"Hey Hey Get Out Of My Way. I Just Got Back From The USA" Children's Chants (with geographic locations, decade chanted, & other demographic information)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents some examples of the children's chant "Hey Hey Get Out Of My Way (I just got back from the USA)".

These featured examples include geographic locations, decades chanted, and other demographic information. These examples also include additional comments from the contributors' memories of those chants.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who contributed examples of these chants
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/03/hey-hey-get-out-of-my-way-examples.html for more information and comments about "Hey Hey Get Out Of My Way. (I just got back from the USA.)

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/12/two-more-childrens-get-out-way.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "Two More Children's "Get Out The Way" Recreational Chants That Are Similar To "Hey Hey Get Out Of My Way I Just Came Back From The USA" Chants".

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
The overall mission of this pancocojams blog is to share information and examples from Black cultures around the world. Adhering to that mission, I focus on examples of children's recreational rhymes, cheers, chants, and singing games  that were originally composed by or been adapted by Black children and teens. However, other examples of children's recreational material are showcased on this blog whether or not they were composed by or were (are) chanted or sung by Black children and teens.

The main reasons why I showcase children's recreational rhymes, cheers, chants, and singing games on this pancocojams blog is because I like the creativity of those examples and because I'm interested in preserving, sharing, and studying it for its historical values, and its recreational, aesthetic, and entertainment purposes. 

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As of this publishing date, I've come across internet examples of "Hey Hey Get Out Of My Way" children's chants from certain United States cities and states*, from certain Canadian cities and states, and from a few United States military bases throughout the world. I also have come across one internet example of this children's chant from Mexico. 

"The 1950s" is the earliest date that I've come across for these internet examples of "Hey Hey Get Out Of My Way" children's chants although there is one outlier example given below in Source #1, as #5 as a childhood memory of a woman in Oklahoma who was born in 1922.    

*It's interesting that none of the examples that I've found online (that are given given below) are from the North Eastern region of the United States including New England, and none of these examples are from the Southern region of the United States. 

Does anyone reading this post from those states remember these chants or know if children from those parts of the USA (or elsewhere) chant "Hey Hey Get Out Of The Way/I Just Came Back From The USA" now? If so, please share that information in this pancocojams post's discussion thread below. Thanks! 

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EXAMPLES OF THESE CHANTS
These examples are compiled from various online websites. These sites and their examples are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only. 

SOURCE #1
From https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/03/hey-hey-get-out-of-my-way-examples.html  "Hey Hey Get Out Of My Way" (Examples & Comments)"

Brian in ChileJune 21, 2016 at 9:46 PM
I remember the girls in grammar school, aged eleven years, doing this arms-linked "Hey, hey, get out of my way" marching routine in Milwaukee, Wisconsin circa 1958 or 1959. I saw it performed only once though. It did not seem to have much traction as a cultural phenomonon."

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2. Emil Therianos, July 13, 2016
"I remember this chant from about the late 1960s or 1970/71 in an elementary school in California (either Hawthorne or Torrance, CA). As stated by others, I and a couple of other boys put our arms on each other's shoulders and walked around the playground saying,"Hey, hey, get outta my way. I just got back from the USA." After reading other posts, it's possible we used "our way" and "we." After over 40 years it's hard to remember for certain

I can only remember doing that a couple of times, but somehow the words stuck in my mind all these years. I never remember hearing what it was about; it was something I did just because the other kids I was with were doing it. But all these years I have believed USA meant our country. Interesting new perspective with US Army.

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3. Anonymous, August 3, 2016
"I recall this chant being used as described above when I was in elementary school from 1956 to 1961 in Vancouver, British Columbia. I think that my father, who was in the RCAF during the war, may have known it as well. In any case, most of my school mates were the children of veterans as well since they lived in a development built to provide housing for veterans and their families. All the streets were named after battles.

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4. Unknown, October 8, 2016 
"I am blessed with exceptional memory skills and clearly recall Hey Hey etc....I just came back from the USA when I was in Grade 2 in 1961-62 Alberta, Canada. My schoolyard buddies and I did indeed link arms and paraded around the school playground while we chanted this message. I had never been to the United States at that point in my young life and imagined it to be an exotic destination at the time."

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5. Anonymous, May 10, 2018
"My 96 year-old neighbor, a black woman from Ponca, Oklahoma, uses this chant all the time when she's riding in the car with me. She remembers it from her childhood. Since she was born in 1922 I figured it was something that came back from World War I.

