Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part III of a four part series that provides an alphabetized list of text (word only) examples of foot stomping cheers that mention zodiac (astrological) signs.
This compilation can be referred to as the "pancocojams (Azizi Powell) collection of foot stomping cheers-zodiac signs".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/11/astrology-zodiac-signs-mentioned-in.html for Part I (Numbers- I of this series.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/11/astrology-zodiac-signs-mentioned-in_19.html for Part II (J - P). of this series.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/11/astrology-zodiac-signs-mentioned-in_24.html for Part IV (T - Z)
These examples aren't numbered as additional examples may be added if I come across them.
This series is a sub-set of a larger compilation entitled "Foot Stomping Cheers Alphabetical List". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list.html for Part I of that series. The links to the other part of that series are included in that post. That post also includes additional notes about the general topic of foot stomping cheers.
Additional information about a specific cheer may be found after that example in its entry in the foot stomping cheer alphabetical list.
Also, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/an-overview-of-foot-stomping-cheers.html for the pancocojams post entitled "An Overview Of Foot Stomping Cheers (Part I- Characteristic & Sources)".
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A DEFINITION AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF FOOT STOMPING CHEERS
"Foot stomping cheers" is a relatively new category of children's recreational play that involves chanting and choreographed foot and hand clapping movements. The earliest documentation of these types of cheerleader cheers is the 1978 vinyl record entitled Old Mother Hippletoe, Rural and Urban Children's Songs. That record included four children's cheers, two of which I'd categorize as foot stomping cheers. Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/11/an-overview-of-foot-stomping-cheers.html for more information about the cheers on that vinyl album.
This pancocojams collection includes examples of foot stomping cheers from my direct (face to face) collection in the mid 1980s to around 2008, from the Old Mother Hippletoe, Rural and Urban Children's Songs, from several books on African American children's culture, from online sources including YouTube videos and their discussion threads (when comments to children's videos were allowed).,and from my no longer active cultural website cocojams.com. I also found examples of this subset of children's cheers on other websites and blogs, particularly those which cater/ed to African Americans such as discussion threads where that were dedicated to members of historically Black Greek letter sororities, and lipstick alley.com discussion threads.
The scarity of post 2009 text examples and the lack of recent online references to these cheers leads me to believe that foot stomping cheers are rarely if ever performed anymore. Unfortunately, I can't find any YouTube videos of the performance of foot stomping cheers (and not just the chanting of some of those cheers) as I recall them from the 1980s, 1990s, and the early 2000s. The few videos that I embedded on some old pancocojams posts are no longer available.
A good example of the percussive 4/4 beat that is used for foot stomping cheers is the Pop song "We Will Rock You" by Queen. Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tJYN-eG1zk&ab_channel=QueenOfficial for a sound file of that song.
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ASTROLOGICAL SUN SIGNS IN CHILDREN'S CHEERS
Astrology was really popular in the 1970s to the late 1990s- the relatively brief period of time in the United States when a number of African American (and sometimes other ethnicity/race) girls performed foot stomping cheers. Astrology's popularity during that time is reflected in the number of references to that subject in various Rhythm & Blues records. Some of those songs are the direct source for specific children's cheers. Other R&B songs which mention/ed sun sign astrology just help/ed to familiarize children with that form of astrology.
Here's an excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_sign_astrology:
"Sun sign astrology is the form of astrology most commonly found in many newspaper and magazine columns. It is a simplified system of astrology which considers only the position of the Sun, which is said to be placed within one of the twelve zodiac signs depending on the month of birth. This sign is then called the sun sign or star sign of the person born that month."
-end of quote-
Astrology (Zodiac) references in children's cheers are almost always "sun sign" references. Since sun signs purportedly provide information about an individual's personality, telling someone your sun sign is a quick way of sharing introductory information.
Read Part I of this pancocojams series for additional Editorial notes about astrological sun signs in children's cheers.
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NOTES ABOUT THESE EXAMPLES
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.
The numbers fthat are given below for the versions of a specific cheer in this serie may not be the same as the numbers for that cheer in the Pancocojams Foot Stomping Cheers Alphabetical List compilation.
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EXAMPLES: Q - S
REALLY (Version #1)
All: Really
Ah Hah.
Really.
Ah Hah.
Soloist #1: Really my name is Lisa.
Really my sign is Aries.
Group: Say what?
Soloist #1: Ah Aries.
Group: Say what?
Soloist #1: Cause I’m F-I-N-E fine.
Like a D-I-M-E. dime.
Don’t waste my T-I-M-E. time.
I’ll blow your M-I-N-D mind.
Cause I’m a pro.
Group: Say what?
Soloist #1: A P-R-O.
Group: Say what?
Soloist #1: Cause I’m a triple P.
Triple R.
Triple O.
Sexy pro.
