Ward Minnis Published on Nov 30, 2006
WARNING: This documentary features children performing seductive dances that some people may consider to be unsuitable for children.
****
Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post is a complete reprint (with updates and reformatting) of the 2017 pancocojams post with this title.*
This post showcases the Bahamian (Caribbean) children's singing game/hand clap rhyme "I Went Up The Hill" (This singing game/rhyme may also be known as "Rock My Cherry".)
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those who are featured in the videos that are embedded in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
-snip-
* That 2017 pancocojams post is still available on this blog.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/07/bahamian-childrens-game-songhand-clap.html for that post. Comments can still be added to the discussion thread for that post. If any comments are added after the publishing date for this 2026 post, they will not be reprinted in this post.
This pancocojams post is a complete reprint (with updates and reformatting) of the 2017 pancocojams post with this title.*
This post showcases the Bahamian (Caribbean) children's singing game/hand clap rhyme "I Went Up The Hill" (This singing game/rhyme may also be known as "Rock My Cherry".)
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those who are featured in the videos that are embedded in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
-snip-
* That 2017 pancocojams post is still available on this blog.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/07/bahamian-childrens-game-songhand-clap.html for that post. Comments can still be added to the discussion thread for that post. If any comments are added after the publishing date for this 2026 post, they will not be reprinted in this post.
****
EXAMPLES OF THE WORDS TO THIS SINGING GAME
Example #1
I WENT UP ON THE HILL
I went up on the hill
With a bucket on my head
The road so rocky
Till my bucket fall down
Rock-a-my-cherry, one two
Rock-a-my-cherry, three four.
Here's a comment from http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=737 where this example is found:
"Many thanks to Josephine Justilien for contributing this song. Thanks so much!"
****
Rhyme Example #2
I went up on the hill
With a bucket on my head
The road so rocky
Till my bucket fall down
(Rock my cherry)
one and two
(Rock my cherry)
One and two
(Rock my cherry)
three and four
(Rock my cherry)
five and six
(Rock my cherry)
seven and eight
(rock my cherry)
nine and ten
(Rock my cherry)
That’s the end!
Source: This is my transcription of the rhyme
****
[Added July 21, 2017 ]
Rhyme Example #3
I went up on the hill
With my bucket on my head
My road fall down
with my bucket on my head
Rocka a my cherry
One two
Rocka a my cherry
three four
Rocka a my cherry
five six
Rocka a my cherry
seven eight
Rocka a my cherry
nine ten
Rocka my cherry.
That's the end.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAGjxqjoCko Show Me Your Motion: The Ringplay Games of The Bahamas (52:53- 52:59)
The words to this example are given as sub-titles in this documentary.
This ring play is performed as a girls' circle game with one person in the middle. A boy on the outskirts of the circle accompanies the girls singing on a drum that is strapped over on of his shoulders,
The girls hold both hands near their head, as a representation of holding a bucket on their head [?] . On the words "rock my cherry", the girl in the middle dances in front of someone forming the circle, but in this portion of the video the girl barely moves her hips. The other girls forming the circle sing and clap while watching the middle girl, but don't imitate her dancing.
I don't believe this ring play is known in the United States.
****
DESCRIPTION OF A VIDEO OF THIS RING PLAY THAT IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE (with a few comments from its discussion thread that also is no longer available
Bahamian Ringplay ("Rock My Cherry"*)
Kimberley Minors Published on Apr 18, 2013
-snip-
jULY 24, 2026- UPDATE- This video is no longer available on YouTube. I found that out on July 24, 2026. I don't know when or why that video was removed from YouTube. The removal of any video automatically results in the removal of its discussion thread.
As a result of that video's removal, this 2026 pancocojams post showcases the video that was given as Video #2 in the 2017 pancocojams post.
-snip-
I'm not familiar with the "I Went Up The Hill" (Rock My Cherry" rhyme being performed in the United States. I think it originated either in the Bahamas or in another Caribbean nation.
*This is my name for this rhyme from a repeated phrase in that rhyme. I've named this video to distinguish it from two other videos published by Kimberley Minor that have the same "Bahamian Ringplay" title:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnSgPM0cqlY. That video features three girls performing a version of the African American originated rhyme "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train" and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0WGQfk-DIo.
The video whose link is given last features four girls performing a version of a singing game that is known as "This a Way Valerie" in the United States, but is called "This a Way A Bellabee" in a documentary on Bahamian game songs (at 18:37 of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAGjxqjoCko. "This A Way Valerie" ("This A Way Ballabee") may have originated either in the Caribbean or in the United States (African Americans who may or may not have been of Caribbean descent).
The only "Ringplay" video that Kimberley Minor published on YouTube that includes the title of a ring play is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lpzGSpd5Z8 "Bahamian Hand Games/Ringplay: Twe Lee Lee" "Twee Lee Lee" (or similarly spelled words) is an African American originated hand clap rhyme that is based on the Pop/R&B song "Rockin Robin". In that video that rhyme is combined with another rhyme whose words I can't fully decipher.
****
According to online sources a "ring play" is a "US, Caribbean, African" [term] that refers to "Any of various types of games played in a circle with dance movements and singing."[I didn't save the online source for this definition.]
In the "Bahamian Ring Play" video that is featured in this post, the term "ring play" is used as a general term for children's recreational singing games and rhymes and not just circle games that are performed by people forming a ring (circle).
****
PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION FOR THE BAHAMIAN RING PLAY "ROCK MY CHERRY" ("I WENT UP PN THE HILL')
This is my attempt to describe this performance. Additions and corrections are very welcome.
General description:
Two girls stand in one horizontal line facing two other girls with a little bit of space in between the two lines. The girls stand in place and perform imitative movements while chanting this rhyme.
****
Actions for Specific Words & Phrases:
In the beginning of the rhyme, they hold both of their hands to the side of their head and hold their head down in sadness while slightly bouncing up and down to the beat.
When the girls start saying the counting lines, they raise their heads and begin holding up fingers to correspond with the numbers that they say. They continue to stand in place and slightly bounce up and down to the beat without rocking their hips.
After the number five, they hold up both hands and move them back and forth regardless of the numbers that they are saying. They continue to stand in place and slightly bounce back up and down to the beat.
On the line, "and that's the end", they throw both hands up in the air, smiling.
****
COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD FOR THE 2017 PANCOCOJAMS POST
UnknownMarch 16, 2018 at 11:33 AMPawk means to hit someone with a ball as it relates to the game Pawkin. Pawkin is a boy competitive game that I played growing up. A bunch of guys get on an open field with what is usually a tennis ball, and hit each other with it while running around the field in a free for all style. No one is eliminated, the aim is simply to cause the other pain, while avoiding the pain yourself. The one who pawks the hardest and is the most accurate is usually considered the toughest or the strongest and most feared in game. So when he gets the ball most tend to get as far away as possible to not feel the sting.
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Thanks for that information about the game of Pawkin, Sovereign!
DeleteI'm African American and had never heard of that game. but it sounds almost like "Dodge Ball".
It is also filled with taunting, trash talking and retaliation with Bahamian expressions.
ReplyDeleteDoes "it" refer to the game "I Went Up On The Hill" (Rock My Cherry")?
DeleteIf so, I can image from that video that that singing game was as you described it. :o)