Saturday, July 25, 2026

The Connections Between The Singing Games "Ride The Pony" & "Little Sally Walker Walking Down The Street" And "Peep Squirrel" And The Dance Song "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)"

Ride the Pony Circle Game

TeamCarrasquillo, Jul 10, 2014

LCCPT knows how to enjoy lunch time!

Words:
Come on baby, ride that pony (3x)
This is how we do it
Front, front front my baby
Back, back, back, my baby
Side, side, side, my baby
This is how we do it.

****
Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part IV of a four part pancocojams series about the 19th century African American originated dance song "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)" and the 19th century originated game song "Peep Squirrel".

This post showcases three YouTube videos of the 21st century African American originated game song "Ride That Pony" and two YouTube videos of the 21st century African American singing game "Little Sally Walker Walking Down The Street." That singing game may have been created shortly before "Ride That Pony" and those two singing games are performed the same way

This post also presents information and lyrics for these singing games. In addition, this post includes my opinion that the 19th century dance song "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On"), and the 19th century singing game "Peep Squirrel" may have been precursors for the the performance activities for both of those 21st century singing games.

Part I & II are complete reprints with minor changes of pancocojams posts that were published in 2013.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/07/blog-post.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post compares "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On) with two other songs: the 19th century Southern Black American song/old time banjo (Bluegrass) song "Whoa Mule Whoa" and the 19th century African American game song "Peep Squirrel". Part I also presents one sound file and two text (word only) versions of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/03/whoa-mule-cant-get-saddle-on-lyrics_17.html for Part II of this series. Part II is a complete reprint of a 2013 pancocojams post which continues the presentation of information about the history and early examples of the songs "Whoa Mule" and the African American song "Peep Squirrel".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/07/sound-file-lyrics-auto-generated.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. Part III is a 2026 pancocojams post that showcases a 1950 sound file of Celina Lewis singing "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On"). That post also includes the lyrics for that rendition and Celina Lewis' comments about that song. In addition, that post includes my re-wording into standard English of Celina Lewis' comments.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown composers of the singing games "Ride the Pony" and "Little Sally Walker Walking Down The Street. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those who are featured in these videos. Thanks also to all those who published these videos on YouTube.

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SIMILARITIES BETWEEN "RIDE THAT PONY" AND OTHER AFRICAN AMERICAN SINGING GAMES
Example #2 in Part I of this pancocojams series and Example #4 in Part II of this series allude to people labeling the way that "Whoa Mule:Saddle" was performed as being risque (sexually suggestive). Example #4 indicates that if the "wild" behavior that adults did while singing that song were known- it would get them thrown out of their church. It seems likely that that performance activity verged on sexualized horse play. Perhaps the men and women couples did piggyback rides when they sung "Ride the mule". Unless there is more documentation out there, we'll never know what was so risque about the movements that were done while singing that song that before singing her version (Example #2) Celina Hall had to basically tell church people to mind their own business.

I don't think that "Peep Squirel" or "Whoa Mule. Can't Get The Saddle On" are still being sung or played by children or by adults since at least around the mid 1960s. However, I'm intrigued by the possibility that the circle game song "Here We Go Ride That Pony" may be an updated version of one or both of these songs.

The earliest example of the (probably African American originated) game song "Ride That Pony" that I've come across online is 2006 [Unfortunately, the YouTube video of this game song that was published in 2006 is no longer available.]

*Here's the title, date, and publisher for that 2006 video:
" Ride that Pony", vballprincess, Uploaded on May 4, 2006
"Me and team before volleyball game in reno having some fun. I am the one with the braids and gray shirt."
-snip-
Here's a comment from that video's discussion thread. (That discussion thread is now deleted because that video is no longer available.)

