ichagall, Apr 20, 2010
Little Sally Walker Bessie Jones
-snip-
Here's the words to this version of "Little Sally Walker":
Little Sally Walker
Sitting in a saucer
A weepin and a cryin over all she has done.
Rise Sally rise*
Wipe your weepin eyes*
Turn to the east
And turn to the west
Turn to the very one that you love the best.
And put your hands on your hips
And let your backbone slip
Oh, shake it to the east, Sally
Shake it to the west, Sally.
Shake it to the very one that you love the best.
-snip-
An alternate version: "Rise up from your seat/Wipe your cheeks".
-snip-
Notice that in this video, the man who was chosen as center person is also known as the female character "Little Sally Walker".
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Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest Update- May 16 2025
This pancocojams post presents information about the meaning of the words "let your backbone slip" in the singing game "Little Sally Walker".
This post also showcases two YouTube video that show two different ways that the "let your backbone slip" movement is performed in the "Little Sally Walker" (sittin in a saucer) singing game.
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the unknown composers of versions of "Little Sally Walker" that include the "put your hands on your hips and let your backbone slip" words. Thanks also to all those who were associated with the YouTube videos that are showcased in this pancocojams post and thanks to all those who are quoted in this pancocojams post.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/05/african-american-versions-of-little.html for the 2025 pancocojams post entitled "African American Versions Of "Little Sally Walker" (with city/state and/or decades played) from a 2025 Facebook page."
Click the "Little Sally Walker" tag below for other pancocojams posts about this singing game.
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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - "Little Sally Walker" | In Rehearsal for "Black Pearl Sings!"
In this excerpt from rehearsals for "Black Pearl
Sings!," Peal (Lynette DuPree) teaches Susannah (Colleen Madden) how to
properly dance to the folk song, "Little Sally Walker." Performances
begin January 19th [2018 in Washington, D.C.]
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Click.https://dctheatrescene.com/2016/04/27/black-pearl-sings-metrostage-review/
Black Pearl Sings! at MetroStage (review)
April 27, 2016 by Debbie Minter Jackson
" "Black Pearl Sings! is a powerful, entertaining story of two
women from vastly different walks who have life-changing interactions that
revolve around snippets of historical music."...
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WHAT IS THE BACKBONE?
The "backbone" is "the spine column" (spine)".
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/backbone
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WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE WORDs "LET YOUR BACKBONE SLIP" IN THE SINGING GAME "LITTLE SALLY WALKER"?
AI Overview [May 12, 2025]
" "Let your backbone slip" is an expression,
primarily used in hip-hop and dance, that refers to a movement where the body,
especially the upper body, is loosened and relaxed, allowing the spine to bend
and sway with the music. It can also be a metaphor for expressing oneself
authentically and without rigid control."...
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I believe that in the context of the singing game "Little Sally Walker, the words "let your backbone slip" don't refer to an actual dance move but are both the literal meaning and the metaphorical meaning that are given above."
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DESCRIPTIONS OF SHOWCASE VIDEO #1 AND SHOWCASE VIDEO #2
Showcase Video #1
All of the players in this game sing the commands to this game song, except for the person in the center of the circle. The center person follows the commands that others are singing, but remains silent throughout the entire time that he or she is in the center of the circle. The center person performs the motions at the same time as the other people who are playing this game.
The "let your backbone slip" motion immediately follow performing the motion to "put your hands on your hips". All of the players perform those motions at the same time.
"Let your backbone slip" means to rhythmically swing your hips side to side to the beat. This is the same motion that is done for the words "Shake it to the east and shake it to the west".
-snip-
This is the way that I've always performed "let your backbone slip" and the way that I've always seen in performed online and offline, with the exception of Showcase video #2 in this pancocojams post.
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Showcase Video #2
All of the players in this game sing the commands to this game song, except for the person in the center of the circle. The center person follows the commands that others are singing, but remains silent throughout the entire time that he or she is in the center of the circle. The center person performs the motions at the same time as the other people who are playing this game
After the players put their hands on their hips, they lean slightly forward and quickly shake their back. While the players (except for the center person) sing "Shake it to east and shake it to the west", the players swing (shake) their hips from the left to the right."
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UPDATE- May 13, 2025
I had forgotten that I published two pancocojams posts IN 2012 on "Let your backbone slip". Here are the links to those posts:
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/08/let-your-right-foot-slip-origin.html "Let Your Right Foot Slip" And "Let Your Backbone Slip" Verses In Caribbean & African American Singing Games & R&B Songs
and
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/08/let-your-backbone-slip-phrase-in-r.html "Let Your Backbone Slip" Phrase In R&B Music & Children's Rhymes- Part II"
Here are some excerpts from Part I of that two part pancocojams series.
..."In the context of the verse "let your backbone slip", the word "backbone" means "the spine". I believe that the verb "slip" means "move loosely" or "be flexible". The line "let your backbone slip" is thus interpreted to mean "shake your hips from side to side".
[...]
"Put your hands on your hip/and let your backbone slip" is a floating verse that is found in the widely known children's game song "Little Sally Walker" ("Little Sally Waters"). That verse is also sometimes sung as a verse in the less widely known children's song "All Around The Kitchen Cock A Doodle Doodle Do". I don't know which version of the second line ["let your backbone slip" or "let your right foot slip"] is the oldest."
[...]
The song "Little Sally Waters" is included in the 1997 book Brown Girl In The Ring: An Anthology Of Songs Games From The Eastern Caribbean by Alan Lomax, J. D. Elder, and Bess Lomax Hawes. The title "Little Sally Waters" is an older form of the title "Little Sally Walker". In the above named book, that singing game includes the verse "put your hands on your hips, let your backbone shake". Part of the play instructions for that song which is given in that book indicate that the girl in the center of the ring selects a partner and "The two then put their hands on their hips and "shake their backbones" in the familiar Caribbean "winding" motion."
[...]
The "let your backbone slip" verse is also included in the mid 1960s African American Rhythm & Blues songs "Monkey Time (Major Lance -1963), "Baby Workout" (Jackie Wilson -1965), "Shake" (Sam Cooke & Otis Redding, 1966), and "Land Of 1000 Dances" (Wilson Pickett, 1966). Excerpts & videos of these songs are found in Part II of this series."...
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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Click https://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/11/switching-places-ring-games-part-1.html for the 2014 cocojams2 post entitled "Switching Places Ring Games (Part 1-Description & Other Comments)".
ReplyDeleteThat post documents a circle game "Little Sally Walker Walking Down The Street" that I directly observed Black girls play in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1999. That 1999 date doesn't mean that this is the earliest date that "Little Sally Walker Walking Down The Street" game was ever played.
Do you remember an earlier date for "Little Sally Walker (Walking Down The Street)"? If so, for the folkloric record, please share that information with demographic information (when-decade and where city/state). Please also add any other information such as ages/gender/race or ethnicity and whether this game was initiated by children or initiated by an adult such as a school teacher. Thanks!
Click https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=83749 for the Mudcat folk music discussion thread entitled "Origins: Little Sally Walker Other versions". That discussion thread began in August 2005 and is still open for comments (May 2025). Full disclosure: I added a number of comments to that discussion thread.
ReplyDeleteThe latest comment on that discussion thread is this one:
"Subject: RE: Origins: Little Sally Walker Other versions
From: John C. Bunnell
Date: 15 Aug 19 - 02:21 AM
Interesting thread. Here's yet one more lyric to complicate the equation:
"Oh, little Sally Waters, sitting in the sun,
A-crying and weeping for a young man;
Oh, rise, Sally, rise, wipe your eye out with your frock;
That's sung by the babies, a-living on our block."
That's one of the refrains for a song from the 1870s called "The Babies On Our Block", by Ed Harrigan and Dave Braham."