Sharon Humes Aug 31, 2014
Old school game! Y'all remember this (tweet tweet)!
Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision - January 9, 2024
This pancocojams post showcases three YouTube examples of the hand game "Twee Lee Lee" ("Rockin Robin"). Two of these videos demonstrate how this hand game is performed by four people (two sets of partners) and one of these hand games demonstrates how this hand game is performed by two people.
The content of this post is presented for cultural and entertainment purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Bobbie Dan and to Michael Jackson for their "Rockin Robin" records. Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/04/rockin-robin-tweeleelee-analysis.html for the 2012 pancocojams post entitled "Rockin Robin (Tweeleelee) - Analysis, Performance Activity, & Text Examples".
Also, note the "Twee Lee Lee" ("Rockin Robin") hand game can also be performed by three people who form a triangle and take turns clapping each other's hands.
****
VIDEO #2
Girl Conductor,
Learn how to play this awesome childhood game Twee-Lee-Lee from Girl Conductor, Maria A
Ellis. Use this game to teach Improvement, rhythm, pitch and more!!
****
VIDEO #3
Ms. CD, March 16, 2016
Fun hand games
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Here are some comments from the discussion thread for the first video that is embedded in this pancocojams post:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPHPgM4RhcI&t=1s&ab_channel=SharonHumes
1.debba9802, 2017
"Love this! My 8 year old daughter just taught me some of her hand clap games so I had to find a video to show her what we used to do back in the 80s."
**
2. Jenna, 2017
"my teacher just taught me and my 3 friends how to play it today and it was fun"
**
3. Scenic Butterfly, 2018
"Wow! I wonder how long they practiced to get it on point and on beat."
**
Reply
3. Sharon Humes, 2019
"No practice...turned on the recorder and did it.."
**
4. Lisa Longo, 2019
"I did this as a little girl in the 70s at day camp
-snip-
This commenter’s photograph appears to be of a White woman.
Here are some comments from the discussion thread for the third video that is embedded in this post:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uP38jUEhF8&t=18s&ab_channel=Ms.CD
1. Rayna Thompson, 2016
"Wonderful! I wanted to show my husband how we did the Rockin' Robin clapping game in grade school. After watching several simplified versions online, this was the closest I could find to our early 70s west side Detroit version. My husband and I think you made a great video. Thanks!"
**
2. Jean Coco, 2017
"The black girls taught us this clap game during the first year of integration in third grade. That was in 1969, in a small town in Louisiana. I count clap games as one of the many fabulous lessons I learned from the desegregation of our public schools."
**
3. Bricks Montana, 2018
"Yep thats the version we did here in St. Louis MO!!! Wish they did the 4 way we used to do at summercamp"
**
4. LifeWorks, ndh enterprises,llc., 2019
"I'm coming from the Bronx and there was a nasty verison of that hand game. but I really loved this one so swinging and all together,just use your hand like miss Mary mack."
Here's my transcription of the verse at 1:49 in the video that is given as #3 in this post (Additions and corrections are very welcome.)
ReplyDelete"I went downtown
to see James Brown
He gave me a nickel
to buy me a pickle
The pickle was sour
He gave me a flower
To take in the shower
Rockin Robin…"
-snip-
This verse is chanted by the Black woman who is leading the classroom training for "Rockin Robin" ("Twee Lee Lee"). The other three women respond with some interjections like "un hun" which isn't an authentic part of playground rhymes though it is an authentic part of call & response singing/chanting.
Another "Rockin Robin" ("Tweeleelee") rhyme that includes a slightly different version of "I went downtown to see James Brown/He gave me a nickel to buy a pickle" verse can be found in the discussion thread for the 2012 pancocojams post http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/04/rockin-robin-tweeleelee-analysis.html "Rockin Robin (Tweeleelee) - Analysis, Performance Activity, & Text Examples".
There are a lot of "dirty" versions of "Rockin Robin" ("Tweeleelee") that mention James Brown. A relatively sanitized form of that dirty verse can be found in a version of Tweeleelee that is included in my cocojams2 blog post http://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/10/hand-clap-and-jump-rope-rhymes-q-r.html.