Similarities Between The 1970s Sesame Street Clip "Girls Clap About The Letter "K" & The 1980s Foot Stomping Cheer "L.O.V.E "

LittleJerryFan92, Jul 11, 2007
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My transcription of the lyrics for this song is given below in this pancocojams post.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - May 1, 2026

This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series on a Jazz song with the title "L.O.V.E" and a foot stomping cheer with that same title.

This post showcases a 1970s clip that was aired on the Sesame Street children's television series That clip has the same tune, textual  (word) pattern, and very similar performance style as the foot stomping cheer "L.O.V.E".

Unfortunately, I haven't come across any video of that foot stomping cheer. However, this post presents text (word only) examples of that cheer, including the earliest example of that foot stomping cheer that I've come across is from the 1980s in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

Directions about how the L.O.V.E" foot stomping cheer was performed in Pittsburgh are included in this post.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2026/04/nat-king-cole-love-1964-jazz-song.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post showcases a YouTube sound file and the lyrics for the 1964 Jazz song "L.O.V.E" that was recorded by African American singer Nat 'King' Cole.

Information about Nat 'King' Cole is also included in this post.
 
The content of this post is presented for historical, recreational, socio-cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post Thanks also to the publishers of the YouTube examples that are embedded in this pancocojams post or whose link is given in this post.
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A lot of this post was previously featured in a 2023 and 2025 pancocojams post with a similar title. I have deleted those post and substituted them with this one. The only comments that were found in the comment sections of those posts were ones that I wrote. One of those comments is reprinted in the comment thread for this 2026 post. The other comments were about the similarities between the textual (word) structure of the "L.O.V.E" foot stomping cheers and the "Tetherball" foot stomping cheer. I plan to publish a pancocojams post on those cheers and will include the link to that post here..
 
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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTES
The only similarity between the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s foot stomping cheer "L.O.V.E." and the 2964 Nat King Cole's Jazz song "L.O.V.E" is  the titles of these two compositions. That may have been a coincidence as it seems unlikely that the composer/s of that foot stomping cheer would have been familiar with that Jazz song.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SESAME STREET CLIP "GIRLS CLAP ABOUT THE LETTER K"
This showcased clip from the Sesame Street children's television series was created to showcase some words that begin with the letter "k". According to AI Overview (results as of April 30, 2026) this clip first aired on Sesame Street "in the early 1970s".

According to Google Results (2023), "The Sesame Street episode "Celebrating 'K' and 'DOG'" aired in 1995, and featured a clip of girls dancing and chanting about the letter "K". This episode was part of season 26 of Sesame Street".

I'm showcasing this clip in this pancocojams post because the tune for the "kah kah kah k" chorus of this song is exactly the same tune that my daughter remembers (and I remember)  for the "L-O-V-E" foot stomping cheer that she and her friends performed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the mid 1980s.

The self-boasting spirit of the "L.O.V.E" foot stomping cheer is different from the educational, having fun spirit of that Sesame Street chant. 

However, the word structure for the "kah kah kah k" portion of that chant, and the tempo of that Sesame Street chant are the same as the "L.O.V.E." cheer. (Obviously, most of the words for the K chant are different from "L.O.V.E".)

Also, the hand clapping and stepping routine that are shown in this Sesame Street video clip is different from the movements that I observed in the mid 1980s (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) for the L.O.V.E. foot stomping cheer.

Unfortunately, I haven't found any YouTube videos of "L.O.V. E" foot stomping cheers (or YouTube videos of hardly any other foot stomping cheers).

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LYRICS FOR THE SESAME STREET CLIP " GIRLS CLAP ABOUT THE LETTER K" 

All girls chant in unison:

Kah kah kah k (clap)

Kah kah kah k (clap)

Kah kah kah kah kah kah

Kah kah kah k (clap)

The soloist chants:

Well, my name is Keanna

And my letter is K

K like a kite

And you blow me away.

K turns the key

K's a kick on me

All girls chant in unison:

Kah kah kah k (clap)

Kah kah kah k (clap)

Kah kah kah kah kah kah

Kah kah kah k (clap)

All the girls except Keanna chant:

Well, her name is Keanna

Her letter is K.

Another girl chants alone:

K like a kangaroo

Hopping all day.

All the girls chant in unison:

K like a king, a kiss

K is like this -

[The girls point to an upper case letter "K" that is shown in the middle of where they are standing. The video ends with all the girls shouting "K".

The video ends with all the girls shouting "K"!].
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This is my unofficial transcription from this sound file of that Sesame Street Television series clip)

Additions and corrections for this transcription are very welcome.

I don't know if that line "K's a kick on me" is correct.

Here are some differences between the performance of that Sesame Street chant and the foot stomping cheer "L.O.V.E." that I observed in the mid. 1980s (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) :
In performances of  this foot stomping cheer. 

-The girls stood in one line or in a semi-circle facing toward their (often imaginary) audience. The soloist would step forward (about two steps) from her place in that line or in that semi-circle. She didn't stand in front of the center of that line or that semi-circle.) When her soloist part ended, she stepped back (while still facing forward (to her place in that line in that semi-circle.  

An essential element of real (and not modified) foot stomping cheers is that each girl in that group had an equal turn as the soloist for that particular cheer. The fact that this consecutive soloist pattern takes a long time to perform is one of the main reason why foot stomping cheers are modified in the rare occasions that they are performed by real cheerleaders before a competitive game or during half time of an actual competitive athletic school basketball game.    

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EXAMPLES OF THE FOOT STOMPING CHEER "L.O.V.E"

These are the only examples of this L.O.V.E cheer that I've come across either directly or by collecting examples online(as of April 30, 2026)

If  you know this cheer, and/or other foot stomping cheers from the 1980s, 1990s, and on, please share that example or examples in the comment section below. Thanks!

Numbers for these examples have been assigned for referencing purposes only.

L.O.V.E. (Version #1)

All: L-O-V-E. [clap]

L-O-V-E. [clap

L-O-V.

L-O-V.

L-O-V-E.[clap]
Soloist #1: Well, Kayla’s my name. [clap]

And love is my game.[clap]

I got this boy on my mind [clap].

And Lord knows he’s fine. [clap]

He calls me his girl. [clap]

His number 1 girl.[clap]

I don’t know his sign, [clap]

But Taurus is mine. [clap]
All: L-O-V-E. [clap]

L-O-V-E. [clap]

L-O-V.

L-O-V.

L-O-V-E. [clap]
Soloist #2: Tamika's my name. [clap]

And love is my game. [clap]

I got this boy on my mind. [clap]

And Lord knows he’s fine. [clap]

I got his name on my shirt. [clap]

And don't call it dirt.[clap]

Don’t you worry bout my lover. [clap]

Cause there is no other. [clap]

(Return to beginning and repeat with a new soloist. That soloist repeats the same verses or similar verses. This pattern continues until everyone in the group has had one turn as the soloist with this cheer.)
-Tazi M. Powell.(African American female; remembrance of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the mid 1980s; performed by African American girls ages around 8-12 years old; Collected by Azizi Powell, 2/1996 although I had observed performances of this cheer in the 1980s.
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The beat for the "L.O.V.E" foot stomping rhyme routine that I observed in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania (in the East Liberty/Garfield neighborhood) used what I believe was the main beat pattern for foot stomping cheers: "stomp clapclap stomp". That beat pattern continues like a metronome throughout the entire foot stomping cheer, with each soloist without any interruption for every iteration of the cheer. Note: All foot stomping routines begin with the right foot.

However, the movement routine for "L.O.V.E" differs from the other foot stomping cheers that my daughter Tazi M. (Powell) Hughes and her friends performed in that it included a quick crisscross jumping motion for the last stomp in its "stomp clapclap stomp" routine.

The "criss cross" jumping motion is part of the lyrics & dance movement for DJ Casper's   African American originated 2000 hit line dance "Cha Cha Slide". 
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZv62ShoStY Mr C The Slide Man - Cha-Cha Slide (Official Video)  published by MrCTheSlideManVEVO, Jun 16, 2009

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Here's a 2021 YouTube video short of a demonstration of  the criss cross jump. 

Criss Cross Jump

@byndphysical, April 29, 2021
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This quick jump movement replaces the toe tapping motions that the girls in the Sesame Street clip "Girls Clap About The Letter K".

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Here are the performance instructions for the L.O.V.E. cheer that my daughter wrote on October 28, 2018 after she reminded me how she and her friends did that cheer:

[Girls stood in a half circle facing their (usually pretend) audience. While chanting, the girls would move this way. ]

"1. Right leg stomp forward - for the letter "L"

2. Jump open with both legs - "O"

3. Jump close with both legs -"V"

4. Right leg stomp forward" - "E"

Then clap your hands one time.

