Children's Counting Out Rhyme "Out Goes The Rat Out Goes The Cat, Out Goes The Lady With The Big Green Hat"

Music Class,  Sep 8, 2020

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases the children's counting out rhyme "Out Goes The Rat".

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

Thanks to all those who contributed to the content of this post.

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TRANSCRIPT AND DESCRIPTION OF SHOWCASE VIDEO #1

0:00

out goes the rat out goes the cat

0:04

out goes the lady with the big green

0:07

hat out goes the rat out goes the cat

0:12

out goes the lady with the big green hat

0:16

rat cat hat the rhyming words

0:20

say it with me out goes the rat

0:24

out goes the cat out goes the lady with

0:27

the big

0:28

green hat out goes the rat

0:32

out goes the cat out goes the lady with

0:35

the big

0:36

green hat

0:46

out goes the rat out goes the cat

0:50

out goes the lady with the big green hat

0:54

out goes the rat out goes

0:57

[Music]

1:00

green hat
-snip-
This video features a White woman wearing glasses and a dress with a necklace seated in what appears to be a school classroom in front of a djembe drum*.

The woman recites this rhyme without playing the drum and then accompanies her recitation with drum beats.
*"Djembe" is a type of West African drum that is played with your hands and not with sticks. The word "djembe" is pronounced like the English words "GYM-bay".

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EXAMPLE #2
From https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/counting-out-rhymes Counting-out Rhymes by Anonymous

Out goes the rat,

Out goes the cat,

Out goes the lady

With the big green hat.

Y, O, U, spells you;

O, U, T, spells out!

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EXAMPLE #2
Out goes the rat
Out goes the cat
Out goes the lady with the see-saw hat
-Azizi Powell (African American female), childhood memories of Atlantic City, New Jersey in the early 1950s
-snip-
I remember this rhyme from my childhood in the 1950s in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I don't remember how it was used (whether it was a counting out rhyme or was just chanted while doing some other recreational activity such as jumping rope or bouncing a ball. 

I shared this rhyme on March 25, 2005 in this Mudcat Folk Music discussion thread:  https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=44270 Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Kids' songs: Miss Mary Mack & Miss Lucy and equated the "see saw" hat with a hat that was shaped like a "see saw" (children's playground equipment). 

I haven't come across this version of "Out goes the rat" any where else, online or off line. I'm curious if anyone remembers reciting it.

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