This Vintage Sesame Street Television Clip "Girls Clap Out A Song About K" Sounds Like The "L.O.V.E" Foot Stomping Cheer From The 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s

LittleJerryFan92, Jul 11, 2007
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Read the lyrics for this song in this 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 My daughter has performed that cheer for me several times since the 1980s as I worked on my no longer active cocojams.com website and as I wrote about that cheer in this pancocojams blog.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

This pancocojams post showcases a Sesame Street clip of young girls performing an alphabet 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 also 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 my daughter Tazi Hughes for introducing this foot stomping cheer and other cheers to me. 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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This post is a reprint with minor changes of a February 14, 2023 pancocojams post entitled "L.O.V.E" (Title Of African American Girls' Foot Stomping Cheers From The 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s)"
.https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/02/examples-of-love-foot-stomping-cheers.html. That post has two comments about foot stomping cheers. A reprint of one of those comments is found in the comment section for this post. That comment consists of my speculations about why foot stomping cheers as they were originally composed and performed have largely disappeared. 

Click https://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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THE 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 for 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".

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I don't know if that line "K's a kick on me" is correct.

Additions and corrections for this transcription are very welcome.

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The word structure for this chant is a modified form of the textual structure foot stomping cheers. In foot stomping cheer the group voice is heard first, followed by a soloist. The line "Well, my name is ___" is a familiar line in introductory foot stomping cheers.

Unlike this Sesame Street K chant which showcases the first soloist, in foot stomping cheers, everyone in the group is supposed to have only one equal amount of time as the soloist.  

If you know the year that this clip was first shown on Sesame Street, please share it in the comment section for this pancocojams post. Thanks! 
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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.
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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.)
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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

 OOHLALA 01-02-2001, http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=4

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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.

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