Continue this pattern for the entire cheer."

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L-O-V-E (Version #2)
"I am a 25 year old African American woman from Eastern North Carolina.

The section on the chant L-O-V-E caught my attention we used to do this

when I was younger. We would stand in a circle and we would clap our hands and stomp our feet sort of tapping out the words L- O-V-E.

 Group: L-O-V-E, L-O-V-E, L-O-V, L-O-V, L-O-V-E

First Person: Erica's my name love is my game I got this boy on my mind

he's looking real fine he calls me his girl his number one pearl

 Then you move on to the next person and they repeat the same thing

only with their name in place.
-name and posting date not known (I accidentally deleted this information when I retrieved this example from my no longer available cocojams.com website.)
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Notice the commenter's reference to "tapping out the words L-O-V-E". It's interesting to note that the girls in that Sesame Street "Letter K chant" tapped their feet when they sung the chorus to that chant.

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L. O.V.E (Version #3)
"on da playground-

L.O.V.E. L.O.V.E. L.O.V L.O.V. L.O.V.E

Well Terrie's my name

and Love is my game

I got da boys on my mind

Most of da time

Capricorn's My Sign

Say Wha?

Capricorn's My Sign

Say Wha?

Capricorn, Capricorn

Capricorn's My sign!"
- Geechie Gurl, August 26, 2009; http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=118895016491
“When I be a gal in da Ya'd! Memba Dese..Just a few of em”’ 

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L.O.V.E. (fragment) Version #4
"Love these!! Anybody remember one that goes "L-O-V-E love L-O-V-E love, ...is my name, ...is my game, something something! Lmao, I can't remember the rest man, it used to be some footwork with it though!
-KaLa Roberts,2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zEcsIfe6lU&t=387s&ab_channel=Geneas 90s Hand Games [comment] This video is no longer available.

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This concludes Part II of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

1980s New York Times Article About African American & Hispanic Girls Performing Foot Stomping Cheers In Brooklyn, New York

 Edited by Azizi Powell

This is a complete reprint of a pancocojams post that was originally published in 2016. That post is still available on this pancocojams blog (with minor changes and additions).

This pancocojams post is a transcription of a [1986?]* New York Times article about Black girls' & Hispanic girls'  cheers.** 

The Addendum to this post presents the only two comments that are found in that 2016 pancocojams post's discussion thread. I wrote both of those comments. Additional comments may be added to that 2016 post. Comments may also be added to this 2026 post.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, folkloric, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Susan Hartman, the writer of this article and thanks to all those who are mentioned in this article.
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*The copy of that New York Times article that is available online has the date "198-" with the end of that date not shown. However, the year "1986" is mentioned in that article.
 
**These cheers aren't the "rah rah team" cheerleader cheers that are generally performed by school or community based cheerleader squads, but are examples of what I refer to as "foot stomping cheers". These cheers are also called "steps" or "cyphers".

I coined the term "foot stomping cheers" in the early 2000s to differentiate those cheers from the other, more commonly known category of cheerleader cheers which I refer to as "mainstream cheerleader cheers" or "rah rah cheerleader cheers". "Mainstream" here means cheerleading squads that are all White or are majority White. In contrast, historically, most of the girls who performed (or perform ?) foot stomping cheers are Black and/or Hispanic.

It seemed to me that a separate term for foot stomping cheers was (and is still) needed because the textual structures & performance styles of foot stomping cheers are different from that of mainstream children's cheerleader cheers.

The term "foot stomping cheers" refers to a group/consecutive soloist form of call and response. What I mean by "group/consecutive soloist" is that the group voice comes first, and is followed by a response from a soloist. Also, each member of the group has one equal turn as soloist after each rendition of the cheer. Historically, the movement routine that accompanies these cheers closely resembles the steppin' movements of historically Black Greek letter fraternity or sorority steppin.

In addition, while "mainstream" cheerleader cheers were/are mostly performed by White community and school based cheerleading squads during athletic games, foot stomping cheers were/are historically informally performed by pre-teen and younger Black and/or Hispanic girls. That said, "foot stomping cheers" should be considered a sub-set of the general category of cheerleader cheers. Also, an increasing number of school and community "mainstream" children's cheerleader squad are performing what appears to me to be mostly modified versions of some foot stomping cheers.

Click the foot stomping cheer tag and other tags below for more pancocojams posts that provide information, comments about and examples of "foot stomping cheers". Some of those pancocojams posts showcase versions of the "Hollywood" cheer that is mentioned in that article. Other pancocojams posts showcase examples of the "Fly Girl" or "Candy Girl" cheers that are mentioned in this New York Times article.
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Coincidentally, the first name of one of the girls who is mentioned in this article is "Aziza". That name is the Arabic female form for my (adopted) Swahili (African) name "Azizi" (which is usually considered a male name- I'm a female). 

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ARTICLE TRANSCRIPTION: NEW YORK TIMES: "IT'S NOT RAP. GIVE A CLAP AND A TAP AND CALL IT CHEERS"
by Susan Hartman [New York Times, 198-; pages C1 and C6] 

From http://www.susanhartman.net/assignment_pix/cheers.pdf  [Update- April 22, 2026: This link is no longer active.[The copy of that New York Times article that is available online has the date "198-" with the end of that date not shown. However, the year "1986" is mentioned in that article.]

"Everybody asks us, 'Can you teach us how to do the cheers?', said 11 year old Elbe Vasquez of Brooklyn. "But when we taught a girl from the Bronx, she told the whole world."

"You can share them", said her cousin Jackie Rendon, also 11. "But if it gets around too much, it sounds played out. It isn't exciting no more."

What these girls call "cheers" is a rapping, clapping, foot stamping game that has become popular in many Brooklyn neighborhoods this summer. It draws from the cheers the youngsters have learned in schools, rap music, traditional childhood games, and their own experiences. The dramatic routines are performed in lines of three to eight girls. Typically, they run one minute to three minutes, and include solos and choruses.

The routines are done in parks and on subways by Black and Hispanic youngsters. Their main stage however is "the sidewalk": "That abstract world which is the richest place for make-believe." said Elliot Willensky, who grew up playing sidewalk games such as boxball and hit-the-stick and wrote about them in "When Brooklyn Was The World: 1920-1957" (Harmony Books, 1986).

"Never, never would we be caught dead in a park or a playground", wrote Mr. Willensky, who is now the vice chairman of New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Playgrounds, he said in an interview, presupposed a kind of regimented activity; the sidewalk gives kids the freedom to do what they want."

Or, as Jackie put it, "It's more fun here" on her favorite stretch of sidewalk near Prospect Park in Brooklyn. "I'm too old for the park".

When they do their cheers, Jackie and her friends can pretend to be older, powerful, and in control. "which

Continued on Page C6
is the whole nature of so many kids' games, Mr. Willensky said.

"You feel important, like you can do it".

The girls can be sexy or macho; they can be as "bad" as their favorite rappers, Run- D.M.C. and LL Cool J.

"Ooh, she think she's bad", chanted Elbe and her friend Aziza Torres, 10, and Peachie Navarro, 11. The three girls were circling Jackie on the sidewalk on recent evening doing their cheer "Hollywood Go Angels".

"Baby, I know I'm bad", Jackie answered, mocking.
"Ooh, she thinks she's cool", said her encirclers, stamping closer.
"Cool enough to steal your dude", Jackie answered.

In another cheer, the group got tougher. "Huh, I beat you down", they teased Elbe, who pretended to fall. "Huh! Right to the ground."
"Huh!, she called back, rising. "I'm coming up - Huh! - To beat you up.

The girls work the alphabet and numbers into their cheers. And they frequently open with their names or nicknames. "I'm Shorty!" sang Aziza in "Fly Girls". "I'm Swee-ie", announced Elbe, next in line. "Lovely!", Peachie called herself. "I'm Sexy! sang Jackie.

Many cheers deal with the physical changes of adolescence. The girls do a kind of hokey-pokey to the tune of New Edition's "Candy Girl" for example, but instead of putting their "right foot in", they shimmy forward with their chests and hips and then their buttocks.

"Ooh, look at that body, ain't it fine?" they sang to Jackie in "Hollywood Goes Swinging".

In the early evening parents often watch from their stoops amused. "But sometimes they don't like what we say and they walk away," says Aziza referring to the sexually oriented lyrics.

"They feel proud of us", insisted Elbe. "They know we put a lot of work into the cheers".

