The Toxicity Of Certain Jump Rope Or Hand Clap Rhymes (Part I-Romantic Relationships)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a three part pancocojams series about the toxicity of the messages that certain English language jump rope and/or hand clap  rhymes (also known as "skipping songs" and "hand games") convey about romantic relationships. 

This post presents statements about the toxicity of certain recreational rhymes about romantic relationships. This post also presents a few examples of these types of rhymes.

Click ___ for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post presents statements about the toxicity of recreational rhymes about romantic relationships that include references to rape, or paying for sex. This post also presents a few examples of these types of rhymes..

A few of the examples in that post include examples of those recreational rhymes that contain sexually explicit language. However, examples of really dirty children's recreational rhymes aren't included in that post.  

Click ___ for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post presents an article excerpt and a few online comments about recreational rhymes as negative socializing agents. 

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who contributed examples of these hand clap rhymes that are included in this post.

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TERMS THAT ARE USED IN THIS SERIES ABOUT THE TOXICITY OF CERTAIN JUMP ROPE/HAND CLAP RHYMES 
TOXICITY - "the quality, state, or relative degree of being poisonous"
-from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/toxicity
-snip-
By toxic, I mean harmful to a person's psychological wellbeing, including self esteem and harmful to the creation and ability to sustain a healthy monogamous  heterosexual relationship and friendships with people outside of your heterosexual relationship.

Here are two examples of  jump rope rhymes /hand clap rhymes about romantic relationships that I don't consider to be toxic because they promote a romantic relationship between a girl and a boy who are committed to each other, leading to marriage.

(While I recognize the validity of  LGBTQ relationships, this pancocojams post focuses on heterosexual relationships)

Bluebells Cockle Shells  
Bluebells, cockle shells,
Eevie, ivy, over;
Mother went to market
To buy some meat;
Baby's in the cradle
Fast asleep.
The old clock on the mantel says
One o'clock, two o'clock.
(to twelve o'clock)
Bluebells, cockle shells,
Eevie, ivy, over;
I like coffee, I like tea;
I like the boys, and the boys like me.
Tell your mother to hold her tongue;
She had a fellow when she was young.
Tell your father to do the same;
He had a girl and he changed her name.

- http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101113222223AAw99M5 "What are your favorite jump rope rhymes,

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K. I. SS. I. N. G
(NAME) and (NAME)
Sitting in a tree
K-I-S-S-I-N-G!

First comes love
Then comes marriage
Then comes baby
In a baby carriage!

**
ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP - "an emotional, intellectual, and often physical bond between people characterized by love, intimacy, mutual care, and commitment+
-AI Overview

**.
"the commitment of significant time, energy, resources, and emotions into another person, with some kind of physical intimacy involved (sex, cuddling, kissing, sharing a bed etc)"
-Street-Tiger0192, 2021, https://www.reddit.com/r/aromantic/comments/u8e5g8/what_does_it_even_mean_to_be_in_a_romantic

**
SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS - "relationships involving intercourse"
-snip-
In the context of jump rope and/or hand clap rhymes, I'm referring to examples that imply having sexual intercourse and examples that are refer to having sex (i.e. sexually explicit examples)

Also, in the context of jump rope and/or hand clap rhymes, I consider kissing to be separate from having sex, necessarily be a part of be a female and a male kissing to be engaging in sex, although kissing can be a prelude to and part of having sex

In the context of this discussion, "kissing" can be an indication that two people are in a romantic relationship and/or "kissing" can (just) mean that two people are sexually attracted to each other  

**
NORMALIZE  - "to make (something) conform to or reduce (something) to a norm or standard"
-https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/normalize

-to allow or encourage (something considered extreme or taboo) to become viewed as normal
-https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/normalize

**
VALUED - "what is considered important, desirable, preferable, worthy"; what is glorified
-snip-
In this discussion, I refer to something having a "high value" or a "low value"
for instance, in the types of jump rope / hand clap rhymes that are the focus of this series, "girls being able to attract males" is considered a "high value" while commitment to one male (monogamy) is considered a "low value".

