Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part II of a three part pancocojams series on the phrase "hay foot straw foot".
This post presents some examples of United States marching cadences that include the phrase "hay foot straw foot".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/03/what-is-real-origin-and-meaning-of.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post provides information about the origin and meaning of the phrase "hay foot straw foot" as it pertains to marching cadences.
For city folk like me, that post also includes a YouTube video entitled "the DIFFERENCES between straw and hay".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/03/duke-ellington-his-orchestra-with.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post showcases a YouTube sound file of the 1942 Jazz song "Hayfoot Strawfoot" performed by Duke Ellington and His Orchestra and sung by Ivie Anderson. The lyrics to that song are included in that post along with information about Duke Ellington and singer Ivie Anderson. That post also quotes an article that lists ten of Duke Ellington's most famous songs.
The content of this post is presented of historical, cultural, and educational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
****
DISCLAIMER:
The fact that this subject is presented on this pancocojams blog that focuses on the cultures of Black people throughout the world isn't meant to imply that military cadences with the phrase "hay foot straw foot" originated with or were/are mostly composed by Black people.
This subject is presented on pancocojams as part of an ongoing presentation of information about United States military cadences ("jodies"). This blog's focus on military cadences fits its mission statement because an African American soldier, Army Private Willie Lee Duckworth is credited with composing "Sound Off", the first modern day military. Also, most United States military cadences have been and still are African American origin. Furthermore, most United States military cadences reflect certain African American aesthetic preferences and certain African American performance styles.
****
SELECTED EXAMPLES OF MARCHING CADENCES WITH THE PHRASE "HAY FOOT STRAW FOOT"
These online sources are given in no particular order.
ONLINE SOURCE #1:
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=66603
1. Subject: Counting Cadence...
From: Mudlark
Date: 01 Feb 04 - 06:16 PM
Left....left....
LEFT my wife and
FOURteen children
OLD gray man in a
PEANUT stand, i
THINK I did
Left....left....
aaaaannndddd...
Right....right...
RIGHT from the oountry
HAY foot slew foot
Right....right..."
**
2. Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 08:51 AM
(You're RIGHT)
You had a good home but you LEFT
(You're RIGHT)
Sound off
1, 2
Sound off
3, 4
Bring it on down
1, 2, 3, 4
(shouted) 1, 2
with the left foot hitting the ground on the odd numbers.
Marching starts, of course, on the left foot.
My GG Aunt said that her father used to sing "Hay foot,
Straw foot, Any foot at all..." from his Civil War days. And THAT goes
back to the Revolutionary War, when hay was tied to the left foot and straw to
the right so that the soldiers could tell their right from their left -- or so
the story goes"
**
3. Subject: RE: Counting Cadence...
From: Mudlark
Date: 24 Aug 04 - 03:59 AM
"Interesting about the straw/hay business. After reading over
this thread I seem to remember that in my mother's version for the right foot
"Hip by jingo" fit in there somewhere. Given the reference to
"hay foot, slew foot" maybe this cadence count from Civil War.
Interesting also, that only US type Americans count cadence while walking in
formation. Seems like a natural to me, but then I was born here, so I guess it
would."
-snip-
"Slew foot" is probably a misused word or a typo for the word "straw". Here's a definition for the term "slew footed" from https://www.quora.com/What-does-slew-footed-mean
Zsarynika Tschetter, 2019
"Slew-footed means having one or both feet turned in or out when walking, not either or both pointing in the direction of travel. “Waddle like a duck” is an unkind term for a slew-footed person who walks with both feet turned out.
****
ONLINE SOURCE #2
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=8473
1. Subject: RE: Marching song
From: GUEST,Frances
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 06:56 AM
Left, left,
Left a wife and twenty four kids, an old grey mare and a
peanut stand.
Did I do right? Right.
Right from the country where I came from, hayfoot,
strawfoot, skip da doodle, Left, left.
And then go back to the beginning.
You have to shuffle and skip on the hayfoot strawfoot skip
da doodle bit - I always trip over my feet.
It really makes you walk fast!"
**
2. Subject: RE: Marching song
From: GUEST,Gueft
Date: 18 Sep 09 - 10:00 PM
"Left! Left! Left my wife and seventeen kids, an old
grey mare, a peanut stand and I was right! Right! Right from the country, hay
for straw, skip and a jingle and I was left! Left! Left my wife..." (as
before, until we reached our uncle's farm a quarter of a mile away)."
**
3. Subject: RE: Marching song/Cadence Count
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 26 Jan 11 - 08:05 PM
Left left, i left my wife and 49 kids the old grey mare and
the penut stand. Do you think i did right? right?"
**
4. Subject: RE: Marching song/Cadence Count
From: GUEST,sjrdgoode
Date: 10 May 11 - 11:03 AM
**
5. Subject: RE: Marching song/Cadence Count
From: GUEST,Paul V. Partington
Date: 20 Dec 11 - 04:58 PM
Hay foot, straw foot,belly full of bean soup,
Johnny get your clothes on, left"
**
6. Subject: RE: Marching song/Cadence Count
From: GUEST,guest, Bon
Date: 06 May 12 - 12:24 AM
"Left, left, I had a good job and I left.
I left my wife and 15 kids, an old gray mare and a peanut
stand.
Did I do right, right.
Right for my country, hayfoot, strawfoot, skip by jingle.
Left, left, I had a good job and I left.
etc."
**
7. Subject: RE: Marching song/Cadence Count
From: GUEST,Scotty
Date: 10 Feb 13 - 02:06 AM
Left my wife and 46 children, Old gray mare by peanut stand
Went to town and there I found that I was right, right
Hayfoot, strawfoot, shift by jingle, left, left"
**
8. Subject: RE: Marching song/Cadence Count
From: GUEST,Laura
Date: 08 Dec 14 - 09:52 PM
"
Left, left, left my wife and 49 kids and old grey mare and a
peanut stand.(march)
I do right, right, right by the Country I do stand.(march)
Hay foot - straw foot - shift by jingle foot.(shift feet -
kinda jump)
I'm dying to know - does anyone know the origin?
9.
From: GUEST,Cindie
Date: 07 Nov 15 - 01:00 PM
With nothing to eat the in the house but gingerbread
Left, right, right
Right from the haystack, hay foot-straw foot, oompijingle*
Left, left, etc.
*When you say this word, you do a funny skip/hop so you end
up on the right foot.
Right from the country where i come from hayfenstrofbenshiftbygolly ( hay.fen.strof.ben.shift.by.golly)left left
over and over"
**
10. Subject: RE: Marching song/Cadence Count
From: GUEST,Roland
Date: 28 Jan 18 - 05:36 AM
I left my wife and 42 kids,
Hay foot straw foot, belly full of bean soup,
Johnny get your clothes on,
Left, Left ...
That's what my little cousin sang to me. He was a B17 flying
fortress pilot, based in England in 1944."
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment