.]

This is Part I (Numbers- C) of a five part series that provides an alphabetized list of text (word only) examples 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

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list_22.html for Part V: P-Z

This is a work in progress. I'm not numbering these pages as additional examples will be added when I come across those examples and when examples are posted on this blog's comment thread.

Click the foot stomping cheer tag below for additional pancocojams posts about this subject.

Click for this related pancocojams post http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/when-i-started-collecting-examples-of.html When I Started Collecting Examples Of African American Foot Stomping Cheers

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTES 
I coined the term "foot stomping cheers" in 2000 for this sub-set of children's cheerleader cheers that have distinctive textual structures and distinctive performance styles. The term "foot stomping cheers" distinguishes examples of that category from other cheerleader cheers. However, these compositions appear to usually be referred to as "rhymes", "cheers". "chants", steps", "stomps", or "ciphers".

All the examples of foot stomping cheers that I have observed (in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area between 1980s through 2009*) were performed by Black girls between the ages of 5-12 years as informal (although rehearsed) recreational activities. 

*I stopped my direct (face to face) collection of foot stomping cheers in 2009.

I haven't found any examples of foot stomping cheers in any country except the United States.

I differentiate foot stomping cheers that follow the signature textual pattern of group voice and consecutive soloists with "stomp cheers". "Stomp cheers" are adapted versions of these sub-set of cheers which usually don't follow that group voice/consecutive soloist pattern and/or don't follow the stomp/clap percussive movements that were associated with "real" foot stomping cheers of the late 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s.  

The cheer "Shaboya Roll Call" from the 2006 Bring It On All Or Nothing movie is probably the most widely known example of foot stomping cheers. In that movie, the "Shabooya Roll Call" cheer (that is performed by two Black girls and one Latina girl who are chanting while they dance on a school cafeteria table) follows that textual structure which is described below. However, I believe that their movements are an exaggeration of the syncopated stomp stomp clap percussive routines that are [or were] actually done while chanting foot stomping cheers.Those percussive routines are very similar if not the same as some performances of historically Black Greek leter sorority and fraternity "stepping". 

Furthermore, the "Roll Call/Shabooya Roll Call" that is also included in that Bring It On All Or Nothing movie only partially follows the textual pattern of actual foot stomping cheers, and doesn't even attempt to follow the stomp/clap movements of those cheers.

I use past tense for performances of foot stomping cheers as I believe that these forms of cheers are rarely if ever performed since around 2010. If girls are no longer composing and performing foot stomping cheers, it may be because of the increased opportunities for African American girls to join actual cheerleading squads, including stomp and shake cheerleading squads. These squads as well as "traditional cheerleading squads" provide girls with opportunities to actually be cheerleaders rather than pretending to be cheerleaders when they perform stomp and shake cheers. Because the performance structure of foot stomping cheers dictates that each member of the group had to have one equal length turn as the soloist for every cheer that was performed, these cheers aren't compatible with the time limitations that real cheerleaders face. 

In addition, I believe that the formation of children and youth "step teams" (based on historically Black Greek letter stepping) and the formation of hip hop majorette dance teams (such as the ones featured on the Bring It! television series) have also replaced the informal recreation activity that I refer to as doing "foot stomping cheers".

Specific Information About Foot Stomping Cheer Textual Composition And How These Cheers Are (or Were) Performed 

1. Foot stomping cheers are composed using a variant form of call & response that I've termed "group/consecutive soloists". Usually the group voice (often without the first soloist) is heard first. The soloist then responds to the group. This pattern continues, and usually the soloist then has a short solo portion. The group may or may not chant again before the cheer begins again from the beginning with a new soloist. This pattern continues until every member of the group has had one equal (same amount of time) turn as the soloist. My experience is that the order of soloist is determined before the cheer begins, often with girls trying to be the first to call out "first", "second", "third" etc.

2. These cheers are performed by girls who form a circle (sometimes with a soloist taking turns inside the center of the circle or the soloist remaining where she stands to chant and/or do some motion. To accomodate actual audiences, the formations for these cheers eventually changed in some geographic locations (such as in my adopted city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) to semi-circles or lines (usually horizontal lines facing the audience).

3. Foot stomping cheers are chanted while their performers execute choreographed, syncopated, percussive movement routines that are very similar to African American originated Greek lettered fraternity & sorority stepping (steppin). Most foot stomping cheers use this beat pattern: "stomp clap/ stomp stomp/ clap". Another beat pattern is "stomp stomp clap/ stomp stomp clap." Those two standard beat patterns appear to be used for all foot stomping cheers. Moderate tempo 4/4 beats created by those foot stomps alternate with the chanters'(individual) hand claps, body pats (especially thigh pats), and less frequently, finger snaps. Because these 4/4 beats are omnipresent in R&B, Hip-Hop, Rock, Gospel, and other forms of music, foot stomping cheer routines aren't that difficult for many African Americans (and others) to learn.

The well known 1977 record "We Will Rock You" by Queen is an excellent example of a Rock song that has a 4/4 beat and therefore could serve as a backdrop for a foot stomping routine (recognizing, of course, that foot stomping chants aren't meant to be performed to recorded music).

Foot stomping cheers rarely refer to race. One exception in a comment in which the soloist refers to herself as "light skinned" (an African American referent for Black people whose skin color is light brown to white.) However, almost all of the online comments that accompany the  foot stomping cheers that I have come across that mention race or ethnicity (with "ethnicity" in the United States meaning "latina/o") have been from African Americans. These types of comments either directly mention race, or are from blogs/forums whose commenters mostly or totally consist/ed of African Americans (such as the greekchat forum whose commenters consisted of members of historically Black Greek letter sororities; comments from blackhair.com, and commeters from lipstickalley.com. Most of the commenters who mention race/ethniciity are African American women who are reminising about the rhymes, cheers, and games they played when they were growing up in the 1980s and 1990s.

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Examples in this collection that have the citation "cocojams.com" were sent to my now no longer active cultural website cocojams.com. That website was online from January 2001-November 2014 and had an easy to use online form for visitors to submit rhyme & cheer examples and comments. As a result, many of the examples came from children, preteens, and teens.

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. )

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EXAMPLES: NUMBERS - C  
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.

[title] 1-2-3-4-5  
All: 1-2-3-4-5
Soloist #1 My name is Alana
and I say “Hi!”
All: 6-7-8-9-10,
Soloist #1: I’m gonna step aside
and meet my friend
Soloist #2 My name is Jasmine
and I want to say “Hi!
All: 6-7-8-9-10,
Soloist #2: I’m gonna step aside
to meet my friend
Soloist #3 My name is Talia
and I’m here to say “Hi!”
All: 6-7-8-9-10,
Soloist #3: I’m gonna back it up
to meet my friend.