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DESCRIPTION OF THE FORMAT FOR THIS SERIES
In this series I list a statement that I believe reflects toxicity in these rhymes. I then usually present one example of a complete jump rope or hand clap  rhyme and/or lines from one or two jump rope or hand clap rhyme/s to demonstrate what I mean by my contention that that example reflects what I consider is toxic.

There are probably other toxic messages that are found in jump rope and/or hand clap rhymes. Also, there are certainly other rhymes that I could have given to serve as examples of these . These are just the ones that I thought of at this point in time.

Please share additional examples of these types of rhymes in the discussion thread for this post along with the toxic message you think they reflect 

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SOME EXAMPLES OF TOXIC MESSAGES IN JUMP ROPE OR HAND CLAP RHYMES
These messages are given in no particular order with citations for the online source.
Numbers are given for referencing purposes only.

1.Rhymes convey that society places a very high value on girls being sexy.

Example: 

"We said

 "I went to a chinese restaurant, to buy a loaf of bread, bread, bread They wrapped it up in a five pound note and this is what they said, said, said. My... name... is... Elvis Presley, girls are sexy, sitting in the back seat drinking Pepsi, the boys go (kiss sound) and the girls go Whoo (jump up and do the air splits)".
-"eyeball-beesting, 2026
https://www.reddit.com/r/Britain/comments/1qjapdu/does_anyone_know_the_rest_of_this_rhyme/

**
2. Rhymes convey that "girls being sexy: means "girls having a fabulous (voluptuous) body"

Example:

"We used to do it: my name is Dina Gloria I’m a superstar, I’ve got a fabulous body and a flashy car, I’ve got the hips, the lips the fabulous kicks, turn around touch the ground and do the splits."
-Demi_silent, 2026
-https://www.reddit.com/r/Britain/comments/1qjapdu/does_anyone_know_the_rest_of_this_rhyme/

**
3. Rhymes convey that girls (should) place a high value on being physically attractive and (should) expect multiple boys to be attracted to them because they are physically attractive 

Examples:  

a). I am a pretty little Dutch girl
As pretty as I can be
And all the boys
In the neighborhood
Are crazy over me"...
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Little_Dutch_Girl assessed 5/23/2010
-snip-
The phrase "in the neighborhood" is given in some versions of this rhyme as "around my block" or similar phrases. 

**
b) I am a pretty little Dutch girl,
As pretty as I can be, be, be,
And all the boys in the baseball team
Go crazy over me, me, me,
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Little_Dutch_Girl , assessed 4/25/2026
[The example given above from 2010 is no longer included on that page.]

**
c) [Example of "I'm A Little [school grade]  
for swing swing swing our school did this
c,c,c at the bottom of the c
im a little (whatever grade or age) pretty as can be be
and all the boys around my blox are fightin over me me
my boyfriends name is CHRIS BROWN!"...
-Lauren, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zEcsIfe6lU&t=4s [This website is no longer available]; 90's hands games!!! Part 1, published by Geneas, Nov. 4, 2018

**
4. Rhymes convey that it's normal for a girl & a boy to sneak and make out (i.e. kiss and possibly do other things besides kissing)

Example:

Eenie Meanie Justa Leanie
Ooca Acla Trackalacka, I love you.
Take a peach, Take a plum
Take a piece of bubble gum.
Teacher, Teacher, Dummy Dum
Gimme back my bubble gum.
Saw you with your boyfriend last night.
How do you know?
I was peekin' through the keyhold.
NOSY
Wash them dishes
LAZY
Jump out the window
CRAZY
Peaches on the tree, Bananas on the floor
Jump back baby. I Don't Love You No More!
-Donetta A. (African American female, memories of Pittsburgh, Pennslyvania, 1984); collected by Azizi Powell, 1998 
-snip-
Donetta said she learned this rhyme from her cousin from the South (USA) when her cousin visited her in 1984.

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5.Rhymes convey that a boy kissing a girl doesn't necessarily mean that he loves her.