DefineNormal94, 2010
"We did this version at our One Act Play Competition: Ride Ride Ride That Pony! (Repeat 2x) And this is how it goes! Front to front to front to front baby! Side to side to side to side baby! Back to back to back to back baby! This is how it goes! The whole game consisted of casts from 5 highschools, and a few kids from ODU. That's a lot of kids. When I did it, I stopped in front of one of my fellow male cast members and was like "NO!" and went to the next person cuz it would have been weird."
-end of quote-
I'm not saying that the performance activities of either of those 19th century songs are the same as the performance activity of "Ride That Pony". However, all three of those songs include elements that refer to one or more players performing specific movements such as running, chasing, trying to catch something or someone, trying to put a saddle on a pony (or on someone who represents a pony), and/or dancing in front of, back to back with someone, or besides someone else. As such, I believe it's likely that "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)" and "Peep Squirrel" are precursors of "Ride That Pony".

The 21st century African American game song "Little Sally Walker Walking Down The Street" resembles "Ride That Pony" much more than those aforementioned 19th century examples.(Of course, "Little Sally Walker Walking Down The Street" is an updated version of the very old English singing game "Little Sally Walker").

"Little Sally Walker Walking Down The Sreet" and "Ride That Pony" are both circle switching games. At least one person in the center of the circle. At a certain point in both of those singing games, the center person arbitrarily chooses someone forming the circle and goes to stand in front of that person. The center persons does some type of dance in front of that person front to front, back to back, and side to side. After the side to side dancing, the center person switches places with the person she or he stood in front of and that person becomes the new center person. This pattern continues without pausing throughout the entire game . Some groups play this game with just one center person, but other groups have multiple center people at the same time. Each of those center people choose a different person to stand in front of.

Click https://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/11/little-sally-walker-ride-that-pony_9.html for the 2014 cocojams2 post ""Little Sally Walker Walking Down The Street" &"Ride That Pony" (Switching Places Games, Part 2)"
-snip-
cocojams2 is a companion blog of pancocojams that focuses on mostly African American children's recreational rhymes and singing games.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2- Ride That Pony Camp Game - Ultimate Camp Resource

ultimatecampresource, Aug 4, 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gdT0gl62Eg

"Ride That Pony

A fun singing camp game!

To start the game, one person stands in middle of the circle and everyone starts to clap in a rhythm. The person in the middle begins the game by galloping around the circle while the group sings the following song:

Here we go, ride that pony, ride around that big fat pony, this is how we do it. (move in a galloping motion, swinging hand over head.

The middle person then stops in front of someone else and both partners perform the following lines and actions.

Stand facing each other and swing arms in a circle in front of your body, keeping elbows in: "Front to front to front, my baby"

Jump so both are standing next to each other with the same arm motions as before: "Side to side to side, my baby"

Jump one last time so both are facing with backs to each other with the same arm motions are before: "Back to back to back, my baby, this is how we do it.

The person in the middle then switches places with the person they were just dancing with and the game continues until everyone has had a turn in the middle.

Once everyone as gone, the entire group sings all of verses one last time while everyone (not just the partners) do the motions."
-snip-
The swinging your hand over your head motion is imitating cowboys/vowgirls swinging a lasso (rope.).

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #3 -Ride That Pony

Camp Kesem Carnegie Mellon, Mar 16, 2020

We sing this song during camp activities!

Lyrics:

(Everybody stands in a circle with a few people in the center who go around the circle pretending to ride on a horse)

Here we go, ride that pony

Ride around that big fat pony

Here we go, ride that pony

This is how we do it…

(People in the middle stop in front of a partner on the outside of the circle)

(partners dance facing each other)

Front to front to front, my baby

(partners dance facing sideways)

Side to side to side, my baby

(partners dance with backs to each other)

Back to back to back, my baby

(Partners switch places and repeat the song with the new people in the middle)

This is how we do it…

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #4 -Little Sally Walker :)

AnnaGraceBananaFace. Feb 25, 2009

Playing little sally walker in the munchkin room at the show in Irving on the 23rd!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ktfm3WjpqhQ

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #5- Little Sally Walker

Wolf Cub Cheerleading, Nov 8, 2016

This is a little game my cheerleaders like to play at the end of practice or when we have some down time. It encourages them to get to know each other and gives them a chance to show off their dance moves!

