The REAL Meanings Of "The Spades Go" & "The Space Go" In Playground Rhymes

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - July 23, 2023

This pancocojams post presents information about the use of the word "spades" or "space" in children's recreation rhymes.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks for all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the contributors of examples of these rhymes. Thanks also to the publishers of this video on YouTube. 

****
ARTICLE EXCERPT ABOUT THE WORD "SPADE" AS A REFERENT FOR BLACK PEOPLE
From https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/09/19/224183763/is-it-racist-to-call-a-spade-a-spade "Is It Racist To 'Call A Spade A Spade'?" September 23, 2013 by Lakshmi Gandhi
"What happens when a perfectly innocuous phrase takes on a more sinister meaning over time?

Case in point, the expression "to call a spade a spade." For almost half a millennium, the phrase has served as a demand to "tell it like it is." It is only in the past century that the phrase began to acquire a negative, racial overtone.

Historians trace the origins of the expression to the Greek phrase "to call a fig a fig and a trough a trough." Exactly who was the first author of "to call a trough a trough" is lost to history. Some attribute it to Aristophanes, while others attribute it to the playwright Menander. The Greek historian Plutarch (who died in A.D. 120) used it in Moralia. The blogger Matt Colvin, who has a Ph.D. in Greek literature, recently pointed out that the original Greek expression was very likely vulgar in nature and that the "figs" and "troughs" in question were double entendres.

Erasmus, the renowned humanist and classical scholar, translated the phrase "to call a fig a fig and a trough a trough" from Greek to Latin. And in so doing he dramatically changed the phrase to "call a spade a spade." (This may have been an incorrect translation but seems more likely to have been a creative interpretation and a deliberate choice.)

[…]

In the late 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance, "spade" began to evolve into code for a black person, according to Patricia T. O'Connor and Stewart Kellerman's book Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language. The Oxford English Dictionary says the first appearance of the word spade as a reference to blackness was in Claude McKay's 1928 novel Home to Harlem, which was notable for its depictions of street life in Harlem in the 1920s. "Jake is such a fool spade," wrote McKay. "Don't know how to handle the womens." Fellow Harlem Renaissance writer Wallace Thurman then used the word in his novel The Blacker The Berry: A Novel of Negro Life, a widely read and notable work that explored prejudice within the African-American community. "Wonder where all the spades keep themselves?" one of Thurman's characters asks. It was also in the 1920s that the "spade" in question began to refer to the spade found on playing cards.

The word would change further in the years to come. Eventually, the phrase "black as the ace of spades" also became widely used, further strengthening the association between spades and playing
cards"...

****
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE ABOUT THE WORDS "THE SPADES GO" AND "THE SPACE GO" IN CHILDREN'S RECREATIONAL RHYMES

I believe that most children who chant rhymes that begin with the phrase "the spades go" didn't in the past and don't currently attribute any meaning whatsoever to those particular words. Instead, children say those words, if not the entire rhyme, by rote memory and focus more on the rhythm and the performance activity.

That said, it's my position that, early on, when a specific meaning was given to the introductory phrase the "spades go", that phrase meant "(This is the way) Black people go (say or do this rhyme). Unlike the idiom "calling a spade a spade"*, no pejorative connotations were/are attributed to the words "the spades go" in children's rhymes.

Saying "the spades go" was a way of attributing the words of those rhymes or the way the rhymes were performed to Black people (or more specifically, to Black girls). That attribution lent authenticity to those rhymes and/or to their performance activities. That was because Black girls were (and still are) considered to be the arbiters of "the real way" that those songs or those hand clap rhymes were/are supposed to be sung, or chanted and performed.

This was/is partly because Black girls were/are considered to be the sources of many of these rhymes, or were/are considered to be the "coolest" or "hippest" examples of how those rhymes should be performed. This same dynamic can be found in the use of introductory phrases as "the Black people say" or "the Black people sing" in vaudeville songs. And this same dynamic can be found in past and current attitudes that mainstream American (i.e. White America) had/has about Black people being the "go to" population when it comes to learning how to do popular R&B/Hip Hop dances.

