Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents all the examples of the verse "Mama's in the kitchen cooking (fried) chicken" that I've come across in "Rockin Robin" ("Twee lee lee") hand clap rhymes.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those whose examples are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-origins-of-stereotype-about-black.html
for a somewhat related pancocojams post entitled "The Origins Of The Stereotype About Black People And Fried Chicken (featuring two article excerpts and a YouTube video)".
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
The verse "Mama's in the kitchen cooking chicken (or "cooking fried chicken") doesn't appear to ever be used in "Rockin Robin" ("Twee lee lee") rhymes that include the verse "Mama's in the kitchen cooking rice". However, read a Jamaican example of this rhyme (#13 below) that refers to mama cooking rice and chicken.
Also, based on the very small number of examples of these hand clap rhymes that I've come across in my direct collection of children's hand clap rhymes (in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from the late 1980s to 2009) and from my online collecting of English language children's hand clap rhymes, it appears to me that the "Mama's in the kitchen cooking chicken" (or "cooking fried chicken") verse isn't as common as the "Mama's in the kitchen cooking rice" verse.
Furthermore, some versions of "Rockin Robin" ("Twee lee lee") don't include either one of these "Mama's in the kitchen" verses.
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SELECTED EXAMPLES OF THESE RHYMES
These examples are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes.
1. http://forum.blackhairmedia.com/lil-girls-hand-games_topic128043_page4.html "Lil Girls .. Hand Games!"
tweet-a-leet-a-leet
tweet-a-leet-a-leet
tweet-a-leet-a-leet
tweet-a-leet-a-leet
tweet-a-leet-a-leet
tweet baby tweet baby your breath stinks
she rocks in the tree top all day long huffing and a puffing and a singing that song all little birdies on jay bird street love to hear the robins go suck my feet rockin robin tweet tweet a leet rockin robin tweet tweet a leet mommy's in the kitchen cooking fried chicken daddys in bed half way dead brothers at school actin like a fool sisters on the corner selling fruitcock tail grandmas in the shower for an half an hour..........forgot the rest
-- smootches87 [Location: US - Texas], Apr 25 2008
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2. https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/11/documenting-some-examples-of-verse-from.html "The Origin & Examples Of "Mama In The Kitchen" And Some Dirty Verses In "Rockin Robin"/"Tweeleelee" Hand Clap Rhymes" [comment published about that post]
"In Virginia Beach in 1991 we used to sing:
"Swing swing swing on a summery day
Hey! hey!
Rockin in the tree top all day long
Huffin and a puffin and a singing my song
All the little birdies on jaybird street
Like to hear the Robin go
Tweet tweet tweet!
Rocking Robin
tweet tweet a leet
Rocking Robin
tweet tweet a leet
Mama's in the kitchen cooking fried chicken
Daddy's in bed, half way dead
Brothers in school acting a fool
Sisters down the street singing
Do wah diddy diddy dum diddy do"
We also sang the last line as "selling fruit cocktail" but we were all aware of what it meant and did the hand motions, and if our moms heard us we couldn't sing it that way any more!"
-Anonymous, July 21, 2022
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3. http://www.inthe00s.com/archive/inthe80s/smf/1109960765.shtml Those clapping songs from the 1980s
[Pancocojams Editor's Note; The words in italics mean that the commenter is quoting the person who is mentioned]
Subject: Rockin Robin
"Written By: AnnieBanannie on 04/30/05
When I was a kid it was Miss Lucy rather than Suzy. And in our rhyme, the BATHTUB "wouldn't go down his throat." <lol>
We had a dirty-ish one, that went to the tune of "Rockin' Robin"
Mama's in the kitchen, cookin' rice
Daddy's outside, shootin' dice
Brother's in jail, raising bail,
Sister's on the corner selling fruit cocktail
(on "fruit" we crossed our arms over our chests,
"cock" we put out hands on our, well...y'know...and "tail,"
we put our hands on our butts.)