The song goes:

Little Sally Walker walking down the street (clap, clap)

She didn't know what to do, so she stopped in front of me, she said, hey girl, do your thing, do your thing and switch

****
This concludes Part IV of this four part pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visiting comments are welcome.

Celina Lewis' 1950 Rendition Of The 19th Century African American Song "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)" Part III-Sound File, Lyrics, Auto-Generated Transcript, And My Re-Wording Of That Transcript

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part III of a four part pancocojams series about the 19th century African American originated dance song "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)" and the 19th century originated game song "Peep Squirrel".

This post showcases a sound file of a Black American woman Celina Lewis singing "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On") . This post also includes that song's lyrics and the "as is" auto-generated transcript of Celina Lewis' statements about "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" that she made during a 1950 recording session with White American folklorist Harold Courlander, probably in response to his questions about that song and what Black people thought about its accompanying dance movements. .

In addition, this post presents my rewording of that transcript into standard American English so that what she was saying could be better understood..

Part I & II are complete reprints with minor changes of pancocojams posts that were published in 2013.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/03/whoa-mule-cant-get-saddle-on-lyrics_17.html for Part II of this series. Part II is a complete reprint of a 2013 pancocojams post which continues the presentation of information about the history and early examples of the dance song "Whoa Mule" and the singing game song "Peep Squirrel".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-21st-century-ride-pony-little-sally.html for Part IV of this pancocojams series. That post showcases videos of and presents my opinions about the connections between the game songs "Ride That Pony", "Little Sally Walker Walking Down The Street", and Peep Squirrel" and the dance song "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On").

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown composers of this song. Thanks to Celina Lewis, Bessie Jones, and others whose renditions and comments about this song were documented by folklorist. Thanks to the folklorists who collected & recorded this song, and thanks to all those whose files of these songs are included in this pancocojams post .

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LYRICS FOR "WHOA MULE (CAN'T GET THE SADDLE ON)" AS SUNG BY CELINA LEWIS
[These lyrics and my Pancocojams editor's notes about them are also given in Part I of this pancocojams series.]

From http://www.folkways.si.edu/TrackDetails.aspx?itemid=11578

FW04474_201

Session with Celina Lewis, (a)Catch That Squirrel, (b)Sangaree, (c) Whoa Mule, Can't Get the Saddle On, from Harold Courlander's Negro Folk Music of Alabama, Vol. 6: Ring Game Songs and Others Various Artists FW04474 1955

From Harold Courlander's notes:

“The singer was an old woman when these songs were recorded. She had a reputation of having been a fine and spirited singer when she was young."

[Text of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)- Celina Lewis; Alabama, 1950]

All you church folks looking right at me, and they calI on me

to praise ... get up there!

Whoa, mule, I can't get the saddle on, (2)

Stop that mule, I can 't get the saddle on, (2)

Whoa mule, I can't get the saddle on, (2)

Run mule, I can't get the saddle on, (2)

Can't you catch that mule, can't get the saddle on,

Catch that mule, can't get the saddle on, (4)

Yon go that mule, can't get the saddle on

-snip-

Pancocojams Editor's Notes
I believe that the word "yon" that is given in these lyrics is a shortened form of the word "yonder" (meaning "seen from a distance"). In more standard American English, that line would be given as "Yonder goes that mule" (I can see the mule in the distance.)

