Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest update- October 22, 2025
This post presents certain themes of many but not all "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" rhymes and decodes some words that are commonly found in many versions of those rhymes.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-bullfrog-jumped-from-bank-to-banky.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post presents information about the origins of "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky"
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, socio-cultural, linguistic, and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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EXPLANATION OF THE TERM "SHORT FORMS" AND LONG FORMS OF "DOWN BY THE BANKS OF THE HANKY PANKY" RHYMES
Note: The title "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" is sometimes shortened in this post as "DBB Hanky Panky".
"Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" is the usual name for a large "family" of English language recreational rhymes that have countless numbers of versions. Examples of "DBB Hanky Panky" rhymes are found throughout the United States as well as in some other English speaking nations. These rhymes may be chanted by a group of people as a hand slap elimination game, or by two to four people as a hand clap game. I have also come across examples of DBB Hanky Panky being performed as a counting out rhyme.
I divide "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" rhymes into two categories: "short form" and long form".
"Short forms" of "dbb hanky panky" rhymes are verses that begin with the words "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" (or similar wording) and end with some emphatic word such as "Kerplop!" or "With an A, E, I, O, U (you), R (are), out!", or some other emphasized pronunciation of the last syllable of the last word in that rhyme such as "Bam BOO!".
Almost all of the online examples, online videos, online discussion threads, and online information sites (such as AI Overview) of or about "dbb hanky panky" focus on the short forms of these rhymes without mentioning those rhymes' long forms.
"Long forms" of "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" continue that rhyme after the end of their short form. One line that often-but not always- begins "long form" versions of "dbb hanky panky" is "I pledge allegiance to the flag". That line is always followed by a line that mentions Michael Jackson or one other famous person. And that same line always ends with a word that rhymes or near rhymes with the word "flag". Common ending words for those lines are "fag", "gag", "bad", and "dad".
Many-but not all of the long forms versions of "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" have lines that refer to the 1980s soda words between Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola.
Many-but not all- long forms of "dbb" also include the name "Billie Jean" or a folk processed form of that name
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THE TWO MAIN THEMES IN LONG FORMS OF "DOWN BY THE BANKS OF THE HANKY PANKY" RHYMES
Michael Jackson's hair being burnt by a pyrotechnic malfunction during Jackson's filming of a Pepsi Cola commercial. This accident occurred while Michael Jackson was singing his big hit "Billie Jean".
These verses are sometimes referred to as "Michael Jackson verses" because they mention former King of Pop Michael Jackson. Some of these long form dbb hanky panky rhymes mention former professional basketball player Michael Jordan. I believe those examples confuse the names of these two Black celebrities. A few long form dbb hanky panky rhymes
mention the name of R&B singer Bobby Brown. I believe that name is mentioned because
After Michael Jackson's death, the names of one other celebrity was substituted for Michael Jackson's name. A commonality between these celebrities and Michael Jackson is that they each were (or are) disliked by certain people for one reason or another. The two celebrities whose names are usually substituted for Michael Jackson in dbb hanky panky are Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, or Miley Cyrus.
Here's a comment about this subject that a contributor wrote on the Mudcat discussion thread "Origins Of Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" after she shared her version of Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" that included the words "Michael Jackson is a fag":
"We used to do this all the time at school and at camp, sometimes we freshmen still do it before gym class starts when we're all sitting around. You sit in a circle with your left hand on top of someone else's right and your right hand under someone else's left, and you go in a circle smacking each other's hands as you sing the song:
Down by the banks of the hanky panky
where the bullfrogs jump from bank to banky
Singing eep, op, eep-op-op
bubblegum and soda pop
I pledge allegiance to the flag
Michael Jackson is a fag
Coca-cola brought him up
Now we're drinking 7-up
7-up has no caffeine
Now we're wearing Levi jeans
Levi jeans are out of style
Now we're talking for a while
skiddle diddle piddle bop
bubblegum and soda POP!
and whoever's hand is hit on the last 'pop' is out. Then you
repeat the song getting faster and faster until somebody finally wins.
Sadly we really did and still do sing the line about Michael Jackson being a fag. In elementary and middle school we also had a similar rhyme ("I pledge allegiance to the flag and Michael Jackson is a fag. He used to play with little toys but now he plays with little boys.") and I can remember saying it at a very young age, before I had any idea what a 'fag' was. It was meant to be innocent and not offensive to anybody. Also, since Michael Jackson's death (may he R.I.P.) many people have substituted Lady Gaga or Miley Cyrus for Michael Jackson or changed that line to "Michael Jackson makes me gag". My particular group of friends has done both ("Lady Gaga makes me gag") and I think it's kind of a nice modern version of the song."