I further believe that the phrase "the spades go" predates the phrase "the space goes". I think that "the space goes" is probably a folk etymology form of "the spades go". And I think that "the space goes" was probably made up because "the spades go" was misheard or mis-remembered and not because children thought there was anything socially wrong with saying "the spades go".

*Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_call_a_spade_a_spade for information about the idiom "call a spade a space".

****
COMMENTS ABOUT MY LACK OF REACTION TO AN EXAMPLE OF A RHYME BEGINNING WITH "THE SPADES GO" ON MUDCAT'S FOLK MUSIC FORUM
In 2006 I wrote a rather lengthy reply to a question that was posed to me on the Mudcat Folk & Blues forum about my rather tepid reaction as an African American to the phrase "the spades go" in an example of the playground rhyme "Two Lips". (That example is re-posted below as Example #4 in Playground rhymes that include the phrase "the spades go").

To summarize my comment, I indicated that while I have a strongly felt visceral reaction to the pejorative word that is now known as "the n word" -regardless of who uses it- I don't have that same "hit in the gut" reaction to the phrase "the spades go". Here's my summary of my thoughts about this:

1. Even though I believe that the phrase "the spades" is a referent for "Black people", it's not a referent that is used that often in the United States (at least, in my experiences).

2. Because it's children who are reciting rhymes that include the phrase "the spades go", I give them the benefit of the doubt that they don't know the pejorative meaning of "the spades". That pejorative meaning is sometimes alluded to in the colloquial expression "call a spade a spade". The racial meaning of that expression came about because in a deck of playing cards, the spade category of cards is the color black.

3. In the context of children's playground rhymes, the phrase "the spades" has no literal meaning nowadays, but merely serves as an introduction to the rhyme itself.

To read my full comment in that discussion about the phrase "the spades", on that folk music forum, visit http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=81350#1922124.
-snip-
Update 9/12/2016]
Here's a link to an article that cites some history of the use of the word "spade" in Black (African American) culture from 1920 to 2009 http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/09/19/224183763/is-it-racist-to-call-a-spade-a-spade.

I didn't know this information when I wrote those comments in 2006 or when I first published this blog post in 2012. However, while the information in those articles was interesting, it doesn't change the fact that I have had little direct experiences with hearing the word "spades" being used as a derogatory reference for Black people.

****
"THE SPADE GO" IN THE MOVIE BIG AND THE SPACE GOES IN TOM HANKS' INTERVIEW ON A 2009 BBC SHOW

The playground rhyme "Shimmy Shimmy Co Co Pa" is a pivotal part of the 1988 movie Big. That rhyme is recited two times in that movie. However, it's only the second recitation of that rhyme that includes the phrase "the spades go".

Here's a transcription of the second rendition of the "Shimmy Shimmy Co Co Pa" rap from http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/b/big-script-transcript-tom-hanks.html:

Scene 12 Josh

....Ooh! The spades go, Down! Down! Baby!
Down! Down the roller coaster!
Sweet, sweet baby!
Sweet, sweet delectable!
Shimmy, shimmy cocoa pop!
Shimmy, shimmy rock!
Shimmy, shimmy cocoa pop!
Shimmy, shimmy rock!
I met a girlfriend a triscuit!
She said a triscuit a biscuit!
Ice cream, soda pop,
vanilla on the top!
Ooh Shelly, walking down the street,
ten times a week!
I met it! I said it!
I stole my mother's credit!
I'm cool! I'm hot!
Sock me in the stomach three more times!
-snip-
Added July 23, 2023- The first version of that rap which was chanted by "Billy & Josh" in the movie Big is also found on that same site. That version doesn't have "the spades go" or "the space go" introductory line. 

It's important to note that there are other online transcriptions of this rhyme in the movie Big that have different wording- in particular, it appears that most of those script transcriptions have "the space goes" instead of "the spades go". Also, some of those transcriptions include the words "Ooh Shalita" instead of "Ooh Shelly, walking down the street".  