Neighborhood boys also watch and sometimes call out teasingly. "But it's not a boy's thing," Jackie said. "If you look at a boy clapping his hands and stamping his feet"- she laughed- "it just doesn't look right."

References to social problems crop up in the cheers. In "Betty Boop", the girls sang:
"One by one, I'm having fun.
Two by two, my boyfriend too.
Three by three, got the herpes...
Nine by nine, welfare line.
Ten by ten- gremlin!"

"Once when we went to Manhattan, we saw a homeless man in front of an office building," Elbe said. "He was singing something that sounded like "Lachichu lamain". So on the subway home we made up a cheer called 'Lachichu'". But only the name recalls the homeless man. The cheer celebrates the girls themselves: "We're light and lovely! Crabby or ugly!"

"First we all talk about it", said Elbe, explaining how a cheer is created. "We get stuff from cheers at school, from the radio, from Channel 31 and from my cousin Ruthie who brings us back cheers from Puerto Rico. She teaches us in Spanish and we translate."

The cheers aren't always performed in an amicable spirit. Aaron Goodwin, a 37 year old X-Ray technician and one of the children's neighbors, says he sometimes acts as referee "when they fight or leave somebody out."
"But mostly, they play nicely," he said.

"It's lively", said his wife Linda Carr Goodwin, 36, a secretary, who often watches the cheers with their 9 year old daughter GeeGee.

On hot summer days the girls don't begin their cheers until late afternoon. Sometimes, they are still going strong at 10 PM.

"The feeling pushes you - move, move, move", Jackie said. "You stop when you don't feel comfortable no more. When you're too tired and sweaty."
"Or cranky", Aziza said.
"When you got no more emotions", Jackie added.

When they reach that point of exhaustion the sidewalk clears for a few minutes. Some youngsters are called to bed. Some rest on the stoops in their parents' arms.

Then, slowly, the sidewalk fills up again, in new configurations of children on bicycles and skateboards, of boys expertly shooting skelly caps, and of girls soaring above the sidewalk in complicated double-dutch jumps."
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This transcription is by Azizi Powell.

 *The article was featured in the paper's Home section with photographs. The article's date is  "August 11, 198__". The remainder of the year isn't shown, but the year 1986 is mentioned within that article as the publishing date for a particular book.

While this featured 1986 [?] newspaper article indicates that these cheers became popular in Brooklyn neighborhoods that summer, the earliest date for these types of cheers that I've found is 1976 in Washington, D. C. (as per "Old Mother Hippletoe record notes http://www.newworldrecords.org/liner_notes/80291.pdf, Band 3 Cheerleading). I've also found excerpts of what I call "foot stomping cheers" in Mama's Girl by Veronica Chambers, a book about a Black girl growing up in Brooklyn, New York in the 1970s.

My research concurs with this article that historically these cheers were almost always performed by Black and/or Hispanic girls, pre-teens and younger (My research suggests the starting age of 6 years old, but I've read comments about girls ages 4-5 years old doing cheers.)

From my direct observations of Black girls performing foot stomping cheers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and some of its surrounding communities, I believe that if a young girl is "good at doing cheers" (i.e. if she is good at learning and performing particular cheer routines and the lyrics for those cheers), older girls will prefer to do the cheer with her than with an older girl who has more difficulty learning and doing the cheer. Therefore, doing cheers provides perhaps rare opportunities for younger girls who are good at this activity, to interact with, learn from, and gain social status with older girls.

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ADDENDUM - COMMENTS FROM THE DISCUSSION THREAD OF THAT 2016 PANCOCOJAMS POST

Azizi PowellJune 3, 2016 at 12:10 PM

This 1980s New York Times article on sidewalk cheers ("foot stomping cheers") mentions the following cheers: "Hollywood Goes Angels", "Hollywood Goes Swinging", "Fly Girl", "Luchichu", and "Betty Boop".

I've directly collected examples of "Hollywood Goes Swinging" and "Fly Girl" from Pittsburgh (1980s, 1990s, 2000s). And I've found online examples of these same cheers with those names (or, in the case of "Hollywood Goes Swinging", also cheers with similar names) from various African American communities of those two cheers. I've also found two online examples of "One by one, I'm having fun" although they weren't called "Betty Boop". Those examples are quite risque. Here's one example from
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=31403&page=5
4-01-2003, 02:10 PM
Kisha
What about ...

1 and 1 we were having some fun in the bedroom,
all day and all of the night
2 and 2 he pulled off my shoe in the bedroom
all day and .....
3 by 3 he undressed me in the bedroom
all day and....
4 by 4 he shut the door in the bedroom
all day and....
etc.
-snip-
Comment:
4-01-2003
candygirl
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Oh my goodness. This is really taking me back. I swear I didn't know what I was talking about. Well I knew I was talking about sex but it was so innocent.
-snip-
Another example of that cheer is found in that 2003 discussion whose participants were members of historically Black Greek letter sororities. Given some their comments, I think that most their rhyme memories were from the 1980s.
-snip-
Notice the screen name "Candy Girl". That article also mentions the New Edition's song "Candy Girl". I collected an example of a foot stomping cheer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that was based on that song and had that title. That version of "Candy Girl" includes lyrics from that R&B/Hip Hop record-
Group:"Candy Girl, All My World/ Looks so sweet/Special treat"... The soloist then says- This is the way I do the [says dance name]
The cheer then returns to the group part in the beginning and the next soloist says "This is the way I do [says a different dance].
This continues until every girl has a turn as the soloist.

-snip-

The lines "I'm going down...I'm coming up... to mess you up" that are mentioned in the article are found in a number of foot stomping rhymes.

The only cheer that I'm not familiar with which was mentioned in this article is the one the girls' made up and titled "Lachichu". By the way, the writer of this article indicated that "The cheer celebrates the girls themselves: "We're light and lovely! Crabby or ugly!" I think that that line might have been meant to be "We're light and lovely! Not crabby and ugly."

ReplyDelete

Replies

1. 
   Azizi PowellJune 3, 2016 at 12:13 PM

   With regard to the phrase "light and lovely"- this may have been a play on the hair care brand name "Dark And Lovely". Those hair care products are mostly marketed to African Americans, but Hispanic girls in New York City would have certainly heard of them.
   
   The word "dark" in those hair care products refer to skin color. The word "light" in that cheer might also refer to skin color or might have just been an instance of alliteration without and intended skin color put down.

   Delete

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Foot Stomping Cheers Demographic Information: City & State Locations In The United States (1970s through 2010) Complete Reprint

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents general information about foot stomping cheers and provides a list of foot stomping cheers that I have come across that include demographic information (city/state or some other geographic location references).

This 2026 post replaces the now deleted pancocojams posts 2017 and 2021 posts on this subject. That 2021 post had three comments that I wrote and added to that post's discussion thread. One of those comments is given as Addendum #2 to this 2026 post.

Pancocojams posts include many more examples of foot stomping cheers than the ones that I've found with geographical information.

Also, read Addendum #1 given below about the cocojams.com citation that is given for some of these examples. 

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.  

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DISCLAIMER
The 1970s through 2010 time frame for this post reflects my direct collection activities and my my daughter's collection activities. (My daughter's name is given as "TMP" in a number of these Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania examples.I have only found a few examples online of what I would categorize as foot stomping cheers after 2010. If you are aware of any examples of these cheers after 2010, please share those examples.

**
It seems very likely to me that there were foot stomping cheer examples in many cities during the 1970s through 2010 that aren't included in this geographical demographic list.

**
YouTube's Feb. 2019 decision to disable comments for most of its children's videos meant that most comments that included examples of children's rhymes, singing games, and cheers (including foot stomping cheers) that hadn't been previously retrieved (by me and others) were forever lost and the opportunities to read/collect other (old or new) examples were also lost.

Click https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/28/18244954/youtube-comments-minor-children-exploitation-monetization-creators for an article about the reasons why YouTube decided to disable comments for most children's videos.

**
The collection of  foot stomping cheers that are found in the alphabetized pancocojams pages include many more cheers which were published without geographical citations. 

**
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list.html for Part I (Numbers - C) of this series. The links to the other four pages of my Pancocojams compilation of foot stomping cheer are found on that post and every post in that series.

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S COMMENTS
This post provides a list of city/state demographics for examples of foot stomping cheers that I have directly collected, or my daughter performed or directly collected from a summer camp that she attended and later where she was a counselor.

In addition, this post includes a list of foot stomping cheers that cite cities/states for the foot stomping cheers that I have found (as of this date) either online (by "surfing" the internet) or off-line (in a vinyl record or in books), or that I have received through email.