-snip-
It appears to me that Justin Bieber's name is the one that is most often used in these "substitute another name of a celebrity for Michael Jackson's name" that I have come across (such as in this reddit discussion thread from 2021 to October 2025: https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/pme8mi/down_by_the_banks_of_the_hanky_panky/
Here's an example from that reddit discussion thread:
"This is how I sung it in CO: Down by the bank of the hanky
panky, where the bullfrog jumps from bank to Banky with the apes ops over the
tops and lands on the pad with a kerplop, I pledge allegiance to the flag that
Justin Bieber makes me gag coca-Cola burns me up and now we’re talking 7-Up.
7-Up has no caffeine now we’re talking Billie Jean Billie Jean went out of
stite now we’re talking dynamite dynamite, blew up the school now we’re talking
really cool really cool is really neat, now we’re talking stinky feet stinky
feet are way to smelly. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 your out"
-
https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/pme8mi/down_by_the_banks_of_the_hanky_panky/
-snip-
"CO"= Colorado, USA
-snip-
Btw, most of the examples in this long reddit thread include geographic locations. That thread is one of the only online discussion threads (besides the Mudcat: "Origins Of Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" that I began in 2006 and is still open for comments, and my pancocojams posts on this rhyme which are also still open for comments) that includes examples of long form versions of "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky".
Theme #2
Most of the long form versions of "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" rhymes include lines that reference the 1980s cola) wars between Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola (carbonated soda pop brands).
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cola_wars for information about the cola wars.
My friends play it like this:
Down by the bank by the hanky pankywhere the bullfrogs jumps from bank to bank
We're sayin ep op ep op op
skiddle diddle kernal pop!
I pledge alligence to the flag
Micheal Jackson makes me gag
Coca Cola messed him up
now we're drinking 7up
7up has no caffine
now we're drinking gassoline
Gassoline not good for you
now we're drinking Mt. Dew
Mt. Dew fell off the Mt.
now we're drinking from a fountain
The fountain broke
and now we're back to drinking coke
-Guest 17 Mar 08,, http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=94034, Origins: Down by the Banks of the Hanky Panky,
There are a lot folk processed forms of the female name "Billie Jean" in some long form versions of dbb hanky panky. The most common folk processed form of that name is "jelly beans". Another folk processed form of the name "Billie Jean" is "billy jeans" (which appear to be interpreted as a type of blue jeans (pants). There are also versions of these rhymes that folk processed the name "Billie Jean" for "Levi jeans".
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]"out of sight" is also given in long form "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" rhymes as "out of site"
from https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-words-out-of-sight-or-out-of-style.html "The Words "Out Of Sight" Or "Out Of Style" In "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" Rhymes & What Those Examples Suggest About Children's Lack Of Knowledge About Michael Jackson And His Song "Billy Jean" February 15, 2024
"Out of sight" is an English language phrase whose African American Vernacular English meaning "amazing", great, "exceptional" etc. became particularly popular in the 1960s. However, it appears to me that many children chanting a sub-set of "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" rhymes that include the words "out of sight" don't know that that phrase meant something or someone amazing etc. Instead, the phrase "out of sight" almost always has its literal meaning of "someone or something that people are unable to see".
I believe that the words "out of style" in "dbb hanky panky" is a folk processed form of "out of sight" i.e. it is a substitute for the words "out of sight" by those who don't understand the original slang meaning of that phrase. Instead, those words "out of style" has its literal meaning.
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"Hey Mr. Lily" = is a commonly found folk processed form of "He Missed The Lily" [meaning the frog jumped but missed landing on the lily pad]
Here's an example of "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" from the 1980s
"What an amazing thread. Love that there's a big split between the "hanky pank / bank to bank" and "hanky panky / bank to banky", and even "hanky panks / bank to banks".
Grew up in Maryland, DC suburbs, our version in the late 80s
was: "Down by the banks of the
hanky panky, Where the bullfrogs jump
from bank to banky, With an eeps, aips,
ohps, oups, Fell off a lilly pad,
ker-PLOP!"
"SantiOak, 2025,
https://www.reddit.com/r/nostalgia/comments/pme8mi/down_by_the_banks_of_the_hanky_panky/
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THE TWO WAYS THAT DOWN BY THE BANKS OF THE HANKY PANKY RHYMES ARE PLAYED [IN THE UNITED STATES AND IN SOME OTHER NATIONS AROUND THE WORLD]
"Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" rhymes are played as partner (or three persons or four persons) hand clap rhyme routines. These rhymes can be played seated or standing.
Based on my online searches as of October 20, 2025, the group hand slapping way of playing dbb hanky panky appears to be the most common way that "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" is played now in the United States and elsewhere throughout the world.
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This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.
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