Racist Rhymes That Influenced "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I Can Do Karate" ("Down Down Baby I Can Do Karate") Rhymes & Non-Racist Examples Of Those Rhymes

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a two part pancocojams series on the hand clap rhymes "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I Know Karate" And "Down Down Baby I Know Karate".

This post presents some text (word only) examples of late 19th century/20th century racist rhymes that influenced the non-racist hand clap rhymes "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I Know Karate", "Down Down Baby I Know Karate", and similar rhymes.

This post also presents some non-racist examples of the hand clap rhymes "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I Know Karate", "Down Down Baby I Know Karate", and similar rhymes.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/05/the-racist-history-of-hand-clap-rhymes.html for Part I of this pancocojams series. That post presents information about the racist history of these hand clap rhymes and hand clap rhymes with similar titles.

This post also presents information about how a much more innocent 20th century children's novel and children's movie influenced those same hand clap rhymes.    

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all the collectors of the rhymes that are presented in this post and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/07/examples-of-anti-asian-references-in.html for the 2013 pancocojams post entitled "Examples Of Anti-Asian References In Children's Playground Rhymes"

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WARNING-This pancocojams post contains some racist content.

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
I am against the rhymes and chants in this post that include derogatory racial or national referents being used in any way except for historical, socio-cultural, folkloric, and/or educational purposes. 

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SECTION (A)

ARTICLE EXCERPT ABOUT "CHING CHONG CHINAMAN" REFERENTS
From https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/07/14/330769890/how-ching-chong-became-the-go-to-slur-for-mocking-east-asians "How 'Ching Chong' Became The Go-To Slur For Mocking East Asians" by Kat Chow, July 14, 2014

[Ching Chong] "is a slur I and many other Asian-American folks have heard at some point in our lives. But every time I hear it, I can't help but wonder, "How is this thing still around? And where did it even come from?"

[...]

..."ching chong" hurled as an insult at Asian folks in the U.S. stretches back all the way to the 19th Century, where it shows up in children's playground taunts. (Because of some mysterious force, it just has to be this way: Kids' rhymes tend to have bleak roots that make us want to hit that "restart-world -from-the-beginning-of-time" button.)

A book by Henry Carrington Bolton from 1886 — The Counting-Out Rhymes of Children — tersely describes this rhyme:

"Under the influence of Chinese cheap labour on the Pacific coast, this rhyme is improved by boys brought up to believe the 'Chinese must go,' and the result is as follows: —

 Ching, Chong, Chineeman,

How do you sell your fish?

Ching, Chong, Chineeman,

ix bits a dish.

Ching, Chong, Chineeman,

Oh! that is too dear!

Ching, Chong, Chineeman,

Clear right out of here."

(And that's no typo. In the book, there was no S in "Chineeman.")

The late 1800s were rife with "yellow peril" and anti-Chinese sentiment. The gold rush and the railroad industry had drawn many Chinese immigrants to the U.S. in the mid-1800s. In 1882, the Chinese Exclusion Act was signed into law, preventing Chinese laborers from immigrating to the States.

But even after the 20th century was off and running, the slur only got worse. Mary Paik Lee, a Korean-American writer, brings up a taunt from the early 1900s in her autobiography, one even more acidic than the rhyme Bolton recounted:

"Ching chong, Chinaman,

Sitting on a wall.

Along came a white man,

and chopped his head off."

That one doesn't even rhyme; it's just racist. (And the context is a depressing story about how Lee was greeted by her classmates with a hit on the neck.) But a young boy in John Steinbeck's 1945 book Cannery Row comes up with a rhyming variation: "Ching-Chong Chinaman sitting on a rail — 'Long came a white man an' chopped off his tail."

The term showed up again in Lee S. Roberts and J. Will Callahan's 1917 ragtime song, "Ching Chong":

"Ching, Chong, Oh Mister Ching Chong,

You are the king of Chinatown.

Ching Chong, I love your sing-song,

When you have turned the lights all down.".

Mimicry, particularly for mocking Asian accents, is the default pejorative mode, according to Kent Ono and Vincent Pham in their book Asian Americans and the Media. The book points out that this form of mockery marks Asian folks as decidedly, unequivocally foreign, that Asians and Asian-Americans are the "other."

[...]

It's been used for more than a hundred years and doesn't seem to be slowing down."...

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SOME EXAMPLES OF RACIST RHYMES THAT INFLUENCED "CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG I CAN DO KARATE ("DOWN DOWN BABY I CAN DO KARATE" RHYMES AND SIMILAR RHYMES.

These quoted sources are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

Source #1
From https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2005-January/045508.html "Ching-Ching Chinaman" (1897) and American Folklore Society", published by Bapopik at AOL.COM Bapopik at AOL.COM; Mon Jan 31 01:28:15 UTC 2005

"JUMP-ROPE RHYMES: A DICTIONARY
edited by Roger D. Abrahams
Published for the American Folklore SOciety by the University of Texas Press, Austin & London, 1969

Pg. 29:

Ching, chang, Chinaman,
Chop, chop, chop,
Eating Candy at the candy shop.
...Abrahams, _SFQ_, 27 (1963), 202 [Texas].

Ching, chang, Chinaman bought a toy doll,
Washed it, dyed it, then caught a cold.
Send for the doctor; Doctor wouldn't come
Because he had a pimple on his tum-tum-tum.
...Douglas (1916), 95 [London]. "...penny doll....and called it penny poll."
...Sutton-Smith, _WF_, 12 (1953), 21 [New Zealand].

Pg. 30:

Ching, Ching, Chinaman
Eats dead rats,
Swallows them down
Like ginger-snaps!
...Yoffie, _JAF_, 60 (1947), 49 [Missouri]"....

****
Source #2
From https://libraries.udmercy.edu/archives/special-collections/cfa/index.php?field=keyword&term=ACTION-RHYME James T. Callow Computerized Folklore Archives, University of Detroiit
"CHING,CHANG CHINAMAN./ SITTING ON A FENCE./ TRYING TO MAKE A DOLLAR

OUT OF 99 CENTS./ HE MISSED, /HE MISSED,/ HE MISSED LIKE THIS.

THIS IS DONE WHILE JUMPING UP AND DOWN AND CROSSING FEET.

 

Where learned: UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT ; EAST 201"
Date learned: 03-00-1971

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Source #3 
 https://soc.culture.asian.american.narkive.com/NljmrMFD/sing-the-popular-ching-chong-chinaman-song - soc.culture.asian.american"Discussion: sing the popular "ching chong chinaman" song!
"Ching Chong Chinaman sitting on a fence,
Trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cents.
Along came a choo-choo train,
Knocked him in the cuckoo-brain,
And that was the end of the fifteen cents.
-z***@hotmail.com, 2005
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note- For the record, I'm not z***.

