On A Mountain Stands A Lady - A skip rope rhyme
Megan Firth, Jun 14, 2020
A long rope rhyme for more than one skipper
-snip-
The words for this example is given below.
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This is the Part III of a four part pancocojams series about the children's singing game and skipping (jump rope) rhyme entitled "On The Mountain stands A Lady" (or similar titles).
Part A of this post showcases a YouTube video example and some text (word only) examples of "On A Mountain Stands A Lady" recreational rhymes from various online sources.
Part B of that post showcases a YouTube video example of "There Stands A Lady On A Mountain" circle game and the lyrics for that example.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-history-of-on-mountain-stands-lady.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post presents an excerpt about this singing game and rhyme from two bluegrassmessanger.com website. The second website indicates that the earliest documented example of "On The Mountain stands A Lady" is from 1846 with some sources for that song dating from 18th century Britain.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/05/on-mountain-stands-lady-part-ii.html for Part II of this pancocojams post. That post presents a 2025 Facebook post about a 2012 Isle of Man sound file by Violet Corlett of "On The Mountain Stands A Lady". Some comments from that post's discussion thread are also included in this pancocojams post. These comments include memories of that skipping rhyme mostly from the 1940s - 1970s with one commenter sharing her memory of singing this rhyme while skipping rope in the 1980s.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, socio-cultural, and recreational purposes.
The Addendum to this post provides a general list of the locations that the selected commenters gave for where they lived when they sang this rhyme.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/05/examples-of-on-mountain-stands-lady.html for Part IV of this pancocojams series. That post presents examples and comments about the children's singing game and skipping rope (jump rope) rhyme entitled "On The Mountain Stands A Lady" (or similar titles) from a discussion thread on Mudcat folk music forum.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, socio-cultural, and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this pancocojams post. Thanks also to all those who are featured in this YouTube video and thanks to the publisher of that video on YouTube.
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
This post departs 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.
While some singing games and recreational rhymes that are showcased on pancocojams have been documented to come from Black Americans or from other Black people, all of the examples from those folk genres-such as "On A Mountain Stands A Lady" did not come from those populations.
These examples of and information about "On A Mountain Stands A Lady" are showcased on pancocojams because I'm interested in and like these genres of folk culture. Also, I like learning about the history of songs and rhymes and discovering how some elements of old songs and rhymes are retained in "new" songs and rhymes.
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PART A - WORDS FOR THE EXAMPLE WHOSE VIDEO IS EMBEDDED AT THE TOP OF THIS POST
"On a mountain
Stands a Lady
Who she is I do not know.
All She wants is Gold and Silver
Gold and silver for her beaux
So call on your sister (add your friends name here)
Sister (name), Sister (name)
Call on your sister (name)
She will take your place, Good-day.
(you jump out, your friend jumps in)
**You can substitute the word [sister] for[ brother] and
[she] for [he] if you're skipping with a boy)"
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
The words to this rhyme are given in that video's summary.
This video doesn't indicate the country where the girls live. However, the fact that they describe their activity as "jumping rope rather than "skipping" or "skipping rope" and their accents while speaking English leads me to guess that this video was taken in the United States.]
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TWO ADDITIONAL WORD ONLY EXAMPLES OF THIS JUMP ROPE (SKIPPING) GAME
1. From
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1613657848871679/posts/2842090312695087/ "The Yesteryears Revisited" published by Jeanette Walker ·
a) Jeanette Walker, June 6, 2020
"Who remembers the skipping rope songs in the playground as
children here’s one of my memories
On the mountain stands a lady
Who she is I do not know
All she wants is silver and gold
all she wants is a fine young man
so call in (one of the girls’ names) Sandra dear
Sandra dear, then all fade away…
something like that
Then the next girl comes in to jump over the rope!
Love those skipping ropes!"
-snip-
I reformatted this example to add a space between the commenter's words and the words of this rhyme. I also used lower case letters to designate these comments/examples. All of these examples are from 2020.
**
b) Colleen Swan
"We sang the On a mountain etc at the end .... call in my
Sandra dear as i go out to play. "
**
c). Patricia Walsh
"J remember singing call in my very best friend my very best
friend and her name is ...."