I just read the following comment from this pancocojams post: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/12/sources-of-big-movie-rap-shimmy-shimmy.html . I'm adding it for the historical record:
"Anonymous, July 22, 2023, 11:59 PM

In an interview Tom Hanks said they just wanted something in the movie and they just got it from his son's camp randomly. It was easy it was catchy. And the interview he also did say space. He did say shalita. But something to think about is a business is not going to want to have controversy so if the real original version did say Spades then it only makes sense for them to change it. Also it's hard to find what the original version did say because chances are it was made up long ago when they didn't write things down or put it on record. I understand somebody did record it but that was obviously after it was made up they were not the first ones to create it. If you take the nursery rhyme Jimmy crack corn it's the same situation where nobody can truly know it's original meaning because it was so long ago. Some say that Jimmy was a black slave others say Jimmy was the white Master falling off his horse. People change the words after time so it doesn't sound so racial. I don't understand why all this hate for this post no matter how old it was just for a person saying that it's their interpretation or research. It doesn't matter what the original script on big was saying the words were, they did not make up the song. If this person hurt it wrong, they have already openly said I could be wrong. But they went into detail about what else they found and where the song came from. There's so many videos about people noticing something that's been around for so long and they're just realizing it's actual use. The Ritz cracker for example. The writer also said in the movie Bigs version. Did not say the original version. When Nelly came out with the song Country Grammar nobody's jumping on him because he changed the words. So what's wrong if the movie changed the words to avoid any racial backlash. What if the camp changed the words for the same reason and Tom Hanks only heard the camps version."

**
Here's my reply to that comment: 

"July 23, 2023, 6:52 AM

Anonymous, thanks for sharing your thoughts about this example of "Shimmy Shimmy Co Co Pa" and its "the space go" introduction. I appreciate your comments.

I didn't know that Tom Hanks had said in an interview that that rhyme came from his son's camp. I agree with you that if the movie writers even knew that the earlier words were "the spades" instead of "the space" , they would have changed those earlier words to avoid that racial meaning.

I appreciate your understanding of my motivations for writing and publishing this post.

Best wishes,
Azizi "
-end of July 23, 2023 update-
 
****
In 2009, the actor Tom Hanks, who starred in the movie Big was asked by the host of a BBC television talk show to recite the "Shimmy Shimmy Co Co Pa" rap. In the beginning of that rap, the actor recites the words "the space goes" instead of the words "the spades go".

Tom Hanks does the 'Big' rap - Friday Night with Jonathan Ross -BBC One



Uploaded by BBC on May 8, 2009

Jonathan's guests are one of Hollywood's most enduring superstars, double Oscar-winner Tom Hanks...
-snip-
A number of persons who posted comments on that video's viewer comment thread shared their transcription of Tom Hanks' recitation of that Shimmy Shimmy Co Co Pa "rap". Here's one of those transcriptions:

The space goes down, down baby,
down, down the roller coaster.
Sweet, sweet baby,
sweet, sweet, don't let me go.
Shimmy, shimmy, cocoa pop.
Shimmy, shimmy, rock.
Shimmy, shimmy, cocoa pop.
Shimmy, shimmy, rock.
I met a girlfriend - a triscuit.
She said, a triscuit - a biscuit.
Ice cream, soda pop,
vanilla on the top.
Ooh, Shelly's out, walking down the street,
ten times a week.
I read it. I said it.
I stole my momma's credit.
I'm cool. I'm hot.
Sock me in the stomach three more times!
-xxMarz456xx ;http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=p9z2hJwJuqg&page=2, 2009

I formatted this rap into a standard poetry pattern

I believe that the use of the phrase "the space goes" instead of "the spades go" was done on purpose because by the early 2000s there was greater awareness that the words "the spades" could be considered to an offensive referent for Black people.

At least one commenter to that video's viewer comment thread also reached that same conclusion:

bhackett777: "i think its spades(black men) in the BIG verison, tom hanks is just too P.C. now to say that word"
http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=p9z2hJwJuqg&fromurl=/watch%3Fv%3Dp9z2hJwJuqg
-snip-
"P.C." = politically correct

****
OTHER PLAYGROUND RHYMES THAT INCLUDE THE PHRASE "THE SPADES GO"
(These examples are placed in chronological order with the oldest examples -as identified by their online posting date or the date of the inclusion in an off-line publication-given first.)