(Repeat entire cheer with next soloist until everyone has
had a turn as soloist)
-Lillian Taylor Camp, AA girls 5-13 years old; AA boys 5-7
years from various Pittsburgh neighborhoods, PA, 1991, 1992
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REALLY (Version #2)
Hey Yall are takin me back!!!
Does anyone remeber the cheers we used to do?
Really uh uh really uh uh
Really my name is kisses
really my sign is scopio
say what
scorpio
say what
cause I'm more than a dollar I can make your boyfriend
holler cause I'm sweet and fine like a bottle of wine cause I'm a pro
say what
a P R O
say what
I'm a triple P triple R triple O
a sexy pro.
- kisses (Milton, Florida USA); http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=3;
01-01-2001
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REALLY (Version #3)
Really uh huh really uh huh really my name is
(say your name) really my sign is (say your sign)
say what a (say your sign) say what cause Im
f I n e fine like an d i m e dime dont waste my t i me
time Ill blow your m i n d mind
-Deajaih; Pittsburgh, PA, 2/21/06, cocojams.com
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REALLY (Version #4)
Really, Really,
Really my name's_________
Really my sign is ________
more than a dollar
makes my man holla
he's a pro, P-R-O
Whoa!
-norelation,
http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/43158-Hood-Cheers/page 3, 8/18/2006
REALLY (Version #5)
My boyfriend really did it!!
He really really really took me to the ocean!!!
He really really really showed me commotion!!!
He really really really!
I said really!
Say what now!
Really my name is ____
Really my sign is ____
Really etc etc.!!!!!!
-Yolanda Wells, 2015, (comment in discussion thread for vlog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfzHL_1PdbY; Let's Discuss: Black Girl Childhood Hand Games and Sing
Songs")
-snip-
This example was reformatted from sentence form to line form
for this post. It was part of the following comment:
"So interesting! Wow I was just talking about the same thing!
I thought it was just me and one other person! I am so happy you posted this! I
was wondering if we and other black girls were some how connected on some level
like radio waves or something? I didn't know what to think! Because as you were
saying, "How were these songs transmitted?! We just played singing
them!"...
ROCK THE BOAT (Version #1)
Rock the boat,
Rock, rock the boat
[repeat]
My name is Yasmin (rock the boat)
I know I'm fine (rock the boat)
Just like my sign (rock the boat)
My sign is Leo
I go bang-bang choo choo train
Wind me up and I do my thing
Reeses pieces butter cup
Don't mess with me, cause I'll mess you up,
Rock the boat, rock rock the boat...
-Yasmin H. (Latina female; memories of East Brooklyn, New
York, in the late 1980s), 2/25/04
-snip-
Yasmin noted that the words in parenthesis were chanted by
the other members of the cheerleading squad.
SCORPIO (Fragment)
...what about just standing in the school yard @ recess time
saying cheers:
Scorpio, sco scorpio...
My name is _______ "scorpiooo, sco scorpio.."
And I'm a Taurus "scorpio..." (why we called it
scorpio, I'll never know...)
- tickledpink,
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=3; 12-30-2000
-snip-
Each girl gives her sun sign and then the other say
“Scorpio-oo scor scror piooo”
This cheer probably has the same tune as “Gigalo”. This reflects interest general public had in sun sign astrology.
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SHOO, SHOO, SHARIDA
Words ----------------------------------Basic Motion
Shoo shoo Sharida ------------------------step, step clap, rock, clap
My name is Violet --------------step, step clap, rock clap
Shoo shoo Sharida
That’s what they call me
Shoo shoo Sharida
My sign is Pisces
Shoo shoo Sharida
And I can break it down-------------------------improvise
Shoo shoo Sharida
Real sexy now
Shoo shoo Sharida
Now take my goal post
-From Recess Battles: Playing Fighting, and Storytelling by Anna R. Beresin (University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, 2010, page 106, in the section of that book whose sub-title is "Steps"), performed by African American girls in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1992
STOP, LOOK, AND LISTEN
Group: Stop, Look, and Listen
Soloist #1: My name is Shana
Group: Stop, Look, and Listen
Soloist #1: My sign is Aries
Group: Stop, Look, and Listen
Soloist #1: Mighty, Mighty Aries
Group: Stop *
Look
and Listen
-snip-
*These words were chanted
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SUPER SUPERSTAR
Super Superstar
Hey
Akira is my name
Superstar
Kickball is my game
Winning on my mind
Hey
Scorpio is my number one sign
Super Superstar
Hey
Super Superstar
Hey
Nathalee is my name
Basketball is my game
Winning on my mind
Hey
Leo is my number one sign
Super Superstar
Hey
- Barbara Mitchells & Bettye White, Apples On A Stick, The Folklore of Black Children (New York, Coward -McCann, Inc, 1983, p. 12)
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This concludes Part III of this four part pancocojams series on astrology in children's foot stomping cheers.
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