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6. Billy Bob JasperOctober 8, 2018
"I remember this chant from the schoolyard at the DOD elementary school at NAS Yokosuka, Japan in 1971. The second couplet was modified to “‘cause we were born in the USA.” We shouted it while marching with arms interlinked."

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7. Sherri Daines Buxton, May 23, 2021 
"I went to school in the bay area and we also had the, "and If you don't get out I'm gonna kick you out" line. At the end of the verse."

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8. Gisby, May 26, 2021
"In 1961-2, Winnipeg Canada, (Grade 1-2) We linked arms and marched with an exaggerated side-swinging goose-step, while chanting:

HEY! HEY!

Get out of our WAY!

We're off to join the army

of the U - S - A!"

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9. Anonymous, June 29, 2021 
"I remember this chant as a playground game during the late 1950's to early 1960's at St. Joseph's Catholic School in Wilmette, Illinois. It involved both boys & girls, linking arms and marching around the playground; it was kind of a mobile version of 'Red Rover' where kids would try to break the chain and, if they were caught, would have to join the chain. As far as I know there was no connection to a military base (the closest base would have been Glenview Naval Air Station which was some distance away); demographically the students were all from Middle Class (both white collar & blue collar) backgrounds and White (predominantly of German heritage at the time)."

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10. Gisby, February 9, 2023
"Late to the article, but I remember it from Winnipeg in 1961-2. As others have said, we would link arms and march in step, chanting 'Hey! Hey! Get out of our way! We're off to join the army of the U! S! A!'"

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11. Anonymous, February 17, 2023
"Elementary school, Vancouver BC, 1964, we chanted "Hey, Hey, Get out of my way, I just got back from the USA" Everybody knew this then."

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12. Anonymous, July 15, 2023
"This phrase popped into my head just now and I googled it and found this blog. I heard classmates saying this in first grade. This was in a small town near Windsor, Ontario, circa 1983. My dad heard me repeating the chant at home and said he remembered hearing the chant himself as a kid in the 1950s, in a different small town in the same region. Windsor is across the border from Detroit, so it's very possible that kids saying this had really gotten back from the USA recently. Unfortunately my memory is fuzzy as to whether there was a game associated with it, or if it was just a thing kids would yell."

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13. Bill R, March 16, 2024
"As anonymous above said, it popped into my head, so I googled it and found this thread. On the elementary school playground in Fairbanks, Alaska, just about the time of statehood (1959), 4 or 5 boys would link arms and chant "Hey, hey, get out of our way! We just got back from the USA!", often heading toward other groups of kids and making them move. It was done kind of as a bullying thing, though not anything violent."

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14. Frank Hardy, April 30, 2023
"As kids in Windsor, Ontario in the 1970s we would go down to the riverside and shout it at passing ships. My brother and I also spent a lot of time in Winnipeg as kids so not sure if we would have gotten it from there or the Windsor/Detroit region."

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15. Anonymous, September 12, 2024
"I was a kindergartner at Cragmont Elementary School in Berkeley, CA (San Francisco Bay Area) in 1971... and we did this on the playground too, arms linked and marching in lockstep, probably together with some slightly older kids. It went "Hey, hey, get outta my way! I just got back from the U.S.A, and if you DON'T get outta my way - HUH! (grunt) - I'll KICK you outta my way!"

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SOURCE #2
From https://www.torontomike.com/2008/11/we_just_came_from_the_usa/ "We Just Came From the U.S.A" By Toronto Mike • Monday, November 10th, 2008 
1. I've been seeing ads lately for Burton Cummings' new album, Above the Ground. The featured song is entitled "We Just Came From the U.S.A." and it's super catchy.  It ought to be catchy as its chorus is an old school yard chant I remember well.

My first three years of school were spent at St. Cecelia's on Annette Street and in the yard during lunch and recess it was fairly common to see a group of kids holding hands and repeating the following chant over and over and over again.

Hey hey, get out of our way,

We just came from the U.S.A.

When I changed schools after grade one, I never heard that chant again, so I've always assumed it was exclusive to St. Cecelia's in the late 70s.  Then, when I heard Burton Cummings singing the same song, I realized it had reached all the way to Winnipeg.

Does anyone else remember this old schoolyard chant? What's the origin?"

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2. Stephanie, 2008
"It was pretty popular at Clark Blvd Public School in Bramalea in the mid 70's.

