Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II 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_11.html for Part III (Q - S)
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.
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: J - L
L.O.V.E. (Version #1)
All: L-O-V-E. [clap]
L-O-V-E. [clap]
L-O-V.
L-O-V.
L-O-V-E.[clap]
Soloist #1: Well, Kayla’s my name. [clap]
And love is my game.[clap]
I got this boy on my mind [clap].
And Lord knows he’s fine. [clap]
He calls me his girl. [clap]
His number 1 girl.[clap]
I don’t know his sign, [clap]
But Taurus is mine. [clap]
All: L-O-V-E. [clap]
L-O-V-E. [clap]
L-O-V.
L-O-V.
L-O-V-E. [clap]
Soloist #2: Tamika's my name. [clap]
And love is my game. [clap]
I got this boy on my mind. [clap]
And Lord knows he’s fine. [clap]
I got his name on my shirt. [clap]
And don't call it dirt.[clap]
Don’t you worry bout my lover. [clap]
Cause there is no other. [clap]
(Return to beginning and repeat with a new soloist. That
soloist repeats the same verses or similar verses. This pattern continues until
everyone in the group has had one turn as the soloist with this cheer.)
-T.M.P.(African American female; remembrance of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania in the mid 1980s; performed by African American girls ages around
8-12 years old; Collected by Azizi Powell, 2/1996 although I had observed it
performed in the 1980s.
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L. O.V.E (Version #2)
L.O.V.E. L.O.V.E. L.O.V L.O.V. L.O.V.E
Well Terrie's my name
and Love is my game
I got da boys on my mind
Most of da time
Capricorn's My Sign
Say Wha?
Capricorn's My Sign
Say Wha?
Capricorn, Capricorn
Capricorn's My sign!
- Geechie Gurl;
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=118895016491, August 26, 2009.
-snip-
This cheer was given in the section of this facebook page: “When I be a gal in da Ya'd! Memba Dese..Just a few of em”’ .
Geechie Gurl also introduced this cheer by writing "on da playground".
MY NAME IS
I don't remember all of it but it went something like this:
My name is __________, my number is one,
my reputation is having fun,
those who see me step aside,
mighty (Zodiac sign) don't take no jive.
My name is ______, my number is two,
my reputation is loving you,
those who see me step aside,
mighty (Zodiac sign) don't take no jive
My name is _______, my number is three,
my reputation is being free,
those who see me step aside
mighty (Zodiac sign) don't take no jive.
Each person in the group would pick a number and it would go
around until you get to the number 10. I don't remember all the rhymes, but I
am sure creative people can think of stuff to say.)
-sigmadiva, 03-25-2003;
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/archive/index.php/t-31403.html
Words -------------------------------------------------Basic
Motion
Pump pump pump pump pump it up------------- tap palms around
the circle to start
Pump pump pump it up ---------------------------- step clap
rock clap [2x]
Well, my name is [player’s name]
-------------------------step clap rock clap
Pump it up --------------------------------------------step
clap rock clap
That’s what they call me
---------------------------------step clap rock clap
Pump it up -------------------------------------------[repeat]
My sign is [astrological sign]
Pump it up
And I can work that body oddy oddy --------------shake and
improvise
Make sure you don’t hurt that body
Pump pump pump pump
Pump it up
(1992)
From Recess Battles: Playing Fighting, and Storytelling by
Anna R. Beresin (University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, 2010, page 104-105,
in the section of that book whose sub-title is "Steps"), African
American girls, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
-snip-
Here's the introductory comments to this example:
"In 1991, I saw four African American girls doing what
looked like a dance step. “Is that a step?” I asked. I wonder whether the dance
was choreographed or if they were improvising. “No, no, this is a step”. Step,
clap, rock, clap, step, clap, rock, clap, They rocked gently back and forth,
clapping their hands lightly on the off beat. At first they sang quietly, but
it built into a roar."
[After that example. the book's author wrote]
"The phrase pump it up appears in several recordings,
including "Pump Up The Jam" by M. Kamosi and T. De Quincy from 1989.
Each girl gets a chance to say her name and her astrological sign and work her
body."
-snip-
Certain words are underlined in that book. I
believe that "underlining" signifies that the steps that are
performed when those words are chanted are done with more force (bass sound).
This concludes Part II of this four part pancocojams series on astrological signs in foot stomping cheers.
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