This cheer repeats from the beginning with each member of the squad or group having one turn as the soloist. When everyone has had a turn, the entire group chants the following lines in unison:
All: 1-2-3-4-5
We are Alafia and we say “Hi”
6-7-8-9-10
We’re gonna step together
cause that’s the end.
-African American girls (age 5-12 years) and African American boys (age 5-7) years; Alafia Children’s Ensemble, Braddock, Pennsylvania, 1997
-snip-
"Alafia" was the name of a children's game song group that I founded and co-led with my daughter in Braddock, Pennsylvania and in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

This is an adaptation of a very popular cheer (in Braddock and in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) that I learned from a member of this group. When that cheer was chanted outside of our group, at the end of the cheer, instead of the name "Alafia", the children chanted their school's name or the word for their school's mascot (for example, "We are the Gators and we say "Hi".).
-snip-
A portion of this cheer was performed in the 2006 movie Bring It On: All Or Nothing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWG4AX09mqQ. "Introduce Yourself" (prom scene). The performance movements of this cheer have been significantly modified.). Also, in performing cheers every girl is supposed to have the same amount of soloist time, and isn’t supposed to be ignored as was done at the end of that movie clip with the girl “Sierra”.
-snip-

How Alafia Children's Ensemble performed this cheer:
. In this cheer, each child was in a vertical line. When the first stepper said some version of "I'm gonna step aside to meet my friend", she or he moved to form a vertical line to the right of that initial line. At the end of the second stepper's solo portion, she or he formed a vertical line to the left of that initial line. All subsequent steppers alternately stepped to the front of either the right or the left vertical line. When all of the steppers chanted "We're going to step together because that's the end", the two lines reformed in the middle as one vertical lines.

Up to and including the age of seven years, boys had no problem performing this cheer along with girls. The age differences noted above weren't requirements. My experience was that boys older than seven years old considered foot stomping cheers to be "girl stuff" that boys didn't do.

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7th HEAVEN [added November 28, 2018] fragment
Anyone play 7th heaven or telephone?

All the way to heaven 7th heaven all the way to heaven
*purr* on a mission..
My name is purr and I like to perform
I don't need these *shoes* on to work my body baby work my body baby pass it on
-PurrPoZe, Aug 10 2012, http://forum.blackhairmedia.com/i-went-downtown-to-get-a-stick-of-butter_topic345408_page8.html [This link is no longer active.]
 -snip-
The blogger also wrote " & so grown...but we was just takin about dancing"

After the phrase "pass it on", this cheer probably started from the beginning with the next soloist. It's likely that when she gave her name or nickname, each soloist substituted another word for "shoes" or also possibly for the word "perform".

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A BULLDOG (Version #1)

Group: Ah bull dog.
Ah bull dog.
Ah bull dog.
Ah bull dog.
Soloist #1: My name is Kayla.
Group: Ah bulldog.
Soloist #1: And I’m gonna show you how to work that bulldog.
Group: Ah bulldog.
Soloist #1: First you roll it.
Control it.
Then you bounce it.
Announce it.
Then you pop it.
Don’t stop it.
Then you creep it.
Don’t sleep it. (or “Don’t weep it”.)
Then you stop,
Think,
A ring a ding ding.

Repeat the exact same cheer with the next soloist. Continue with this pattern until every member of the group has had one turn as soloist.
- Jasmine, Indonesia, Brittany, Kayla, Felicia, & Tiara (African American females ages 9-12 years), Alafia Children’s Ensemble, Braddock, Pennsylvania, Collected by Azizi Powell 10/2000

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[Example #2 of A Bulldog]
A PANTHER
A panther
yeah yeah
a panther
ay what my name is Olivia
and they call me Ollie
yeah
and Im going to show you what this panther can do
first you shake it
dont break it
then you roll it
control it
then you pop it
dont stop it
sit down sit down
say what
sit down
-olivia; 9/16/2006; cocojams.com

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A BULL DOG (Example #3)
A Bull Dog
A Bull Dog
A Bull Dog
My Name is Mellie (Yeah)
I came to show you Show you
How I rock a Bull dog A Bull Dog
And first you shake it (Don't break it)
And the[n] you roll it (Control it)
Then you pop it (Just Stop it)
And then you disco (Like Sisqo)
And then you dog it (Don't hog it)
Then you shoot it (Don't miss it!)
-Mellie York, Jun 24, 2017, https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/black-girl-rhymes-what-was-yours-growing-up.1196979/page-2
-snip-
This blogger noted that she was from Brooklyn [New York]
-snip-
This cheer was written in capital letters. The words in parenthesis were probably chanted by the group except for the soloist. It's likely that the repeated words "Show you" and "a bull dog) were also chanted by the group except for the soloist.

The exact same cheer was posted in capital letters by dijah.love (Location: New York); Apr 25 2008; http://forum.blackhairmedia.com/lil-girls-hand-games_topic128043_page5.html [This link is no longer active.]

The name "Sisqo" helps establish a  date for this version of this cheer because, according to his Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisq%C3%B3 , the African American R&B and Hip- Hop singer whose stage name is "Sisqó" wasn't active until 1995. Therefore a cheer with his name in it couldn't have been composed until 1995.

WARNING: Some of the examples in the lipstickalley.com and the blackhairmedia.com discussion threads contain profanity, sexually explicit content, and/or the "n word".

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AH BOOM TICK TOCK (fragment)
Ah boom tick tock
Boom chica wally wally
Boom tick toc
Boom chica wally wally
STOP!
ah one more time
Ah boom tick tock
Boom chica wally wally
Boom tick toc
Boom chica wally wally
STOP!
ah one more time
-Tazi M Powell, memories of mid 1980s Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
-snip-
Tazi remembers this as being part of another cheer, but can't remember which other cheer it went with.

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A BOOM BOOM TICK (Example #2 of "Ah Boom Tick Tock" )

Hey Posse, Yeah break it down with the carwarsh

Yeah I said, A Boom Boom Tick, Tick A Boom Tick (x2) (while doing the carwash dance)

Hey Posse, Yeah break it down with the Unabomber

yeah I said, A Boom Boom Tick, Tick A Boom Tick (x2)

 

I actually think this one was strictly a DC thing.
-ConcreteRose, Aug 09 2012, http://forum.blackhairmedia.com/i-went-downtown-to-get-a-stick-of-butter_topic345408_page4.html [This link is no longer active.]
-snip-
The "A Boom Boom Tick etc portion of this cheer was written in capital letters.
"The carwash" and the Unabomber" were names of social dances which were performed in the Washington D.C. area.  

