Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post presents a collection of some English languages children's recreational rhymes and verses from recreational rhymes that mention mothers, and/or grandmothers.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who contributed examples to this collection.
Happy Mothers' Day!
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
This post may depart from this pancocojams blog's mission of showcasing the music, dances, language practices, & customs of African Americans and of other people of Black descent throughout the world. That is because some of these rhymes weren't originally composed by Black people and some of these versions may not have been chanted in the past or now by Black children.
l 'm sharing these examples of recreational rhymes in this pancocojams blog because I like this genre of folk culture. Also, I like learning about the history of songs and rhymes andI like discovering how some elements of old songs and rhymes are retained in or are presented in different forms in new songs and rhymes.
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DISCLAIMER
This post isn't meant to present a comprehensive collection of this sub-set of English language children's recreational rhymes or verses of those rhymes that mention mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and/or aunts.
This also doesn't mean that the versions of rhymes or verses that are given in this collection are the original versions, or the standard versions, or the most widely found versions of that particular rhyme or verse from certain rhymes.
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PANCOCOJAMS' COLLECTION OF RHYMES THAT MENTION MOTHERS AND / OR GRANDMOTHERS
These examples are given in relative alphabetical order based on the first letter in their title, or the first letter in the first line that is given in that example or in that verse (in the case of rhyme verses and not the complete version.)
I haven't added any citations for the verses that are given in this collection. However, I've added at least one title of a children's recreational rhyme that often includes that verse. (These verses may be "floaters" that appear in more than one "family" of children's recreational rhymes.)
A, B
"abc, easy as 123,
my momma takes care of me,
my daddy watches mtv,"
-from "Ooh Aah, I Wanna Piece Of Pie" rhymes
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BLUEBELLS COCKLE SHELLS
"Bluebells, cockle shells,/ Eevie, ivy, over;
I like coffee, I like tea;
I like the boys, and the boys like me.
Tell your mother to hold her tongue;
She had a fellow when she was young.
Tell your father to do the same;
He had a girl and he changed her name."
- http://www.homeschool.co.uk/resource/skipping-rope-jump-rope-hopscotch-songs.html, (assessed 5/23/2010)
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BRICK WALL WATERFALL
"That’s the way uh huh uh huh I like it uh huh uh huh You got yours, i got mine so peace punch captain crunch Brick wall waterfall. Boys think they know it all But they don’t, girls do. So poof with the attitude No wait, come back. I think you need a tictac Not one, not two, but the whole six pack Your mama your daddy your bald headed granny She 99 she think she fine. Shes goin out with Frankenstein Go granny go granny Go go Go granny"
-Oldpplication2936,2022
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C,D
DOWN DOWN BABY (fragment)
..."Grandma, Grandma sick in bed.
Called the doctor and the doctor said,
Let's get the rhythm of the head.
Ding dong.
Let's get the rhythm of the hands
Clap, clap.
Let's get the rhythm of the feet
Stomp, stomp.
Let's get the rhythm of the Hot Dog.
Put it all together and what do you get?
Ding-dong, clap, clap. Stomp, stomp. Hot Dog.
Say it all backwards and what do you get?
Hot Dog. Stomp, stomp. Clap, clap. Ding dong!
-Sesame Street 1980s segment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K-FpmUUc7U&t=4s , published on YouTube by Sesame Street, Mar 27, 2009
-snip-
This version of "Down Down Baby" was showcased in a 1980s segment of Sesame Street that featured a group of young Black girls at a park teaching a circle hand clap version of this rhyme & its movements to a younger Black girl.
The Sesame Street version of "Down Down Baby"has become so popular that it has basically become the "standard", iconic version of "Down Down Baby". So widely known has this version become that some people in the United States and elsewhere think that it is the only way that "Down Down Baby" can be chanted and performed."...
Click https://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/10/test_28.html for that complete version as well as a continuation of my comments about "the Sesame Street" version of "Down Down Baby".
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DOWN DOWN BABY I KNOW KARATE (Version #1)
"Down down baby
Elmo do karate
Down down baby
Elmo call his mommy
Down down baby
Elmo shake his body
Down down baby
Elmo eat salomi
Down down baby
Oops Elmo sorry.
-pokenone1, Sep 1, 2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44qLwfFEJ7w
-snip-
There are lots of versions of this rhyme without the reference to the Sesame Street character Elmo. Versions of this rhyme have the title "Down Down Baby I Know Karate" title and or with other titles such as "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" "Shimmy Shimmy China". This Elmo's World version probably is a purposely edited version of children's recreational rhymes in which hand clap rhyme partners try to be the first to push the other person or poke the other person in the forehead.
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DOWN DOWN BABY I KNOW KARATE (Version #2)
"down down baby, i can do karate
down down baby, i can call my mommy
down down baby, i can shake my body
down down baby, Oops I'm sorry!
in the last hand motion you push them. (not hard of course!)
or atleast thats how i learned it!"
-Ihaveaquestion, 2014,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi8LcuceQf4&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=LuciBel
"Down down baby I can do karate" [This video is no longer available]
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E,F
EYE SHOE ANNA
"I met a little dustbin girl
Called Eye-Shoe-Anna
All the boys in the football team
Said Eye-Shoe-Anna
How is your mother?