Some text (word only) examples of these foot stomping cheers are included after their titles.

For the words to most* of the foot stomping cheer examples that I've come across as of this    date (March 14, 2021) click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list.html for Part I of a five part alphabetical listing of foot stomping cheers. The links to the other parts of this series are included in each post. 

*I didn't include all of the examples that I've come across of the once very popular cheers such as "Gigalo". Note that "Gigalo" and the (also very popular cheer "Hollywood Swinging") were also performed as hand clap rhymes. My sense is that the foot stopping cheer version of these rhymes preceded the hand clap versions.

"Foot stomping cheers" are also called "cheers", "steps", "chants", "dancing games", and other referents. In her 2006 book The Games That Black Girls Play, Kyra Gaunt uses the term "cheers" and wrote that "cheers" are called "scolds".

Most of the examples of foot stomping cheers that I've directly collected are from African American girls (mostly between the ages of 7-12 years) in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area*. While I've included "the Pittsburgh Pensylvania area" as one of the city/states listed, this post mostly focuses on compiling a list of other United State city/states with pre-2000 examples of foot stomping cheers.

As of the date of this post's publication, I've not found any examples of foot stomping cheers  in any country but the United States, except for examples of "Shabooya Roll Call" which was popularized by its inclusion in the 2006 cheerleader movie Bring It On All Or Nothing. If you know of any other examples of footstomping cheers that are performed outside of the United States, please add that information in the comment section below.

*In the context of this study, "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area" means many Pittsburgh neighborhoods that are considered "Black" or "mostly Black" neighborhoods" such as (my home location) East Liberty/Garfield, as well as Homewood, and the Northside. In the context of this post, the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania area also includes certain nearby communities such as Braddock, Pennsylvania and Rankin, Pennsylvania. 

In the context of this study, "Pittsburgh Pennsylvania area" includes those examples that I collected from children (mostly African American girls ages 7-12 years) who attended two after school programs that I started in 1999 to around 2004-Alafia Children's Ensemble- (one in Braddock, Pennsylvania and one in Pittsburgh's East liberty/Garfield community where I lived and still live).

(Note that versions of the same cheers from Pittsburgh neighborhoods or from Pittsburgh area communities (such as Braddock, Pennsylvania and Rankin, Pennsylvania) are often at least somewhat different. However, some examples of certain cheers from the same neighborhood over decades might be the same or very similar.)

****
DEFINITION OF AND MY GENERAL COMMENTS ABOUT "FOOT STOMPING CHEERS"
"Foot stomping cheers" is my term for a sub-set of children's cheerleader cheers which appears to have originated among African American school girls in the mid 1970s. Briefly put, foot stomping cheers are formulaic compositions which have a modified call & response structure that I refer to as "group/consecutive soloist". What "group/consecutive soloist" means is that the group voice is the first voice that is heard in those cheers. A designated soloist responds to the rest of the group's words and those voices alternate until that rendition ends (usually with the soloist's voice or the soloist & the rest of the group's voice). However, the cheer immediately begins again with the next designated soloist and this pattern continues until every member of the group has had a turn as the soloist.

Foot stomping cheers are chanted while their performers execute choreographed, syncopated, percussive movement routines that are very similar to African American originated Greek lettered fraternity & sorority stepping (steppin). Most foot stomping cheers use this beat pattern: "stomp clap/ stomp stomp/ clap". Another beat pattern is "stomp stomp clap/ stomp stomp clap." Those two standard beat patterns appear to be used for all foot stomping cheers. Moderate tempo 4/4 beats created by those foot stomps alternate with the chanters'(individual) hand claps, body pats (especially thigh pats), and less frequently, finger snaps. Because these 4/4 beats are omnipresent in R&B, Hip-Hop, Rock, Gospel, and other forms of music, foot stomping cheer routines aren't that difficult for many African Americans (and others) to learn.

The well known 1977 record "We Will Rock You" by Queen is an excellent example of a Rock song that has a 4/4 beat and therefore could serve as a backdrop for a foot stomping routine (recognizing, of course, that foot stomping chants aren't meant to be performed to recorded music).

The "Shabooya Roll Call" cheer that is performed in the 2006 cheerleading movie Bring It On All Or Nothing is probably the most well known example of a foot stomping cheer, although I consider the stepping/dance movement that the girls do in that movie while chanting that cheer to be quite exaggerated.

****
LIST OF CITY (AND STATE) WITH EXAMPLES OF FOOT STOMPING CHEERS
The city/state names are given in alphabetical order. With the exception of examples from "Pittsburgh Pennsylvania area", the titles of the foot stomping examples that I have collected or found online etc.

Because my "collection" contains so many examples from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (from the mid 1980s to sometime in 2009), I've chosen not to add the names of those examples under the Pittsburgh, PA. area entry. Instead, when an example from another city is the same or similar to one or more versions from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, I've noted that with these words in parenthesis (example/ multiple examples same/similar in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area). When versions of that examples are also found on other examples with no demographic I've added this note: (multiple examples same/similar in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and elsewhere throughout the United States).

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list.html for Part I of a five part alphabetical listing of foot stomping cheers that includes these city/state demographics, including those for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. The hyperlinks for the other posts in that series are given on each posts in that series.

These entries are given in alphabetical order. The entries include the city (and/or state) name [given in bold font*] then the name/s of the examples, the way the example/s were collected, and the date of collection/retrieval. Some other editorial notes may be included after some of these entries. I've also added the words to the three examples that I've found which are from the late 1970s.

*bold font added March 12, 2021  

A, B
Ann, Arbor, Michigan
"Oolay Oolay"* in The Games Black Girls Play by Kyra D. Gaunt, (page 77) contributor Tomika and Laura, mid 1990s
-snip-
This is a version of the cheer "Hula Hula", (multiple same/similar examples in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and elsewhere throughout the United States)

**
Atlantic City, New Jersey
"Introduce yourself" [late 1970s, Atlantic City, New Jersey]
"Hey girl, hey you, introduce yourself. Introduce yourself."
Then each individual girl says a rhyme about themselves, like,
"My name is Joan (group says "check") I'm from AC ("check") I come to say ("check") Don't mess with me ("Check it out")
-Joan C.(Anglo-American female ; chanted by Black, Latino, and White girls at Catholic High School in Atlantic City, New Jersey, late 1970s; electronic message to Azizi Powell; 2/11/2007 (via Mudcat) 
-snip-
; (multiple same/similar examples in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and elsewhere throughout the United States)

**
Birmingham, Alabama; 1990s
“Angels Go Swinging”, posted in cocojams.com (my no longer active cultural website)
(version of "Hollywood"; (multiple same/similar examples in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and elsewhere throughout the United States)

****
Brooklyn, New York [Read the entries below for New York City.)

****
C, D
Chicago, Illinois
[version] "Tell It, Tell it" (also known as "Tell It Like It Is"
Chrystal Smith, comment dated July 14, 2017 (comment in discussion thread for vlog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfzHL_1PdbY
Let's Discuss: Black Girl Childhood Hand Games and Sing Songs")

**
Also, from Chicago, Illinois, (early 1980s) noted in The Games Black Girls Play by Kyra D. Gaunt; contributor: LaShonda (pages 182) "Planet Rock"

**
"Hollywood Swinging"; (multiple same/similar examples in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and elsewhere throughout the United States)
**
"Take Your Time"

**
Also, Chicago Illinois:
"[insert name] Got The Rhythm"
comment from Jennifer Martin (posting as a guest on I'm Rubber . You're Glue: Children's Rhymes thread, Mudcat , Feb 3, 2012
"When I was growing up in Chicago in a primarily African-American neighborhood in the mid 70s (This was probably 1976-1978) we used to do a song where a small group of us would stand in a circle and take turns doing little dance solos with different body parts, for example if Jane, Susan and Mary were in the circle we would all sing:

 "Jane's got the rhythm, rhythm in her arms" and while Jane would move her arms around we'd all sing "Umm, check it out, umm-umm check it out", then "Susan's got the rhythm, rhythm in her hips" and Susan would swivel her hips around while we all sang "Umm, check it out, umm-umm check it out" and on and on with each kid doing a different body part (head, legs, butt, waist, etc.) we all agreed in advance who would do each body part before we all started singing.

It's 35 years later and I still get that song stuck in my head sometimes and nobody here in California seems to have ever heard it..."

