LittleJerryFan92, Jul 11, 2007
-snip-
Read the lyrics for this song in the comment section beneath this pancocojams post.
Unfortunately, I haven't found any YouTube videos of "L.O.V. E" foot stomping cheers (or YouTube videos of hardly any other foot stomping cheers).
This clip from the Sesame Street children's television series was created to showcase the letter "k". According to Google Results, "The Sesame Street episode "Celebrating 'K' and 'DOG'" aired in 1995, and featured a clip of girls dancing and chanting about the letter "K". This episode was part of season 26 of Sesame Street".
I'm showcasing this clip in this pancocojams post because the tune for the "kah kah kah k" chorus of this song is exactly the same tune that I remember and my daughter remembers for the "L-O-V-E" foot stomping cheer that she and her friends performed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the mid 1980s.
The word structure for the "kah kah kah k" portion of that chant, and the tempo of that Sesame Street chant are also the same as the "L.O.V.E." cheer. However, obviously, most of the words for the K chant are different from "L.O.V.E".
The self-boasting spirit of that "L.O.V.E" foot stomping cheer is different from the educational, having fun spirit of that Sesame Street chant. Also, the way the girls clapped their hands and moved their feet is different from the hand clapping and foot stomping motions for the "L.O.V.E." foot stomping cheer that I remember first observing my daughter and her friends perform in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the 1980s. My daughter has performed that cheer for me several times since the 1980s as I worked on my no longer active cocojams.com website and as I wrote about that cheer in this pancocojams blog.
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Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision - Feb. 26, 2025
This pancocojams post showcases a Sesame Street clip of young girls performing analphabet letter song that has the same or very similar tune and beat as the 1980s/1990s foot stomping cheer "L.O.V.E".
This post documents several text (word only) examples of the "L.O.V.E." cheer from various United States cities. This post also provides information about how that cheer was performed by my daughter and some girls in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the mid 1980s.
The Addendum to this post (added February 26, 2025) documents some examples of the foot stomping cheer "Tether Ball" that includes "floating lines" which are the same or very similar to some lines from the "L.O.V. E." foot stomping cheers. However, all examples of "Tether Ball" that I have collected don't include those particular floating lines.
The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, cultural, and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.Thanks to the unknown composers of this cheer and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to all those who were associated with the Sesame Street clip that is included in this post.
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list.html for Part I of a five part pancocojams series entitled "Pancocojams Compilation Of Foot Stomping Cheers (Alphabetical List) for more word only examples of foot stomping cheers.
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EXAMPLES OF "L.O.V. E" FOOT STOMPING CHEERS
These are the only examples of this cheer that I've come across either directly or by collecting examples online.
If you know this cheer, and/or other foot stomping cheers from the 1980s, 1990s, and on, please share that example or examples in the comment section below. Thanks!
Numbers for these examples have been assigned for referencing purposes only.
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.
-snip-
The movement routine for "L.O.V.E" differs from the other foot stomping cheers that my daughter Tazi M. (Powell) Hughes (given here as "T.M.P.") and her friends showed me.
My daughter wrote down these performance instructions for me on October 28, 2018 and then reminded me how she did those movements:
[Girls stood in a half circle facing their (usually pretend) audience. While chanting, the girls would move this way. ]
1.Right leg stomp forward - for the letter "L"
2. Jump open with both legs - "O"
3. Jump close with both legs -"V"
4. Right leg stomp forward" - "E"
Then clap your hands one time.
Continue this pattern for the entire cheer.
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L-O-V-E (Version #2)I am a 25 year old African American woman from Eastern North Carolina.
The section on the chant L-O-V-E caught my attention we used to do this
when I was younger. We would stand in a circle and we would clap our hands and stomp our feet sort of tapping out the words L- O-V-E.
Group: L-O-V-E, L-O-V-E, L-O-V, L-O-V, L-O-V-E
First Person: Erica's my name love is my game I got this boy on my mind
he's looking real fine he calls me his girl his number one pearl
Then you move on to the next person and they repeat the same thing
only with their name in place.
-name and posting date not known (I accidentally deleted this information when I retrieved this example from my no longer available cocojams website.)
-snip-
Notice the commenter's reference to "tapping out the words L-O-V-E". It's interesting to note that the girls in that Sesame Street "Letter K chant" tapped their feet when they sung the chorus to that chant.
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L. O.V.E (Version #3)
on da playground*-
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
“When I be a gal in da Ya'd! Memba Dese..Just a few of em”’ August 26, 2009
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L.O.V.E. (fragment) Version #4
Love these!! Anybody remember one that goes "L-O-V-E love L-O-V-E love, ...is my name, ...is my game, something something! Lmao, I can't remember the rest man, it used to be some footwork with it though!
-KaLa Roberts,2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zEcsIfe6lU&t=387s&ab_channel=Geneas 90s Hand Games [comment]
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ADDENDUM - TWO EXAMPLES OF "TETHER BALL" FOOT STOMPING CHEER
These example of the foot stomping cheer "Tether Ball" include the same or similar lines that are found in examples of "L.O.V.E."
These examples are numbered for referencing purposes only.