Of course we did NOT do this in front of adults! :)"
The version I remember as a kid was a bit dirtier than this one
Mama's in the kitchen, cookin fried chicken
Daddy's in the hall peeing on the wall
Brother's in jail, raising hell
Sister's on the street selling fruit, cock, tail
-angie on 11/14/08
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4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC5HeD6li3k "rockin robin hand game"
[comment]
@heartagold1221, 2018
"Mom is in the kitchen cooking fried chicken daddy’s in bed
halfway dead brother is in jail raisin hell sisters on the corner selling fruit
cocktail"
That’s how we sang it in the 80s lol
-Rebecca, April 9, 2011
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPHPgM4RhcI "
[comment]
@02.21atx, 2024
"its Rockin Robin with a clap game but the altered into many
versions like moms in the kitchen cookin fried chicken daddy outside digging in
his nose brother in jail raising hell sister outside selling fruit cocktail
chorus x2 robin stepped on batmans toe batman said dont do it no mo robin said
hes a superfly batman said you a mf lie lol"
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6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPHPgM4RhcI
[comment] winter baby, 2020
"did anyone play the version where you and your friends would
sing, and it’d go something like:
Momma’s in the kitchen, cooking that chicken
Daddy’s outside, shooting that dice
Brother’s in jail, hanging off the rail
Sister’s outside sayin doo doo doo
Rockin Robin tweet tweet"
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Reply
SimplyBriannaB, 2022
"Yeahhh it was something like that, but it was “brothers in
jail, ringing that bell, sisters on the corner singing fruit cocktail”!! Been
looking for that version lol"
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7. http://www.afrocentriconline.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=33952&sid=20e079412142da6abbee2eb0ed11f670 "Childhood Chants/Songs/Clapping games.."
"I don't remember how WE starated macks, but it went
Momma's in the Kitchen cooking fried chicken
daddy's in be half way dad
brother's in school acting like a fool
sister's on the corner selling fruit cocktail
(but we did touch our chest when we said fruit, our thighs when we said C*** and our butts when we said tail)"
-act up, hu Jul 21, 2005
-snip-
This comment was written in response to a comment that "macks" wrote about this handclap rhyme.
“half way dad” is probably a typo for “half way dead”.
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8. https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=84591 "Lyr Req: Boogie Woogie ???????????????"
Ha i heard of a handshake kinda simliar to this but I don't know the whole thing here it is (dont know if u looking for this)
Swing,Swing,Swing to the U S A Hey hey!
Momma's in the kitchen cooking fried chicken
Dad's in bed half way dead
Sisters at School Looking like a fool (or acting like a fool)
Brothers In Jail Drinking Ginger Ail
And i dont know the rest...”
-GUEST,Kjnnhh22, 17 Dec 10
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9. http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=VjGAwEEBn0c [This video is no longer available]
"Neat! The one in my school went: "Mama's in the kitchen cooking fried chicken, Daddy's in the hall playing basketball, brother's in school acting like a fool, sister's in bed, I think she's dead!"
-M1NAM1, 2015; "Rockin Robin", 2011
-snip-
WARNING: The end of this video contains profanity.
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10. http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=VjGAwEEBn0c [This video is no longer available.]
"I learned
“Mamas in the kitchen cooking fried chicken, daddy’s in bed halfway dead, brothers in school actin like a fool, sisters in jail tryna make bail”
-Dalton Z-Back Up, November 2018
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11. https://kidsongs.fandom.com/f/p/4400000000000529299 Kidsongs Fandom: in General: Rockin Robin?
"Does anyone else remember a different version of Rockin
Robin? I do, I remember in elementary school playing a game with a friend with
our hands where it was mostly clapping our hands together in a rhythm to the
rhyme, but the lyrics I, but the lyrics are different with only some similarities.
This is what I mostly remember.
Swing, swing, swing (where we locked pinky fingers and moved them in a swing fashion)
Rock steady treetops all day long (this is where we started clapping the other person's hand [right to right/left to left] between each clap between friends I/them would clap/join our hands together)
Huffing and a puffing and uh sing that song
All the little birds on jaybird's tree love to hear the birds go
Tweet, tweet, tweet (on this line only we clapped at the same time each other's mirrored hands 3 times)
Rockin robin tweet tweetle
Rockin robin tweet tweetle
Moma's in the kitchen cooking fried chicken
Dad's in bed halfway dead
Sister's a school acting like a fool
Brother's in jail drinking ginger ale
Rockin robin tweet tweetle
Rockin robin tweet tweetle
Though, I remember a version slightly different, after the
Tweet, tweet, tweet part but I don't remember the differences.