The "Go that mule" version of that line is the one used by Bessie Jones in the 1972 Step It Down (authors Bessie Jones and Bess Lomax Hawes). "Go that mule" is also the line for that song that was given by "an elderly informant" in Harold Courlander's 1963 book Negro Folk Music U.S.A and most websites that I've come across use that wording in their lyrics for that song. However, I believe that "Go that mule" is an example of folk etymology and "Go that mule wasn't the earliest version of those lyrics. The "yon" word may have been dropped from that line because that wasn't the way that Bessie Jones and others learned it. Another possibility is that the word "yon" may have been dropped because that word's meaning was no longer understood. Yet, "go that mule" doesn't make any sense in Standard American English or in the versions of African American Vernacular English that were used when this song was published and afterwards. However, that hasn't stopped people from singing or, at least, from quoting that version of that line.

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THE AUTO-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT OF THE SOUND FILE OF CELINA LEWIS' RENDITION OF "WHOA MULE (CAN'T GET THE SADDLE ON" (given "as is" without time stamps)

[This sound file is embedded at the top of this pancocojams post.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx2Yg29W9zY

"Worm you can you just at home well you can you to set off get that you can get

a circle get that you can you to send all right em you can you to settle all right at you can use a long run you can

you can run you can you depends on run you can you depend on you can you do

then we're gonna dance to we dance we

skip we kind of walk left to jela just walk up and down the floating on water

oh you know in lockup and we like that love it locked up you're going as long as up and down Toby dance is right

on boiling dirty kill all of us all of them do it together all over camp you

yeah that's a style now dance you don't def not spider filthy dance you got to

hold up you know"

****
MY RE-WORDING OF THAT AUTO-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT INTO STANDARD ENGLISH

Additions and corrections are welcome.

Well, I mean* you just be at home and get how many people together that you can get. And they form a circle. How large the circle is depends on how many people you can get.

With a large circle, you have to run (move some distance) and it depends on whether you can do that or not.

We’re gonna dance to this song. We skip. We kind of walk left to right like we’re floating on water. We’re standing close together (“locked up”) and we like dancing close together **. As long as it’s a up and down Toby dance *** It’s boiling hot and it’s dirty and the work is killing us. But we do this dance together all over the camp.

Yeah, that’s the style now to dance close. You definitely don’t do any spider filthy dance moves,**** but you got to hold your own ."
-snip-

Here are my explanations for the meanings of certain words and phrases that Celina Lewis used in her 1950 remarks which are documented in that auto-generated transcript.

*My guess is that the word "worm" in that auto-generated transcript may have been how the transcriber heard the words "Well, I mean".

**In the context of Celina Lewis' comments, the phrase "being locked up" probably means [a couple] standing, or dancing very close together. Dancing itself and especially dancing close together was very much frown upon by members of Christian churches during the lae 19th century and in the 20th century. Some church people still retain those attitudes in the 21st century..

*** Celina Lewis' referent to "Toby dance" probably came from minstrelsy and the early 20th century American theater (tent shows) as a referent for uptempo jig dances. Here's some information about the old-time meaning of the phrase "Toby dance":

AI Overview (results July 25, 2026)
..."Theatrical and Minstrel Traditions
Toby Shows: Popular 20th-century tent-repertory variety shows across rural America centered around a homespun, comedic "Toby" character who featured in musical interludes, jigs, and walkarounds."...

**
https://festival.si.edu/past-program/1981/a-celebration-of-the-american-tent-show 1981 Festival of American Folklife [no author or publishing date given]

"A Celebration of the American Tent Show

Tent theater developed in America as a popular form in the late 1870s, during a period of profound social change brought about by the shift from a rural agricultural to an urban industrial economy. Burgeoning metropolitan areas had become the principal stages of expressive culture, and their theaters mirrored the ethos and concerns of the urban populace rather than those of their rural neighbors. Those in the small towns viewed the theater with mixed emotions: though the stage was admittedly a vehicle for respectable cultural expression, its urban form was seen as basically disreputable. A rural theater movement that reflected provincial tastes and borrowed heavily from regional folk culture eventually developed out of this tension.