Another commenter (Wynter) wrote on that same date "we use to sing this in elementary school and Im from NYC"

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BOOM TICK TOCK (Example #3 of "Ah Boom Tick Tock")
Boom tick tock
Look at that girl.
Boom tick tock
Look at that girl.
In the mini skirt.
Yoiu mess with her
You get your feelings hurt.
She knows karate
From the front to the back.
Jump ____*/ [Someone randomly calls out an action word; insert a girl's name] She's all that. 
-Naijah S.; (African American female, 9 years old; Hazelwood section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; January 14, 2011; Collected by Azizi Powell
-snip-
I collected this & several other rhymes and cheers from Naijah, a nine year old African American girl. Naijah, her mother, and her baby sister arrived early at the Hazelwood branch of Carnegie Library for an African storytelling program that was sponsored by her mother's sorority, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. That program would feature me sharing examples of West African folk tales and leading an interactive demonstration of certain African musical instruments.

Naijah went to a table at that library and started working on her notebook size laptop. (This was the first notebook laptop that I had ever seen and the first time I had seen a girl her age with any laptop). After receiving permission to talk with her from her mother, I introduced myself to Naijah and asked her if she would share with me any hand clap rhymes or jump rope rhymes that she knew for a project I was doing on the internet. Naijah very enthusiastically agreed to share some examples with me. She said she learned rhymes from her friends and older cousins, and she teaches them to her younger cousins. 

Naijah didn’t categorize "Boom Tick Tock" as a cheer and I didn’t ask her how she categorized it (meaning, how she performed it). I’m categorizing it as a cheer because its format is the same as children's compositions that I refer to as "foot stomping cheers", i.e. when the entire chant is over, it immediately repeats with the next soloist. Also, some of the lines in "Boom Tick Tock" are found in other cheers. 

Directions: Naijah said that someone calls out a random word and a girl's name. I gathered that Naijah meant that the rhyme is immediately repeated, and each time a new action word and the name or the nickname of another girl (the girl who is jumping in the middle at that time?). Unfortunately, I've not been able to contact Naijah to confirm this. Naijah gave the following suggestions of words that are said instead of the word “jump”: "criss cross"; "turn"; "bounce"; "spin".

 ** "__ all that" -a slang phrase meaning "very good"; "in possession of qualities that other people admire".

****
AH RAH RAH AH BOOM TANG
Group: Ah Rah Rah Ah Boom Tang
Ah Rah Rah Ah Boom Tang
Ah Rah Rah Ah Boom Tang, baby
Ah Rah Rah Ah Boom Tang
Ah Rah Rah Ah Boom Tang
Soloist #1:My name is Tazi
Group: Ah Boom Tang
Soloist # 1:They call me Taz
Group: Ah Boom Tang
Soloist #1: And when they see me
Group: Ah Boom Tang
Soloist #1: They say “Ah Rah Rah
You look good, baby.”
Soloist #2:My name is Jennifer
Group: Ah Boom Tang
Soloist # 2:They call me Jenay
Group: Ah Boom Tang
Soloist #2: And when they see me
Group: Ah Boom Tang
Soloist #2: They say “Ah Rah Rah
Twist it, baby.”
(Repeat entire cheer with new soloist until everyone has had a turn).
-T.M.P. (African American female, from her memories of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the mid 1980s)

****
ANGELS GO SWINGING
Group: Angels go swinging
angels go swinging!
angels go swinging,
Angels go Swinging!
Solo: My name is Katy
I'm number 1
my reputation has just begun
so if you see me just step aside
'cause me and my man
don't take no jive
Group: Uh, you thank (think) you bad
Solo: Bad enough to make you mad
Group, Uh, you thank you cool
Solo: Cool enough to go to high school
Group: Uh, you thank you fine *
Solo: Fine enough to MO, **
fine enough to Macho (not really sure what this line means or if we were even saying it right)***
fine enough to hula hoop,
fine enough to kick yo' duke
Everyone: say what, say what
say what say what say what
-Joi;( Birmingham, Alabama; 1990s), cocojams.com
-snip-

This is a form of the cheer "Hollywood [Goes] Swingin"

The contributor shared that "Angels" is the name of their sports teams at this predominately African American Catholic school.

*The word "thank" may not be a typo. Instead, it might be a purposefully spelled (present tense) intensifier of the word "think" which means “Really think”.

**I'm not sure what "Mo" means.

***According to https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/macho, "macho" means "Masculine in an overly assertive or aggressive way."
‘the big macho tough guy’
-snip-
This Spanish word may be most widely known in the USA by the referent "macho man". In the context of this foot stomping cheer, fine enough to "macho" may mean "physically attractive (or sexy) enough to attract macho men.

****
BAD GIRLS
Bad girl(2x)well my name is (say a name) and i'm a bad girl I'm gonna show you
how to beat(say another name)(turn around while saying beeeaat -say the name
that you said was going to be beat)
-LaTailya (African American female; Fort Pitt ALA; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania); 3/21/2006 ; cocojams [cheerleader cheer]

****
BANG BANG CHOO CHOO TRAIN (Version #1)
Group: Bang, Bang Choo Choo Train.
Watch Indonesia do her thang.
Soloist #1: I can’t.
Group: Why not?
Soloist #1: I can’t.
Group: Why not?
Soloist #1: Because my back is achin.
My bra’s too tight.
My hips keep movin’ from the left to the right.
Group: Her back is achin.
Her bra’s too tight.
Her hips keep movin from the left to the right.

(Repeat chant with the next soloist who gives her name or nickname. The cheer continues with this pattern until everyone has had one chance as soloist.)
-African American girls ages 7-12 years; (Alafia Children's Ensemble, Braddock, Pennsylvania), 10/1997; collected by Azizi Powell. 10/97; also collected by Azizi Powell from African American girls 7-12 years; Pittsburgh, PA (11/2001 & additional dates through 2005 as a hand clap rhyme)
-snip-
Note: "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train" was often combined with the children's rhyme "Brick Wall Waterfall". These were by far the most popular recreational rhymes or cheers that were submitted to my cocojams.com website. That website was online from 2001 to Oct. 2014. A lot of children and preteens added examples of rhymes and cheers to that website by writing those examples on an easy to use page that didn't requite an email address. To protect underaged contributors, people who shared examples were asked to use either their first names only or their first name and the initial of their last name. 