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SECTION (B) - EXAMPLES OF NON-RACIST "CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG I CAN DO KARATE ("DOWN DOWN BABY I CAN DO KARATE" RHYMES AND SIMILAR RHYMES.
These examples are given in chronological order with the earliest presented example given first.* Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

*This numbering doesn't mean that this is the earliest known example of this rhyme. 

Source #1

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Sittin on a fence
Tryin to make a dollar
out of 15 cents.
She missed, she missed, she missed like this.
She missed, she missed, she missed like this.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
I can do ka-ra-te.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!
I can hurt somebody.
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!
Oops! I’m sorry."
-African American boys & girls , around ages 6-10 years, (Duquesne, Pennsylvania), 1998, collected by Azizi Powell, 1998

(Duquesne is a city that is located near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.)

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Source #2
SHIMMY SHIMMY CHINA
Shimmy, Shimmy China,
I know karate.
Shimmy Shimmy China,
Oops! I’m so sorry.
Shimmy Shimmy China
Sittin on a fence
trying to make a dollar
outa 85 cents
She missed
She missed
She missed like this, like this, like this.
--Shan (12 years & Shala 9 years; Black Females) and their brother Shep (8 years Black male) in the predominately African American section of Garfield in Pittsburgh PA; collected by Azizi Powell, 10/1998

(Continue repeating the entire rhyme until only one player is left. That player is the winner.)

I have also heard “65 cents” for this line instead of “85 cents”.

Play description:
"Shimmy Chimmy China" is performed with unison chanting and rhythmical clapping in pairs, with 3 people, or in a circle with any number of people; When performed as a partner game, players stand in front of each other and one player turns one palm up towards the ceiling and the other palm down towards the floor. The other partner turns the opposite palms up and down. Each strikes the other’s palms. With three or more players, the players hold on palm up and one palm down and strike the palms of the persons standing next to him or her on both sides. Players also do rhythmical “scissors jumps” on beat to the chanted words (scissors jumps are made by crossing one foot in front of the other foot). On the last word, if a player’s right foot is not in front of the left foot, he or she is “out”. The object of the game is to be the last player still in the game.

"Shimmy Shimmy China" is a variant of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", "Down Down Baby I Know Karate", and similarly worded rhymes. I asked the siblings in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who chanted this rhyme what the word "China" meant. They said it was a girl's name. I specifically asked them if "China" was the name of a country and/or if that word referred to Asian people (i.e. "Chinese") and they said "No".

I don't know if these siblings knew any girl whose name was "China". However, there was an African American girl in the elementary school that my daughter taught at (in the early 2000s whose name was "China". That name's "ch" beginning and "ah" ending fits a post 1960s African American aesthetic preference for names (particularly female names. For example, as it just so happens, read the names of the children who contributed this rhyme example.)

 That said, I still believe that the racist "Ching Chang Chinaman" rhymes are precursors of the "Shimmy Shimmy China", "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", and "Down Down Baby I Know Karate" rhymes.

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Source #3
"CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG
Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang I can do karate,
Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang I can shake my body,
Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang oops I'm sorry,
Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang to side to side to side like this."
-https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/lals/research/our-research-areas/new-zealand-english/language-in-the-playground-project/publications/lip70.pdf  New Zealand, ©Laurie and Winifred Bauer 2002 13
NZ Playground Language [page 20]

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Source #4
"CHOO CHOO CHARLIE
Choo Choo Charlie Sitting on a bench ...
Tryin to make a dollar outta 15 cents
he missed he missed he missed like this...

Its one of those clap games....did it when i was in 2nd or 3rd grade
-brittanie; Octoblog, December 4, 2005
-snip-
The Octoblog website (also known as Whee Blog! and other names) is no longer active.

The name "Choo Choo Charlie" probably comes from the 1950s "Good n' Plenty television commercials which featured a little boy pretending he was an train engineer. The title "Choo Choo Charlie" may have been used because of its alliteration, but it's interesting that it mimics the "c" alliteration of the "Ching Chang Chinaman" title for those late 19th century, early 20th century rhymes.

For what it's worth, in those commercials, "Choo Choo Charlie" was drawn as a White boy with freckles on his face.

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Source #5
CHING CHING CHINA
Ching Ching China
Sitting on a bench,
Tried to make a dollar
Out of 65 cents.
She did it, she did it
She did it like this...

(you had to jump w/ this one. first feet apart, then legs crossed, then feet apart again (on and on) and if you landed on "this" with your feet apart, you were a boy, and if your legs were crossed, you were a girl :o )"
-Grace Kim, http://battery-d.livejournal.com/87113.html ; 12/17/2005

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Source #6 
"chitty chitty bang bang i know karate (do karate chops)
chitty chitty bang bang i can shake my body (dance)
chitty chitty bang bang oops I’m sorry (slap your partner in the face   :P )
chitty chitty bang bang sitting on a fence, trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cents, she missed, she missed, she missed like this (I don’t remember what you do here)”…
-aybee77 [location New York], 07-29-2007, https://www.nappturality.com/forums/threads/81695-Clapping-Rhymes-hand-Games/page8
 -snip-
nappturality.com is an online discussion forum for Black women who wear their hair natural]

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Source #7
"DOWN DOWN BABY I CAN DO KARATE
Down down baby I can do karate.
Down down baby I can cut salami.
Down down baby I can call my mommie.
Down down baby I can shake my body.
Down down baby OOPS I'M SORRY. [hit the other persons head.]
-Shalala, December 08, 2008, https://roughdraft.typepad.com/dotmoms/2004/05/theres_a_song_i.html
-snip-
WARNING- That page has one example that includes profanity.

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Source #8
"CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG
this is one we did in school

chitty chitty bang bang
chitty chitty bang bang im sitting on a fence trying to make a
dollar but all i can do is holler she missed she missed she
missed like this she missed she missed she missed like
this chitty chitty bang bang i can do karate chitty chitty bang bang i can hurt somebody chitty chitty
bang bang opps im sorry"
-mariah; cocojams.com, 2/26/2009
-snip-
cocojams.com was my multi-page website that was online from January 2001-August 2014.

A lot of children and pre-teens contributed examples to that website via its easy to use online feature that didn't need an email address. This example was written in run on sentences. That writing style is quite common with people under forty years old who text, and who write on the internet. I think that's because speed is much more highly values than following grammatical rules or spelling correctly.

mariah spelled the word "chitty" with an "s". I took the liberty to substitute that letter with a "c" because I want to ensure that this website is available in educational facilities which might block access because of "bad" words.

