Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest Update: June 28, 2023
This pancocojams post presents a compilation of some "Ah Beep Beep" rhymes and chants with or without the word "Ungawa".
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.
-snip-
This post replaces the now deleted August 2020 pancocojams post that was entitled "Examples Of Rhymes And Chants From The United States That Include The Word "Ungawa".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/02/joe-cubas-1966-hit-boogoloo-song-bang.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "Joe Cuba's 1966 Hit Boogaloo Song "Bang Bang" ("Beep Beep Ah"), Part I - Sound File , information, & lyrics.".
The "Ah Beep Beep" portion of these rhymes and chants have their source in that hit record.
Also, click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-real-origins-of-word-ungawa-various.html for another closely related pancocojams post that is entitled "The REAL Origin Of The Word "Ungawa" & Various Ways That Word Has Been Used In The USA". That post includes some examples of rhymes and chants that include the word "ungawa", but don't begin with "ah beep beep".
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THE INFLUENCE OF PUERTO RICAN MUSICIAN JOE CUBA'S 1966 BOOGALOO RECORD "BANG BANG"
The words "ah beep beep" and "bang bang" in Joe Cuba's very popular 1966 Boogaloo record "Bang Bang" probably influenced the children's recreational rhymes that begin with or include the words "beep beep/ walking down the street".
Here are three comments from the discussion thread for Joe Cuba's 1966 Boogaloo record entitled "Bang Bang" (Numbers added for referencing purposes only.):
1. @mousey7306, 2016
"Ahh beat beat, walking down the street, ten times a
week, on Dewey Street.....we use to sing this to this beat. What a great time to be kids then."
**
2. @kingpetra6886, 2018
"The black kids would hear this on the radio as they were coming out of out of school and all of a sudden you would hear a bunch of voices start chanting, loudly, " Beep Beep... Ahh Beep Beep... Ahh" and sync the "Bang Bang" back in with the music. The song could really get you going. And the song got played a lot."
**
3. @joselara-rx8yb,2022
"Joe Cuba (born in New York to Puerto Rican immigrants) and
his band created a song that would appeal to their mixed black and Puerto Rican
audiences: 1966 BANG BANG, you’ll hear distinctively Latino percussion and
rhythms laid over a characteristically African-American backbeat. Â The band
members shout out R&B phrases like “Sock it to me” and Spanish phrases one
after another. Â Then they call out soul foods–“cornbread, hog maw, and
chitterlings”–and suggest a few Puerto Rican versions of the same foods:
cuchifrito and lechón.  The song is downright giddy, with stops and starts,
showcasing musicians like Cheo Feliciano improvising lyrics and Jimmy Sabater
playing the life out of his timbales. Â It’s easy to picture a group of kids
crowded around a record player in some tenement basement in East Harlem; that’s
the intended vibe, anyway, of the children singing along with the chorus in the
song."
****
WHAT "BEEP BEEP" AND "BANG BANG" MEAN IN THESE CHILDREN'S RECREATIONAL RHYMES
My guess is that the words "ah beep beep" in Joe Cuba's record don't mean anything and are chanted for their percussive, rhythmic sound. However, I believe that the words "beep beep" in these children's rhymes represent the sound that a car or other vehicle horn being honked when a man sees a pretty female walking on the sidewalk. The word "street" was used instead of "sidewalk" because "street" is a near rhyme with the word "beep".
I also believe that the words "bang bang" in these children's rhymes (and in some other songs) represent the sound that fire works, dynamite, or gun shots make. By extrapolation, based on the fire works/dynamite connections, the words "bang bang" represent something "hot" and "exciting".
****
"AH BEEP BEEP" RHYMES & CHANTS THAT INCLUDE THE WORD "UNGAWA"
These examples are given in no particular order. Some of these examples include the "n word".
Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
1. [no title given]
"I'll be I'll be
Walking down the street,
Ten times a week.
Un-gah-wah, un-gah-wah (baby)
This is my power.
What is the story?
What is the strike?
I said it, I meant it,
I really represent it.
Take a cool, cool Black to knock me down.
Take a cool, cool Black to knock me down.
I'm sweet, I'm kind.
I'm soul sister number nine.
Don't like my apples,
Don't shake my tree.
I'm a Castle Square Black.
Don't miss with me."
-John Langstaff and Carol Langstaff, editors Shimmy Shimmy
Coke -Ca-Pop!: A Collection Of City Children's Street Games And Rhymes (New
York, Doubleday & Company, 1973, p. 57)
-snip-
Notice the very close similarity between the beginning of this
rhyme and the rhyme that was featured in the 1988 movie Big.
Click
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/12/sources-of-movie-bigs-rap-shimmy-shimmy.html
Sources Of The Movie Big's Rap Shimmy Shimmy Coco Pop, Part 3 for more
discussion about the possible sources for that featured rhyme.