However, I've observed that "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train" was (is?) usually performed since around 2005 as a hand clap rhyme and not as a foot stomping cheer. And, to my knowledge,  "Brick Wall Waterfall" has never been performed as a foot stomping cheer. 

****
BANG BANG CHU CHU TRAIN (Version #2)
bang bang chu chu train it really goes like this in new York
(1 person) bang bang chuchu train
let me see u do ur thing
(2 person) i cant
(1 person) why not
(2 person) my back aches my belts to tight
and my booty is shakin from left to right left right left, left right left
-m&m; 10/7/2006, cocojams.com
-snip-
I'm not sure if this is performed as a cheer or as a hand clap rhyme.

****
BANG BANG CHOO CHOO TRAIN (Version #3)
This was a song that we did at camp a lot, and the first part was sang by everyone in the group but the counselor usually picked the first Person B. Then as the verses continued whoever was Person B last would yell the name of the new Person B.

Person A: Peanut butter Reese's cup sing a song to cheer you up
Bang bang choo-chop train come on (person B) do your thang!

Person B: I can't!
Person A: Why not?
Person B: I just can't!
Person A: Why not?
Person B: My back's aching, my belt's too tight, my booty shaking from the left to the right

Everyone: to the left! to the right! to the left to the right to the left to the right! to the sky, to the ground, my booty's shaking all around that's right we're tight so rick-tick-tick-tick! hold on wait a minute put a booty in it! Jump! Shake your booty! Jump jump! Shake your booty!

(Repeat the song)
-
Claire Jelagin, 2016; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55TnrD5re5g Do You Remember 90s Rhymes

****
BEE BODY PLANET ROCK
Bee body planet rock
We don't stop
Bee body planet rock
We don't stop
My name is _______
My color is_________
I __________

Like My Name is lusive.
My color is green.
I got picked up in a stretch limousine.
-mollflanders, http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/43158-Hood-Cheers/page2?s=c36b81842e44a5cd4a49678538954ac4, 8/18/2006
-snip-
This blogger also added the following comment "And Hollywood not swingin. It was only fun if you could make up your own ending. The older we got, the nastier they got lol."
-snip-
The words "planet rock" may have been used because of familiarity with the Hip Hop song "Planet Rock".  "Planet Rock" is a song by the American hip hop artists Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force (1982)" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Rock_(song)

-snip-
My conjecture from reading the second soloist part that is given in this cheer, my guess is that the line “I ___” in the first part means that that soloist has to share some thing about herself, something she did, or something she dreams of doing.

****

BRICK WALL WATERFALL (combined with) DISCO
90s baby here
Here's my verison:

brick wall, waterfall
girl you think you know it all
you don't, I do
so POOF with the attitude
elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist
shut your mouth and kiss this!
D-I-S-C-O
that's the way we disco
D-I-S-C-O
that's the way we disco
Hey ____
Hey what
hey_____
Hey what?
Show us how you disco
Show us how you disco
I step aside
Roll my eyes
Stomp my feet
And do the funky beat
-Tulipop, Jun 25, 2018, https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/black-girl-rhymes-what-was-yours-growing-up.1196979/page-3
-snip-
WARNING: Some rhyme examples on lipstickalley.com contain profanity, sexually explicit content, and the n word.

****
CALL REPUTATION
this is a saying call reputation

my name is yonnqa
i'm number one
my reputation has just begun
so if you see me step a side
cause i don't take no jive
oh think she cool
correction baby i no i'm cool
i no karate
i no kunfu
you miss with me
i co it on you
rasasol o dazzo o ox2
-yaya ; 2/23/2007, cocojams.com
-snip-
This is a form of the "Hula Hula" cheer.

****
CANDY GIRL (Version #1)
All: Candy Girl.
All my world.
Look so sweet.
Special treat.
Soloist #1: This is the way we do the Bounce.
Candy Girl.
Group: Do the Bounce. Do the Bounce.
Soloist #1: All my world.
Group: Do the Bounce. Do the Bounce.
Soloist #1: Look so sweet.
Group: Do the Bounce. Do the Bounce.
Soloist #1: Special treat
Group: Do the Bounce. Do the Bounce.
All: Candy Girl.
All my world.
Look so sweet.
Special treat.
Soloist #2: This is the way we do the Snake.
Candy Girl.
Group: Do the Snake Do the Snake.
Soloist #2: All my world.
Group: Do the Snake. Do the Snake.
Soloist #2: Look so sweet.
Group: Do the Snake. Do the Snake.
--T.M.P.(African American female); memories of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the mid 1980s (audio recorded in 1992); In 2000 I observed members of Braddock, Pennsylvania's chapter of Alafia Children’s Ensemble perform this cheer with the exact same beat, and tune, and the same words except for then popular R&B/Hip Hop dances)

****
CANDY GIRL (Version #2)
does anybody know candy girl? little girls i know still play it!

candy girl, oh my world
look so sweet, special treat
this is the way you do the "wop"(or the "snake", or whatever dance is cute that u know the name of)
candy girl, say wop,wop
oh my world, say wop, wop
look so sweet, say wop,wop
special treat, say wop,wop(and then move on to the next dance)
- bitsy196 (African American female; Los Angeles, California); http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=4; “remember when?”; 6-25-2003 

****
CANDY GIRL (Version #3)
Candy girl,
all my world,
looks so sweet,
candy treat
This is the way
we do the (insert a dance)
Candy girl
Do the (dance) the (dance)
All my world
Do the (dance) the (dance)
Looks so sweet
Do the (dance) the (dance)
Candy treat
Do the (dance) the (dance)
(Repeat)
Directions:
This one involves the whole participation of the group at once. You repeat it for as many dances as you have until you can’t think of anymore.
- Jennifer (Korean), undergraduate female college student University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ; remembrances of rhymes she performed when she was 8-12 years ; (she indicates that she learned this from African American girls); collected in 2005 via email to Azizi Powell.

****
CAN YOU DIG IT?
All: So can you dig it?
Yeah.
So can you dig it?
Soloist #1: My name is Maria.
And I’m a flick flick.
And I’mma punch you in your lip.
So can you dig it?
Group: What?
Soloist #1: So can you dig it?
Group: What?
Soloist #1: I was sittin by the fire
Watchin it get higher
With my man,
You understand.
Cause I’m a special kind of lady
With a special kind of man.
I get to see my baby
WHENEVER I can.
So can you dig it?
So can you dig it?