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Source #9 
"I used to do a chant/clap game similar to that with my friends in elementary school when I lived in Indiana, it went something like this:

Down, down baby, down by the rollercoaster
Sweet, sweet baby, too sweet, I'll let you go
Shimmy Shimmy coco pop
Shimmy shimmy down
Shimmy Shimmy coco pop
Break down, break down
Two Chinese, sitting on a bench,
Tryin' to make a dollar outta 15 cents
You miss, you miss, you miss like this
This is how me and my boy friend kiss
Like this

Looking back on it now, years later, it seems racist, but I didn't really think about it when I lived in an area that was virtually just Caucasian, even though I, myself, am hispanic."
-GUEST, Alexis, 22Dec 10. https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=100653&messages=24 " Down Down Baby-Race in Children's Rhymes"

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Source #10
"Down down baby
Down by the roller coaster
Sweet sweet baby
Ill never let you go
Shimmy shimmy cocoa puff
Shimmy shimmy shine
shimmy shimmy cocoa puff
Sock it to me one more time.
Two chinese
Sitting on a bench
trying to make a dollar out of. 75 cents
she miss she miss she miss like this"
- GUEST,mandy,14 Feb 13, https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=100653&messages=24 " Down Down Baby-Race in Children's Rhymes"

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Source #11
"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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Source #12
"back in my day it went a little something like this:

Miss Sue (clap clap clap)

Miss Sue (clap clap clap)

Miss Sue from Alabama, her real name's Suzianna

she's sittin in a rocker, eatin Betty Crocker

watch the clock go tick tock tock tock, banana rock

tick tock tick tock banana rock

ABCD123

wash those spiders off of me

mooshka, mooshka, i see mommy

mooshka, mooshka, i know karate

mooshka, mooshka, oops i'm sorry

mooshka, mooshka, FREEZE."

-RespectMyThickness, 2015; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-svfUMX3BM

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Source #13
"CHINESE CHECKERS
Chinese checkers. I can do karate.
Chinese checkers.
I can call my mommy.
Chinese checkers.
ooh I’m sorry.
you better be sorry.
cause I’m not sorry.
itsy bitsy soda pop.
itsy bitsy ooh.
itsy bitsy soda pop.
A boy likes you.
-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Svwim3MzAJ0&feature=related. This video is no longer available.
-snip-
 My apologies. I didn't retrieve the publisher's name and the date of this publication. I remember this rhyme being chanted by a very young White American girl.

This is my transcription of this hand clap game video

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This concludes Part II of this two part series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

The Racist History Of The Hand Clap Rhymes "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I Know Karate" And "Down Down Baby I Know Karate" Rhymes

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two Part pancocojams series on the hand clap rhymes "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I Know Karate" And "Down Down Baby I Know Karate".

This post presents information about the racist history of these hand clap rhymes and hand clap rhymes with similar titles.

This post also presents information about how a much more innocent 20th century children's novel and children's movie influenced those same hand clap rhymes.    

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/05/racist-rhymes-that-influenced-chitty.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post presents some text (word only) examples of 20th century racist rhymes that influenced the non-racist hand clap rhymes "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I Know Karate", "Down Down Baby I Know Karate", and similar rhymes.

Part II also presents some non-racist examples of the hand clap rhymes "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I Know Karate", "Down Down Baby I Know Karate", and similar rhymes.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all the collectors of the rhymes that are presented in this post and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post  
-snip-
Click the "down down baby hand clap rhyme" tag below for other pancocojams posts about these rhymes.

WARNING- This pancocojams post contains racial derogatory referents.

One quote in this post includes a racially derogatory referent. That word is given in this post with amended spelling.

I am against the rhymes and chants in this post being used in any way except for historical, socio-cultural, folkloric, and/or educational purposes. 

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THE LITTLE KNOWN HISTORY OF "DOWN DOWN BABY I CAN DO KARATE" RHYMES
"Down Down Baby. I Can Do karate" is a small sub-section of the Down Down Baby" family of children's recreational rhymes.

Here's an example of  "Down Down Baby, I Can Do Karate" from the Sesame Street television segment Elmo's World. Here's the basic example of that rhyme:

"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 I can eat salami
Down, down baby oops, I'm sorry!"

**
I believe that the "Down Down Baby I Know Karate" sub-section of "Down Down Baby" rhymes developed from the very early 20th century American (United States) racist "Ching Chong" chants. Those chants were directed toward people of Chinese and other East Asian descent.

"Down Down Baby I Can Do Karate" rhymes were also influenced by the 1968 American children's movie and song "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" movie/song is about a refurbished race car that was given that name because of the funny sounds its car whistle made.

I suspect that very few people hearing or reciting these "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I Can Do Karate" rhymes in the late 20th century and in the 21st century are aware of  the racist history of these rhymes. songs and/or connect them to that scarcely remembered 20th century children's movie. However, in the 21st century, the title "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang I Know Karate" probably lost favor to the title "Down Down Baby I Know Karate" because the word "chitty" is too closely spelled and pronounced like the taboo word that begins with a "s". 

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EXCERPTS ABOUT THIS SUBJECT FROM ONLINE SOURCES ABOUT "CHING CHONG CHINAMAN" RHYMES
These excerpts are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

ONLINE SOURCE #1
From https://www.reed.edu/slx-artifacts/artifacts/web/the-term----ching-chong----as-the-representation-of-mocking-asian-community-in-the-u-s.php Sociolinguistic Artifacts: The term “Ching Chong” as the representation of mocking Asian community in the U.S.
"This audio surrounds the concept of “Ching Chong” which is one of many well-known examples that have been used as an insult to Asians in the United States. The concept of “Ching Chong” was initially formed from an anti- Chinese sentiment and were often brought up as a taunt back in the 19th Century. Mimicry, particularly for mocking Asian accents, is the default pejorative mode. The article mentioned that this form of mockery identifies Asians as decidedly, unequivocally foreign, and that Asians and Asian Americans are the “other” and excluded from the American community.

Posted by Julie Kim on October 16, 2017

Tags: Standard Language Ideology; Race,Ethnicity; Stigma

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ONLINE SOURCE #2
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ching_chong
"Ching chong, ching chang chong, and chung ching are ethnic slurs used to mock or imitate the Chinese language, people of Chinese ancestry, or other people of East Asian descent perceived to be Chinese. The term is a derogatory imitation of Mandarin and Cantonese phonology.[1] The phrases have sometimes accompanied assaults or physical intimidation of East Asians, as have other racial slurs or imitation of Chinese.[2][3]

Historical usage

A late 19th century anti-Chinese announcement. 'Ching chong' emerged a slur around the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act in the United States.