**
"Tell It"
[comment]
Yes!!!! I grew up in Chicago and me and my aunt JUST had this conversation!!! How about "tell it, tell it tell it like it is. I go to school (tell it tell it)

Smoking kools (tell it tell it)

I walk the streets (tell it tell it)

10 times a week (tell it tell it)

I'm number third (tell it tell it)

Smoking herb (tell it tell it)....

& the nonsense continues. Smh... my grandmother wouldn't let us sing that one.
-Chrystal Smith, 2017,  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfzHL_1PdbY&ab_channel=EbonyJanicePeace  "Let's Discuss: Black Girl Childhood Hand Games and Sing Songs"
-snip-
I've found a number of versions of this cheer online without any city/state demograpics. 

**
South Chicago (Chicago Heights), Illinois
Ruth Nicole Brown was born and raised in South Chicago (Chicago Heights), Illinois (quoting the  forward of the book xvii Black Girlhood Celebration: Toward a Hip-hop Feminist Pedagogy by Ruth Nicole Brown, 2008

[page 43 of that book]
"In “Eastgate” cheers were “serious” Black girl battles. In a social and cultural capital sense we were gangs. Groups of girls formed a posse and challenged girls on any street corner in particular to battle using our words and cheers to rhyme, our bodies to make beats.

Tell it tell it tell it like it is (uh hun)
tell it tell it tell it like it is
My name Nicole (tell it tell it)
I’m on the line (tell it tell it)
And I can do it (tell it tell it)
To the Capricorn sign (tell it tell it)
And you know what? (what?)
And you know what (what?)
Your man was in my body and he did some karate and he
knocked on my door, but he didn’t get no more.

That’s how I remember one of my favorite cheers"...

**
Chicago, Illinois
"Gigalo"
Rafeldelaghetto, June 26, 2017 in https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/black-girl-rhymes-what-was-yours-growing-up.1196979/page-2 "Black girl rhymes: What was yours growing up)
(quoting another commenter Zazu who listed words from several rhymes and then wrote
"My hands up high my feet down low

And this the way I gigolo (this was a dancing game)".

(Rafeldelaghetto then wrote: "Yasss are you from Chicago? I remember all of those." 

Later in that discussion Zazu wrote: "Yes, I am! Where ever I made friends in Chicago, we did all of these."
-snip-
WARNING: Some examples and rhymes on that discussion thread contain profanity, sexually explicit references, and the n word.

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Cleveland, Ohio
"Check"
Shelly H. (African American female, Cleveland, Ohio, mid 1980s., collected by Azizi Powell in the early 2000s.

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Denver, Colorado
"Ola Ola"* in The Games Black Girls Play by Kyra D. Gaunt, (page 78) contributor Arielle [1995]
-snip-
This is a version of the cheer "Hula Hula", (multiple same/similar examples in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and elsewhere throughout the United States)

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Detroit, Michigan
"Hula Hula (version beginning with "Step, step, take a step"
-Cookie, http://thechocolatetease.blogspot.com/2013/03/childhood-rhymes.html, March 11, 2013

****
E, F
Elkhart, Indiana:
"Introduce Yourself Roll Call"; from Sonjala; memories of the late 1970s and early 1980s; collected by Azizi Powell (multiple same/similar examples in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and elsewhere throughout the United States)

All: Chick – boom Ah Ah chick a boom roll call
First Person: Hey Sonji
Second Person: Yeah baby
First Person: Hey sonjie
Second Person: Yeah baby
First Person: Introduce your self
Second Person: Right on
First Person: Introduce your self
Second Person: Right on my name is sonji
First Person: Check
Second Person: I like to sing
First Person: Check
Second Person: And when I sing
First Person: Check
Second Person: I do my thing
All: OOOOHHHH roll call Chick a boom, ah ah chick a boom roll call

Then each person is “called” one at a time. They make up a rhyme about what they like and the cheer repeats itself {African American girls; Late 70’s – early 80’s Elkhart Indiana}
-Sonjala A. (African American female); collected by Azizi Powell, 3/15/2008


Also, "Tab" from Sonjala; memories of the late 1970s and early 1980s; collected by Azizi Powell
-snip-
Elkhart, Indiana is about two hours by car from Chicago, Illinois.

****
Fayetteville, North Carolina
"I TT I TI TI" [cheer title]
"I live in fayettville,nc i am 9 my cuzin taught me this

I TT I TI TI Break it down I TT I TI TI Break it down My name
is Euraja and I'm the ist Cheerleader And when I break
it down I break it I break it to the ground And when I get
up I don't get stuck And there aint nothing to it yall Can't
do it."
-aja; 10/4/2008, cocojams.com
-snip-
cocojams.com was my multi-page cultural website. That website was active from 2000 to Nov. 2014 when I deactivated it. A number of rhymes and cheers that were featured on that page came from children. pre-teens, and teens since there was an easy to use page for examples that people could fill out without an email address and only using their first name (and hopefully other demographics such as age and city/state). I reposted many of the rhyme and cheer examples that were on cocojams.com on my cocojams2 blog https://cocojams2.blogspot.com

****
Fort Worth, Texas (Tarrant)
from CBWELLS26, 1/2/2001, http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=4 childhood chants and games

cheer name: "Suffocated Lady"

..."Does anyone remember these two songs?
[first one "Little Sally Walker")....

"the second one all the girls would get in a circle and chant & clap

Suffocated lady, Suffocated la-dy(this is said twice), then the first girl would sing

I'm a bad bad girl from a bad bad town, it take a thousand n%$%@* just to hold me down, if you don't like my apples don't you pick em (not them) off my tree cause I'm after you're lover and he's after me. (this is repeated until every girl in the circle gets her turn)"...

****

G, H,
Houston, Texas
From Apples On A Stick: The Folklore Of Black Children by Barbara Michels and Bettye White (1983; p. 14);
"Hollywood Rock Swinging"- (multiple examples same/similar in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and elsewhere throughout the United States).

**
"Hula Hula"- (multiple examples same/similar in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and elsewhere throughout the United States).

****
I, J

****
K, L
Los Angeles, California
Tether ball (three examples)
1) Milan W; November 18, 2009, cocojams.com
-snip-
Milan W added this comment to her version of this cheer
"Little black girls at Windsor Hills Elementary School in Los Angeles, CA during the early 1990s chanted this rhythmic taunt in a circle on the playground"
**
2) bitsy196; http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=4 ; “remember when”’-06-25-2003
-snip-
bitsy196 prefaced this example with this comment: ..."I remember one that surprisingly (sp?) has not been said.I grew up in LA and I am sure this made across the US"...

**
3) "You Know I shake The Best"
-Nikkole Salter, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfzHL_1PdbY "Let's Discuss: Black Girl Childhood Hand Games and Sing Songs" [comment]

**
"Tetherball"
-Nikkole Salter, 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfzHL_1PdbY "Let's Discuss: Black Girl Childhood Hand Games and Sing Songs" [comment]
"This is an L.A. perspective:... This first one is not so much a hand game as much as it is a cipher:  You know, I shake the best, hey, hey/ You know, from the east to the west!  My name's (enter your name) and my favorite color's black (or whatever color you like) / I took your man and you won't get him back, hey hey / You know, I shake the best, hey, hey/ You know, from the east to the west! (and every person gets a chance, state your color and your bravado in rhyme)... 

Then there was this other call & response cipher (which I don't hear too many people mention outside my generation and region)... Tether ball, tether ball/Oosha, asha!/Tether ball, tether ball/Oosha, asha!  My name's (enter your name) (tether ball), super cool, (tether ball) You mess with me (tether ball) You's a fool (tether ball)  I got this man (tether ball) On my mind (tether ball) You mess with him (tether ball) Your butt is straight up mine.  Oooh.  Tether ball, tether ball/Oosha, Asha! etc.  -- You make up your own rhyme of bravado..."

**
Super Fly Girl 
-Westside Jaguars (Los Angeles, California), posted by LABELmeCUTE on Jul 31, 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=68&v=aearuurOh_w
-snip-
This updated version of  the "Fly Girl" cheer is performed by a cheerleading squad.  Gymnastic movements are performed by some of the cheerleaders during their solo.  

