The REAL Source Of 'Stella Ella Ola" Rhymes: The Chorus Of The 1945 Novelty Song "Chickery Chick"

A Trip Down Memory Lane, Nov. 17, 2014

A typical novelty song that The Andrews Sisters were forced to do. Not a great song, but the recording becomes great because of them. This was taken from a radio remote from January 30, 1946 on the NK Musical Showroom.**** Edited by Azizi Powell Latest Revision -December 18, 2023 This pancocojams post showcases a sound file of and lyrics for the American novelty* song "Chickery Chick" that was first recorded by Sammy Kaye in 1945. This post also showcases YouTube videos of two versions from the HUGE and DIVERSE family of children's recreation rhymes that are known as "Stella Ella Ola", "Quack Dilly Oso", "Crocadilly Oh My", "Strolla Ola Ola", "Slap Billy Ola", and other similar titles. My editor's note includes my theory that the chorus of the 1945 novelty song "Chickery Chick" is the direct source of the "Stella Ella Ola" rhymes and that the 1848 song "Changery Chang" that mocks Chinese people is at least one of the sources for the song "Chickery Chick". One major difference between these two songs is that "Chickery Chick" doesn't include any racist references. However, if my theory is correct that the song "Changery Chang" inspired the song "Chickery Chick" that means that "Changery Chang" is an indirect source of the huge family of "Stella Ella Ola" recreational rhymes. The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.All copyrights remain with their owners. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. -snip- Here's the definition of "novelty song" from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novelty_song : "A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and with musical parody, especially when the novel gimmick is another popular song. Novelty songs achieved great popularity during the 1920s and 1930s.[1][2] They had a resurgence of interest in the 1950s and 1960s.[3] The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music; the other two divisions were ballads and dance music.[4] Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs."

**** PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE This pancocojams post serves as a companion to this pancocojams series that present a mish mash of speculations about my theories about the sources of these rhymes as well as a number of examples of these rhymes:

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/10/in-china-there-lives-great-man-sources.html for Part I of this series. That post provides information, text examples, and video examples of "In China There Lived A Great Man" (and other titles). "In China There Lived A Great Man" is the title for songs/rhymes that have their source in the song "Changery Chang". 

Part II of that series can be found at https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/10/in-search-of-sources-for-stella-ella.html In Search Of Sources For "Stella Ella Ola"/"Quack Dilly Oso" Rhymes.
Another pancocojams series on "Stella Ella Ola" rhyme family is https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/11/stella-ella-ola-similar-group-hand.html

PART I (A-H) Pancocojams Compilation Of Examples Of "Stella Ella Ola" & Similar Group Hand Slapping Rhymes (with Geographic Locations)

This is part I of a four part pancocojams series. The links to the other posts in this series are given in each post. Also, click the "Stella Ella Ola" tag below for other pancocojams posts about this rhyme.**** From online comments, "Stella Ella Ella" hand slapping rhymes multiplied like wild flowers in the 1980s and 1990s in Canada and in the United States with multiple names and words but with similar tunes and with the same or very similar circle hand slapping elimination performance activity. The earliest date that I have found for an example of the "Stella Ella Ola" rhyme family is from the late 1970s, although that rhyme has the first line "Oh my crocodile" and doesn't mention "Stella". https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=77066, posted by GUEST, 12 Oct. 11 "As a kid in the late 70s in Kentucky, I played this game. However, we "translated" the lyrics into english words, though they stil didn't make much sense. We sang:

Oh my crocodile Oh my crack crack There's a tree called the tricky tricky trap Fa-low, fa-low, fa-low, fa-low fa-low fa-low! 1 2 3 4

If you got slapped on 4 you were out...

Wonder what happened to "stella" in this version?"

**** TWO EXAMPLES FROM THE "STELLA ELLA OLA" RHYME FAMILY (These examples are given without any transcriptions.) EXAMPLE #1 - Stella ella ola clap clap clap say yes chico chico

Wadafera, July 20, 2008 jugando -snip- "jugando" is a Spanish word that means "playing". -snip- An email that I received from this video publisher informed me that he and the other adults were volunteering in a South American country when they decided to teach some children this rhyme. However, the children already knew it. He's not sure how they learned it. **** EXAMPLE #2 -Sesame Street Girls Clap About the Letter Q (Quack Diddly Oso)

George Abraham, January 30, 2023 -snip- This Sesame Street clip is from the 1980s. Please add any information that you know about when this clip was first shown on that award winning children's television series. **** INFORMATION ABOUT AND LYRICS FOR "CHICKERY CHICK" (AND WHAT I BELIEVE IS THAT SONG'S SOURCE)

The remainder of this December 13, 2023.post was written by Azizi Powell and initially posted in https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/10/in-search-of-sources-for-stella-ella.html, Oct, 26, 2016

"I thought that "Stella Ella Ola" rhymes had a Spanish language origin. But I haven't found any examples of Spanish versions of these rhymes that originated in a Spanish language country/community (as opposed to being introduced to those populations.).