While usually intended for ethnic Chinese, the slur has also been directed at other East Asians. Mary Paik Lee, a Korean immigrant who arrived with her family in San Francisco in 1906, wrote in her 1990 autobiography Quiet Odyssey that on her first day of school, girls circled and hit her, chanting:

Ching Chong, Chinaman,
Sitting on a wall.
Along came a white man,
And chopped his head off.[4]

A variation of this rhyme is repeated by a young boy in John Steinbeck's 1945 novel Cannery Row in mockery of a Chinese man. In this version, "wall" is replaced with "rail", and the phrase "chopped his head off" is changed to "chopped off his tail":

Ching Chong, Chinaman,
Sitting on a rail.
Along came a white man,
And chopped off his tail.

In 1917, a ragtime piano song entitled "Ching Chong" was co-written by Lee S. Roberts and J. Will Callahan.[5] Its lyrics contained the following words:

"Ching, Chong, Oh Mister Ching Chong,
You are the king of Chinatown
Ching Chong, I love your sing-song,
When you have turned the lights all down."....

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ONLINE SOURCE #3
From https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2005-January/045508.html "Ching-Ching Chinaman" (1897) and American Folklore Society", published by Bapopik at AOL.COM Bapopik at AOL.COM

Mon Jan 31 01:28:15 UTC 2005

• Previous message (by thread): Antedating of "Journalism"
• Next message (by thread): Slang of 1912 (including "pizzazz")

“Roger D. Abrahams edited two books for the American Folklore Society. One was JUMP-ROPE RHYMES: A DICTONARY (1969) and another is COUNTING-OUT RHYMES: A DICTIONARY (1980). NYU has the former at the New School only, but I've read portions at the NYPL.

Abrahams cites collections of books, but many of these rhymes and sayings first appeared in regional NEWSPAPERS. We now have digitized newspapers, so we should be improving on every entry. ...

CHING CHING CHINAMAN

"Ching Ching Chinaman" is probably one of the most important of children's rhymes, just after they were taught "Ten Little Ni-gers*." Oh, that innocent age.[*Pancocojams EditorThis word is fully spelled out in this wmailt.]

It's clearly from the 1800s, but JUMP-ROPE RHYMES doesn't help much here...The Library of Congress's American Memory seems to be down at the moment.

JUMP-ROPE RHYMES: A DICTIONARY

[examples of rhyme examples with their sources given in upper case letters]

[...]

...Yoffie, _JAF_, 60 (1947), 49 [Missouri].

(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)

A MONOLOGUE UPON CATS.; With Several Incidental Digresions to Other Subjects.

New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Dec 12, 1897. p. 14 (1 page):

[Illegible--ed.] she was a little girl, that was at the time when the children wore their hair braided down their backs and my little niece called after a little girl on the street, "Ching, Ching, Chinaman!" and all about a pigtail, and the little girl hit her, and she fell down and hurt her hip.

(GOOGLE)

http://www.smartfellowspress.com/Invisible/Chapter2.htm

"Ching Ching Chinaman sitting on a fence Trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cents. Along came a Chinaman and hit him on the head. Ching Ching Chinaman fell down dead."

(GOOGLE)

http://faculty.virginia.edu/vafolk/ffv1a.htm

Rhyming Verses: Tippy recited verses to accompany his dancing.The purpose seemed to be two-fold: while maintaining the rhythm of his dance with these stanzas, Tippy added to the overall comic nature of his performances. Some of his rhyming verses were comic variations of standard folk rhymes like:

[End page 37]

Ching, Ching, Chinaman, sittin' on the fence,
Tryin' to make a dollar out of fifteen cents.

Which became:

Ching, Ching, Chinaman, sittin' on the fence,
If you ain't got a dollar give me fifteen cents.”
-snip-
That email continues with other mocking “Chinaman” songs in the United States during the 20^th century.

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AN EXCERPT ABOUT THE "CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG" NOVEL  & MOVIE 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitty_Chitty_Bang_Bang
"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a 1968 children's musical fantasy film directed by Ken Hughes and produced by Albert R. Broccoli.

It stars Dick Van Dyke…. The film is based on the 1964 children's novel Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car by Ian Fleming, with a screenplay co-written by Hughes and Roald Dahl.

Plot

In the 1910s in rural England, two young children, Jemima and Jeremy, are enthralled by the wreck of a champion racecar. When they learn it is due to be scrapped, they return home and beg their father, widower and inventor Caractacus Potts, to save it. To raise money, Caractacus attempts to sell one of his inventions, a musical hard candy whistle; however, the sound attracts a horde of dogs, ruining his sales pitch to the large Scrumptious candy company.

That evening, Caractacus goes to a carnival and attempts to raise money with an automatic hair-cutting machine. Fleeing a furious customer whose hair was accidentally ruined by the machine, Caractacus joins a song-and-dance act. He earns enough money in tips to buy the car and rebuilds it, naming it "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" after its unusual engine sounds.”…

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A VIDEO CLIP FROM THE "CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG" MOVIE 

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang from 1968 | The song with lyrics

Haku Is Free🐉, Dec 24, 2023

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LYRICS FOR THE SONG "CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG"
From https://genius.com/Dick-van-dyke-heather-ripley-and-adrian-hall-chitty-chitty-bang-bang-lyrics
"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Dick Van Dyke, Heather Ripley & Adrian Hall

Track 6 on

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Original Cast Soundtrack)

Dec. 17, 1968

LYRIC:

[CARACTACUS POTTS]

Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

[CARACTACUS, JEREMY & JEMIMAH POTTS]

Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Oh, you, pretty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, we love you
And in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, what we'll do

Near, far, in our motor car
Oh, what a happy time we'll spend
Bang bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Our fine, four-fendered friend
Bang bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Our fine, four-fendered friend”…

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This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome. 

The Alley Cats - Puddin' N' Tain (1963 Doo Wop sound file, song lyrics, and rhyme examples)

PJDooWop, Sep 24, 2009

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Edited by Azizi Powell 

This  pancocojams series showcases a sound file of The Alley Cat's 1960s Do Wop record "Puddin Tane".

Information about The Alley Cats is included in this post along with the lyrics to that song. 

The Addendum to this post provides two excerpts from a 2014 pancocojams post entitled "Early Examples Of The Children's Rhyme "What's Your Name Puddin Tane" ". One of those excerpts provides examples of that rhyme. Another excerpt quotes a folklorist who differentiates the words "puddin tame" (or variant spellings of "tame") with the word "poontang" which has a sexual meaning.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to The Alley Cats for their music, and thanks to the publisher of that sound file on YouTube. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE ALLEY CATS 
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alley_Cats_(1960s_group)

"The Alley Cats were a musical group active in 1960s.

Brice Coefield and Sheridan Spencer belonged to a group named "The Untouchables" who had released unsuccessful singles for the Madison and Liberty labels.[1] At the end of 1962, these two joined with James Barker and Gary Pipkin, who had been with The Robins, and lead singer Bobby Sheen, who was coming off success with Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans,[1] to form The Alley Cats.