-Tiffany1567·6/1/2024
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12. https://www.tiktok.com/@popular.lonerrrrrrrr/video/7451743949099666719
🗣️momma in the kitchen
cooking that chicken, brotha in jail calling for help, sister in her room
singing fruit.cock.tail"
- popular.lonerrrrrrrr, 2024-12-23
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13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GShzvXLNU9E How Jamaican🇯🇲 kids play hand game and the differen type of games 🦋🦋
"TWEET TWEET TWEET
Tweet tweet tweet
and away we go
rockin in the treetop
all day long
rockin and talkin and singing this song
all the little girls from JBC
like to hear the robin go tweet tweet tweet
Go wash your body
tweet TweetTweetTweet
Go wash your body
Tweet TweetTweetTweet
Mother in the kitchen
cookin rice and chicken
Father upstairs drinkin milk
Drinkin milk is a very good thing
So when I run out
You run in
When I count to twenty
The room must be empty
5, 10, fifteen, twenty
-
-snip-
This is my unofficial transcription of the video. Additions and corrections are welcome.
Description of this video: A woman and a girl perform a partner hand clap rhyme standing up outdoors.
The ending portion of this rhyme beginning with "so when I run out" documents that this used to be performed as a jump rope rhyme.
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14. https://www.nappturality.com › forums › threads › page4 Nappturality; Clapping Rhymes/hand Games
[This website is no longer available.]
Fragment
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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Notice that most of these examples are people remembering this hand clap rhyme from their past.
ReplyDeleteI'm very interested in knowing if people nowadays are still doing "Rockin Robin" ("Twee lee lee").
For the folkloric record, please share whether children where you live still do this hand clap rhyme along with demographic information (including age/race/ gender and where (city, state, country), and when (year/decade).
Thanks!
On this subject of documenting whether and how much children nowadays know "old school" African American originated or adapted recreational rhymes and singing games, my daughter Tazi Hughes is a Pittsburgh Public School elementary school teacher at a school that is around 50% Black and 50% White. Yesterday, I asked her if kids at her school self-initiated doing hand clap rhymes during recess or otherwise. She said "very very seldom" , but she shared with me one example of such self-initiated play that she had just observed the other day.
DeleteTazi shared with me that during an outdoor recess period she saw a Black girl chanting the jump rope rhyme "Police Lady Police lady/Do your duty" while a White girl jumped rope.
[The first portion of that rhyme is:
"Police lady Police lady. Do your duty.
Here comes [jumper's name] with an African booty.
She can wiggle/She can wooble.
She can do the twist.
But I betcha five dollars/She can't do this".
An "African booty" means "a big butt".]
When the White girl who was jumping missed, the Black girl took a turn. However, neither of them got to the second part of the rhyme in which you do one motion after another (jump on one foot, turn around, touch the ground, say your prayers, jump out".
I was aware that my daughter Tazi Hughes had taught her students the lightly competitive hand slap game "Strolla Ola Ola", and the movement game "In The River. On The Bank" (that is similar to "Simon Says") for years. The girls and boys at her previous school up to the year 2015 knew a version of "Strolla Ola Ola" called "Slap Billy-Ola". Both of those circle hand slap games are very similar to "Stella Ella Ola".
DeleteHowever, my daughter learned the "In The River On The Bank" line jumping game from me and I learned it from Mrs. Owens, a woman who taught in my churches' Summer Vacation Bible School class in Atlantic City, New Jersey waaay back in the 1950s. Mrs. Owens was from North Carolina.
The title of the 2009 hit Jamaican Dancehall record "Pon De River Pon De Bank" by Elephant Man probably was based on a a traditional children's game and that game probably made its way to the United States and became "In The River. On The Bank."
Here are some hyperlinks to pancocojams posts on the rhymes and/or movement games that I mentioned above:
Deletehttps://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/11/what-african-booty-means-and-examples.html "What "African Booty" Means And Examples of The Use Of The Term "African Booty" In "Mailman Mailman Do Your Duty" Children's Rhymes
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https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/11/stella-ella-ola-similar-group-hand.html "Stella Ella Ola" & Similar Group Hand Slapping Rhymes (Examples with Geographic Locations) PART I (A-H)
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https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/09/in-river-on-bank-game.html "In The River On The Bank (Children's Movement Game)".