I now believe that the source for the large family of "Stella Ella Ola"/ "Quack Dilly Oso" rhymes (and other titles) is the chorus to the 1945 American novelty song "Chickery Chick" plus a great deal of folk processing (folk etymology; using oral tradition to change the words of songs/rhymes).

"Chickery Chick" is a re-working of the nonsense word filled choruses the 19th century or earlier racist (anti-Chinese) ridicule song "Chingery Chang" (also known as "Once In China There Lived A Great Man".) So "Chingery Chan" can also be said to be a source of the non-racist, nonsense word filled "Stella Ella Ola"/ "Quack Dilly Oso" rhymes.
****
INFORMATION ABOUT "CHICKERY CHICK"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Dee
"Sylvia Dee (born Josephine Moore Proffitt, October 22, 1914 – June 12, 1967) was an American lyricist and novelist best known for writing the lyrics to "Too Young", a hit for Nat King Cole, "The End of the World", a hit for Skeeter Davis and "Bring Me Sunshine". She also wrote songs for Elvis Presley in the films Blue Hawaii and Speedway. She was born in Little Rock, Arkansas.

She co-wrote "I Taught Him Everything He Knows" with Arthur Kent; this song was recorded by Ella Fitzgerald on her 1968 Capitol release Misty Blue. She was the lyricist for the 1947 Broadway musical Barefoot Boy with Cheek.

Dee wrote the words to a nonsense song that went to number 1 in 1945 called "Chickery Chick". The music was written by Sidney Lippman and it was played by Sammy Kaye's orchestra. Its nonsense lyrics included "Chickery chick, cha-la, cha-la"."...
****
LYRICS: "CHICKERY CHICK" LYRICS
(Sylvia Dee and Sid Lippman)

Once there lived a chicken who would say "chick-chick"
"Chick-chick" all day
Soon that chick got sick and tired of just "chick-chick"
So, one morning he started to say:

[Chorus]
"Chickery-chick, cha-la, cha-la
Check-a-la romey in a bananika
Bollika, wollika, can't you see
Chickery chick is me?"

Every time you're sick and tired of just the same old thing
Sayin' just the same old words all day
Be just like the chicken who found something new to sing
Open up your mouth and start to say
Oh!

[Chorus]"

From http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/sammy+kaye/chickery+chick_20165481.html

 -snip-

After reading the examples of "In China There Lived A Great Man" (and other titles) as found on the Mudcat discussion thread whose link is given above and as found elsewhere, I strongly believe that the chorus of the 1945 novelty hit song "Chickery Chick" is a re-working of the choruses of "In China There Lived A Great Man" without their problematic racial references.

I'm less certain about whether these two songs and the rhymes share the same or similar tunes. I'll leave that decision to someone who has a better musical ear than I do."
**** PARTIAL LYRICS FOR A VERSION OF "CHINERY CHAN" http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=6971 "Lyr Req: 'Once in China there lived a great man..."

From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Jun 07 
"Jim Dixon posted the first verse of this old Amherst song. Here is the entire song. Many versions and additions since it first appeared in the 1860's.

Lyr. Add: CHINGERY CHAN

1.
In China there lived a little man,
His name was Chingery-ri-chan-chan;
His feet were large and his head was small,
And this little man had no brains at all.

Chorus:
Chingery-rico-rico-day,
Ekel-tekel. Happy man!
Kuan-a-desco-canty-o,
Gallopy-wallopy-china-go....

From the section on Songs of Amherst (E. C. Brayton), p. 178-179. No author cited.
H. R. Waite, Coll. and Ed., 1868, "Carmina Collegensia: A Complete Collection of the Songs of the American Colleges, with Piano-Forte Accompaniment. To Which Is Added a Compendium of College History." Oliver Ditson & Co. New York:-C. H. Ditson & Co."
-snip- The words "no author cited" means that there was no author given for the song "Chingery Chang". That song was included in the Amherst College section of that 1868 book of college songs.
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