[…]

Their first record was their most popular: "Puddin N' Tain", a song based upon a children's playground chant,[2] entered the charts January 1963 and achieved a chart position of 43 in the United States when released on Philles Records 45rpm #108.[5]"...
-snip-
There are a number of music groups with the name "The Alley Cats". The music group that is showcased in this post was an African American 1960s Doo Wop group.

Here's information about Doo Wop music from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doo-wop
"Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated among African-American youth in the 1940s,[1] mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Detroit, and Washington, DC.[2][3] It features vocal group harmony that carries an engaging melodic line to a simple beat with little or no instrumentation. Lyrics are simple, usually about love, sung by a lead vocal over background vocals, and often featuring, in the bridge, a melodramatically heartfelt recitative addressed to the beloved. Harmonic singing of nonsense syllables (such as “doo-wop”) is a common characteristic of these songs.[4] Gaining popularity in the 1950s, doo-wop was "artistically and commercially viable" until the early 1960s, but continued to influence performers in other genres.[5]"....

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LYRIC: PUDDIN' N TAIN

(written by Brice Coefield, Alonzo Willis & Gary Pipkin; performed by The Alley Cats)

Puddin' n' tain, puddin' n' tain
Ask me again I'll tell you the same
Puddin' n' tain, puddin' n' tain
Ask me again I'll tell you the same
Puddin' n' tain, puddin' n' tain
Ask me again I'll tell you the same

You won't believe this story
While I was walking one bright and sunny day
I met a little sweet, sweet girl
Who chanced to walk my way
I asked her, her name
Here's what she said to me

Puddin' n' tain, puddin' n' tain
Ask me again I'll tell you the same

Oh, golly gee
If she would only belong to me
And I would tellw the world
The whole wide world
That I'm in love with

Puddin' n' tain, puddin' n' tain
Ask me again I'll tell you the same

Oh well now she's so pretty she's so fine
She's so sweet just my kind
All because she's pretty
All because she's fine
I want this girl to be mine

Now we're going steady
And I've found out her real name is Betty
I'll tell the world the whole wide world
That I'm in love with

Puddin' n' tain, puddin' n' tain
Ask me again I'll tell you the same

Now we're going steady
And I've found out her real name is Betty
And I'll tell the world the whole wide world
That I'm in love with

Puddin' n' tain, puddin' n' tain
Ask me again I'll tell you the same
(repeat)

Source: https://genius.com/The-alley-cats-puddin-n-tain-lyrics

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ADDENDUM: EXCERPTS FROM 2014 PANCOCOJAMS POST ABOUT THE HISTORY OF AND EARLY EXAMPLES OF THE RHYME "PUDDIN TANE"
From http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/11/early-examples-of-childrens-rhyme-whats.html for the pancocojams post entitled . Note: That pancocojams post also has a number of comments about and examples of the Puddin Tane rhyme.

These are exact quotes from that 2014 post.

The first excerpt provides some examples of that rhyme and the second excerpt quotes a quote a folklorist differentiates between the words "puddin tame" and its variant spellings and the word "poontang" which has a sexual meaning. 

Excerpt #1
From Mudcat: Puddin Tane, posted by Azizi, September 1, 2007
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=104417 Folklore: Puddin Tane & Other Rhyming Sayings
..."The following examples are from this resource: Western Folklore, Vol. 13, No. 2/3 (1954), pp. 190-198 - "Children's Taunts, Teases, and Disrespectful Sayings from Southern California," by Ray B. Browne.

[Note: the numbers ascribed to these examples by the article's author]
27a.
What's your name?
Pudd'n Tame.
Ask me again
And I'll tell you the same.

27b.
What's your name?
Pudd'n Tame.
Where do you live?
Down the lane.
Ask me again
And I'll tell you the same.

[footnotes: from California, also from Alabama, ca. 1935; cf. Musick, 432; for one version same, and one: "What's your name / John Brown / ask me again / and I'll knock you down."]

27c
What's your name?
President Monroe
Ask me again
And you still won't know."

****
Excerpt #2
"From: http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0110A&L=ads-l&P=R5702 [link no longer working]
Subject: Pudding tame
From: "Douglas G. Wilson"
Reply-To: American Dialect Society
Date: October 4, 2001
"Of course in researching the history of "poontang" I came upon remarks to the effect that this word seems to be reflected in a children's rhyme (still current, I think) along the lines of
What's your name?
Pudding tame.
[Ask me again and I'll tell you the same.]

In fact "pudding tame" and variants (pudding/puddin' [and] tame/tane/tang) are used today with the sense "I won't tell you my name" (e.g., often as a 'handle' or pen-name on the Internet, = "Anonymous"). The expression was used in the "X-files" TV program in 1999.

The rhyme appeared in the US by 1895, when it was cited in "Dialect Notes". Already we're out of the "poontang" milieu, I think; but in case there's any doubt, I find quoted from 1861 a version supposedly from ca. 1825 (apparently from Sussex?):
What's yer naüm?
Pudding and taüm.

Back a little further (ca. 1590), I find reason to believe there was approximately:
[What is your name?]
Pudding of Thame.

Now at least the expression has some surface sense, maybe. Thame is a place-name -- in particular a town in Oxfordshire, I believe. So "pudding of Thame" might have been the name of a food, perhaps similar (or at least analogous) to Oxford sausage, say. Still the expression is meaningless in the context, and I wonder whether

(1) it might even earlier have been something else ("pudding at home"? "Pudding Tom"? "pudding time"?) which maintained the rhyme in some early or regional pronunciation, and whether
(2) there is some recognizable double-entendre or other joke here in16th-century (or earlier) English.

Any ideas?
-- Doug Wilson
-snip-
This is the complete post from that site. It was referenced in a discussion of the word "poontang" by the "take my word for it" website http://www.takeourword.com/pt.html "The Etymology of Slang Sexual Terms." That take my word for it page included a hyperlink [that is now broken] to the comment that's given above along with this statement: "He [linguist Doug Wilson ] concludes that the two [poontang and Puddin Tane] are not related, and he gives some good evidence."
-snip-
I've re-formatted this post to make it easier to read."

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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.
 

Examples Of Children's Rhymes That Include The Phrase "The Spades Go" Or "The Space Goes" (except for "Two Lips"/Tulips Together" Rhymes)

 Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides a compilation of some examples of the children's rhymes that are NOT part of the "true love together (two lips/tulips) family of rhymes.  

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

 All copyrights remain with their owners.

 Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/10/examples-of-childrens-rhyme-two-lips.html for this closely related pancocojams post entitled "Examples Of The Children's Rhyme "True Love Together" (which are known as "Two Lips" Or "Tulips Together" Or "The Spades Go")"

Some of the examples in this 2020 pancocojams post were previously included in this pancocojams post or its comment section:
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-real-meaning-of-spades-go-space-go.html "The REAL Meaning Of "The Spades Go" & "The Space Go" In Playground Rhymes".

Also, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-saying-call-spade-spade-article.html for this closely related pancocojams post entitled "The Saying "Call A Spade A Spade" (article excerpts & comments)".

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTES (revised Oct. 26, 2020 at 11:38 PM RT)
"The spades goes" and "the space goes" are introductory phrases for some of "True Love Forever" children's recreational rhymes. Those rhymes appear to be more widely known in the United States as "Two Lips" or "Tulips Together".

The phrase "the spades go" or "the space go" are also found in some versions of certain other children's rhymes (such as some examples of "Shimmy Shimmy Co Co Pa" and "Eenie Meenie" (often combined with "Take A Peach, Take A Plum" verses). 

I believe that "the space goes "is a folk processed form of "the spades go". Notice that these examples always use the plural form of the word "spade" but the singular form of the word "space". There's a singular form of the word "space", but the word "space" has no plural form. My position is that the word "spades" in those rhyme examples refer to more than one person-hence the on purpose use of the plural form. 

Colloquially, in the United States, in Great Britain, and in some other English speaking nations, "spades" is a pejorative colloquial referent for Black people. However, I believe that in these children's rhymes the introductory phrase " the spades go" isn't meant to be a derogatory referent. On the contrary, my position is that "the spades go" means that the children performing those rhymes are announcing that they are copying (or are attempting to copy) the cool and skillful way that Black people (and more specifically Black girls) do them.

Here's a portion of my comments in the 2012 pancocojams post "The REAL Meaning Of "The Spades Go" & "The Space Go" In Playground Rhymes http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-real-meaning-of-spades-go-space-go.html
... "it's my position that, early on, when a specific meaning was given to the introductory phrase the "spades go", that phrase meant "(This is the way) Black people go (say or do this rhyme). I don't believe that any pejorative connotations were/are attributed to the words "the spades go" in children's rhymes.

Saying "the spades go" was a way of attributing the words of those rhymes or the way the rhymes were performed to Black people (or more specifically, to Black girls). That attribution lent authenticity and "coolness"/"hipness" to those rhymes and/or to their performance activities. That was because Black girls (African American girls) were (and still are) considered to be the arbiters of "the real way" and "the cool/hip way"  that those songs or those hand clap rhymes were/are supposed to be sung, or chanted and performed.

This was/is partly because Black girls were/are considered to be the sources of many of these rhymes, or were/are considered to be the "coolest" or "hippest" examples of how those rhymes should be performed. This same dynamic can be found in the use of introductory phrases as "the Black people say" or "the Black people sing" in vaudeville songs. And this same dynamic can be found in past and current attitudes that mainstream American (i.e. White America) had/has about Black people being the "go to" population when it comes to learning how to do popular R&B/Hip Hop dances."...
-snip-
As I have previously indicated, I believe that the "the spades" is a substitution for the words "the Blacks". Note that "the Blacks" is a socially unacceptable form of the referent "Black people".

Here's an example of the children's rhyme "Shimmy Shimmy Co Co Pop" which begins with the words "The Blacks go". That rhyme is included in a 1973 book of children's rhymes "Shimmy Shimmy Coke-Ca-Pop!, A Collection of City Children's Street Games & Rhymes", edited by John Langstaff, Carol Langstaff,   (Garden City, New York, Double Day & Co; p. 76; 1973)

"The Blacks go down down baby
Down by the roller coaster
Sweet sweet baby
I don't wanna let you go

Shimmy shimmy shimmy shimmy
shimmy shimmy-pop!
Shimmy shimmy shimmy shimmy
shimmy shimmy coke-ca-pop!
-snip-
Unfortunately, I can't find my copy of that book, but I seem to recall that the editors didn't give any demographics for these rhymes except that were performed by children in United States cities. (Additions and corrections are very welcome.)

No racial demographics are included for this rhyme from that book or  for most of the rhymes that are included in this compilation. However, my guess is that the contributors of most of these rhymes are White or otherwise are non-Black. But I wouldn't be surprised if rhymes with the words "the spades say" or "the space say" have been (or still are) chanted by Black people. However, I've been collecting children's recreational rhymes directly (mostly in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area) and indirectly (mostly online), and I don't  recall ever hearing or coming across any examples of these rhymes from Black people (or from people who online self-identified as Black.). 
-snip-
Read the content and comments in the pancocojams posts that are given as links for more about this topic.

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HOW THESE COMMENTS ARE PRESENTED
These examples are given in no particular chronological order (by date published off-line or online). These examples may include comments and notes about the rhyme, and/or comments about  the meaning of "spades" in that rhyme, and/or information about how the rhyme was performed.

These examples are numbered for referencing purposes only.

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RHYME EXAMPLES

Example #1
"Ooh! The spades go, Down! Down! Baby! Down! Down the roller 
coaster! Sweet, sweet baby! Sweet, sweet delectable! Shimmy, shimmy 
cocoa pop! Shimmy, shimmy rock! Shimmy, shimmy cocoa pop! Shimmy, 
shimmy rock! I met a girlfriend a triscuit! She said a triscuit a 
biscuit! Ice cream, soda pop, vanilla on the top! Ooh Shelly, walking 
down the street, ten times a week! I met it! I said it! I stole my 
mother's credit! I'm cool! I'm hot! Sock me in the stomach three more times!
-From http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/b/big-script-transcript-tom-hanks.html
-snip-
The American movie Big was released July 3, 1988. This is the second time the 
lead character chanted the "Down Down Baby" rhyme in that movie. The first time
that rhyme began with the words "Down Down Baby".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/12/sources-of-big-movie-rap-shimmy-shimmy.html for the 2011 pancocojams post entitled "Sources Of The Movie Big's Rap Shimmy Shimmy Cocoa Pop". That post is Part I of a three part of a pancocojams series on playground rhymes sources for the "Shimmy Shimmy Cocoa Pop" "rap" in the 1988 American movie Big.