****
M. N.
Memphis, Tennessee

"Hula Hula"
Who now Who now, Now who think they bad
Who now Who now, Now who think they bad
I do
I know I'm bad cause Afro's my name
Uh Huh
Football's my game
Uh Huh
Black is my color dont u worry about my lover
Um she think she bad
Bad bad super bad, bad enough I know I'm bad
Um she think she tough
Tough tough super tough tough enough to kick your butt
Um she think shes fine
Fine enough to blow Eric's mind
Um she think she's cute
Cute enough to steal your dude
-Afrochic (Memphis, Tennessee), http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=31403&page=5 Old School Chants, 03-30-2003

****

Midway, Georgia 
"Jiggalow"
This is how it goes in Midway, Georgia.) Jiggalo, Jig, Jigggg----alooooo. Jiggalo, Jig, Jigggg----alooooo. Group: Hey _____! Person: Yeah? Group: Are you ready? Person: For what? Group: To Jig! Person: Jig what? Group: Jigalooo! Jigalooo! Person: Well, my back aches My bra (belt, pants, Dickies) to tight. My booty shake from left to right. With the sky up high And my J's down low This the way I Jiggalo (does a cute, short dance) Group: Well, her back aches Her bra (belt, pants, Dickies) to tight. Her booty shake from left to right. Wit the sky up high And her J's down low And this the way she Jiggalo (copies their cute, short dance) (Repeats with new person)
-Brianna (Midway,Georgia); 9/26/2008, cocojams.com

**** 

Milton, Florida
from kisses, 1/1/2001, http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=3 childhood chants and games

"Does anyone remeber the cheers we used to do?

Really uh uh really uh uh

Really my name is kisses
really my sign is sropio

say what
scorpio
say what

cause I'm more than a dollar I can make your boyfriend holler cause I'm sweet and fine like a bottle of wine cause I'm a pro

say what

a P R O
say what
I'm a triple P triple R triple O
a sexy pro.

****
New York City, New York (East Brooklyn)
"We Are The Ridgewood girls", -Yasmin H., (Latina), via email to cocojams.com, 2/25/04 (memories of East Brooklyn, New York, in the late 1980s.)

**
"Rock The Boat"
Rock the boat,
Rock, rock the boat
[repeat]
My name is Yasmin (rock the boat)
I know I'm fine (rock the boat)
Just like my sign (rock the boat)
My sign is Leo
I go bang-bang choo choo train
Wind me up and I do my thing
Reeses pieces butter cup
Don't mess with me, cause I'll mess you up,
Rock the boat, rock rock the boat...
-Yasmin H. (Latina female; memories of East Brooklyn, New York, in the late 1980s), 2/25/04
-snip-
The words in parenthesis were chanted by the other members of the cheerleading squad.

This cheer was found in multiple cities.

**

New York City (Brooklyn, New York)
"A Bull Dog"
-Mellie Grant, Jun 24, 2017, https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/black-girl-rhymes-what-was-yours-growing-up.1196979/page-2 
-snip-
WARNING: Some of the examples and comments on that lipstickalley.com discussion thread contain profanity, sexually explicit content, and/or the "n word".

Mellie Grant noted that she was from Brooklyn [New York]. This version of "A Bull Dog" includes the line "And then you disco like Sisquo". That referent to Sisquo helps date this version. c https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisq%C3%B3
"SisQó), is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor. He is most prominently known for "The Thong Song," his membership in Dru Hill, and has also released solo material. Sisqo's successful debut solo album, Unleash the Dragon (1999), included the hit singles "Thong Song"[4] and "Incomplete"....

Years active : 1995–present"
-snip-
Therefore this version of that cheer couldn't have been chanted until 1995.
 
The exact same version of "A Bull Dog" cheer was posted by dijah.love (Location: New York); Apr 25 2008; http://forum.blackhairmedia.com/lil-girls-hand-games_topic128043_page5.html 
This may have been the same person.

I've added a comment from that blackhairmedia.com discussion to the comment section of this pancocojams post. That comment mentions "doing steps" when she was 8 years old.

I collected a version of this cheer that doesn't include the name "Sisquo" from three African American girls in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2000.

I also have come across another example of "Bull Dog" and a very similar example called "Panthers". Neither of those examples include the name Sisquo and they are given without any demographics.  

WARNING: Some of the examples and comments on that blackhair.com discussion thread contain profanity, sexually explicit content, and/or the "n word".

**

"A Boom Boom Tick" [Read the entry below for Washington, D.C.]

**
"Hollywood Go Swinging"
A reference to a "Hollywood Swinging" cheer is included in this New York Times article: 
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/nyregion/thecity/19jump.html "The Jump Rope Girls, 20 Years On" By Susan Hartman, Oct. 17, 2008

[photo caption: "The Parkside girls in 1988 — Elbe Vasquez, far left, Peachie Navarro, and Jackie and Steffie Rendon"]

Here's the only line of that cheer that is given in that article:
"Oh , look at that body, ain’t it fine?” they sang to Jackie in a cheer titled “Hollywood Go Swinging.”

That article may refer in general to other foot stomping cheers without using that term.

****
O, P

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
From Recess Battles: Playing Fighting, and Storytelling by Anna R. Beresin (University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, 2010, page 104-105, in the section of that book whose sub-title is "Steps"), African American girls, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

"Fly Girl" (1999) (multiple same/similar examples in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and elsewhere throughout the United States)

**
"Hollywood" (1992) (multiple same/similar examples in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and elsewhere throughout the United States)

**
"I Work" [1992]

**
"Pump It Up" (1992) (multiple same/similar examples in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and elsewhere throughout the United States)

**
"Shoo shoo Sharida" (1992)

**
"Telephone" (1992) (A similar cheer is included in a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area version of "Cheerleader"; also examples of "Telephone" found elsewhere throughout the United States)

**

"A Boom Boom Tick" [An example of this cheer is given below for Washington, D.C.]

**
"Really" (1992)
This cheer was "really" popular in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the early 1990s. I've collected versions from the greekchat.com website, from lipstick alley.com, and from cocojams.com (all without locations and decade when the cheer was performed).

****
Also, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

"Jump In The Car" (as well as a version of the cheer "Telephone" that includes profanity & sexually explicit references that the commenter notes that she said when she was 9 years old.)

Here's that version of "Jump In The Car": 

"jump in da car...
step on the gas
move to the side
and let (ur name here) pass
she said a oooih uhhh look atr that booty
oooh uuuuhh ain't she fly
ooohh ahhh look at that booty
wish she was mine
-datbeyoncehair (Location Philly), Apr 25 2008; http://forum.blackhairmedia.com/lil-girls-hand-games_topic128043_page4.html Lil Girls...Hand Games!
-snip-
WARNING: Some examples and comments on that discussion thread contain profanity and/or sexually explicit references..

-snip-
Versions of "Jump In The Car" cheers were found in multiple cities.

**
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (and some nearby communities)
Most of the examples of cheers in my collection are from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, including those which are noted as such in the parenthesis in this post.

Here's a few of the foot stomping cheers that were found in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area which are also found in at least one other African American community if not in more than one other African American communities throughout the USA:

"Bang Bang Choo Choo Train"
-snip-
"Bang Bang Choo Choo Train" is a VERY widely known recreational composition that is performed as a hand clap rhyme and as a cheerleader cheer. Both the hand clap rhyme versions and cheer versions have basically the same text, but it I believe that "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train" is usually performed by some Black Americans and most other Americans as a unison chanted hand clap routine. Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/08/bang-bang-choo-choo-train-rhyme-cheer.html for more information about this rhyme/cheer.

**
"Candy Girl"
-snip-
This was posted as a cheer (Los Angeles, Cal.) in the Black Greek sorority women's "remember when" discussion and was also mentioned as a handclap rhyme in The Games Black Girls Play

**
"Disco"
-snip-
This cheer includes the line " what you gonna do when they come for you?" I collected it in Pittsburgh and it was also posted to cocojams.com (no location given). Of course, the person posted it could also have been from Pittsburgh area.

**
"Get Down"
-snip-
In this cheer, the group commands a soloist to "show me how you get down". That line is also given as "Show me how to get down". ("Get down" meaning - to dance really well, to dance in a funky, seductive manner.) I first documented this cheer in the mid 1980s from my daughter and her friends. I collected examples of this cheer in Pittsburgh with almost the same exact words up to around 2006 (I stopped directly collecting recreational rhymes around 2008). An example of this cheer with similar wording was posted on cocojams.com with no location.

**
"Really"
This cheer was "really" popular in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the early 1990s. I've collected versions from the greekchat.com website, from lipstick alley.com, and from cocojams.com (all without locations and decade when the cheer was performed).

**

"Jay Jay Kukalay"
Soloist #1: Jay Jay Kukalay
Group: Jay Jay Kukalay
Soloist #1: Salesah lahndah
Group: Salesah lahndah
Soloist #1: Step back, Shalanda (or back, back Shalonda)
Group: Step back, Shalanda
Soloist #1: Oosh, my lover boy!
Group: Oosh, my lover boy!
Soloist #1: I’m callin on,
I’m callin on
I’m callin on - Rhonda
-T.M.P. (African American female; from her memories of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the mid 1980s); Also collected by Azizi Powell; in 1998 (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Garfield- the same collection neighborhood as in the mid 1980s)

I also collected a version of this cheer from Washington. D. C. entitled "J. J. Cool Aid" (This is how the contributor wrote this title.) Read my notes about this cheer in the Washington, D. C. entry in this post.  