Boys vs Girls.

Girls always won."

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3. Alison, 2008
"We had it goin' on at Gulleden PS in Mississauga in the early 70's too...I wonder how many things we played/sang/did in school were thought to be "original" that actually went on everywhere?"

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4. Ann, 2010
"In Wisconsin the schoolyard chant included students walking in a line, with arms wrapped around each others back, while reciting the chant. When the line would reach you, you had two choices get out of the way,and chance being trampled on, or join in on the prosession. The choice was up to you. I did this thirty years ago and my nephews and nieces do it today."

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5. Annelise, 2011
"What Anne said - Oakland, California - 1965-68 - Line as wide as the playground marching across chanting - "Hey Hey get out of my way, just got back from(sic) the USA. If you don't get out of my way I'll kick you out of the way." - I never heard it anywhere else, and I suspected it came from the kids from the Navy base who went to our school, since we were IN the US and the chant was FROM the US."

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6. T, 2011
"I heard it in the early 90's at my elementary school playground, in Tampico, Mexico (yeah). Girls would march around the yard in groups of 5-7 with arms around each other repeating the chant. Never knew where they got it from"

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7. Mike, 2012
"We sang this at my elementary school in Phoenix in the early 70s. As Ann and others above have noted, we would line up with our arms around each others' shoulders and march in step across the playground during recess. It never made any sense to me since we really couldn't get back to the USA because we were already there. Phoenix has been a part of the USA since its founding."

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8. Noraleigh Carthy, 2013
"In Winnipeg Manitoba in the 70s this was also chanted in school yards."

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9. Kirt Knutsen, 2013
"I sang this on the playground in grade school around 1972 in Milwaukee Wisconsin. Don't know where it came from but it's interesting that kids were doing it all over Canada and the USA the same way."

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10. craig, 2014
"Yep algonquin school, brown deer wisconsin early 70's. I remember us boys linking arms and marching around the play ground chanting "hey hey get out of our way just got back from the USA" Haha good memories"

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11. Carol Ratcliffe, 2014
"We sang "Hey, Hey get out of my way, Just got back from the USA." Girls with our arms linked walking down the sidewalk. This was in Prince Rupert, British Columbia in the early 60s."

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12. Ann, 2015
"I went to Monterey in Oak Bay, near Victoria, BC In the late 50s-early 60s. We used to link arms and march around our neighbourhood, shouting this chant"

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13. Lucy, 2015
"I remember this game from St Patrick's elementary school in Guelph, Ontario from the early 1970s. You would march around with your arms linked to another kid's while chanting the words. Anyone in your way would join the line and the chant--I think the object was to get as many kids to join the line as possible.

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14. Ola, 2015
"We did this chant during recess in the 80's at Dewson Public School (Dufferin/Dewson Street near to Ossington) when I was in grades 3-5 there. That would have been about 1982-84.?

Our chant was slightly modified from the version you posted, Mike.

"Hey! Hey! Get out of our way!

We're just comin' from the USA!"

It was fun to see how many kids we could get linking arms as we traversed the school yard."

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15. Scott, 2016
"Me and a neighborhood friend did this same chant on our school yard playground in Racine, Wisconsin back in the early 70's. Link arms and walk around daring anyone to get in our way. Never knew why he started doing this and did not know what it meant until now. It makes sense because his dad was a career navy man so my friend probably picked it up from other kids on the bases his dad was stationed at. It just came out of my mouth the other day and now my own kids are walking around chanting it. I guess it is kind of catchy. Good memories."

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16. Tim, 2016
"Fond memories of grade school in the mid 1960s in Florence Oregon! Several kids abreast, arms over one another's shoulders, marching all over the school yard....Except the version there was always

"HEY! HEY! GET OUT OF OUR WAY! WE BELONG TO THE USA!" "

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17. Ian, 2017
"Just polling my family members. My slightly older sisters remember the chant but not the line of kids. I remember the line of thugs as I was one of the smaller/ younger kids in the class. My sisters and I were at Stittsville Public School near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in the 60's. It is astonishing how widespread this was considering no internet. Highly unlikely to be seen in a movie or TV show so...how?"

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18. Douglas, 2017
" "Hey, hey, get out of the way, just got back to the U.S.A., with a bottle of beer, and a kick in the rear!" with the linked arms, Salem, Oregon, 1974. Up until I saw this page I assumed it had to do with Vietnam, but it's interesting that it goes back at least to the 1950s."