**
Example #2
The space goes down, down baby,
down, down the roller coaster.
Sweet, sweet baby,
sweet, sweet, don't let me go.
Shimmy, shimmy, cocoa pop.
Shimmy, shimmy, rock.
Shimmy, shimmy, cocoa pop.
Shimmy, shimmy, rock.
I met a girlfriend - a triscuit.
She said, a triscuit - a biscuit.
Ice cream, soda pop,
vanilla on the top.
Ooh, Shelly's out, walking down the street,
ten times a week.
I read it. I said it.
I stole my momma's credit.
I'm cool. I'm hot.
Sock me in the stomach three more times!
-xxMarz456xx ; http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=p9z2hJwJuqg&page=2, 2009
Tom Hanks does the 'Big' rap - Friday Night with Jonathan Ross - BBC One
BBC, May 8, 2009
-snip-
This is one of a number of transcriptions of the recitation that Tom Hanks did on that BBC television show. There's A LOT of disagreement in that YouTube video's comment section and in the comment section for my pancocojams post on the sources of the Big movie's rap (whose link is given above) about whether Tom Hank's character said "spades" or "space" in that movie. 

**
Example #3
The spades the spades the spades go iny miny popsa kiney i love bomaragn a hop a scoth a liver roch a peach a plum i have a stick of chewing gum and if u want the other half this is wut you say: amen amen amendiego sandieago bostn bruins rah rah rah boo boo boo criss cross apple sauce do me a favor get lost while ur at it drop dead either that or lose ur head bang on trash cans bang on tin cans i can u can nobody else can sitting on the bench nuthing to do along comes some one..cohey coochey coo! andu tickle the other person

Source: Sally,  May 6, 2005 
http://www.streetplay.com/discus/

This link now leads to a members only forum and not to examples of rhymes.

**
Example #4
The spades go eenie meenie pop-si-keenie ooh aah ogg-a-lini achi-pachi liver-achi say the magic words, a peach, a plum, a half a stick of chewing gum and if you want the other half this is what u say: amen amen a-man-di-ego san-diego hocus pocus ala-mocus, sis, sis, sis-coom-bah, montana montana rah rah rah, boo boo boo, 1-2, i hate you, criss-cross applesauce, do me a favor and get lost, while ur at it drop dead, then come back with no head.

haha it was a hand game we played at recess...
- Brandy (Post #360); http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=2204285338&topic=2724&post=25803#topic_top,October 08, 2006

**
Example #5
The spades go eenie meenie
popsikeenie
I love boomerini
Otchi kotchi liveraci
say the magic word
a peach
a plum
a half a stick of chewing gum
and if you want the other half this is what you say
amen amen
amendiago sandiago
sis sis sis koomba
sharon and tommy sittin in a tree
bah ha ha
boo hoo hoo
criss cross
apple sauce
do me a favor and get lost.
and then it goes on..
- http://onceuponawin.com/2009/05/20/win-pics-the-hand-clap-game/, 5/20/2009 [This link is no longer active.]

**
Example #6
“The Space Goes" sounds something like this:

The Space goes
bobo, skee waten taten
ah ah, ah ah boom boom boom
mini mini waten, bobo skee waten,
bobo, skee waten freeze!
::at freeze the players would freeze and whoever moved first lost::
- contortme - octoblog/Whee Blog,  September 16, 2003, [This website is no longer active.]

**
Example #7
The space goes
apple on a stick just makes me sick make my tummy go 2 4 6
not because im hungry
not because im clean
just because i kiss a boy behind the magazine
hey girls lets have some fun
here comes (name) with his pant undone
he can wiggle he can wobble he can do the twist
but most of all he cant do this close your eyes and count ten if you messs up start ova again
1, 2, 3, 4, ...
- Cece; Octoblog/Whee Blog , 10/9/2005, [This website no longer active]

**
Example #8
Cinderella dressed in yella went up stairs to kiss her fella. She stepped on a crack and broke her back. Tried to stand and cut her hand. How many stitches did it take? The space goes boom boom skitty wat and tat and ah ah ah ah boom boom boom skitty witty wa wa, bubishka wa wa bubishka wa wa pow bang boom. I went to a Chinese restaurant to buy a loaf of bread bread bread. She put it in a half brown bag and this is what she said said said, my name is ki yi yippee yi, yippe yi ki yi humble berry, chocolate cherry, walla walla Washington, chop chop chow
- http://www.inthe80s.com/rhymes.shtml; retrieved on 8/13/2009

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Example #9
the spades go eenie meaning pop zuchinni
oh ah, oobaleenie
atchie katchie liveratchie say the magic words
a peach a plum a half a stick of chewing gum
and if you want the other half
this is what you say
amen amen a men of san diego hocus pocus alerocus
ses ses ses boom bah
rivers rivers rah rah rah
boo boo boo
criss cross apple sauce
do me a favor and get lost
while your at it drop down dead
either that or lose your head
banging on a trash can
banging on a tin can
you can i can nobody else can
sitting around, with nothing to do, along comes grandma
and gootchie gootchie goo!
-lissandsara, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mJ_f8Vczok&feature=related August 30, 2008
-snip-
"The Spades" is the title given to this YouTube video of two White girls reciting this rhyme.

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Visitor comments are welcome.

Examples Of The Hand Clap Rhyme & Hand Slap Game "Bo Bo Ski Watten Totten"

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Revision: April 13, 2026

This pancocojams post presents examples of the hand clap and hand slap game "Bo Bo Ski Watten Totten" and similar sounding titles.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those who published videos or sound files of this hand clap or hand slap game.

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THE 19TH CENTURY SOURCE FOR THESE RHYMES
"Bo Bo SKi Watten Totten" is a rhyme that is made up of multiple nonsensical syllables. This rhyme is usually chanted while playing a hand game.

"Bo bo Ski Watten Totten" and similar words are folk processed forms of a 19th century Black American protest poem entitled "Who Dares". The composer of that poem is unknown.

WARNING: The "Who Dare" poem includes out dated forms of what is now referred to as "the n word". 

Here's an excerpt about that poem from https://www.google.com/books for

"The Popular National Songster And Lucy Neal And Dan Tucker's Delight: Containing A Choice Collection Of The Most Admired, Patriotic, Comic, Irish, Negro & Sentimental Songs;

published by Perry, John B

Date: 1845

Publication Place: Philadelphia

SKU b00481

"PAGE 155 

 WHO DARE

Come all you jolly niggars
To you the truth I tell, ah
Neber lib wid white folks
For de neber use you well, ah
     -Dingee, I otten totten 
      Ballio otten dotten
      Dingee I otten dotten ,
      WHO DARE?"...
-end of that quote-

For more information about this subject, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/11/a-19th-century-source-for-20th-century.html for the pancocojams post entitled "Who Dare"- The 19th Century Black American Source For The 20th Century United States Hand Clap Rhymes "Bobo Ski Otten Totten" "

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SOUND FILE EXAMPLE: Bo Bo See Wattin' Tattin



Red Grammer - Topic, Published on Nov 5, 2015
-snip-
The words for this rhyme are relatively stable (the same) compared to the wide variation in many other children's recreational rhymes. However, as is the case with almost all children's recreational rhymes (in the United States), the tune for this rhyme is very constant over time and within different populations throughout the United States at the same time and during different periods of time.