Borrowing from circus and minstrel traditions, tent rep companies usually opened the show with a band concert and interspersed variety specialties, ranging from juggling to ventriloquism, between the three or four acts of the play. The dramas themselves were often built around the ideological conflict between country and city life, idealizing the common man in a way that appealed to rural audiences. Certainly the most enduring character to rise out of this dramatic genre was that of Toby, a redheaded, freckle-faced country boy whose humorous antics and recurrent, though at times unwitting, triumphs over the forces of evil made him a favorite. With a personality drawn directly from American folklore, Toby captured the hearts of rural theater-goers and became so popular that many tent rep companies regularly included a Toby bill in their weekly fare. (The 1969 Festival featured a Toby show from Iowa.)

Whereas these tent shows were largely made up of white performers, a distinct Afro American entertainment tradition also thrived under canvas. From the 1920s through the 1940s, large troupes of black musicians, dancers, and comedians traveled through the South in variety shows such as the Silas Green or Florida Blossom minstrels. Using a format that merged minstrelsy with vaudeville, these tent spectacles presented fast-paced revues of classic blues singers, jazz bands, tap and eccentric dancers, comedy teams and choruses of dancing girls. Blues singers such as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith and comics such as Dewey "Pigmeat" Markham and Butterbeans and Susie spent much of their careers on the tent show circuit, performing material firmly rooted in black folk culture to enthusiastic Afro American audiences."...
-snip-
I added italics are added to highlight these sentences.

**** The words "spider filthy dance" probably refers to "dirty" (sexually suggestive) dancing

****
This concludes Part III of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome

19th Century African American Singing Games "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" & "Peep Squirrel" (Part II: Reprint of a 2013 Pancocojams Post)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a four part pancocojams series about the 19th century African American originated dance song "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)" and the 19th century originated game song "Peep Squirrel".

Part I & II are complete reprints with minor changes of pancocojams posts that were published in 2013.

Part II is an almost complete reprint of a 2013 pancocojams post which continues the presentation of information about the history and early examples of the dance song "Whoa Mule" and the African American singing game "Peep Squirrel".

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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EXAMPLES OF WHOA MULE (CAN'T GET THE SADDLE ON)
(The numbers assigned to these examples continue from Part I of this series).

Example #3:
From Bessie Jones and Bess Lomax Hawes Step It Down, Games, Plays, Songs & Stories from the Afro-American Heritage University of Georgia Press, 1972; p. 214.

Peep Squirrel
Ya di da di deedy dum

Peep Squirrel
Ya di da di deedy dum

Hop Squirrel
Ya di da di deedy dum

(each line is repeated as above)

Run Squirrel

Come here, mule.

Whoa, mule
I can’t get the saddle on.

Hold that mule,
I can’t get the saddle on.

Go that mule
I can’t get the saddle on.

Go that mule
Ya di da di deedy dum, a
Ya di da di deedy dum, dum!
-snip-
Comment written by Bess Lomax Hawes:
“You can sing “Peep Squirrel” while the children dance, or while you’re bouncing a child on your knees; or at a slower pace, it makes a fine song for a tired baby and a warm lap and a rocking chair. Mrs. Jones said that the “Ya di da di deedy dum” is the sound of the squirrel’s feet scuffling in the leaves"...
-snip-
The Cd Put Your Hand on Your Hip and Let Your Backbone Slip includes a recording of Bessie Jones singing "Peep Squirrel".
http://www.last.fm/music/Bessie+Jones/_/Peep+Squirrel

The length of that song is given as 2:32.

A 30 second mp3 sample is provided on that website. That sample is a recording of Bessie Jones explaining why the mule is including in the "Peep Squirrel" song. My summary of her comments is that a man trying to get a mule to catch a squirrel, but he’s too little to put the saddle on the mule and the saddle was too heavy.

In my opinion, the words to "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)" were combined with "Peep Squirrel" because those two songs are have very similar lyric patterns, if not the same or similar tunes & tempos. My comparison of the lyric pattern of those two songs is found in Part I of this series.

