Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents some text (word only) examples of the children's rhyme "Order In The Court" whose contributors included information about a geographic location where they heard or said this rhyme. examples of "Order In The Court".
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and recreational information.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/examples-of-childrens-rhymes-order-in.html for a 2018 pancocojams post on this rhyme that is entitled Examples Of The Children's Rhymes "Order In The Court" ("Silence In The Court"). In addition to some text (word only) examples of this rhyme with and without geographic location, that post also provides some comments about that rhyme, including this quote from
From https://www.waywordradio.org/on-the-shoe-phone/ "On the Shoe Phone"
Posted by Grant Barrett on September 20, 2014 ·
"Monkey for a Week
“Order in the court, the monkey wants to speak, the first one to speak is a monkey for a week!” This children’s rhyme appears in print in the 1950s, and Israel Kaplan mentions it in When I Was a Boy in Brooklyn, his take on growing up in New York in the 20s and 30s. Many of his rhymes were less tame."
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EXAMPLES OF THESE RHYMES (with geographical locations mentioned in their comments)
These examples are given in no particular order under the heading for the first letter in the geographic
location.
The cities and/or states that are given without a country are located in the United States.
A, B
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C, D
California
"from the sf bay area in the 60's:
"order in the court
the monkey wants to speak
speak monkey speak
the first one to speak
is the monkey of the week" "
GUEST,sunday monkey, 17 Jun 05, https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=81350 "I'm Rubber . You're Glue"
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Sf bay area= San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA
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"Growing up in Central California in the 1950s, My Mom & Dad would say at the dinner table:
Order in the court.
The monkey wants to speak.
Speak monkey speak.
The first one to speak is a monkey.
It made us all shut up for up to minutes at a time.
In the 1980s it worked just as well on my kids."
-GUEST,kenny boy, 09 Aug 14 , https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=81350 "I'm Rubber . You're Glue"
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"We said this as kids in Westminster, CA in the early 70s.
It just came to my mind for some reason today so I looked on the web to get the third line I couldn't recall. None of the above entries contain it, but I've remembered what it was. Our version went like this:
Order in the court
The monkey wants to speak
The monkey has the floor
So, speak monkey, speak!"
Ewolfe357, December 14, 2020, https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/examples-of-childrens-rhymes-order-in.html "Examples Of The Children's Rhymes "Order In The Court" ("Silence In The Court")"
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"I am also from Orange Co Calif, and was raised in the
1950's. Our version was "Order in the Court-Monkey's got the floor-Speak
Monkey, SPEAK!" and my folks were from Texas and Louisiana, our Mom used
to say it when we were talking over each other....good memories!"...
-Anonymous, May 14, 2022, https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/examples-of-childrens-rhymes-order-in.html "Examples Of The Children's Rhymes "Order In The Court" ("Silence In The Court")"
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E, F
England
"Order in the court,
Monkey wants to speak,
Speak monkey, speak after me."
From when I was in primary school, up to age 11, in the Oxfordshire area of England in the mid 1950s."
-SPL August 30, 2023, https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/examples-of-childrens-rhymes-order-in.html "Examples Of The Children's Rhymes "Order In The Court" ("Silence In The Court")"
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I placed this example under the heading for "England" because that is the geographic location that this contributor used. Some other examples from the United Kingdom are found in Part II of this post under "S" for Scotland" and "U" for "United Kingdom".
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G, H
Hawaii
"This verse recently popped into my head a couple of days ago and when I did a web search, it led me here. Amazing! I grew up in Honolulu HI in the 50’s and I’m of Okinawan descent (fine-tuning a Japanese American background). I don’t recall why or for what reason we recited this verse. Here’s the way I remember it:
Order in the court
Monkey wants to speak
Speak monkey speak
No talking
No laughing
No showing teeth
Using it to quiet a group of noisy kids sounds like the perfect use of this verse. Interestingly, to me anyway, it has the same rhythmic feel as the “Jan Ken-a Po” chant that we used when doing “Rock, Paper, Scissors”. It was quite a neat thing when I discovered that this blog is about the African American cultural experience! I have friends to share it with!"