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EXAMPLES OF BOBO SKI WATTEN OTTON [Text examples without videos or sound files]
These examples are given in no particular order. Information about the example's performance activity may be given along with the example. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

1. From Anonymous · 2008, https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070601173503AA1l6eJ
"Bo bo Ski Watten Totten is an old hand clapping game and jump rope rhyme. It's also been used by some high schools as a high school football cheer song for the crowd to get "pepped up" and during pep rallies.

There are a couple different versions out there, but the basic version is:
Bo-bo ski watten totten,
Ah-ah-ah, boom boom boom
Itty bitty wotten totten
Bo bo ski watten tatten
Bo bo ski wotten tatten-BOOM

The longer version is:
Bo-bo ski watten totten,
Ah-ah, ah-ah boom boom boom
Itty bitty wotten totten
Bo bo ski watten tatten
Bo bo ski wotten tatten
Freeze please American cheese
Please don't show your teeth to me

As for it's original origin, no idea, it's been around for years, and every time I've ever seen it printed online and offline it's been by an anonymous author. Sometimes channels like KPBS show clips with children in them playing jump rope or hand clapping games, sometimes Nick JR and Playhouse Disney do as well, maybe that's where your daughter picked it up?"

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2. From https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=2199https://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=2199
Songs & Rhymes From the USA

Bo Bo Ski Waton Taton
Hand Clapping Rhyme
Bo bo ski waton taton
Bo bo ski waton taton
Freeze
Please
American Cheese
Please don't show your eyes* to me.

Notes
*This rhyme can be repeated many times. Each time, use a different part of the face in the last line. Hide that part of your face with your hands and keep it covered while you repeat the next verse. After the first verse play the clapping game by pressing together your elbows. On the last repetition, you end the verse with "Boom"."

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3. From http://funclapping.com/song-list/bo-bo/
"Bo-bo ski watten tatten,
Ah-ah-ah, boom boom boom
Itty bitty watten tatten
Bo bo ski watten tatten
Bo bo ski watten tatten
Freeze please American cheese (stop clapping)
Please don’t show your teeth to me
(Resume clapping and repeat song and add
different things to hide; – like lips, eyes"

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4. From http://kaytmay.blogspot.com/2008/08/childhood-rhymes.html
"Recently I was thinking of that rhyme that I learned as Bobo- Shi Otten Totten. But the site that I found listing it had the words all wrong. They had it as Bobo Ski Wotten Totten.

Bobo Shi Otten Totten
Uh-uh, I ain't no fool!
Itty bitty Otten Totten
Bobo Shi Otten Totten
Bobo Shi Otten Totten
Boom!

But they had

Bo-bo ski watten totten,
Ah-ah-ah, boom boom boom
Itty bitty wotten totten
Bo bo ski watten tatten
Bo bo ski wotten tatten-BOOM. (Thanks to Azlyn)"

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5.
From http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=351152
"What hand-clapping and jumprope rhymes do you remember?

12-25-2005, posted by Angel of the Lord
Bo-bo-skee-otten-totten
Nay-nay, I am bo-bo-bo
Itty bitty otten totten
bo-bo-skee-otten-totten
bo-bo-skee-otten-totten boom.
Then counting up to a pre-determined number. On the last one, you had to try to move your hand out of the way before the other person hit it.

I'm amazed that I still remember that."

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VIDEO EXAMPLES OF BOBO SKI WATTEN OTTON [hand clap game]
These examples are given in chronological order based on the video's publishing date with the earliest video given first. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

Notice the different ways that two people standing or seated facing each other perform this hand clap game.

Video #1: Bo Bo Skee Otten Totten



zenopox, Published on Oct 9, 2011

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Video #2: Fun hand games



fatcat123455,Published on Dec 24, 2011

old school hand games from way back.. can u remember any more??? i got like 10 of them
1.bo bo seantin tatin 2.miss mary mack
3. i dont want to go to mexico 4.tweet tweet tweet 5.my mother your mother 6. down down baby 7. little sally walker 8.double double this this 9. ini mini sicilini
10. i went to a chineese restaurant 11. ce ce my play mate
-snip-
This video also included #11. Fudge Fudge Call The Judge

Here's my attempted transcription of "bo bo seantin tatin" (from .12-.25 in this video). Additions and corrections are welcome:

bo bo seantin tatin
nay nay I am boom boom boom
eeny meanie attin tatin
bo bo seantin tatin
bo bo seantin tatin
boom ah boom
ah boom boom boom
bang bang
ah bang bang
shish
creeps peace
peace

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Video #3: Bo-bo ski watten totten Amanda and Paige



Amanda Joy, Published on Jan 5, 2013

hand clapn it up!
-snip-
Here are the only two comments from this video's discussion thread:
1. CastleWoodsRC, 2013
"When i was a kid it was bobo skee watten totten, ah ah say girls are rotten"

**
2. A Nony Mouse, 2013
"ahh, second grade memories"

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Video #4: BOBO HANDSHAKE


Carly and Madi, Published on Sep 21, 2014

How to do the bobo song.

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Video #4: Bo Bo Ski Watten!



Sisterearthification, Published on Jul 28, 2017

Miss Julie and Miss Katie in their fabulous performance of Bo Bo Ski Watten!!

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EXAMPLES OF BOBO SKI WATTEN OTTON [Hand slap game]
Video #1: Oboeshaynaughtentaten



Matilda Belle, Published on Jun 4, 2013

Our version of a hand jive game. Words are nonsense, but here's what I think they are:
Oboe shay naught (not?) ten ta ten
Nay nay, I am boom boom boom
Itty bitty ottin (ought ten?) tot ten
Oboe shay notten ta ten
Boom! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10!

Object of the game: don't get hit on the number 10; try to hit the other person on the number 10. If they move their hands out of the way in time, they win, you're out. If you get them, they're out. Can play with as many people as you want.

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Video #2: Bo-Bo Ski Watten



Scout McHenrym Published on Mar 27, 2016

Crossover Campout 2016
-snip-
Here’s my transcription of this video (Additions and corrections are welcome).
Bo-bo ski watten tatten,
Ah-ah-ah, boom boom boom
Itty bitty watten tatten
Bo bo ski watten tatten
Bo bo ski watten tatten

1,2,3,4,5,6, 7,8, 9 10 [person whose hand is hit at #10 is out.
-snip-
The tempo increases each time the rhyme is chanted.

This game is played like the hand slap games "Stella Ella Ola" and "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Pankt"*

*"Down By The Banks" is also played as a two person hand clap game. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/02/down-by-banks-of-hanky-panky-video.html for a pancocojams post on that rhyme.

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