EXAMPLE #1- TWO LIPS
I remember parts of this song:

The spades go two lips together
tie them together
bring back my love to me.

What is the me-ee-eening
of all these flow-er-er-ers
they tel the sto-or-or-y,
the story of love,
from me to you.

I saw the ship sail away,
it sailed three years and a day,
my love is far far away,
and I love him so, oh yes I do.

My heart goes bump ba de dump bump,
bump ba de dump bump,
over my love for you.

You are my one and only,
I love you passionately,
Source: Guest, susan; http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=81350 I'm Rubber . You're Glue: Children's Rhymes

****
EXAMPLE #2 - INY MINY POPSA KINEY
The spades the spades the spades go iny miny popsa kiney i love bomaragn a hop a scoth a liver roch a peach a plum i have a stick of chewing gum and if u want the other half this is wut you say: amen amen amendiego sandieago bostn bruins rah rah rah boo boo boo criss cross apple sauce do me a favor get lost while ur at it drop dead either that or lose ur head bang on trash cans bang on tin cans i can u can nobody else can sitting on the bench nuthing to do along comes some one..cohey coochey coo! andu tickle the other person

Source: Sally on Friday, May 6, 2005 - 08:07 pm:
http://www.streetplay.com/discus/ [This website's link is no longer viable.]

[Note that I'm using the phrase after the introductory words "the spades go" as the title for this rhyme. Also, as an aside, note that this rhyme is written in essay form with little punctuation. For various reasons which are beyond this post, this is an increasingly common online way of writing children's playground rhymes.]

****
EXAMPLE #3 - EENIE MEANIE POP SI-KEENIE
The spades go eenie meenie pop-si-keenie ooh aah ogg-a-lini achi-pachi liver-achi say the magic words, a peach, a plum, a half a stick of chewing gum and if you want the other half this is what u say: amen amen a-man-di-ego san-diego hocus pocus ala-mocus, sis, sis, sis-coom-bah, montana montana rah rah rah, boo boo boo, 1-2, i hate you, criss-cross applesauce, do me a favor and get lost, while ur at it drop dead, then come back with no head.

haha it was a hand game we played at recess...
- Brandy (Post #360); http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2204285338&topic=2724&post=25803#topic_top,October 08, 2006

****
EXAMPLE #4- TWO LIPS
The spades go two lips together
Tie them forever
Bring back my love to me.
What is the meaning of this?
For all the fellows I've kissed
They tell the story
the story of l-o-v-e.
-DebbieO_ (from memories of childhood in near Boston, Mass. in the 1970s); http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=81350 I'm Rubber . You're Glue: Children's Rhymes; December 29, 2006

****
EXAMPLE #5 - EENIE MEENIE POPSIKENNIE (TAKE A PEACH TAKE A PLUM)
The spades go eenie meenie
popsikeenie
I love boomerini
Otchi kotchi liveraci
say the magic word
a peach
a plum
a half a stick of chewing gum
and if you want the other half this is what you say
amen amen
amendiago sandiago
sis sis sis koomba
sharon and tommy sittin in a tree
bah ha ha
boo hoo hoo
criss cross
apple sauce
do me a favor and get lost.
and then it goes on..
- http://onceuponawin.com/2009/05/20/win-pics-the-hand-clap-game/, 5/20/2009 [This website's link is no longer viable.]

****
[Added 8/12/2016]
EXAMPLE #6: THE ACE OF SPADES GOES
"Does anyone know a hand clapping song called (I think?) "Ace of Spades"? It goes like this:

Ace of spades goes two lips together,
down and forever
bring back my love to me
what is the meaning meaning meaning
of all the flow-ow-ow-ow-flowers
they tell the sto-o-o-o-story
the story of love from me to you

Then I think it goes back to Ace of Spades, but I don't remember if there are any more verses, and I don't remember the specifics of the hand clapping.

Anyone out there know anything more?