**
"Gigalo"
I collected foot stomping cheer versions of "Gigalo" in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ("Gigalo" is also performed as a hand clap rhyme). Here's a large excerpt of a comment that I wrote in November 25, 2007 on http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63097 Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes? -Note: The words in brackets are what I added today to help clarify what I meant by what I wrote in 2007.

[...]

"Gigalo"
All:
Gig ah lo-o
Gig a lo-o
Gig ah lo-o
Gig gig a lo-o
Group:
Hey, Kayla *
Kayla:
What?
Group:
Are you ready to gig?
Kayla:
Gig what?
Group:
Gigalo
Kayla:
My hands up high
My feet down low
And this is the way
I gig a lo
Group:
Her hands up high
Her feet down low
And this is the way she gigalos

* substitute the soloist's name or nickname

{repeat from the beginning with the next soloist, and continue until everyone in the group has a turn as soloist}

Girls stand in a horizontal line. While chanting, they step to a percussive, continual stomp clap/ stomp stomp/clap beat. When the girl who is the soloist responds "What?", she says it with attitude {like "Why are you bothering me to ask a question?"}. When she says "My hands up high my feet down low" She raises her hands and sashays down to the ground, in a sensual manner. When she says "This is the way I gigalo", she does a fancy step to the beat. The group then imitates her foot movement. The cheer then repeats again with the next soloist whose name is called and she does her soloist step.

Btw, recently, I've seen the soloist move to the front of the horizontal line when it's her turn to do her soloist {this does not mean moving in front of the other performers in the center of the line-but just moving in front of where she was standing}. When her soloist turn ends, she moves back to the line. Also btw, the girls don't stand in consecutive order 1 through 4 for instance. And the order of soloist {who is first, second, etc often depends on who calls out those numbers first at the beginning of this informal "play" activity}.

[Similar to] handclap rhymes, performers [are] {usually but not always girls as young as 5 years and usually no more than 12 years old}. [The girls basically] stand in [the same] place. The emphasis is on chanting while executing hand clap and hand slap partner routines. These routines can also be done with three people or four {two sets of two partners}. There are also larger group handclaps, but those are often lightly competitive while partner/three and four person handclaps aren't.

In contrast, foot stomping cheers are all about the creation of bass sounding percussive sounds made by the feet and also the hands and body patting. These synchronized, chreographed routines are performed by girls about the same age as those doing handclaps, but usually at the upper end of that age group. While foot stomping routines include handclapping, there are no partners-you clap your own hands and never touch the body of anyone else. The performers {like handclap routines, usually girls} basically stand in place or if they do move, they don't move far from their starting place, and they quickly return back to it.

These foot stomping routines are very much like the African American art of steppin."...

****
Q, R

****
S, T

San Francisco, California
"Introduce Yourself"
group: Hey (name) individual: yeah group: introduce yourself
individual: no way group: introduce yourself ind.: ok...
my name is (name) group: yeah ind.: and i am proud
group: yeah ind.: thats why i cheer group: yeah
ind.: so very loud, so check me out
-Janice, (San Francisco, California) 10/11/2006, cocojams.com
-snip-
I've found multiple examples of "introduce Yourself" cheers in other USA cities, including in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and surrounding area.)

****
U, V

****
W, X

Washington, D.C
"Cheering Is my Game" -1976 Washington, D. C. school girls, in Band 3 "Cheerleaders" of 1978 vinyl record "Mother Hippletoe"; (multiple examples the same/similar in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area)

and

"Hollywood Now Swingin/Dynomite" -1976 Washington, D. C. school girls, in Band 3 "Cheerleaders" of 1978 vinyl record "Mother Hippletoe" ("Hollywood Swinging"- (multiple examples the same/similar in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area)
-snip-
Band 3 "Cheerleading" of the 1978 vinyl record "Mother Hippletoe" includes four examples of what the author of the record notes calls "cheers". Two of these examples* ("Cheering Is My Game" and "Hollywood Keeps Swingin/Dynomite") have the textual structure that I consider a signature characteristic of "foot stomping cheers". These are the earliest examples of foot stomping cheers that I've found. I've collected multiple examples of both of those cheers among African American in various parts of the United States.

Here are the words to Cheering Is My Game:
Dn Dn Dn Dn Dn (Twice)
CALL: Barbara. Barbara is my name.
RESPONSE: Dn Dn Dn Dn Dn (similarly)
Cheering is my game.
Freddy. Freddy was my man.
But Ken is my main man.
Dn Dn Dn Dn Dn (Twice)
Cheer continues until each girl announces her name and her boyfriend’s name.
-"Old Mother Hippletoe, Rural and Urban Children's Songs"; Barbara Borum and other Washington, D.C., schoolgirls, vocals.
-snip-
"Cheering Is My Game" is an early version of the "Cheerleader" cheer. I collected a rather basic mid 1980s "Cheerleader" from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and a much longer version of "Cheerleader" also in the mid 1980s from from Rankin, Pennsylvania which is about twenty minutes from one part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

"Cheerleader" is a form of the "introduce yourself" subset of foot stomping cheers. The first Bring It On high school cheerleader movie (in 2000) featured a couple of "introduce yourself/"roll call" cheers. The third movie in that franchise, Bring It On:All Or Nothing (2006), includes "Shabooya Roll Call", a VERY widely known example of an "introduce yourself". In the cafeteria scene ofn that movie, the high school cheerleaders performed an (albeit) exaggerated form of a step routine to the "Shaboya Roll Call" cheer. However, it should be noted that a version of "Shabooya Roll Call" was chanted by African American men and boys in a scene in Spike Lee's fictional 1996 Get On The Bus movie about the Million Man March on Washington, D.C.

For the record, a young Black woman I met in the Washington, D. C. area told me that she and other teenagers "said a cheer" that had a word like "Shabooya" before Spike Lee's movie, but she that was the only thing she remembered about that cheer.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-right-rhyming-pattern-for-shabooya.html for a pancocojams post about "Shabooya Roll Call".

**
Here are the words to Hollywood Now Swingin / Dynomite
HOLLYWOOD NOW SWINGING/DYNOMITE
Hollywood now swingin'! (4 times)
CALL: Name is Nita.
RESPONSE: Hollywood now swingin'!
Similarly
I know how to swing.
Everytime I swing.
Stevie come around.
CALL: He popped me once!
He popped me twice!
All I felt was -dynomite!
RESPONSE: Dynomite, dynomite! (Twice)
Dynomite!
CALL: Here she is.
RESPONSE: Dynomite!
Similarly
Foxy Brown!
You mess with me,
I'll shoot you down!
Down, down,
To the ground,
Up, up,
CALL: Just out of luck!
RESPONSE: Dynomite, dynomite! (Twice)
-Barbara Borum and other Washington, D.C. schoolgirls, recorded in 1976 in Washington, D. C.; record notes by Kate Rinzler, "Old Mother Hippletoe, Rural and Urban Children's Songs"
-snip-
This versions combines two stand alone cheers. The "Hollywood Keeps Swingin" cheer is the one that is very widely found throughout the USA.

**
Other Washington D.C. examples:

"J. J. Cool Aid"*, from a White American woman living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who indicated that she grew up in predominately Black neighborhood of Washington, DC; She performed this cheer for me in the 1980s in response to a relatively informal, voluntary  written survey of rhymes that people remember from their childhood (Game song/Cheer survey of co-workers, Family Health Council, Pittsburgh, PA, 1999 by Azizi Powell.) (one exampleof J. J. Cool Aid is "Jay Jay Kukalay" that I collected in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.)
-snip-
*This was that women's spelling of that title. I've no doubt that the source of "J.J. Cool Aid"  and "Jay Jay Kukalay" is the Ghanaian children's song "Kye Kye Kule" often given as Che Che Kulay" or similar spellings.

**
"Chocolate City", collected in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Lillian Taylor camp from a girl who lives in Washington D>C and attended Lillian Taylor camp (Pittsburgh area) with her Pittsburgh cousin; in 1990. [Lillian Taylor Camp was attended by mostly Black girls & boys ages 5-12 years from various neighborhoods throughout Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My daughter (TMP) was a camp counselor who audio-taped a number of cheers that the girls knew (She didn't teach these cheers to them).