Example:

"i Went down town to meet charlie brown
he gave me a nickle that bought me a pickle
the pickle was sour so he bought me a flower
the flower was dead so this is what he said:
down down baby down by the rollercoaster
sweet sweet baby never wana let you go
just because i kissed you doesnt mean i love you"...
-Sarah, Octoblog, Schoolyard games; 7/17/2005, quoted in 
https://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/10/hand-clap-jump-rope-rhymes-examples-i-j.html

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6.Rhymes convey that it's normal for a girl to engage in sexual activity that stops before sexual intercourse (i.e. "sexual foreplay")

Example:

-"When Suzy was a baby, a baby Suzy was was was. She went, “waaah waah! Waah waah wah!” When Suzy was a teenager, a teenager Suzy was was was. She said, “ooh ahh! I’ve lost my bra! I found my knickers in my boyfriend’s car!”
-Not-Today-Satan, 2020
https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualUK/comments/k0ss6a/what_the_bloody_hell_were_the_school_playground/

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7. Rhymes convey that it's not uncommon to get pregnant outside of marriage. 

Example:

Uno, dos, siesta *
I said a-east, a-west
I met my boyfriend at the candy store
He bought me ice cream, he bought me cake
He brought me home with a belly ache
Mama mama, I'm so sick
Call the doctor quick quick quick
Doctor, doctor will I die?
Count to five and you'll be alive
I said, a-one, a-two, a-three, a-four, a-five
I'm alive!
- Kyle Bryant & Dana Bryant ; (performing hand clap game on Season 1, Episode 22 of The Cosby Show; March 28, 1985; episode title: "The Slumber Party" 
-snip-
*Black American commonly call "I Met My Boyfriend At The Candy Store" rhyme "Uno Dos Siesta" or a similar title.

While this rhyme doesn't directly refer to the girl getting pregnant and going through labor, many older girls and many adults think that is what these words refer to.  

Here's another version of this rhyme that also normalizes a couple living together and sleeping with each other without being married:

"Here is a song we used to do on the playground in Birmingham, AL back in the 80s:

Last night and the night before I met my boyfriend at the candy store
He brought me ice cream he brought me cake
he brought me home with a stomachache
mama mama i feel sick
call the doctor quick quick quick
doctor doctor will i die
close you eyes and count to five
i said a one, a two, a three, a four, a five
I'm alive

[Optional part] we would do sometimes (a little risque for little girls):

see that house on top of that hill
that's where me and my baby gon' live
we gon' cook some cornbread
cook some meat
come on baby let's go to bed and do the boom boom boom." 
 -Joi, Cocojams, 3/23/2008
-snip-
"Cocojams.com was the name of my cultural website that was online from 2001-2014.

****
8. Rhymes convey that it's likely that their boyfriend will cheat on her with another girl. 
(This message can also be worded that "a boy shouldn't be trusted/believed when he says that he'll be faithful to you) 

Another way of saying this is that rhymes convey that boys place a low value on being monogamous (faithful to their girlfriend)

Examples:

a). Zing Zing Zing
at the bottom of the sea.
I am a little __ second grade
as pretty as can __ be be.
And all the boys around my house
go crazy over __ me me.

My boyfriend's name is __ Yellow.
He comes from Ala__bama
with 25 toes
and a pickle on his nose
and this is how the story goes.
One day I was ah __ walkin
I saw my boyfriend __ talking
to a very pretty girl
with cherry pie curls
And this is what she said
"I L-O-V-E __ love you."
"I K-I-S-S __ kiss you."
"I A-D-O-R-E __ adore you"
So S-T-O-P. STOP!
1-2-3-4
Get your black hands off of me!
- Diarra, K'azsa, and Michelle (African American girls), Fort Pitt Elementary School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 2004; collected by Azizi Powell, September 2004

The dashes indicate that you pause for a beat before saying the next word or the next syllable.
-snip-
The line "Get your black hands off of me" is an example of racial toxicity that is found in some recreational rhymes.

**
b).  "The one we used to sing all the time was

I am a little first grader. As pretty as can be be. And all the boys around my block go crazy over me me. My boyfriend name is Jello. He lives in Alabamo. With a big fat nose and 35 toes and this is how my story goes. One day I was walking. I saw my boyfriend talking to the the ugliest girl named (insert ugly girl name) in the world and this is what he said to her. M-I-S-S miss you. K-I-S-S kiss you. L-O-V-E love you and this is what I said to her.