Thanks!!!"
-ratgirl, http://hubpages.com/hub/Recess-is-BACK-Hand-Clapping-Games, May 10, 2010 [This link leads to a different page than the one that I accessed for this pancocojams post.]
-snip-
The "ace of spades" is a particular card in a deck of playing cards. The use of that phrase might confirm that children reciting this rhyme didn't/don't know that the word "spades" was/is used as a (usually derogatory) referent for "Black people".

****
OTHER PLAYGROUND RHYMES THAT INCLUDE THE PHRASE "THE SPACE GO"
(These examples are placed in chronological order with the oldest examples -as identified by their online posting date or the date of the inclusion in an off-line publication-given first.)

EXAMPLE #1 - BRING BACK MY LOVE
The space goes true love together
twilight forever
Bring back my love to me
What is the matter?
When we get married
And have some children
We’ll name them
Sandra and Jane
and Billy and Tom
And Betty and Jimmy now,
Source: Let's Slice The Ice (Eleanor Fulton and Pat Smith; St. Louis, Missouri; Magnamusic-Baton; 1978; p. 30 [This is a collection of African Americans' children rhymes from various states.]

**
EXAMPLE #2 - THE SPACE GOES (BOBO SKEE WATEN TATEN)
“The Space Goes" sounds something like this:
The Space goes
bobo, skee waten taten
ah ah, ah ah boom boom boom
mini mini waten, bobo skee waten,
bobo, skee waten freeze!
::at freeze the players would freeze and whoever moved first lost::
- contortme; octoblog/Whee Blog [This website is no longer active, September 16, 2003

****
EXAMPLE #3 - APPLES ON A STICK
the space goes
apple on a stick just makes me sick make my tummy go 2 4 6
not because im hungry
not because im clean
just because i kiss a boy behind the magazine
hey girls lets have some fun
here comes (name) with his pant undone
he can wiggle he can wobble he can do the twist
but most of all he cant do this close your eyes and count ten if you messs up start ova again
1, 2, 3, 4, ...
Source ; Cece; Octoblog/Whee Blog (This website no longer active); 10/9/2005

****
EXAMPLE #4 - CINDERELLA DRESSED IN YELLA
Cinderella dressed in yella went up stairs to kiss her fella. She stepped on a crack and broke her back. Tried to stand and cut her hand. How many stitches did it take? The space goes boom boom skitty wat and tat and ah ah ah ah boom boom boom skitty witty wa wa, bubishka wa wa bubishka wa wa pow bang boom. I went to a Chinese restaurant to buy a loaf of bread bread bread. She put it in a half brown bag and this is what she said said said, my name is ki yi yippee yi, yippe yi ki yi humble berry, chocolate cherry, walla walla Washington, chop chop chow
- http://www.inthe80s.com/rhymes.shtml; assessed on 8/13/2009

****
A PLAYGROUND RHYME THAT INCLUDES THE PHRASE "THE BLACKS GO"

SHIMMY SHIMMY COKE CA POP
The Blacks go down down baby
Down by the roller coaster
Sweet sweet baby
I don't wanna let you go

Shimmy shimmy shimmy shimmy
shimmy shimmy-pop!
Shimmy shimmy shimmy shimmy
shimmy shimmy coke-ca-pop!

[Source: John Langstaff, Carol Langstaff Shimmy Shimmy Coke-Ca-Pop!, A Collection of City Children's Street Games & Rhymes {Garden City, New York, Double Day & Co; p. 76; 1973}

****
RELATED LINKS
Portions of this post are lifted from pancocojams posts on
the sources of the rhyme "Shimmy Shimmy Co Co Pa" as recited in the 1988 American movie Big. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/12/sources-of-big-movie-rap-shimmy-shimmy.html for Sources Of The Movie Big's Rap "Shimmy Shimmy Cocoa Pop for Part I of that three part series on that rhyme. Hyperlinks to the other two posts of that series are found on that page.

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/04/childrens-recreational-rhymes-that.html for a 2021 pancocojams post entitled "Children's Recreational Rhymes That Include "Colored", "Black", Or Some Other Racial Referent For Black Americans."

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.