**
2. [no title given]
"Ah Beep Beep
Walkin down the street
Ugawa. Ugawa
That means Black power.
White boy.
Destroy.
I said it. I meant it
And I'm here to represent it.
Soul sister number 9
Sock it to me one more time.
Uh hun! Uh Hun!"
-Tracey S.,(African American female}; Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania; childhood remembrance,1968); collected by Azizi Powell, 2000
**
3. ..."it wasn't until recently that I remembered playing
a clapping game with my friend in Kindergarten in our school yard. Together we
sang:
"Ah beep beep, walking down the street
10 times a week
Ungawa, black power, Puerto Rican power
I said it, I meant it and now I represent it"
I've heard similar references in old school popular songs,
but have never been able to track the origin of this game. Obviously it has
some roots in the 1960s civil rights movement with black power and the
neighboring Puerto Rican rights movement that developed like that of he Young
Lords Party."...
-Yasmin Hernadez, memories of childhood in a mixed Latina/o
and African American neighborhood of New York City, 1980s (sent by email
February 24, 2004
**
4. "In Chelsea, Manhattan, New York City, NY at PS 33 in 5th
grade in the early 70 ties - where the blacks hated the Puerto Ricans and every
one hated the whites ...
Ah beep beep
ah beep beep
10 times a week
10 times a week
Ungawa Black Power
Destroy white Boy
I said it, I meant it
I even represent it
I'm soul brother number 9
sock it to me one more time
(Than was so many years ago)"
-GUEST, 06, Feb. 10; https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=6600 "Lyr Req: Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop (Little Anthony)
****
4. "OMG i'm finally remembering it...
"ahh beep beep walkin down the street
10 times a week...
ungawa, ungawa this is black power
destroy
white boy
i said it
i meant it
i really represent it
i'm a soul soul sista from a soul soul town
aint too many sista gonna keep me down.
if you don't like my apples
don't shake my tree
cuz i'm a soul soul sista named... Ja-nie "
LOL
again i'm not black.
-Guest, janie (Guest, duh)
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=6600 Downtown Baby;Feb. 29, 2009
-snip-
This commenter posted two examples of this rhyme in that
discussion thread. The first example was incomplete.
****
5. "A white friend from college wrote that when her power
came back on she chanted "ungawa, ungawa, ___'s got the power" saying
she remembered this as a high school chant of mine. Actually, it was a street
chant we did as kids in the hood in NYC around 1968. Was really interesting to
read hear about it, and want to add our verion. We either started with:
ah, beep beep
walkin' down the street
10 times a week
with your funky feet
OR we started with:
my dress too long, my belt's too tight
my booty shakes from left to right
either version ended with:
ungawa, black power
destroy, white boy
i said it, i meant it
i'm here to represent it
i'm soul sister number 9
sock it to me one more time
Someone elsewhere in this thread had said they never heard
of these chants associated with double dutch, but in our neighborhood it was indeed
often chanted during double dutch - or just marching down the street, snapping
our fingers and with hand gestures to demonstrate the long dress then hands up
to the 'tight belt' then swaying our bottoms back and forth rhythmically to
demonstrate the 'booty shaking from left to right'. Tremendous fun, also a
sense of solidarity and new sense of pride to be able to chant in unison
"black power" but to those of us who were very young, part of the fun
and games and thrill of being included with the group of older kids chanting
with us."
-Unknown, August 10, 2020;
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-real-origins-of-word-ungawa-various.html
[comment]
****
6. "Here is the version from Brooklyn, New York in the early
70's...the Brownsville version:
Ahh, Beep Beep!
Walking down the street
Ten times a week
Ungawa!
Black Power!
Destroy!
White Boy!
I said it, I meant it
I'm here to represent it
I'm cool, I'm calm
I'm Soul Sister Number Nine
Sock it to me one more time!
Uh-Uh! Good God!
Now someone here mixed this up with another soul
sister/brother rhyme that goes as follows:
I'm a bad soul sister from a bad soul town
It takes 48 whites just to knock me down
Don't you pick no apples from my apple tree!
I'm a bad soul sister, don't you mess with me!
We had so many rhymes like this. Some were very graphic!
-GUEST, 12 May 11, https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=6600 "Lyr Req: Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop (Little Anthony)
****
My good friend Cindy used to sing this version all the time
around 1972. May she rest in peace, gone too soon. This verse allowed me to
never forget her, here's to you Cindy Lee...
Beep Beep,
Walking down the street,
Ten times a week,
Ungawa!
Girl power!
Destroy!
All boys!
I mean it, I said it,
I'm here to represent it!
Im cool, I'm calm,
Im soul sister number 9
Sock it to me one more time!
-GUEST P & C, 02 June 18, https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=6600 "Lyr Req: Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop (Little Anthony)
****
7. Being raised in Brooklyn, in the 60's and 70's, we sang that
street song(Cadence) like this..., *Forgive the profanity, we were kids
following others...
