camille c, Dec 24, 2011
old school hand games from way back.. can u remember any more???.
-snip-
"My Mother & Your Mother Live Across The Street" is chanted at 1:37 to 2:04 in this video.
The words for this version of that rhyme are given as Example #2 below.
Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest Revision - August 14, 2022
This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video that includes the hand game "My Mother & Your Mother" (also known as "My Mother & Your Mother Live Across The Street" and/or "Boys Are Rotten Made Out Of Cotton", or other titles.
This post includes my analysis of the basic structure and content of examples of "My Mother & Your Mother Live Across The Street" rhymes. A small number of examples from this family of rhymes are also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, recreactional, and folkloric purposes.
Thanks to all the two young women who are featured in this video. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/09/sosos-esoso-and-similar-beginning.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "My Mother And Your Mother Live Across The Street" Hand Clap Rhymes That Begin With "SOSOS", "Esoso" Or Similar Letters."
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MY ANALYSIS OF THE RECREATIONAL RHYME "MY MOTHER & YOUR MOTHER LIVE ACROSS THE STREET"
Based on the number of online examples of this rhyme, "My Mother & Your Mother Live Across The Street" is a widely known English language children's rhyme.
Considering When This Rhyme Was First Chanted/Popularized
I don't know when "My Mother & Your Mother Live Across The Street was first chanted, but my guess is that it was composed in the United States in the 1980s as an updated version of the early 19th century rhyme "What Are Little Boys Made Of".
Here's a portion of the United States version of that rhyme (from https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=1421)
What are little girls made of?....Sugar and spice, And And all that's nice"...
-end of quote-
**
**
In contrast to the focus on girls being "sugar and spice and everything nice", the girls' verses in "My Mother & Your Mother Live Across The Street" refer to girls going being sexy, powerful, and more intelligent and knowledgeable than boys.
"
**
The reference to "Pepsi" in the "My Mother & Your Mother Live Across The Street" reinforces my belief that this rhyme was composed in the 1980s as that decade is known for its Pepsi-Coke soda wars.
Furthermore, my guess is that the "My Mother & Your Mother Live Across The Street" rhyme was modeled after the "choosing it" ("counting out") rhyme "My Mother & Your Mother Were Hanging Out Clothers". The wording of that rhyme is very consistent until the last line.
Here's the first portion of that rhyme:
My mother and your mother were hanging out clothes.
My mother punched your mother right in the nose.
What colour was the blood?
The person who is pointed to randomly says a color. The color is spelled out and the person chanting continues the rhyme and ends with a line such as "and you are it" or "you are not it" (depending on whether this chant is used to choose "It" or to count out people in the group until the last person remaining is it.)
**
"Hanging out clothes" means to use wooden clothespins as fasteners for just washed clothes on outdoor clotheslines so that the clothes could dry.
I remember chanting "My Mother * Your Mother Were Hanging Out Clothes" during my childhood in Atantic City, New Jersey in the 1950s. However, I didn't know about the "My Mother & Your Mother Live Across The Street " rhyme until my pre-teen nieces and their friends recited a version of that rhyme for me in 2006.
A small number of examples of "My Mother & Your Mother Live Across The Street" begin with an introductory portion that is made up of the letters "sosos" or (less often) the letters "xoxox" or the letters "esso". Each of these letters are separately pronounced. My sense is that children chant this rhyme (and most other recreational rhymes by rote memory and don't concern themselves with what each line of the rhyme means. However, in spite of the fact that I've only come across one example of this rhyme that begins with "xoxox" (Example #11 below), my guess is that letters "sosos" is a folk processed form of "xoxox" which initially served the same purposes as their colloquial abbreviations for "hugs and kisses". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugs_and_kisses
It appears that most examples of "My Mother & Your Mother Live Across The Street" begins with those words as a preface to several subsequent verses that favorably compare girls to boys. Many of the "My Mother & Your Mother Live Across The Street" examples that I've come across online contain the address 18-19 Blueberry Street and the first two comparison verses i.e. "Boys are rotten / Made out of cotten" "Girls are sexy / Made out of Pepsi". It's usally only after those lines that small changes occur in that rhyme. In its basic structure the rhyme then ends with lines that are composed of internal rhyming words and an end word rhymes with "You". i.e.
"Itsy Bitsy soda pop
A boy loves you".
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
Around 2006, I took my pre-teen nieces Mimi and Dee Dee and two of their girlfriends who were the same ages to get pizza. The girls were helping me put on a rhyme and cheer demonstration later that day. When we ordered pizza I asked the girls what they wanted to drink, and each one said "Pepsi". I said something like "You guys really like "Pepsi" and one of my nieces said "It's because of the rhyme.". I said "Which rhyme?" and all of the girls recited the 'Girls drink Pepsi to get more sexy" line. i asked what rhyme that line came from and that was the first time I found out about the rhyme "My Mother & Your Mother Live Across The Street".
That incident is an example of the real life influence of recreational rhymes on children's everyday attitudes and perspectives.