**
"A Boom Boom Tick"
Hey Posse, YEAH break it down with the carwarsh

Yeah I said, A BOOM BOOM TICK, TICK A BOOM TICK (x2) (while doing the carwash dance)
Hey Posse, YEAH break it down with the Unabomber
yeah I said, A BOOM BOOM TICK, TICK A BOOM TICK (x2)

I actually think this one was strictly a DC thing.
-_ConcreteRose, Aug 09 2012, http://forum.blackhairmedia.com/i-went-downtown-to-get-a-stick-of-butter_topic345408_page4.html
-snip-

On that same date, another blogger with the screen name Wynter responded to that comment by writing "we use to sing this in elementary school and Im from NYC".

****
Y, Z

Ypsilanti, Michigan
"Jigalow"
In The Games Black Girls Play by Kyra D. Gaunt, (pages 80- 82) contributors: Jasmine and Stephanie, mid 1990s [?]
-snip-
This version of "Jigalow" combines "Jigalow" with "Introduce Yourself". The examples of "Jigalow" ("Gigalo") that I collected from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania were/are? performed as handclap/imitative rhymes. "Jigalow" rhyme/cheer appears to have been widely known in the USA. Versions of "Introduce Yourself" cheer were also widely known throughout the USA.

****
OTHER DEMOGRAPHICS (STATES) 

Connecticut: cheer title "Hula Hula"
"Hula Hula" 
Hula Hula
Who thinks she's bad now
Hula Hula
Who thinks she's bad)

I think I'm bad
'Cause Shelly's my name
Black is my color
And love is my game

(Ooh, She think she bad)
[posturing] Ooh, I know I'm bad.

(Ooh, she think she bad)

Ooh, I know I'm bad

(Ooh, she think she bad)
Chile, go kiss my ass (or “Chile, your breath is bad” or “Chile go take a bath”)

repeat rhyme from the beginning.
-bublackberry (African American woman); Connecticut; emailed to Azizi Powell, 11/11/05 .

****
Eastern North Carolina. cheer title "L-O-V-E"
I am a 25 year old African American woman from Eastern North Carolina.

The section on the chant L-O-V-E caught my attention we used to do this

when I was younger. We would stand in a circle and we would clap our hands and stomp our feet sort of tapping out the words L- O-V-E.

Group: L-O-V-E, L-O-V-E, L-O-V, L-O-V, L-O-V-E

First Person: Erica's my name love is my game I got this boy on my mind

he's looking real fine he calls me his girl his number one pearl

Then you move on to the next person and they repeat the same thing

only with their name in place.

-no name or date recorded, cocojams.com
-snip-
This example was posted on my cocojams.com website but I neglected to save the contributor's name and the date that it was aadded to that site.

****
Louisiana (state): cheer title: "Chili Chili Bang Bang"

We used to do a chant where we all made a circle and somebody stood in the middle. The words in parenthesis are what the person in the middle would say:

Chili chili bang bang
Let me see you do yo' thang,
(I cant!), Why not?,
(I just can't), Why not?,
(My back hurt, my bra too tight,
my hips shake to the left, to the right,
to the left and to the right! Hey!)

And the girl in the middle had to move her hips as she sang. It was sooooo funny then because we all thought we were FINE anyway! ROTFL!!
-MsAnn (African American female; Louisiana) http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=4123&page=3 Childhood chants and games......; December 30, 2000
-snip-
Versions of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" are also performed as a hand clap rhyme.

****
Virginia (state): cheer title: "Fly Girl"

FLY GIRL 
Fly girl!
Fly girl
Fly girl
Flyyyyyyyyyyyyyy girl

Fly girl
Fly girl
Flyyyyyyyyyyyyyy girl

Well my name is VACHICK and I'm and fly girl
It takes 100 boys to rock my world ( I should not have been cheering about this!)
I fly like butterfly, sting like a Bee
And that's why they call me SE-XY!!
-Virginia chick, http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/43158-Hood-Cheers, 8/18/2016
-snip-
Based on the number of examples I have come across with and without geographic locations*, the "Fly Girl" appears to have been a popular foot stomping cheer.   

*Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania city and some surrounding communities was one of the cities where this exact same version of "Fly Girl" cheer was performed. 

reference to "the South"
"I can faintly remember but one of them went something like

1) my name is strawflower (friends: yea)
im really fine (yea)
I'm from the south (yea)
And Ill blow your mind (yea)

It was done with a LOT of sass
-Strawflower, June 25, 2017, https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/black-girl-rhymes-what-was-yours-growing-up.1196979/page-2 Black girl rhymes what was yours growing up?

WARNING: Some examples and comments on this lipsticstickalley.com discussion thread contain profanity and/or sexually explicit references. 

****
The Midwest: cheer titles:
"Roll Call"

"Hump-dee-dump"
Here's that comment (without an example of "Down Down Baby" that was also shared.)

"Is the Midwest up in hea? I see some of y'all!

1) Roll call check me out, roll call check me out

My name is ____, check

I go to school, check

I know I'm cool, check

Cause I can turn around, touch the ground, get back up and party down. *We said this as we were doing it. My party down was usually a variation of the cabbage patch with lots of 'tude.*

[...]

Hump-dee-dump (2x)

My name is _____. Dee-dump

I go to school. Dee-dump

I know I'm cool. Dee-dump

Cause I'm as fast as a dollar and nobody can make me holla but my man.*Said with 'tude and a body roll when we say man.*
-Double Platinum, June 25, 2017,  https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/black-girl-rhymes-what-was-yours-growing-up.1196979/page-3 Black girl rhymes what was yours growing up?

WARNING: Some examples and comments on this lipsticstickalley.com discussion thread contain profanity and/or sexually explicit references. 

-snip-
The asterisks were included in this comment, but no explanation was given for them. " 'tude" is an informal short form of the word "attitude".

The inclusion of the "Hump-dee-dump" cheer means that it's likely that both of these cheers are from the 1990s (since the Hump-dee-dump" cheer almost certainly was inspired by the 1990 Hip Hop tune "The Humpty Dance" by Digital Underground.

****
ADDENDUM #1: Comments About Sharing Demographics On My Cocojams Website
Cocojams.com was a multi-page cultural website that I founded and hosted from December 2001 to October 2014.  

it appears that many children and pre-teens submitted rhymes, cheers, and other children's recreational material on that cocojams site. In part that was because that website included an easy to fill out content submission form that needed no email address,

Along with their first name and last name initial, cocojams.com contributors were asked to share their city/state or share their nationality if they lived outside the United States. To protect the contributors' privacy, I only published the contributor's first name and (if they gave their last name) the initial for their last name. Although I requested racial/ethnic and other demographic information, few contributors to my cocojams.com site included that information.

The largest number of people who shared demographic information shared the city that they live in. The smallest number of people who shared demographic information shared information about their race/ethnicity (with "ethnicity" usually meaning Latino/a in the USA).

****
ADDENDUM #2- Pancocojams Editor's Note About Kyra D. Gaunt Made About Black Girls' Cheers

[This is a comment that I wrote in the discussion thread for the now deleted 2021 pancocojams post about Demographic Information Of Foot Stmpin Cheers

In her 2006 book "The Games Black Girls Play..." Kyra D. Gaunt wrote:
[page 183]
"What was fascinating, which I was unable to research and include in this book, was how many of LaShonda's versions of cheers [she remembered cheers and not handclapping games or double-dutch rhymes] involved a great deal of individual improvisation within the collective expression of many chants. it was the first time that I had observed this phenomenon, the invention of vocal expression in the context of social performance of a girls' game. Does that suggest a change in the transmission or performance practice of girls games?....Was Chicago in the early 1980s somewhat a different locale of expression than outside Detroit, where I collected games in 1994-95? This can only be left for further study."
-snip-
I believe that Kyra D. Gaunt is correct in her speculation that what I refer to as "foot stomping cheers" and what she refers to as "cheers" or "scolds" mark a change in the transmission and performance of girls games in that these examples are a relatively new style of children's (mostly girls)' recreational activity.

I also believe that Kyra D. Gaunt was probably correct that, for some reason, examples of these cheers were performed early on - i.e in the late 1970s and early 1980s- in certain African American communities throughout the United States and not in others. I'm sure that one way these cheers traveled throughout the nation before the internet, was by people (family members/friends) sharing them with others. For example, in the 1990s, a version of the Washington D. C. cheer "Chocolate City, came to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania via a girl who attended a Pittsburgh area summer camp while she was visiting her Pittsburgh cousins.

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