**
d) Jeanette Walker /Author
"Patricia Walsh yes that’s it 😂"
**
e) ·
"In a mountain stands a castle and the owner Frankenstein
With his daughter Pansy potter
Will she be my valentine lol"
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2. From https://ogmundsonstories.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/on-the-mountain-stands-a-lady/
On the mountain stands a lady, posted on February 19, 2014 by warburk2013
"Recess bell rings—out the door we go. The boys run to play
baseball or soccer or marbles. Most of
the girls run out to play hopscotch, bounce the ball or to skip rope. It is grade 5. We are all expert skippers in our little
plaid school dresses with leotards and oxford shoes. There is a paved area where we take turns
turning the rope for the line of singing friends. Everyone is welcome to take a turn. We know how to skip regular, slow rope, high
rope (the rope a few inches from the ground), run through (run through the
turning rope without stopping it or tripping), jolly-o (skipping while twirling
around), coming in the door and going out the door on cue, and PEPPER (skipping
as fast as the rope can be turned). We
play all the time and we always chant a skipping song.
No one supervises us or makes us sign out a skipping rope. There might be a teacher out on the school property but most likely he came out for a quick smoke. We skip through recess and then again at lunch break and for a while after school if we can.
Song:
All she wants is gold and silver
All she wants is a fine young man
So come in dear Lindy, dear Lindy, dear Lindy (Lindy comes in and skips with Rosie)
So come in dear Lindy and I’ll go out to play (Rosie goes out the door)
We do not ask ourselves where this song came from. No one knows.
We are all in the same boat as the lady on the mountain. We would love gold and silver and a fine
young man, but none of us would know what to do with them if they fell into our
lap."...
-snip-
Comments about this example from that Facebook post's discussion thread
a). warburk2013, February 20, 2014
" “Back door” was coming into the skip rope the
harder way–with the rope going away from you"
**
b) bogmundson, February 19, 2014
"How did you remember the verses or songs? Was it like
memorizing prayers?"
**
Reply
c) warburk2013, February 20, 2014
"Well repetition formed grooves in my brain that persist to
today. If I walk or swim for awhile, one of those jingles starts up in my mind.
“Keep the kettle boiling, have a cup of tea, in comes you and out goes me.” One
of my goals in publishing this little story is to perhaps banish them from my
mind after 50 years."
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note: The “fifty years” comment dates subtracted from the 2014 posting date for this
comment means that the commenter remembered these rhyme from 1964.
**
d) Tony O, March 6, 2014
" “All she wants is a fine young man – So come in dear Lindy”-
That could only be Charles Lindberg, the finest young man in the whole world
after his heroic trans-Atlantic flight. That would date that version of the
skipping song to 1927 or 1928."
**
Reply
e) warburk2013, March 6, 2014
"Fine deduction, Sherlock. However the name Lindy is the name
of the hypothetical girl currently skipping in time to the song. Linda was a
very popular name in my day and at one time there were 3 Lindas in my class at
school. One became “Lindy.” She appears in the story because she was my
friend.(She may have been named after Lindbergh but I doubt it). Thanks for the
fun comment Tony"
-snip-
This online post continues with the author's memory of three other rhymes. One of those rhymes includes the referents "Chinaman" and "Jews" which the author and some of the commenters indicated were slurs. I plan to publish a post about that rhyme and those comments ASAP and will include the link to that post when it is published.
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PART B - CIRCLE GAME EXAMPLES
{Pancocojams Editor's Note- Documentation for this song/rhyme indicates that the circle game format is the earliest format for this song/rhyme. Read bluegrassmessanger.com information in Part I of this pancocojams series.)
Dany Rosevear, Aug 18, 2015
For music, chords, more circle games and how to play this
visit: http://www.singinggamesforchildren.com...
A traditional resource for children, teachers, child care
providers, librarians, parents and grandparents or just nostalgia
enthusiasts. Visit
http://www.singinggamesforchildren.com to find many more songs including those
from other countries and also to find out how to play this as a game and see it
in the context of teaching singing games for children.
There stands a lady on the mountain,
Who she is I do not know;
All she wants is gold and silver,
All she wants is a nice young man.
Madam will you walk? Madam will you talk?
Madam will you marry me? NO!
Comments are turned off
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This concludes Part III of this pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
What if I buy you a nice arm chair,
To sit in the garden when you take the air? NO!
What if I buy you a silver spoon,
To feed your baby in the afternoon? NO!
What If I buy you a nice straw hat,
With seven yards of ribbon hanging down the back? YES!"
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This concludes Part III of this pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
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