****
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S QUESTIONS
I've no idea where the 18-19 Blueberry Street address came from, but wonder if "Blueberry" was lifted from the popular R&B song "Blueberry Hill" ("I Found My Thrill On Bulberry Hill").
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxZ5iVhQ6iI for a YouTube sound file of Fats Domino singing "Blueberry Hill". Also, read Example #6(and the note given after it ) for comments about the frequently used 18 19 Blueberry Hill address in these "My Mother & Your Mother Live Across The Street" rhymes.
When and how did this rhyme become so widely known before the Internet? Was it featured in a television series or a children's book or record of children's rhymes?
Why do you think this rhyme is (or was) so widely known in the United States?
Is it also widely known in other English speaking nations?
SOME EXAMPLES OF "MY MOTHER & YOUR MOTHER LIVE ACROSS THE STREET"
These examples are given without titles. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
1.
1819 Blueberry street
Every night they have a fight
and this is what they say
Boy's are rotten
made out of cotton
Girls are handy
made out of candy
Boys go to Jupiter
to get more stupider
Girls go to Mars
to get more candy bars
Boys drink whiskey
to get more frisky
Girls drink Pepsi
to get more sexy
Icky Icky soda pop
Icky Icky you
Icky Icky soda pop
a boy loves you
1...2...3...4...
-Author: Bluejeenz1,
https://www.scrapbook.com/poems/doc/27001.html
-snip-
This is the most commonly structure of this rhyme that I've found.
2.
My mother your mother live across the street
1819 blueberry street
every night they had a fight
and this is what they said to me
boys are rotten made out of cotton
girls are sexy made out of Pepsi
boys go to jupiter to get more stupider
girls go to mars
to be superstars
Rumble tumble strawberry shake
Rumble tumble strawberry shake
rumble tumble strawberry shake
FREEZE
-camille c, Dec 24, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0KMFSj-FrQ&ab_channel=camillec
-snip-
This is my transcription of the video that is embedded in this pancocojams post.
Additions and corrections are welcome.
my mother your mother was wrong lmao:
my mother your mother lived down the sreet 18 19 marble
street and every night they had a fight, this is what they said all night.
girls are sexi made out of pepsi
boys are rotten made out of cotton
girls go to mars to get more bras
boys go to jupiter to get more stupider
incy wincy lolly pop incy wincy woo incy wincy lolly pop i
love you!
-
4.
From https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-01-31-tm-825-story.html "SCHOOL DAYS : The Attack of the Dumb-Boy Jokes" by Amy Ephron, Jan 31, 1993
Boys are rotten, made out of cotton.
Girls are dandy, made out of candy.
Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider.
Girls go to college to get more knowledge .
It degenerates after that into:
Boys drink whiskey to get more frisky.
Girls drink Pepsi to get more sexy .”…
-snip-
That article continues with fragments of certain other recreational rhymes.
****
My mother your mother lived across the street
Eighteen nineteen Blueberry Street
Everytime they had a fight
This is what they said
Boys are rotten
Made out of cotton
Girls are handy
Made out of candy
Boys go to Jupiter
‘Cause they’re more stupider
Girls go to college
To get more knowledge
Boys drink beer to get more fear
Girls drink Pepsi to get more sexy
Inky binky soda pop, inky binky boo
inky binky soda pop a boy loves you
-https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9780470773567.app2 , Hanley School Jump Rope Rhymes. Appendix B, Jump Rope Rhymes [Los Angeles, California]
****
6.
my mother, your mother live across the street
18 19 blueberry street
when they meet they have a fight
and this is what they say to me
boys are rotten made out of cotton
girls are dandy made out of candy
boys go to jupiter to get more stupider
girls go to mars to be movie stars.
clickety, clockety soda pop.
OK, the one I remember went like this...
My mother your mother live across the way,
East 24th St., East Broadway
And every time they have a fight this is what they say:
Lady lady turn a round, round, round,
Lady lady touch the ground, ground ground,
Lady lady tie your shoe, shoe, shoe,
Lady lady that's enough of you!
I wonder how much of this stuff gets changed according to
where one
lived, etc. F'rintance, I used to live on East 24th St. in
Brooklyn,
so that's what we sang, but I was never quite clear if the
words
weren't really East 34th St. (a more well-known Manhattan
St.). So,
did the person who contributed the last rhyme above live on
1819
Blueberry street? Just wondering...
-
-snip-
Here's a reply to this comment in that same discussion thread:
Cheryl Gastaldo, Apr 5, 1997
"nope. never even heard of a blueberry street!! but someone
might have
and then taught the rhyme to someone else and so on till i
learned it (not
that it stopped with me...).
****
7.
I heard it like this:
My mother you mother live across the street
1819 Mulberry street
When they get to talkin' this is what they say
Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider
Girls go to college to get more knowledge
Icky icky soda pop
Icky icky poo
icky icky soda pop
I love you
-The Mahoneys, Apr 6, 1997, 4:00:00 AM,
https://groups.google.com/g/rec.arts.books.childrens/c/KqUfjV4xxzc?pli=1
****
8.