Ahhh beep-beep, walking down the street. Ten times a week.
Ungawa, Black Power, destroy White boy.
I said it, I meant it, I'm here to represent it. I'm a
cool-cool 'nicca' from a cool-cool Town. It takes a cool-cool 'nicca' to knock
me down. You don't like my apples, don't shake my tree but listen mofo, don't
mess with me... I'm cool, I'm calm, I'm soul sister #9, sock it to me, one mo'
time. Soul sister #10, I'll say it to you, one mo' 'gin....
There were even more lyrics, we'd add on, depending on who
was singing along.
-GUEST, 22 Dec. 20, https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=6600 "Lyr Req: Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop (Little Anthony)
****
8. "I was a member of the Alpha Gamma Tau society at BJU [Bob
Jones University]. We had a cheer that went like this:
Honk, Beep Beep, Walkin' down the street
sayin' ten times a week that the Eagles can't be beat
sayin' Ooo Ungawa Eagles got the Power
sayin' Ooo Ungawa Eagles got the Power
Now I never knew what the heck is Ungawa or ever heard it
anywhere else, until just now watching a movie on Netflix about inequality in
the South and after a funeral the angry black people start marching and
chanting:
Ungawa! Black Power! Ungawa! Black Power!
I go online searching for this and I find...
Ah Beep Beep
Walkin down the street
Ungawa. Ungawa
That means Black power.
HAHAHAHAHAHA ROTFL
If only the Bob Joneses had known the origin of our
chant.
-Jenn, 02-24-2012, http://www.sflforums.com/showthread.php?tid=3811
****
9. We used to cheer a similar chant at football games in 1972
In Marcus Hook PA
Ah we meet walkin down the street
Ten times a week
Ungawa black power
The story white boy,
I said it, I meant it, I really represent it.
Soul sister 69
Sock it to me one more time. Whoo!"
-Unknown, June 28,
2020; http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-real-origins-of-word-ungawa-various.html[comment]
****
10. ..."as kids on the street in Brooklyn, we used to sing "Ahh beep beep, walking
down the street, 10 times a week, ungawa black power, destroy white boy, I said
it, I meant it, I simply represent it, I'm cool, I'm calm, I'm soul sista
number 9, sock it to me one more time!" --sign of the times huh?
-Gina Bonina, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lanGvlnBt6c&ab_channel=NBCNews "Born In Harlem, And Swept the World: The Story Of Latin
Boogaloo | NBC News", NBC News, March 24, 2016
****
11. From https://apnews.com/article/cec4e7b3839e451e8ef6dd461359a258 "Leaders of Howard University takeover reflect 50 years later" by Rick Massimo, March 25, 2018
"WASHINGTON (AP) — The national tumult of 1968 was marked by
iconic images, including the campus takeover — students occupying critical
campus buildings and shutting down institutions for days.
The Columbia University takeover in April of that year was
the best-known, but it appears the first one happened in D.C. 50 years ago this
past week.
About 1,000 students at Howard University took over the
administration building, leading to the shutdown of the school from March 19
through March 23, 1968.
[...]
The scene is captured in the 1968 public-television
documentary “Color Us Black!” Speakers included Gittens and Israel, and there
was lots of singing — including an adapted version of “Down By the Riverside” —
and a ubiquitous chant:
"Beep Beep Bang Bang Ungawa Black Power”...
****
12. Kyra E. Azore@KyraAzore
Students chant “Beep beep bang
bang ungawa black power,” the chant of the demonstrators in 1968 as the
celebrate their victory of forcing the administration to hear the voices of
students. #StudentPowerHU
Filmed on 4:27 PM · Apr 6, 2018·Twitter for iPhone
-snip-
This tweet is about Howard University student protestors in 2018. A GIF (very brief video) is added after to that tweet.
****
"AH BEEP BEEP" RHYMES & CHANTS THAT DON'T INCLUDE THE WORD "UNGAWA"
These examples are given in no particular order. Some of these examples include the "n word".
Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
1."beep beep ah it's on the roof, that hundred proof."
- marbleann, 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MenOmqIBmIM "Joe Cuba - Bang Bang (Classic){, published by chinita41, Jan. 8, 2009
****
2. "Ahh beat beat, walking down the street, ten times a week,
on Dewey Street.....we use to sing this to this beat. What a great time to be kids then."
-Mousey, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MenOmqIBmIM "Joe Cuba - Bang Bang (Classic){, published by chinita41, Jan. 8, 2009
****
3. As I walked I found myself in the old hood. Right where we had played stickball. “Go for a home run, aaah!
And here’s where Rayray and I used to step… “ah beep beep walking down the street
ten times a week with a funky beat”
- Ghetto Klown (page 176) by John Leguizamo, October 20, 2015; https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ghetto_Klown/lokSCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
****
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