See my pinkie. see my thumb. See my fist you better run. Recesse's Recesse's Coco Puff mess with my man I'll mess you up."

-Cidnei Gregory, 2019 (Chicago);  "Let's Discuss: Black Girl Childhood Hand Games and Sing Songs"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfzHL_1PdbY&t=2s&ab_channel=EbonyJanicePeace .

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This concludes Part I of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visiting comments are welcome. 

Debunking The Widely Held Belief That Only White People Lived In Or Still Live In The Appalachian Region Of The United States

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series about Black people in the Appalachia region of the United States.

This post presents information about the term "Appalachia" and presents excerpts from several online articles about Black people in Appalachia.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/black-people-in-appalachia-part-ii-some.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post showcases a YouTube video about Black people in Appalachia and includes selected comments from that video's discussion thread about Black people in Kentucky and in other parts of Appalachia.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Dr, Jacqueline Clark and Dr. Althea Webb for their research and writing on the subject of Black people in Appalachia. Thanks also to all others who are quoted in this post and thanks for the cultural legacies of Black people who lived/live in Appalachia.
-snip-
This post is a complete reprint of the 2022 pancocojams post entitled "Setting The Record Straight About Black People In The Appalachian Region Of The United States (Part I: online excerpts)" https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/11/setting-record-straight-about-black.html?m=1 . The only three comments in the discussion thread for that 2022 post are also added to this 2026 post. (I wrote both of those comments.)

That 2022 post is still available on this blog and its discussion thread is still open.

One of the reasons why it's important to debunk the belief that only White people have lived in and still live in Appalachia, is that that belief assumes that the music and other cultural elements of Appalachia can only be attributed to White people. This statement is absolutely false.]

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A DEFINITION OF AND INFORMATION ABOUT APPALACHIA

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachia

..."While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, to Cheaha Mountain in Alabama, Appalachia typically refers only to the cultural region of the central and southern portions of the range, from the Catskill Mountains of New York southwest to the Blue Ridge Mountains which run southwest from southern Pennsylvania to northern Georgia, and the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. In 2019, the region was home to an estimated 25.7 million people, of which roughly 81% are white.

[...]

Since Appalachia lacks definite physiographical or topographical boundaries, there has been some disagreement over what exactly the region encompasses. The most commonly used modern definition of Appalachia is the one initially defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission in 1965 and expanded over subsequent decades.[5] The region defined by the Commission currently includes 420 counties and eight independent cities in 13 states, including all 55 counties in West Virginia, 14 counties in New York, 52 in Pennsylvania, 32 in Ohio, 3 in Maryland, 54 in Kentucky, 25 counties and 8 cities in Virginia,[10] 29 in North Carolina, 52 in Tennessee, 6 in South Carolina, 37 in Georgia, 37 in Alabama, and 24 in Mississippi".

[...]

Culture

Ethnic groups

An estimated 90%[73] of Appalachia's earliest European settlers originated from the Anglo-Scottish border country…In America, these people are often grouped under the single name "Scotch-Irish" or "Scots-Irish". While various 20th century writers tried to associate Appalachia with Scottish highlanders, Highland Scots were a relatively insignificant percentage of the region's early European immigrants.[76]

Although Swedes and Finns formed only a tiny portion of the Appalachian settlers it was Swedish and Finnish settlers of New Sweden who brought the northern European woodsman skills such as log cabin construction which formed the basis of backwoods Appalachian material culture.[77]

Germans were a major pioneer group to migrate to Appalachia, settling mainly in western Pennsylvania and southwest Virginia. Smaller numbers of Germans were also among the initial wave of migrants to the southern mountains.[11]: 30–44  In the 19th century, Welsh immigrants were brought into the region for their mining and metallurgical expertise, and by 1900 over 100,000 Welsh immigrants were living in western Pennsylvania alone…

The coal mining and manufacturing boom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries brought large numbers of Italians and Eastern Europeans to Appalachia, although most of these families left the region when the Great Depression shattered the economy in the 1930s. African Americans have been present in the region since the 18th century, and currently make up 8% of the ARC-designated region, mostly concentrated in urban areas and former mining and manufacturing towns;[80] the African-American component of Appalachia is sometimes termed Affrilachia.[81]