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Example #4
From Harold Courlander Negro Folk Music U.S.A, Courier Dover Publications, 1963, p. 160 [Google Books]

Whoa Mule Can’t Get The Saddle On
“One song taken from an elderly informant was described as “as real grown up playparty”. Other than that it was “a kind of wild game that could get you thrown out of church”, no no information was given about the activity that accompanied the song.

Whoa mule Can’t Get The Saddle On (2x)
Stop that mule Can’t Get The Saddle On (2x)
Whoa mule Can’t Get The Saddle On(2x)
Run mule Can’t Get The Saddle On (2x)
Catch that mule Can’t Get The Saddle On (4x)
You go that mule Can’t Get The Saddle On
Go that mule Can’t Get The Saddle On
-snip-
Speculation about the risque nature of the performance of "Whoa Mule: Saddle" is given in the Addendum below.

****
Example #5: Margaret McKee Beale Black & Blue: Life and Music on Black America's Main Street, p. 189 [Google Books]

[In this excerpt an African American Bluesman talks about the way that enslaved Black people used songs during slavery to express feelings that the couldn't openly express, and to make coded comments about their treatment by White people & about their oppressive living conditions.]

“I’ll tell you why the blues come about. It’s an expression that a person have –he want to tell you something, and he can’t tell you in his words, he’ll sing it to you. See back in-well, I’ll just bring it right out plain where anybody can see it, in olden days, if a white man do a colored man wrong, he couldn’t tell him he was wrong. He’d go off on a mule or something, and sing back to that man, the blues, like, singing it to him. That’s the way a plenty of them songs come up.

Take my daddy. When he playing his fiddle in the slavery time, he wouldn’t want to play, but he had to play. So he’d go along and make things up and holler it out in the fields where the old boss man could hear him, just singing away. Now that’s what he meant – he’s tired of playing nearly every night and then working in the daytime.
[Asked for an example, he sang]

“Hey Liza, little Liza Jane.
Oh Liza, little Liza Jane,
Can’t get the saddle on the ole gray mule
Can’t get the saddle on the ole gray mule.
Whoa, whoa, mule, can’t get the saddle on the ole gray mule.

He’s saying that the white man done worked him so ‘til he can’t even put a saddle on the ole gray mule.* That’s what he’s talkin about.
Chicken in the bread pan
Pickin at the dough
When he gets through picking
He stratch for more.

That’s what they be singing to the white folks what wasn’t giving ‘em enough to eat. Yeah, in slavery time. All them things come out of slavery time. All that happened in them days."
-snip-
*I think that some words are implied in this sentence. For instance, the above sentence would read “the white man done worked him so hard ‘til he can’t [even] get the saddle on the ole gray mule."

"Get the saddle on" means "to put the saddle on" (the mule).

On another page of this book the man speaking indicates that his father carried his fiddle to the fields. I believe that the implication is that his father was required to play the fiddle during the night for the White master’s entertainment, and then also required to play the fiddle during the day to help pace the work of other field hands.

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ADDENDUM
Example #2 (in Part I of this series) and Example #4 (above) allude to people labeling the way that "Whoa Mule:Saddle" was performed as being risque (sexually suggestive). Example #4 indicates that if the "wild" behavior that adults did while singing that song were known- it would get them thrown out of their church. It seems likely that that performance activity verged on sexualized horse play. Perhaps the men and women couples did piggyback rides when they sung "Ride the mule". Unless there is more documentation out there, we'll never know what was so risque about the movements that were done while singing that song that before singing her version (Example #2) Celina Hall had to basically tell church people to mind their own business.

I don't think that "Peep Squirel" or "Whoa Mule. Can't Get The Saddle On" are still being sung or played by children or by adults since at least around the mid 1960s. However, I'm intrigued by the possibility that the circle game song "Here We Go Ride That Pony" may be an updated version of one or both of these songs.