Alright
Died in the fish shop last night
What did she die of?
Raw fish
How did she die?
Like this".
-Mark, 1/25/97, https://groups.google.com/g/alt.culture.us.1970s/c/25GUvi8yqqo?pli=1
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/04/examples-of-united-kingdom-playground.html for similar rhymes
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G, H
GRANDMA GRANDMA SICK IN BED
"Grandma, Grandma sick in bed
Called for the doctor and the doctor said
Grandma, Grandma, you ain't sick
All you need is a hickory stick."
-From Yo Mama!: New Raps, Toasts, Dozens, Jokes, and Children's Rhymes from Urban Black America by Onwuchekwa Jemie (Temple University Press, 2003; page 104
-snip-
The examples in this book were "Collected primarily in metropolitan New York and Philadelphia during the classic era of black street poetry (i.e., during the late 1960s and early 1970s)" [Google book review]
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GRANDMA MOSES
Grandma Moses
Called the doctor and the doctor said
Get up grandma
You ain't sick
All you need is a peppermint stick!"
-https://www.bethsnotesplus.com/2018/02/grandma-moses.html
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/05/get-up-grandma-you-aint-sick-all-you.html for more examples of and information about that rhyme and the earlier "Ole Aunt Dinah" rhyme.
The "Old Aunt Dinah" rhyme has the words "All you need is a hickory stick" instead of "All you need is a peppermint stick". The fact that these rhymes originated when Black people were enslaved in the United States south and the "doctor" telling the grandmother that she isn't sick and all she needs is [a beating with] a "hickory stick" [for her to get back to work] conveys a far different image than the "peppermint stick" words or the "walking stick" words that are sometimes found in these rhymes.
"Grandma Moses" (and before that "Ole Aunt Dinah") evolved into the very familiar "Grandma Grandma sick in bed/Call for the doctor and the doctor said" verse.
I, J
..."I know I know my ma
I know I know my pa,
I know I know my sister
with the 80 meter bra.
My mother is Godzilla,
my father is King Kong.
My sister is the idiot
who made up this dumb song.
My mother gave me a nickle,
my father gave me a dime
My sister gave me a boyfriend,
his name was Frankenstein.
He made me do the dishes,
he made me wash the floor
He made we wash his underpants
and I kicked him out the door!
I kicked him over London,
I kicked him over France,
I kicked him over Hollywoood
and he lost his underpants."...
-snip-
cocojams.com was the name of my cultural website that was online from 2001-2014.
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I MADE YOU LOOK
"I made you look
You dirty crook
You stole your mother's pocketbook
You turned it in
Your turned it out
You turned it in to a sauerkraut"
--from Azizi Powell's memory of childhood jump rope rhymes (Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1950s)
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JOHNNY OVER THE OCEAN
"Johnny over the ocean,
Johnny over the sea,
Johnny broke a bottle and blamed it on me.
I told Ma,
Ma told Pa,
Johnny got a beating
Ha Ha Ha"
-from Azizi Powell's memory of childhood jump rope rhymes (Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1950s)
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K ,L
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M,N
ME MOTHER HAS GONE TO CHURCH
Ahem! Ahem!
Me mother is gone to church.
She told me not to play with you
Because you're in the dirt.
It isn't because you're dirty,
It isn't because you're clean,
It's because you have the whoopin' cough
And eat margarine!
- http://www.mamalisa.com/?p=422&t=es&c=68
-snip-
This rhyme is listed as an "Irish kids' chant" on that website.
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MISS SUE FROM ALABAMA (Version #1)
"I grew up in and around New Orleans. The first time I remember this was second grade, 1973. It was a hand game song. Each person's right hand hits down while left hand hits up. Then each person's right hand hits up while left hand hits down. Then each person's hands hit in front of them. (Additional hand moves in parentheses.)
All of this while singing:
Miss Sue, Miss Sue, Miss Sue from Alabama.
Hey little girl with the dippity doo,
Your momma's got the measles and your poppa does too.
They've got the A B C D E F G (make a circle around your right temple like signalling that they are crazy)
They've got the H I J K LMN OP (make a circle around your left temple like signalling that they are crazy)
They've got a booster shot... (Soft Karate chop for each syllable on bent arm alternating above and below elbow)
They've got a booster shot... (Soft Karate chop for each syllable on bent arm alternating above and below elbow)
They've got a booster shot... (Soft Karate chop for each syllable on bent arm alternating above and below elbow)
And FREEZE. Both kids freeze first one to move loses. The winning kid might karate chop or might punch the bicept the losing kids arm. My friends and I usually just had bragging rights, ah, you moved, I won.
So that's our version. I spent all of second grade in Terrytown Elementary School.
- Lawyer Assistant, December 21, 2019, http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/11/folk-processing-childrens-rhyme-miss.html "Some Folk Processed Versions Of The Children's Rhyme "Miss Sue From Alabama" [comment]
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MISS SUE FROM ALABAMA (Version #2)
"Miss Sue
Miss Sue from Alabama
Hey you,
scooby do
your Mama's got the measles
Your papa's got the flu
magic measles
magic flu
Take an a b c d e f g
Take an h i j k l.m.n.o.p.