(Repeat entire cheer with the next soloist, who says her name or nickname, and the same words. Continue with this pattern until every member of the group as had one turn as soloist).
- African American girls ages 6-12 (Lillian Taylor Summer Camp (Kingsley Association; Pittsburgh, PA between 1989-1992)

****
CHARLIE BROWN (fragment)
Charlaaaay a Charlie Brown, what you say now?
Charlaaaay a Charlie Brown.
Hey Shoewhore!
That's me. Foxxxy as I wanna be. Gon' slide to the side, gon turn that sh&t* around, gon break it on down with Charlie Brown!
Cuz you know that I can get down!
A--woooooooosh!
-Shoewhore, http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/43158-Hood-Cheers/page5, 08-19-2006
-snip-
*The full word was spelled out in this example.

****
CHECK ME OUT
Check me out
check check me out
My name is Tamia
(Check)
And I'm a cheerleader
(check)
You mess with me (check)
I'll break you jaw
(check)

[Then they say]
Ol', she thinks she bad
[The I say]
Honey, child I know I'm bad.
[They say] 
Ol' she think she fine
[I say]
Fine, fine Blow your mind
Take your boyfriend any time
Bring him home. Bring him back
And make him have a heart attack.  
-Tamia, (12 year old African American girl), Maryland, Oct 29. 2005; collected by Marimba Johnson for Azizi Powell

****
CHEERING IS MY GAME
Dn Dn Dn Dn Dn (Twice)
CALL: Barbara. Barbara is my name.
RESPONSE: Dn Dn Dn Dn Dn (similarly)
Cheering is my game.
Freddy. Freddy was my man.
But Ken is my main man.
Dn Dn Dn Dn Dn (Twice)
Cheer continues until each girl announces her name and her boyfriend’s name.
-"Old Mother Hippletoe, Rural and Urban Children's Songs"; http://www.newworldrecords.org/linernotes/80291.pdf; Barbara Borum and other Washington, D.C., schoolgirls, vocals.
Recorded 1976 in Washington, D.C., by Kate Rinzler, included in 1978 vinyl record.
-snip-
I happened upon a copy of the Old Mother Hippletoe vinyl record set at a library used book sale sometime in the late 1990s. I bought that record for its record notes even though I didn't have a record player at that time. Band 3 "Cheerleading" of that record features four* examples of what the author of the record notes calls "cheers". Two of these examples* (Cheering Is My Game and Hollywood Keeps Swingin/Dynomite) have the textual structure that I consider a signature characteristic of "foot stomping cheers". I've collected multiple examples of both of those cheers among African American in various parts of the United States.

Here's an excerpt from those record notes:
"In 1973-75, fieldwork for the Festival of American Folklife revealed cheerleading girls taking turns doing a dance step or a simple gymnastic trick. In 1976, perhaps because of the popularity on television of the Olympic Games, there was a sudden citywide interest in gymnastic pyrotechnics: complete frontward and sideward splits, forward and backward flips, and cartwheels ending in jumped splits."...
-snip-
Those record notes indicates that the types of cheers that I now call "foot stomping cheers" were first documented in 1973-1975. The 1976 date that I've been using for these cheers is the first published documentation of "cheerleading girls taking turns doing a dance step or a simple gymnastic trick". That said, I haven't ever come across any examples of these types of cheers being performed with gymnastic movements.

****
CHEERLEADER (Version #2)
All: Cheerleader.
Roll Call.
Soloist #1: Yolanda,
They call me Lannie.
Group: Hey! Hey!
Soloist #2: Renee,
They call me NayNay.
Group: Hey! Hey!
Soloist #3: Ebony,
They call me Ebony.
Group: Hey! Hey!
Soloist #4: Melissa,
They call me Missy.
Group: Hey! Hey!

The cheer continues this way until everyone says their name and nickname. If the soloist doesn't have a nickname, she repeats her first name.
-T.M.P.(African American female; memories of Garfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, early to mid 1980s).

****
CHEERLEADER (Version #3)
All: Cheerleader.
Roll call!
Soloist #1: My name is Keisha.
They call me Key Key.
And when they call me,
They go.
All: Boom, Boom.
Ah Boom, Boom!
All: Cheerleader.
Roll Call!
Soloist #2: My name's Jozita.
They call me Cocoa.
And when they call me,
They go
All:
Boom, Boom.
Ah Boom, Boom!

The cheer continues this way until everyone says their name and nickname. If the girl doesn't have a nickname, the first name is repeated.
-T.M.P.(African American female; memories of Garfield neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, early to mid 1980s).

****
CHEERLEADER (Version #4)
All: Cheer.
Leader.
Roll.
Call.
Are you ready?
Soloist #1: Shayla.
They call me Rosa.
Soloist #2: Shana.
They call me Poo.
Soloist #3: Shana.
They call me Shay.
Soloist #4: Jamie.
They call me Jay Jay.
Soloist #5: Jackie.
They call me HaJack (HighJack?).
All: Cheer.
Leader.
Zodiac signs.
Soloist #1: Aquarius.
That’s a dog.
Soloist #2: Cancer.
That’s a crab.
Soloist #3: Leo.
That’s a lion.
Soloist #4:Scorpio.
That’s a spider.*
Soloist #5: Scorpio.
That’s a spider.
All: Cheer.
Leader.
Phone.
Numbers.
Are you ready?
Soloist #1: 348-5110.**
Group: Always busy.
Soloist #2: 348-4554.
Group: Always busy.
Soloist #3: 348-3322
Group: Always busy.
Soloist #4: 348-5679
Group: Always busy.
Soloist #5: 348-4285
Group: Always busy.
- Shayla, Shana, Shana, Jamie, and Jackie (African American females about 10 years-12 years old, Talbot Towers Housing after-school program, Braddock, PA; 1985); collected by Azizi Powell, 1985

*Notice that the symbol for Scorpio is wrong. Actually, Scorpio's symbol is a scorpion and not a spider.

** I changed the phone numbers the girls chanted to protect their privacy. Note that these phone numbers are without the area code that was later installed in Pittsburgh (in the 1990s?).

****
CHECK
Soloist: My name is Shelly
Others: Check
Soloist: They call me Shell
Others: Check
My horoscope is Aquarius
Others: Aquarius
Soloist: If you don't like
Others: Check
Soloist: Without a dial*
Others: Check
Soloist: Just call my number
and check me out.
Others: Check her out
Soloist: Cause I am fine.**
My number is 222-888**
Others: Check
Soloist: That fellow is mine **
Cause I know how to skate
Others: Well alright
Well alright
-Shelly H. (African American female, Cleveland, Ohio, mid 1980s), transcribed by Azizi Powell, May 2007
Repeat cheer from the beginning with the next soloist. That soloist says her name & nickname, and gives her astrological sun sign ("horoscope") and her phone number. In the " I like to ___" line, that soloist indicates what she is good at doing ("sing", "dance", "draw"). This pattern continues with the next soloist until everyone has had one turn as the soloist.