TETHER BALL (Example #1)
"I have been taken BACK!!!! But I remember one that surprisingly (sp?) has not been said.I grew up in LA and I am sure this made across the US (Don't laugh at how I spell this stuff:
Teatherball, teatherball ooh sha asha
Teatherball, teatherball ooh sha asha
My name is _______, teatherball
I got Warren, teatherball
On my mind, teatherball
That boy, teatherball
I'm GONNA MAKE HIM MINE!
Teatherball, teatherball ooh sha asha
Teatherball, teatherball ooh sha asha
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TETHER BALL (Example #2)
..."Then there was this other call & response cipher
(which I don't hear too many people mention outside my generation and
region)...
Tether ball, tether ball/
Oosha, asha!/
Tether ball, tether ball/
Oosha, asha!/
My name's (enter your name)
(tether ball),
super cool,
(tether ball)
You mess with me
(tether ball)
You's a fool (tether ball)
I got this man
(tether ball)
On my mind (tether ball)
You mess with him
(tether ball)
Your butt is straight up mine.
Oooh.
Tether ball,
tether ball/
Oosha, Asha! etc.
-- You make up your own rhyme of bravado..."
-Nikkole Salter (Los Angeles, California), 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")
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I reformatted this example from sentence form to line form.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Here's a comment from 2018 that was posted to another pancocojams post about foot stomping cheers. I'm sharing this along with a portion of my response to that comment:
ReplyDeletehttp://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/05/examples-of-hollywood-goes-swingin.html
Nean81, January 29, 2018 at 8:53 PM
Thanks for positing this! It was a great trip down memory lane. I haven't heard these cheers since my youth. I was born '81 myself.
In the last 16 yrs I've worked in education I have yet to hear this or any of the chants and cheers from my youth. It's like they've disappeared."
Reply
Azizi Powell, January 29, 2018 at 11:54 PM
"Hello, Neon81.
Thanks for your comment and you're welcome. I agree that it certainly does appear that most if not all of examples of foot stomping cheers are no longer performed, and may not even be remembered by those who used to perform them. Thankfully, I've found some of these cheers online and added them to the ones that I've seen performed (mostly by my daughter and her friends) or later, that my daughter collected during her summer job as a camp counselor."...
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If you remember any foot stomping cheers, please share your memories so that people will know more about that creative oral composition and performing arts tradition.
Here's an excerpt from a 2018 pancocojams post entitled "An Overview Of Foot Stomping Cheers From the 1970s To The Early 2000s & How And Where Some Of Those Cheers & Their Movement Art Has Survived In The 2000s"
Deletehttp://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/11/an-overview-of-foot-stomping-cheers.html
"Here are some reasons why I think the foot stomping cheers are no longer created or performed since around 2009 :
1. The informal recreational activity that I call "foot stomping cheers" was started in the 1970s in imitation of actual cheerleading (i.e. performing cheers as part of a cheerleading squad).
Since the 1970s it has become much easier for Black American girls to join actual cheerleading squads- both "so-called" mainstream cheerleading, African American originated "Stomp & Shake cheerleading, and the modified mainstream/stomp & shake cheerleading styles.
As to why more middle/high schools didn't/don't perform "foot stomping cheers" -the synchronized stomping and clapping movement activity of foot stomping cheers isn't easy for everyone to do-and particularly isn't easy for many non-Black people who haven't been immersed in the percussive music throughout their secular and religious lives. That immersion makes it easier for many Black people to perform these foot stomping movements.
Furthermore, the group/consecutive soloist textual structure of foot stomping cheers (where every member of the group has to have an equal time as the soloist) isn't compatible with the time constrictions of actual cheerleading during athletic events.
2. The popularity of organized Hip Hop majorette dance teams (such as the Dancing Dolls on the television series Bring It!) among many African American girls provides performance opportunities that have replaced the informal foot stomping cheer activities.
3, The existence of high school, middle school, and other pre-university step teams have also replaced foot stomping cheer activities (with "stepping" meaning the movement arts that are most commonly associated with historically Black Greek letter fraternities and sororities).
4. The creation and popularity of Tiktok dance challenges and spending time on other internet sites such as Roblox have replaced the time and energy (and creativity) that African American girls and others once gave to the recreational activity known as "foot stomping cheers"....
Here's the words for that Sesame Street K chant:
ReplyDeleteTHE WORDS FOR "GIRLS CLAP OUT A SONG ABOUT K"
(from Sesame Street Television series)
All girls chant in unison:
Kah kah kah k (clap)
Kah kah kah k (clap)
Kah kah kah kah kah kah
Kah kah kah k (clap)
Soloist chants:
Well, my name is Keanna
And my letter is K
K like a kite
And you blow me away.
K turns the key
K's a kick on me
All girls chant in unison:
Kah kah kah k (clap)
Kah kah kah k (clap)
Kah kah kah kah kah kah
Kah kah kah k (clap)
All the girls except Keanna chant:
Well, her name is Keanna
Her letter is K.
Another girl chants alone:
K like a kangaroo
Hopping all day.
All the girls chant in unison:
K like a king, a kiss
K is like this -
The girls point to an upper case letter "K" that is shown in the middle of where they are standing. The video ends with all the girls shouting "K".
The video ends with all the girls shouting "K".
-snip-
I don't know if that line "K's a kick on me" is correct.
Additions and corrections for this transcription are very welcome.