Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents information about and examples of three children's rhymes/game songs that were published in the 1963 book Negro Folk Music, USA by Harold Courlander.
I wrote about these examples in two posts that I included in 2005 in a discussion thread in the Mudcat (online folk music) discussion forum.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and recreation purposes,
All copyrights reamin with their owners.
Thanks to the unknown composers of these rhymes and thanks to Harold Courlander for including these rhymes in his Negro Folk Music, USA book.
-snip-
Since the late 1960s / early 1970s, "Negro" is no longer used as a referent for the population who are formerly known as "African American".
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QUOTES ABOUT THE RHYMES ENTITLED "SATISFIED" FROM A MUDCAT DISCUSSION THREAD
[These quotes are given with minor spelling corrections.]
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=83749
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Sally Walker Other versions
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 11:15 AM
See these comments & lyrics the African American children's rhymes "Satisfied" from Harold Courlander's "Negro Folk Music, USA" (New York, Columbia University Press, pps 150-151; 1966; originally published in 1963). Note: I added a few words in brackets for clarity:
"In the Negro ring game shown in Example 18, recorded in Alabama, there are the usual fun-inspired lines without any special significance, but there is an interspersed ironic theme about people who migrate north to better themselves, only to find that their lot has not been improved. This type of social allusion is characteristic of adult songs of critical comment, and is found in numerous Negro ring game lyrics. The responsive form of the song is comparable to that of certain kind of religious or [prison chain] gang singing. The leader sings everything but the last word of each line, which is reserved for the chorus [the rest of the singers]:
Example 18
SATISFIED
I'm goin up north
sat-is-fied!
And I would tell you
sat-is-fied!
Lord I am
sat-is-fied!
Some people up there
sat-is-fied!
Goin' to bring you back
sat-is-fied!
Aint noth-in' up there
sat-is-fied!
What you can do
sat-is-fied!
Mama cooked a cow
sat-is-fied!
Have to get all the girls [Singers can substitute "boys" for the word "girls".]
sat-is-fied!
Their bel-lies full!
sat-is-fied!"
"Mama cooked a chicken
sat-is-fied!
Have to get all the girls etc.]"
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Little Sally Walker Other versions
From: Azizi
Date: 15 Aug 05 - 11:29 AM
Here is another comment and example from Courlander [p. 152; "Negro Folk Music, USA"]:
"Another ring game (Example 19) with the same response "satisfied" deals with another subject, but like the previous song (Example 18)
the social complaint has a theme somewhat beyond the
experience of participating children. Beginning with the line "See see
rider"
(a phrase appearing in a number of blues songs, sometimes
written as C.C. Rider), there is a kind of generalized blues statement of
discontent, followed by specific criticism:
See see rider,
satisfied!
What's the matter?
satisfied!
I got to work,
satisfied!
I am tired,
satisfied!
And I can't eat,
satisfied!
Satisfied Lord,
satisfied!
After other lines of nonsense variety, the song admonishes
the older generation, seemingly for its double standards:
Mamma Mamma,
satisfied!
Leave me alone.
satisfied!
When you were young,
satisfied!
were you in the wrong?
satisfied!
Papa Papa,
satisfied!
You the same.
satisfied!
You the one,
satisfied!
Give Mamma's name,
satisfied! "
-snip-
This example and the preceding one are included with lyrical transcriptions in Harold Courlander's chapter on Ring Games and Play Party Songs."
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