Its something [like]
my momma your momma live across the street 1819 bluehill st and every night they had a fight and this is what it sounds like boys are rotten made out of cotton girls are sexy made out of Pepsi boys are stupider they're from Jupiter girls goto Mars to get more bras trumble trumble strawberry shake trumble trumble strawberry shake or something like that lmao!
-michelle sousa, 2021 [comment], https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-NKrzvqz_I&t=2s&ab_channel=Geneas, published by Geneas "90s hand games (part 2}", published by Geneas, March 28, 2020
-snip-
I reformatted that comment to distinguish the comment from the rhyme itself. I also added the word "like" in brackets & written in italics as that word clarifies what I think is meant by the words "its something".
Here's a reply to that comment from Nicole Steward, 2021
"@michelle sousa now you must be born around 86. Because that
is almost exactly how we did it almost I was looking for you one and found all
these new ones I've never even heard of. Wanted to focus my 3yr old triplets on
something they can do together."
****
9.
Might as well throw my version out there:
My mama
Your mama
Live across the street
18-19 blueberry street
Every time they have a fight
This is what they say
Boys are rotten made out of cotton
Girls are sexy made out of Pepsi
Boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider
Girls go to college to get more knowledge
Boys take a bath to get more math
Girls take a shower to get more power
Itsy Bitsy soda pop
Itsy bitsy boo
Itsy Bitsy soda pop
A BOY LOVES YOU!
MAKES NO SENSE but it was the jam at recess lol
****
10.
esso esso esso ess
my mother
your mother
lived across the street
18, 19 strawberry sweet
every night they had a fight
and this is what they say all night
boy are rotten, made out of cotton
girls are sexy, made out of pepsi
boys go to jupiter to get more stupider
girls go to mars to be film stars
ramma ramma PUSH
ramma ramma CLAP
ramma ramma FREEZE IT
(thats when you strike your best pose and freeze)
-Derri - Aug 06 2009,
****
11.
XOXOXOX
My mother and your mother
live across the street
eighteen nineteen Blueberry Street
Every night about half past five
they have a fight
and this is what they say
My mother your mother lives down the street
18, 19 Marble Street and every time they have a fight
This is what they tell me:
“Boys are rotten, made out of cotton
Girls are sexy made out of Pepsi
Itchy witchy lollipop, the boys like you, shampoo
Bull dog bull dog hanky panky
Fee fie foe thumb
Boys are rotten
made out of cotton.
Girls are dandy
made out of candy
Boys that are beautiful
to get more stupider.
Girls that are wilder
To get more milder.
Boys drink beer
To get nowhere.
Girls drink Pepsi
To get more sexy.
-African American girls and boys (ages 6-12 years); Millview Acres; Clairton, PA, 1999, collected by Azizi Powell.
-snip-
This is my transcription of this rhyme. "XOXOX" is the first line that is chanted in this rhyme. .
Clairton, Pennsylvania is a located near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
****
12.
My mother, your mother live(d) down the street,
18, 19 Marble Street,
And every time they had a fight
And this is the way they told me.
Boys are rotten made out of cotton,
Girls are sexy made out of Pepsi,
Itchy-witchy lollipop, itchy-witchy poo,
Itchy-witchy lollipop, boys love you,
Shampoo,
That is not true,
Channel 2.
-https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/lals/research/projects/language-in-the-playground-project/publications/lip70.pdf
NZ Playground Language Clapping Games, ©Laurie and Winifred
Bauer 2002 [link no longer active]
-snip-
"NZ" = New Zealand
**
13.
My mother your mother lived down the street,
18, 19 Marble Street
And every night they had a fight
And this is what they told me.
Girls are rotten made out of cotton
Boys are sexy made out of Pepsi,
Incey-wincey spider,
Incey-wincey woo,
Incey-wincey spider,
I love you.
-https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/lals/research/projects/language-in-the-playground-project/publications/lip70.pdf
NZ Playground Language Clapping Games, ©Laurie and Winifred Bauer 2002 [link no longer active]
-snip-
"NZ" = New Zealand
****
14.
My mother your mother lives down the street
18, 19 Marble Street and every time they have a fight
This is what they tell me:
“Boys are rotten, made out of cotton
Girls are sexy made out of Pepsi
Itchy witchy lollipop, the boys like you, shampoo
Bull dog bull dog hanky panky
Fee fie foe thumb
Pass it to the last one.
-https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/lals/research/projects/language-in-the-playground-project/publications/lip70.pdf
NZ Playground Language Clapping Games, ©Laurie and Winifred Bauer 2002 [link no longer active]
-snip-
"NZ" = New Zealand
****
15.
My mother your mother live across the street
18, 19 blueberry street
every time when it is night
the kids come out and start to fight:
Boys are rotten made outta cotton,
girls are sexy made out of pepsi,
boys go to jupiter to get more stupider,
girls go to college to get more knowledge.
Wrap it up in toilet paper, send it down the escalator.
1st floor stop by your mama,
2nd floor stop by your papa,
3rd floor said you better watch out for the s s the t t the o o the p p spellssss stop.
(And they pause to see who moves first)
-Guest KLC (East Harlem, New York City, New York); http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63097 "Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?", July 11, 2008
****
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