"Check" here means something like "Ok" or "That's Right".

* "If you don't like without a dial" probably means "If you don't like it without a doubt"
** "Mine" and "fine" were elongated and sung-"my -i-i-n" ;"fi-i-i-n"

****

CHILI CHILI BANG BANG

We used to do a chant where we all made a circle and somebody stood in the middle. The words in parenthesis are what the person in the middle would say:

Chili chili bang bang
Let me see you do yo' thang,
(I cant!), Why not?,
(I just can't), Why not?,
(My back hurt, my bra too tight,
my hips shake to the left, to the right,
to the left and to the right! Hey!)

And the girl in the middle had to move her hips as she sang. It was sooooo funny then because we all thought we were FINE anyway! ROTFL!!
-MsAnn (African American female; Louisiana) http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=3 Childhood chants and games......; December 30, 2000
-snip-

Versions of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" are also performed as a hand clap rhyme.

****
CHOCOLATE CITY
All: Chock-let City.
Chock chock-let City.
Chock-let City.
Chock Chock-let City.
Soloist #1: My name is Linda
And I'm walkin.
Group: She's walkin.
Soloist #1: I'm talkin.
Group: She's talkin.
Soloist #1: I'M TALKIN TO [girls stop using first step beat]
All the boys in Chock-let City [begin new faster step beat]
Get down to the nitty gritty.
Long time no see.
Sexy as I wanna be.
Some hittin me high.
Some hittin me low.
Some hittin me on my-
Don't ask what.
Group: What?
Soloist #1: My b-u-tt butt
That's what.

Repeat from the beginning with the next soloist who says her name or nickname. Continue this pattern until every girl in the group has had one chance as the soloist with this cheer.
Repeat from the beginning with the next soloist who says her name or nickname. Continue this pattern until every girl in the group has had one chance as the soloist with this cheer.
- T.M.P, recorded in 1990.(at Lillian Taylor Camp) and transcribed by Azizi Powell in 1996.(TMP is Azizi Powell's daughter. She worked as a counselor at Lillian Taylor Camp and facilitated several sessions on foot stomping cheers for girls who chose those sessions instead of another possible camp activity.

"Chocolate City" was the nickname for "Washington, D.C." My daughter TMP said that some girls at that camp learned this song from a camper from Washington D. C. who was attending the camp with her cousins. A few Pittsburghers wanted to change “Chocolate City” to “Pittsburgh City” but that change wasn’t accepted by the other campers in that foot stomping group.

I collected the exact same words for this cheer from Chatauqua (African American female, 10 year old) & Ralene (African American female, 12 years old , both from the Garfield section of Pittsburgh, PA, in 1999 (at Fort Pitt Elementary School). TMP was a teacher at that school. However, she said that she hadn't taught that cheer to anyone in that school or in the Garfield neighborhood where we lived. 

****
This concludes Part I of this series.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments and additional versions of these cheers and/or examples of other cheers are welcome.

Former President Obama & New York Mayor Mamdani Sing 'Wheels on the Bus' With Preschoolers In New York (video with lyrics & origin of that song)

Associated Press, Apr 18, 2026

Former President Barack Obama met with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani for the first time on Saturday and led Bronx preschoolers in a singalong. (AP Video: Ted Shaffrey)

****
Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents a YouTube video of former President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani leading children in "The Wheels On The Bus" song.

This post also presents a version of the lyrics for "The Wheels On The Bus" as well as information about the origin of that song.

 The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and feel good aesthetic purposes. 

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to President Barack Obama and Mayor Zohrsn Mamdani for their positive role modeling. Thanks also to all others who are shown in this video. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.

****
LYRICS FOR "THE WHEELS ON THE BUS"*

[Verse 1]

The wheels on the bus go round and round

Round and round, round and round

The wheels on the bus go round and round

All through the town

 

[Verse 2]

The doors on the bus go open and shut

Open and shut, open and shut

The doors on the bus go open and shut

All through the town

 

[Verse 3]

The wipers on the bus go swish-swish-swish

Swish-swish-swish, swish-swish-swish

The wipers on the bus go swish-swish-swish

All through the town

 

[Verse 4]

The signals on the bus go blink-blink-blink

Blink-blink-blink, blink-blink-blink

The signals on the bus go blink-blink-blink

All through the town

 

[Verse 5]

The horn on the bus goes beep-beep-beep

Beep-beep-beep, beep-beep-beep

The horn on the bus goes beep-beep-beep

All through the town

[Verse 6]

The motor on the bus goes vroom-vroom-vroom

Vroom-vroom-vroom, vroom-vroom-vroom

The motor on the bus goes vroom-vroom-vroom

All through the town

 

[Verse 7]

The peoplе on the bus go up and down

Up and down, up and down

The peoplе on the bus go up and down

All through the town

 

[Verse 8]

The babies on the bus go, "Wah, wah, wah!"

"Wah, wah, wah!" "Wah, wah, wah!"

The babies on the bus go "Wah, wah, wah!"

All through the town

 

[Verse 9]

The mommies on the bus go "Shh, shh, shh!"

"Shh, shh, shh!" "Shh, shh, shh!"

The mommies on the bus go "Shh, shh, shh!"

All through the town

 

[Verse 10]

The daddies on the bus go "I love you!"

"I love you!" "I love you!"

The daddies on the bus go "I love you!"

All through the town

[Verse 11]

The wheels on the bus go round and round

Round and round, round and round

The wheels on the bus go round and round

All through the town

Online Source: https://genius.com/Cocomelon-wheels-on-the-bus-lyrics
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*There are multiple versions of "The Wheels On The Bus" song.. One of the good things about this song is that children can improvise and add or substitute words and imitative actions in this song.

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THE ORIGIN OF "THE WHEELS ON THE BUS" SONG
From AI Overview
" "The Wheels on the Bus" was written by American author Verna Hills (1898–1990) and first published in the December 1937 issue of American Childhood. Originally titled "The Bus," it was designed as a repetitive, interactive children's folk song. It is often sung to the tune of "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush".

Key Facts About the Origin:

Original Lyrics: The earliest version featured the line "The wheels of the bus go round and round, / Over the city streets".

Purpose: It was created to entertain children, often used during long rides, and grew in popularity due to its simple, repetitive rhythm.