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SOURCE #3
From https://weservedtoo.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/hey-hey-get-out-of-my-way-i-just-got-back-from-the-usa/ "Hey, Hey! Get Out of My Way! I Just Got Back From the USA!" Posted: May 30, 2012 By Kim Medders
1. "Of the many memories that come pouring back to me of my years of being a military brat, are those spent playing behind the base apartment buildings and the school playground at recess. As kids would do in the fifties and sixties before IPods and cell phones, we spent as much time outdoors as we could, finding ways to entertain ourselves. With the creativity inherent in all kids, we would find all sorts of things to do and would invent all sorts of games to play.

[…]

One other curious game was played by us military brats, at least overseas. It really wasn’t much of a game, but more of a declaration. Usually two or more kids would link arms and walk around the playground yelling at the top of their lungs, “Hey, hey, get out of my way. I just got back from the USA!” I suppose in the grand scheme of things, those you just arrived from the “World” would be that important as to demand the tribute of moving out of their way. After all, they were privy to the knowledge of what was cool stateside, and we did want to know what was going on in the States. We desperately wanted to hear about the new TV shows, toys, music, and fashions. I tried it a few times on my return from our visits back to the land of the “Round Doorknobs”, and it was elating to do.”…

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2.  Larry B, October 5, 2012
"Wow! This brings back memories. We were in Karlsruhe 60-63. I remember the “just got back from the USA chant” I played marbles in that area too. Hated those German clay marbles. I was in 1st-3rd grade there. All the games you mention I remember playing. Going off base, thru a park( I do believe) to get candy. We lived on Tennessee St. Going to the Minute Man and to the PX…We used to play baseball cards in the basement stairwells and trade our comic books. And nothing like Christmas in Germany…We were so lucky to be Army Brats!"
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"Karlsruhe" is a city in Germany.

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3. Jl pettimore, August 25, 2019
"We used to say this as Canadian kids who visited the USA side of Lahr at their base and went back to ours. We either started it or stole it."

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4. vibroluxor, November 9, 2012
"we used to say the chat in the schoolyard of the schools in San Francisco in the ’60s. as it turned out I enlisted and was stationed in Schweinfurt ’78-’81"

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5. Maria, June 20, 2016
"I grew up in Sandpoint, Idaho and remember walking around saying this same little chant song (also in early 70’s) and like the Liberal Dude above, I had it in my head too, but didn’t understand it or think it made much sense. Glad I was able to find this info. Makes sense now. I wonder if it will leave my head now? Ha, ha!"

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6. Maria, June 20, 2016
"I sang this little chant too on the playground in elementary school in Sandpoint, ID. Like the dude above, no military connection. Just had it in my head and remembered saying it and not really understanding why. Now I have an idea. Thank you."

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7. Michael, May 21, 2017
"I remember guys doing “Hey, hey, get outta my way” on the playground, too — except none of us were military kids, it was in Seattle, and I was in grade school 1954-62. I seem to remember it being in the early grades, at that! I always figured that it was a mistake for “just got back to the USA”, and maybe came from guys just released from service after WWII."

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8. Julie Keller MxBride, January 20, 2018
"Just was singing this about 15 minutes and looked it up. I grew up in Vallejo Ca and remember singing this in the fifties. Like everyone else’s dad back then, my dad was a WWII vet".

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9. John McTaggart, January 30, 2019
"I’m from Canada and we used to say this in the 70s in Grades 1-2. This was part of a game where participants would cross their arms, run at and ram other participants trying to knock them over while repeatedly and mindlessly chanting this chorus. Despite the dubious context in which it was being used, there wasn’t any anti-U.S. feelings behind our chant. Just senseless fun."

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10. Jay Fink, May 16, 2019
"I heard this chant often in the mid-70s at my grade school in Milwaukee WI. Sometimes a whole group of kids would march together saying it together. Then someone would yell back at them “You are in the USA”. This all must have made quite an impression on me because here I am searching the origins of it 45 years later!"

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11. Rachel Butts, September 18, 2024
"I remember singing this chant or jingle in the bathtub with my sister when I was 5 years old . It was 1970 , Snohomish Washington USA. We said it as HeyHey, get out of my way! Just got back TO the USA! It’s a crystal clear memory. We had a little two room apartment upstairs from some shops and we shared a kitchen and bathroom with other tenants in the building."

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