The earliest example of that (probably African American originated) game song that I've come across online is 2006 [Unfortunately, the YouTube video of this game song that was published in 2006 is no longer availanle.] I'm not sayind that the performance activities of either of those 19th century songs are the same as the performance activity of "Ride That Pony". But all three of those songs include references to players doing specific movements such as running, chasing, trying to catch something or someone, trying to put a saddle on a pony (or on someone who represents a pony), and/or dancing in front of, back to back with someone, or besides someone else.
-snip-
The original Addendum for this post continues with information about and an example of the 21st century singing game "Ride That Pony". That information/example is now included in Part III of this pancocojams series.

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This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

19th Century African American Singing Games "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" & "Peep Squirrel" (Part I: Reprint Of 2013 Pancocojams Post)

Whoa Mule! Can't Get The Saddle On

Mike Seeger - Topic

Sep 5, 2019

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group

Whoa Mule! Can't Get The Saddle On · Mike Seeger

Animal Folk Songs For Children

℗ 1992 Rounder Records, a division of Concord Music Group, Inc.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a four part pancocojams series about the 19th century African American originated dance song "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)" and the 19th century originated game song "Peep Squirrel".

Part I & II are almost complete reprints with minor changes of pancocojams posts that were published in 2013.

Part I compares "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On) with two other songs: the 19th century Southern Black American song/old time banjo (Bluegrass) song "Whoa Mule Whoa" and the 19th century African American game song "Peep Squirrel". Part I also presents one sound file and two text (word only) versions of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)".

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown composers of this song. Thanks to Celina Lewis, Bessie Jones, and others whose renditions and comments about this song were documented by folklorist. Thanks to the folklorists who collected & recorded this song, and thanks to Pete Seeger whose rendition of that song is published in this pancocojams post .

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INFORMATION ABOUT "WHOA MULE (Can't Get The Saddle On)"

"Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" is an up-tempo late (?) 19th century adult dance song that originated among African Americans.

"Who Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" and "Whoa Mule Whoa" are different songs. "Whoa Mule" is a 19th century African American dance song which is also sung & played as an old time/Bluegrass banjo song.

There are numerous versions of "Whoa Mule Whoa" and each of the text forms of that song are composed in a verse/chorus pattern. The verses are two line rhyming floaters which are found in multiple songs, including the 19th century Black dance song entitled "Simon Slick".

Links to text examples and a video example of Whoa Mule are provided in the related links section of this post.

In contrast, "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)" is a song with a short varying line & a repeated refrain, a format which lends itself to it being sung using a call & response pattern. That said, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that "Whoa Mule" was the primary source of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On").

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SIMILARITIES BETWEEN THIS SONG AND "PEEP SQUIRREL"
The song "Whoa Mule: Saddle" resembles the 19th century African American children's play-party/chasing game "Peep Squirrel". Here's an excerpt of a version of "Peep Squirrel":

Here Squirrel

Yada dada diddle um

Catch that squirrel

Yada dada diddle um

Run Squirrel

Yada dada diddle um

-snip-

[From http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/lomaxbib:@field(DOCID+@lit(l2699b2) The John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip; Cerlina Lewis;
-snip-
The only difference in the text (words) of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" and the text of "Peep Squirrel" is in the refrains for both songs. The tunes that I heard songs sound very similar, but the tune for "Peep Squirrel" has a much faster tempo.

"Peep Squirrel" is described on the above cited website as a "play-party motion song; a game for chasing". It's possible that "Whoa Mule:Saddle" may have also been performed as a motion/chasing song. However, there are allusions to the performance of "Whoa Mule:Saddle" being risque. One hint of that is found in prefacing comments that the singer Cerlina Lewis made in 1950 before she sang a version of "Whoa Mule:Saddle" that is included in folklorist Harold Courlander's Negro Folk Music of Alabama, Vol. 6: Ring Game Songs and Others Various Artists FW04474. Another hint of the risque nature of "Whoa Mule:Saddle"'s performance is found in another online quote which is found in Part II of this post.

Georgia Sea Isles folk singer Bessie Jones recorded a version of "Peep Squirrel" that includes lines from "Whoa Mule: Saddle". That version is given in Part II of this post.

Update: January 8, 2022. YouTube has several video or sound file examples of "Whoa Mule Whoa" ("also given as "Whoa Mule"). YouTube also has two video examples of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On".

Thanks also to Dan Foster for a comment [in the pancocojams discussion thread for the 2013 post] that presents information about "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" and a link to a sound file of African American fiddler Teodar Jackson (1903-1966) from Austin Texas playing a rendition of that song. That comment is reprinted in the comment section for Part III of this 2026 pancocojams series.

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UPDATE: March 2, 2022

Here's another version of the singing game "Peep Squirrel" from the section entitled "The Play Of Slave Children" in Jearold Winton Holland's 2002 book Black Recreation: A Historical Perspective (Burnham Publishers, 2002)

"For slave children, there was minimal categorization of masculine or feminine play activities. [page 89] As the children began to grow older, ring games were often the opportunities for youngsters to learn how to interact with the opposite sex and to assume gender roles. Two such games were "Peep Squirrel" and "King William Was King George's Son". In "Peep Squirrel" a boy and girl stand some distance apart, facing each other. A different girl gets behind the boy and a different boy lines up behind the girl. The rest of the children sing the following lines while performers suit the action to the words:

[page] 99

Peep squirrel, eedle, deedle, deele, dum

Walk around squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum,

Hop aaround squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum,

Skip along squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum,

Run the squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum,

Catch that squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum, 90

If the boy finally caught the girl (squirrel) he was entitled to a kiss."

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TEXT (WORD ONLY) EXAMPLES OF "WHOA MULE (CAN'T GET THE SADDLE ON)"

Example #1: 1:15 minute sound file

"Whoa Mule! Can't Get the Saddle On"

From the album Animal Folk Songs for Children by Mike, Peggy, Barbara & Penny Seeger

http://www.amazon.com/Whoa-Mule-Cant-Get-Saddle/dp/B0010XJ700

"Whoa mule

Can't get the saddle on [repeat both lines 2x]

[using that same pattern]

Catch that mule

Ride that mule

Run mule

Can't get the saddle on [repeat both lines 4x]"

-snip-

My description: This is an uptempo, call & response song.

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Example #2

From http://www.folkways.si.edu/TrackDetails.aspx?itemid=11578

FW04474_201

From Harold Courlander's notes:

“The singer was an old woman when these songs were recorded. She had a reputation of having been a fine and spirited singer when she was young."

[Text of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)- Celina Lewis; Alabama, 1950]

All you church folks looking right at me, and they calI on me

to praise ... get up there!

Whoa, mule, I can't get the saddle on, (2)

Stop that mule, I can 't get the saddle on, (2)

Whoa mule, I can't get the saddle on, (2)

Run mule, I can't get the saddle on, (2)

Can't you catch that mule, can't get the saddle on,

Catch that mule, can't get the saddle on, (4)

Yon go that mule, can't get the saddle on

-snip-

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Bessie Jones' example of "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" is included in Part II of this pancocojams series.

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This concludes Part i of this pancocojams series.

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Saturday, July 25, 2026

The Connections Between The Singing Games "Ride The Pony" & "Little Sally Walker Walking Down The Street" And "Peep Squirrel" And The Dance Song "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)"

****This concludes Part IV of this four part pancocojams series.

Celina Lewis' 1950 Rendition Of The 19th Century African American Song "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On)" Part III-Sound File, Lyrics, Auto-Generated Transcript, And My Re-Wording Of That Transcript

19th Century African American Singing Games "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" & "Peep Squirrel" (Part II: Reprint of a 2013 Pancocojams Post)

19th Century African American Singing Games "Whoa Mule (Can't Get The Saddle On" & "Peep Squirrel" (Part I: Reprint Of 2013 Pancocojams Post)

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This concludes Part IV of this four part pancocojams series.