Take a smooth shot
Take a smooth shot
and now freeze."
-Eleanor Fulton, Pat Smith- "Let's Slice The Ice", (Magnamusic-Baton, 1978; St. Louis, Mo.; p. 16)
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MOMMA MOMMA CAN'T YOU SEE
"Momma momma can't you see
What the army's done to me
Took away my MTV
Now I got to watch Barney
Tic Tac Toe
Three in a row
Barney got killed
By GI Joe.
Don't stop till your hands get hot
Don't stop till your hands get red"
-African American girls and boys; around 8-10 years old; Duquesne, Pennsylvania, collected by Azizi Powell, 7/1999
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MY MOM GAVE ME A NICKEL (also known as"Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum")
"My mom gave me a nickel
But I didn't buy no pickle
Instead, I bought BUBBLE GUM
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM
My mom gave me a dime
She said to buy a limeBut I didn't buy no lime
Instead , I bought BUBBLE GUM
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM
My mom gave me a quarter
She said to buy some waterBut I didn't buy no water
Instead, I bought BUBBLE GUM
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM
My mom gave me a dollar
But I didn't buy no collar
Instead, I bought BUBBLE GUM
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM
My mom gave me a five
She said to stay aliveBut I didn't stay alive
Instead, I choked on BUBBLE GUM
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM
i learned that one in elementary school... not sure how i remembered it! have fun... whoever needs this
-i know hand games! ; http://blog.oftheoctopuses.com/; 12/22/2005 [website no longer accessible]
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"My mother said, I never should
Play with the gypsies in the wood.
If I did, she would say;
'Naughty girl to disobey!"
-This is a verse of a British rhyme/song "My Mother Said I Never Should" . Click https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=3566 for an example of a longer version of this song/rhyme.
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O,P
"oooo Shalida, walking down the street,
ten times a week
I meant it. I said it.
I stole my mama's credit.
I'm cool. I'm hot.
Sock you in the stomach three more times."
-This verse is quoted in multiple forms from the movie Big's "The Space Goes" (or The Spades Go" rhyme. This version was part of an example that I found in http://www.ice-cream-freaks.com/ice-cream-song-big.html
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S,T,
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U, V
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W, X
WHEN SUZI WAS A BABY
"When Suzi was a baby
A baby Suzi was and she went
Wah! Wah! Wah wah wah!
Wah wah wah wah wah wah wah!
When Suzi was a schoolgirl
A schoolgirl Suzi was and she went
Miss! Miss! I can’t do this!
I got my knickers in a terrible twist.
When Suzi was a teenager
A teenager she was and she went
Ooh! Ah! I lost my bra!
I must have left it in my boyfriend’s car!
When Suzi was a mother
A mother Suzi was and she went
Brush your teeth! Comb your hair!
Don’t forget your underwear!
When Suzi was a granny
A granny Suzi was and she went
Knit! Knit! Knit knit knit!
Knit knit knit knit knit knit knit!
When Suzi wa-as de- ead
De-ead Suzi was and she went…
(Silence)"
-simonrcarter (from his daughter Ros, 19 years old), November 5, 2018, Mohttps://brandonrobshaw.wordpress.com/2018/11/05/playground-rhymes/ "Playground rhymes" [United Kingdom]
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Y, Z,
YO MAMA DON'T WEAR NO DRAWERS
"Yo mama don't wear no drawers.
I saw her when she took em off.
She threw them in the air...
Superman said "I declare!"
-Optimistic1 (African American female; Illinois); http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=2 "Childhood chants and games......", 12-29-2000
-snip-
"Yo" is a shortened way of saying or writing "Your". This example of this chant doesn't reflect the group's call and response chanting of "ding dong ding ding dong" (or similar words in different examples) after every line".
YOUR MAMA MY DADDY
your mama
my daddy
your bald headed granny
she 99
she think she fine
she break it down like frankinstin.
go frankie
go frankie
go, go, go frankie,
go frankie
go frankie
go, go, go frankie.
my mama
my mama short and fine
she got a butt like mine
and when she walk the street
all cars go beep,beep beep
and when she go down low
she does a rollie o
and when she com up high
she does the butterfly.
stop. drop.
bring it to the top
pop pop
shake skake
vibrate vibrate"
-erika, cocojams.com, 10/26/2006
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YO MAMA YO DADDY
"Yo mama
yo daddy
yo greasy stank granny
she got holes in her panties
she got a big behind
like Frankenstein
your mama got a big oh butt"
-CinciDiva on Feb 13, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMtZXXIHLwY "Yo Mama -- Yo Daddy -- Yo greasy stank granny! LOL!"
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YO MAMA YO GREASY GREASY GRAND MAMMY
"I am 25 now and learned this when I was in KG, i'm from North Carolina.
yo mamma
yo, mamma,
yo greasy greasy grand mammy,
she got a big behind like frankinstine,
it goes beat beat beat like sesame street."
-Erica, cocojams.com, 1/3/2008
-snip-
"KG" = kindergarten
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