Native Americans, the region's original inhabitants, are now only a small percentage of the region's present population, their most notable concentration being the reservation of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina. The Melungeons, a group of mixed African, European, and Native American ancestry, are scattered across northeastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky, and southwestern Virginia.[82]

According to the American Factfinder's 2013 data, the Southern Appalachia has a white majority, comprising 84% of the population. African Americans are 7% and Hispanics or Latinos are 6% of the population. Asians and Pacific Islanders are 1.5% of the population. Although the counties have great differences among themselves, in terms of racial and ethnic diversity.[83]"...
-snip-
I added italics to highlight those sentences.

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ONLINE EXCERPTS ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE IN APPALACHIA
These excerpts are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

EXCERPT #1
From https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2019/02/20/hidden-black-history-in-appalachia/ Hidden Black History in Appalachia by Jacqueline Clark PhD on February 20, 2019

"In February of 1926, Carter G. Woodson helped establish “Negro History Week” to educate teachers, students, and community members about the accomplishments and experiences of Blacks in the United States...

Nearly a century later, Black History is still at risk of erasure, especially in (once) geographically isolated areas, like Appalachia. The standard narrative that Scots-Irish “settled” Appalachia starting in the 18th century hides the fact that there were often violent interactions between European immigrants and indigenous people in the region. Even in the 1960s when authors like Michael Harrington and Harry Caudill reported on Appalachian mountain folk, the people were depicted as Scots-Irish descendants, known for being poor, lazy, and backward, representations that are reinforced in contemporary accounts of the region, such as J. D. Vance’s wildly popular memoir Hillbilly Elegy.

Accounts like these offer stereotypical understandings of poor Appalachian whites, and at the same time, they ignore the presence and experiences of Blacks in the region. Work by social scientists William Turner and Edward Cabell, as well as “Affrilachia” poet Frank X. Walker, and historian Elizabeth Catte attempts to remedy this problem, but the dominant narrative of the region centers still on poor whites and their lives.

[…]

So too are the stories of Blacks living in Appalachia today. Even though the number of African American residents has increased in some parts of  Appalachia, while the white population has decreased, little is formally documented about their lives. That absence has led scholar William Turner, to refer to Blacks in Appalachia as a “racial minority within a cultural minority.” Not only does erasing African Americans from the past and present of Appalachia provide an inaccurate view of the region, but it also minimizes the suffering of poor Blacks, who relative to their white counterparts, are and have been the poorest of an impoverished population.

Woodson established “Negro History Week” to document and share the history of Blacks in the United States, recognizing that, “If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.” The history of African Americans in the Appalachian region is largely absent from the area’s official record, and without making it part of the dominant narrative, we risk losing that history.

***
EXCERPT #2
From https://oxfordaasc.com/page/2527 "Featured Essay - African Americans in Appalachia" by Dr. Althea Webb, Assistant Professor of Education, Berea College
"Contrary to popular perception, Appalachia has always possessed significant and influential populations of color. The region, so named for the mountain range that runs through it from northeast Mississippi to southern New York, historically comprises three subdivisions—Northern, Southern, and Central—each with its own history of settlement and race relations. Indian nations, including the Cherokees, were the first peoples to inhabit the area, but by 1860 African Americans were approximately 10% of the population. There is, however, no one story of African Americans in Appalachia. Black Appalachians—like all Appalachians—have lived in rural settings as well as urban settings, and current residents may have come from families that settled in the mountains hundreds of years ago, while others are first generation migrants into the region.

As the first major mountain range west of the Atlantic coast, the Appalachian Mountains were the first "frontier." By the mid-1600s, explorers were trekking into the mountains and within fifty years, settlements had been permanently established by whites from England, Ireland, and Scotland. Many Appalachian people trace their heritage to the Scots-Irish, immigrants who lived in the border regions of northern Ireland before coming to America early in the 18th century. As whites moved into the mountains so did free and enslaved Africans. After the Revolutionary War, Union officers were given land grants in the largely uninhabited Central Appalachian area, mostly in what is now West Virginia. As white settlers demanded more land, however, the native peoples were forced to move west,a policy well underway by the time of the infamous Indian Removal Act of 1830 enacted by President Andrew Jackson.