Development: While attributed to Verna Hills in 1937, the song is often considered a traditional American folk song, with many variations and verses added over time.

Popularization: The song became a staple in the UK, USA, Canada, and Australia, with well-known renditions by artists like Raffi.

The song is currently regarded as being in the public domain"

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1980s New York Times Article About African American & Hispanic Girls Performing Foot Stomping Cheers In Brooklyn, New York

 Edited by Azizi Powell

This is a complete reprint of a pancocojams post that was originally published in 2016. That post is still available on this pancocojams blog (with minor changes and additions).

This pancocojams post is a transcription of a [1986?]* New York Times article about Black girls' & Hispanic girls'  cheers.** 

The Addendum to this post presents the only two comments that are found in that 2016 pancocojams post's discussion thread. I wrote both of those comments. Additional comments may be added to that 2016 post. Comments may also be added to this 2026 post.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Susan Hartman, the writer of this article and thanks to all those who are mentioned in this article.
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*The copy of that New York Times article that is available online has the date "198-" with the end of that date not shown. However, the year "1986" is mentioned in that article.
 
**These cheers aren't the "rah rah team" cheerleader cheers that are generally performed by school or community based cheerleader squads, but are examples of what I refer to as "foot stomping cheers". These cheers are also called "steps" or "cyphers".

I coined the term "foot stomping cheers" in the early 2000s to differentiate those cheers from the other, more commonly known category of cheerleader cheers which I refer to as "mainstream cheerleader cheers" or "rah rah cheerleader cheers". "Mainstream" here means cheerleading squads that are all White or are majority White. In contrast, historically, most of the girls who performed (or perform ?) foot stomping cheers are Black and/or Hispanic.

It seemed to me that a separate term for foot stomping cheers was (and is still) needed because the textual structures & performance styles of foot stomping cheers are different from that of mainstream children's cheerleader cheers.

The term "foot stomping cheers" refers to a group/consecutive soloist form of call and response. What I mean by "group/consecutive soloist" is that the group voice comes first, and is followed by a response from a soloist. Also, each member of the group has one equal turn as soloist after each rendition of the cheer. Historically, the movement routine that accompanies these cheers closely resembles the steppin' movements of historically Black Greek letter fraternity or sorority steppin.

In addition, while "mainstream" cheerleader cheers were/are mostly performed by White community and school based cheerleading squads during athletic games, foot stomping cheers were/are historically informally performed by pre-teen and younger Black and/or Hispanic girls. That said, "foot stomping cheers" should be considered a sub-set of the general category of cheerleader cheers. Also, an increasing number of school and community "mainstream" children's cheerleader squad are performing what appears to me to be mostly modified versions of some foot stomping cheers.

Click the foot stomping cheer tag and other tags below for more pancocojams posts that provide information, comments about and examples of "foot stomping cheers". Some of those pancocojams posts showcase versions of the "Hollywood" cheer that is mentioned in that article. Other pancocojams posts showcase examples of the "Fly Girl" or "Candy Girl" cheers that are mentioned in this New York Times article.
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Coincidentally, the first name of one of the girls who is mentioned in this article is "Aziza". That name is the Arabic female form for my (adopted) Swahili (African) name "Azizi" (which is usually considered a male name- I'm a female). 

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ARTICLE TRANSCRIPTION: NEW YORK TIMES: "IT'S NOT RAP. GIVE A CLAP AND A TAP AND CALL IT CHEERS"
by Susan Hartman [New York Times, 198-; pages C1 and C6] 

From http://www.susanhartman.net/assignment_pix/cheers.pdf  [Update- April 22, 2026: This link is no longer active.[The copy of that New York Times article that is available online has the date "198-" with the end of that date not shown. However, the year "1986" is mentioned in that article.]

"Everybody asks us, 'Can you teach us how to do the cheers?', said 11 year old Elbe Vasquez of Brooklyn. "But when we taught a girl from the Bronx, she told the whole world."

"You can share them", said her cousin Jackie Rendon, also 11. "But if it gets around too much, it sounds played out. It isn't exciting no more."

What these girls call "cheers" is a rapping, clapping, foot stamping game that has become popular in many Brooklyn neighborhoods this summer. It draws from the cheers the youngsters have learned in schools, rap music, traditional childhood games, and their own experiences. The dramatic routines are performed in lines of three to eight girls. Typically, they run one minute to three minutes, and include solos and choruses.

The routines are done in parks and on subways by Black and Hispanic youngsters. Their main stage however is "the sidewalk": "That abstract world which is the richest place for make-believe." said Elliot Willensky, who grew up playing sidewalk games such as boxball and hit-the-stick and wrote about them in "When Brooklyn Was The World: 1920-1957" (Harmony Books, 1986).

"Never, never would we be caught dead in a park or a playground", wrote Mr. Willensky, who is now the vice chairman of New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Playgrounds, he said in an interview, presupposed a kind of regimented activity; the sidewalk gives kids the freedom to do what they want."

Or, as Jackie put it, "It's more fun here" on her favorite stretch of sidewalk near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. "I'm too old for the park".

When they do their cheers, Jackie and her friends can pretend to be older, powerful, and in control. "which

Continued on Page C6
is the whole nature of so many kids' games, Mr. Willensky said.

"You feel important, like you can do it".

The girls can be sexy or macho; they can be as "bad" as their favorite rappers, Run- D.M.C. and LL Cool J.

"Ooh, she think she's bad", chanted Elbe and her friend Aziza Torres, 10, and Peachie Navarro, 11. The three girls were circling Jackie on the sidewalk on recent evening doing their cheer "Hollywood Go Angels".

"Baby, I know I'm bad", Jackie answered, mocking.
"Ooh, she thinks she's cool", said her encirclers, stamping closer.
"Cool enough to steal your dude", Jackie answered.

In another cheer, the group got tougher. "Huh, I beat you down", they teased Elbe, who pretended to fall. "Huh! Right to the ground."
"Huh!, she called back, rising. "I'm coming up - Huh! - To beat you up.

The girls work the alphabet and numbers into their cheers. And they frequently open with their names or nicknames. "I'm Shorty!" sang Aziza in "Fly Girls". "I'm Swee-ie", announced Elbe, next in line. "Lovely!", Peachie called herself. "I'm Sexy! sang Jackie.

Many cheers deal with the physical changes of adolescence. The girls do a kind of hokey-pokey to the tune of New Edition's "Candy Girl" for example, but instead of putting their "right foot in", they shimmy forward with their chests and hips and then their buttocks.

"Ooh, look at that body, ain't it fine?" they sang to Jackie in "Hollywood Goes Swinging".