-Volcano Les, November 14, 2022,
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/examples-of-childrens-rhymes-order-in.html "Examples Of The Children's Rhymes "Order In The Court" ("Silence In The Court")"
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I, J
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K, L
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M, N
Massachusetts
-Gram, January 27, 2023, https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/examples-of-childrens-rhymes-order-in.html "Examples Of The Children's Rhymes "Order In The Court" ("Silence In The Court")"
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Michigan
"In the fifties in Detroit, Michigan, white kids said:
[Pancocojams Editor: This contributor shared other rhyme examples before sharing the words to this showcase rhyme.]
Order in the courthouse
Monkey wants to speak.
First one to speak is a monkey for a week.
Speak, Monkey, speak.
(which often led to some smart aleck saying the original
speaker was the monkey”…
-Barbara, 20 May 05,
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The reason why this commenter shared information about the race of the children who chanted this rhyme is because Mudcat is a folk music forum and folklorists recognize the importance for the folkloric record of sharing as much demographic information about a song or rhyme as possible.
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New Jersey
"Order in the court
The monkey wants to speak.
Speak monkey speak!
And then we tried not to make any sound, because the first person who talked or even made the slightest sound after that lost the game. That person was "the monkey".
This was a fun game. "Being the monkey" didn't
have any racial derogatory association for us Black kids when we played that
game. But when we were in later elementary school grades, we became aware that
"monkey" was used as a put down for Black people.”…
-Azizi Powell, Atlantic City, New Jersey in the 1950s,
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/examples-of-childrens-rhymes-order-in.html "Examples Of The Children's Rhymes "Order In The Court" ("Silence In The Court")"
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"Yes, in response to the request of whether others of us remembered a version:
Version #7 is exactly how I learned it in Atlantic City, New Jersey in the 1950s, just 60 miles from Philadelphia, where poster #7, Steve Wilson learned it.
"Order in the court,
The monkey wants to speak.
No laughing, no smiling,
No showing your teeth."
I see among the comments that the editor of pancocojams who posted above also learned the ditty in Atlantic City, but with somewhat different words."
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New York
"The version I learned as a kid growing up in the 1950s Bronx
was
Order in the court,
The monkey wants to speak,
Speak monkey speak,
No laughing, no smiling,
no showing your teeth."
-Rick Evans, June 10, 2021, https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/examples-of-childrens-rhymes-order-in.html "Examples Of The Children's Rhymes "Order In The Court" ("Silence In The Court")"
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From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bronx
"The Bronx is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York"..
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O, P
Pennsylvania
"This rhyme was the start for a childhood game in
Philly: “Order in the court, the monkey wants to speak. No laughing, no
talking, no showing your teeth.” The one who is the monkey then tries
anything–but no touching–to get one of the other players to smile or laugh or
talk, who then becomes the monkey"
-Steve Wilson, July
3, 2013, https://www.deepfun.com/not-laughing/ Not Laughing "Not Laughing"
"Philly" is an abbreviation of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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"From 1960s in Scranton Pennsylvania I remember " Order in the court the judge is eatin beans, he's sittin on the toilet makin little submarines".-Anonymous, December 12, 2020, https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/examples-of-childrens-rhymes-order-in.html "Examples Of The Children's Rhymes "Order In The Court" ("Silence In The Court")"
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Q, R
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S, T
Scotland
"Silence in the gallery,
Monkey wants to speak,
Speak up, monkey, speak!"
Heard this growing up in the 2000s & 2010s from my
grandparents in the West Coast of Scotland"
-Anonymous, Feb. 2, 2024,
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U, V
United Kingdom
"Silence in the Courtyard,
Silence in the street
The biggest fool in [town name]
Is just about to speak
(Often closed with 'Starting froooooom... NOW!')
-GUEST,Tom Jenkins (UK), 04 Mar 09, https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=81350 "I'm Rubber . You're Glue"
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Utah
"I lived in Clearfield, Utah beginning in 1948. There were a
number of military installations nearby, and all of the kids in my neighborhood
chanted it as:
Order in the court
The judge is eatin' beans
Hitler's in the bathtub
sinkin' submarines.
As far as I knew, everyone just took the literal meaning, no
matter how nonsensical it seemed to us, even then. We just thought it was a fun
thing to say."
-Diana, December
17, 2021, https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/01/examples-of-childrens-rhymes-order-in.html "Examples Of The Children's Rhymes "Order In The Court" ("Silence In The Court")"
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W, X, Y, Z
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