In the early years of settlement, whites, Indians, and African Americans lived in close proximity to each other, and later generations included multiracial and multiethnic people; the Melungeons, a group thought to have European, Native American, and African ancestry, were identified in Central Appalachia early in the 19th century. Additionally, the lives of African American and white Appalachians were intertwined socially and culturally. The most obvious representation of this syncretism is the banjo, a central instrument in traditional mountain music that originated in Africa.

Enslavement in Appalachia varied according to regions. Elite Cherokee people held Africans in enslavement in the Southern Appalachia region, but the topography did not lend itself to the large plantation systems found in the lowlands of the Deep South. In the southern region, non-slave holders were in the majority, and the area also contained a large number of landless whites. Indeed, Appalachia was once thought to be an area that abhorred slavery, although recently scholars have documented the complex nature of slavery in the Mountain South. Like the nation as a whole, Appalachia was equally divided by Civil War loyalties. Northern Appalachians joined the Union, Southern Appalachians joined the Confederacy and those in the Central Appalachian area were at a crossroads. Two years after Virginia voted to join the Confederacy,mountaineers in the west and southwest areas of Virginia formed West Virginia as an independent state and joined the Union. There was an active Underground Railroad running through Appalachia from Chattanooga to Pennsylvania .

[…]

No number of age-old stereotypes can erase the fact that, Appalachia, distinctive as it is, has never been a region that is lily white. History reveals that Appalachia has always had a racially and ethnically diverse population that has been significant and influential. Migration and mobility has shifted patterns of diversity within sub-regions and particular counties, but many areas recall traditions of inclusive collaboration unlikely to have taken hold outside the mountains. Indeed, while some areas today are largely white, the collective memory of a county may reveal a vastly different history."
-snip-
No publishing date is given for this article. However, 2004 is the latest date for books in the recommended reading section.

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COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD OF THAT 2022 PANCOCOJAMS POST 
 Azizi PowellNovember 7, 2022 at 12:03 PM

The Appalachian Region includes 423 counties across 13 states.

Portions of these states are considered Appalachia:
Alabama
Georgia
Kentucky
Maryland
Mississippi
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
Tennessee
Virginia

Also, the entire state of West Virginia is considered Appalachia.

ReplyDelete

Replies

1. 
   Azizi PowellNovember 7, 2022 at 12:08 PM

   I think most Americans think of very rural areas as Appalachia such as rural areas of Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
   And I think that most Americans are surprised when they learn that certain of the following cities in this Wikipedia list are in Appalachia:
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachia
   "Cities in Appalachia that have 400,000 or more residents:
   
   "Altoona, Pennsylvania
   Asheville, North Carolina
   Binghamton, New York
   Birmingham, Alabama
   Charleston, West Virginia
   Chattanooga, Tennessee
   Cleveland, Tennessee
   Erie, Pennsylvania
   Greenville, South Carolina
   Hagerstown, Maryland
   Huntington, West Virginia
   Huntsville, Alabama
   Johnson City, Tennessee
   Knoxville, Tennessee
   Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
   Roanoke, Virginia
   Scranton, Pennsylvania
   State College, Pennsylvania
   Winston-Salem, North Carolina”
   

   Delete
2. 
   Azizi PowellNovember 7, 2022 at 12:14 PM

   My adopted hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is in Appalachia, although I very much doubt if most Pittsburghers consider themselves (ourselves) to be Appalachians .
   
   According to the 2022 US Census, Black people comprise around 23.8 of the population of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and around 13.5 % of the population of Allegheny County (where Pittsburgh is located). https://www.populationu.com/cities/pittsburgh-pa-population.
   
   Yet, despite the relatively small numbers of Black people in that area, few people would deny that Black people have greatly contributed to the cultural heritage of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County for a long time.
   
   The same can be said for Black people in many other cities and towns, and rural areas that are categorized as Appalachia.

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"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.

****
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.

****
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" ...

****
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.

****
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".

****
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.

****
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"

****

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.

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