In the early evening parents often watch from their stoops amused. "But sometimes they don't like what we say and they walk away," says Aziza referring to the sexually oriented lyrics.

"They feel proud of us", insisted Elbe. "They know we put a lot of work into the cheers".

Neighborhood boys also watch and sometimes call out teasingly. "But it's not a boy's thing," Jackie said. "If you look at a boy clapping his hands and stamping his feet"- she laughed- "it just doesn't look right."

References to social problems crop up in the cheers. In "Betty Boop", the girls sang:
"One by one, I'm having fun.
Two by two, my boyfriend too.
Three by three, got the herpes...
Nine by nine, welfare line.
Ten by ten- gremlin!"

"Once when we went to Manhattan, we saw a homeless man in front of an office building," Elbe said. "He was singing something that sounded like "Lachichu lamain". So on the subway home we made up a cheer called 'Lachichu'". But only the name recalls the homeless man. The cheer celebrates the girls themselves: "We're light and lovely! Crabby or ugly!"

"First we all talk about it", said Elbe, explaining how a cheer is created. "We get stuff from cheers at school, from the radio, from Channel 31 and from my cousin Ruthie who brings us back cheers from Puerto Rico. She teaches us in Spanish and we translate."

The cheers aren't always performed in an amicable spirit. Aaron Goodwin, a 37 year old X-Ray technician and one of the children's neighbors, says he sometimes acts as referee "when they fight or leave somebody out."
"But mostly, they play nicely," he said.

"It's lively", said his wife Linda Carr Goodwin, 36, a secretary, who often watches the cheers with their 9 year old daughter GeeGee.

On hot summer days the girls don't begin their cheers until late afternoon. Sometimes, they are still going strong at 10 PM.

"The feeling pushes you - move, move, move", Jackie said. "You stop when you don't feel comfortable no more. When you're too tired and sweaty."
"Or cranky", Aziza said.
"When you got no more emotions", Jackie added.

When they reach that point of exhaustion the sidewalk clears for a few minutes. Some youngsters are called to bed. Some rest on the stoops in their parents' arms.

Then, slowly, the sidewalk fills up again, in new configurations of children on bicycles and skateboards, of boys expertly shooting skelly caps, and of girls soaring above the sidewalk in complicated double-dutch jumps."
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This transcription is by Azizi Powell.

 *The article was featured in the paper's Home section with photographs. The article's date is  "August 11, 198__". The remainder of the year isn't shown, but the year 1986 is mentioned within that article as the publishing date for a particular book.

While this featured 1986 [?] newspaper article indicates that these cheers became popular in Brooklyn neighborhoods that summer, the earliest date for these types of cheers that I've found is 1976 in Washington, D. C. (as per "Old Mother Hippletoe record notes http://www.newworldrecords.org/liner_notes/80291.pdf, Band 3 Cheerleading). I've also found excerpts of what I call "foot stomping cheers" in Mama's Girl by Veronica Chambers, a book about a Black girl growing up in Brooklyn, New York in the 1970s.

My research concurs with this article that historically these cheers were almost always performed by Black and/or Hispanic girls, pre-teens and younger (My research suggests the starting age of 6 years old, but I've read comments about girls ages 4-5 years old doing cheers.)

From my direct observations of Black girls performing foot stomping cheers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and some of its surrounding communities, I believe that if a young girl is "good at doing cheers" (i.e. if she is good at learning and performing particular cheer routines and the lyrics for those cheers), older girls will prefer to do the cheer with her than with an older girl who has more difficulty learning and doing the cheer. Therefore, doing cheers provides perhaps rare opportunities for younger girls who are good at this activity, to interact with, learn from, and gain social status with older girls.

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ADDENDUM - COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD OF THAT 2016 PANCOCOJAMS POST

Azizi PowellJune 3, 2016 at 12:10 PM

This 1980s New York Times article on sidewalk cheers ("foot stomping cheers") mentions the following cheers: "Hollywood Goes Angels", "Hollywood Goes Swinging", "Fly Girl", "Luchichu", and "Betty Boop".

I've directly collected examples of "Hollywood Goes Swinging" and "Fly Girl" from Pittsburgh (1980s, 1990s, 2000s). And I've found online examples of these same cheers with those names (or, in the case of "Hollywood Goes Swinging", also cheers with similar names) from various African American communities of those two cheers. I've also found two online examples of "One by one, I'm having fun" although they weren't called "Betty Boop". Those examples are quite risque. Here's one example from
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=31403&page=5
4-01-2003, 02:10 PM
Kisha
What about ...

1 and 1 we were having some fun in the bedroom,
all day and all of the night
2 and 2 he pulled off my shoe in the bedroom
all day and .....
3 by 3 he undressed me in the bedroom
all day and....
4 by 4 he shut the door in the bedroom
all day and....
etc.
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Comment:
4-01-2003
candygirl
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Oh my goodness. This is really taking me back. I swear I didn't know what I was talking about. Well I knew I was talking about sex but it was so innocent.
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Another example of that cheer is found in that 2003 discussion whose participants were members of historically Black Greek letter sororities. Given some their comments, I think that most their rhyme memories were from the 1980s.
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Notice the screen name "Candy Girl". That article also mentions the New Edition's song "Candy Girl". I collected an example of a foot stomping cheer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that was based on that song and had that title. That version of "Candy Girl" includes lyrics from that R&B/Hip Hop record-
Group:"Candy Girl, All My World/ Looks so sweet/Special treat"... The soloist then says- This is the way I do the [says dance name]
The cheer then returns to the group part in the beginning and the next soloist says "This is the way I do [says a different dance].
This continues until every girl has a turn as the soloist.

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The lines "I'm going down...I'm coming up... to mess you up" that are mentioned in the article are found in a number of foot stomping rhymes.

The only cheer that I'm not familiar with which was mentioned in this article is the one the girls' made up and titled "Lachichu". By the way, the writer of this article indicated that "The cheer celebrates the girls themselves: "We're light and lovely! Crabby or ugly!" I think that that line might have been meant to be "We're light and lovely! Not crabby and ugly."

ReplyDelete

Replies

1. 
   Azizi PowellJune 3, 2016 at 12:13 PM

   With regard to the phrase "light and lovely"- this may have been a play on the hair care brand name "Dark And Lovely". Those hair care products are mostly marketed to African Americans, but Hispanic girls in New York City would have certainly heard of them.
   
   The word "dark" in those hair care products refer to skin color. The word "light" in that cheer might also refer to skin color or might have just been an instance of alliteration without and intended skin color put down.

   Delete

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