"Thread The Needle" Games In Britain, The United States, The Cameroons, & Jamaica

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Revision- April 7, 2023

This pancocojams post provides information about and lyrics for some examples of the European originated "Thread The Needle" games in Britain and in the United States. This post also provides information about and lyrics for versions of "Thread The Needle" in Jamaica, (the Caribbean) and in the Cameroon (West Africa).

A YouTube video that showcases an example of the Jamaican children game "Long Long Thread" and a video of a similar thread the needle Yiddish dance are also included in this post.

[Added March 16, 2017- Two videos of traditional British "thread the needle" games are also included in this post.]

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those who are featured in this video. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE BRITISH "THREAD THE NEEDLE" GAME
From https://www.webfeet.org/eceilidh/dances/thread-the-needle.html
"Webfeet: Thread the Needle
...Threading the Needle
Generally a dance figure rather than a dance but most likely someone, somewhere will have called a dance after it... In the eCeilidh repertoire you'll meet the movement in Bottoms Up or the Witches' Reel. It's a children's game (first recorded in 1744) and it's there in Dicken's description of Sir Roger de Coverley (where it is there in name, although likely not the same figure)"...

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From http://worldturndupsidedown.blogspot.com/2011/01/colonial-games-how-to-play-thread.html
"Colonial Games: How To Play Thread The Needle

[...]

Thread the Needle, Thread My Needle, Thread the Tailor's Needle is an old game that was popular for both girls and boys.

There are two popular versions of the game. In the first version, all join hands to make a line. The last two people of the line raise their arms to form an arch and the first person in line goes under the arch, leading the rest of the line under. The person who was previously first in the line then becomes the end of the line and will be one of the people forming the next arch. The new front of the line will now try to go under the new arch and the whole completed until the chain is broken. The point of the game is to try and do this many times without breaking the chain.

The second version of this game was popular in the U.S. and includes a Biblical chant. Everyone holds hands and forms a line the two people at the head of the line chant "How many miles to Babylon?" The end two people chant in response "Three score and ten." The conversation continues "Can I get there by candle light?" "Yes, and back again." "Then open the gates with mere ado and let the King and his men pass through. The end couple then raises their hands up in an arch and the game is played the same as the first version."

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WORDS FOR BRITISH AND UNITED STATES VERSIONS OF "THREAD THE NEEDLE"
From http://www.mamalisa.com/blog/thread-the-needle-games/ Thread the Needle Games, April 26th, 2010
"In Thread the Needle Games, the players stand in two rows across from each other. They hold hands in an arch with the person across from them. Players go under the arch and join the end of the line once they’re through the arch. Sometimes they’re played while singing a song. There are variations on how the game is played.

[...]

Here are the lyrics to some British Thread the Needle songs...
I. Thread my grandmother’s needle!
Thread my grandmother’s needle!
Thread my grandmother’s needle!
Open your gates as wide as high,
And let King George and me go by.
It is so dark I cannot see
To thread my grandmother’s needle!
Who stole the money-box?

[...]

2) Thread my grandmother’s needle,
Thread my grandmother’s needle;
It is too dark we cannot see
To thread my grandmother’s needle.

[...]

3) Come thread a long needle, come thread,
The eye is too little, the needle’s too big.
4) Thread the needle thro’ the skin,
Sometimes out and sometimes in.

In some places in Great Britain they played a Thread the Needle game for Shrove Tuesday. (Shrove Tuesday is the day before the start of the fasting season of Lent for Christians. Sometimes, there’s a party before the before the fasting – like Mardi Gras.)"...
-snip-
"Mama Lisa". the editor of that site noted that she received an example of a "Thread The Needle" game from a reader from the Cameroon. That example (and the Jamaican examples that I've found which are presented in this post) appear to be variant forms of the British "Thread The Needle" song that mentions "long long thread" (such as is found in Example #3 above).

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CAMEROON "THREAD THE NEEDLE" EXAMPLE
From http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=2642&c=83
"Nyango sent this song with a note that this is "a game where a long line of children weave in and out through a ring of other children standing with arms raised as arches."
Thread and Needle
Children's Song
Lead:
Thread and needle,
Thread and needle.

Rest:
Long, long thread,
Thread and needle, needle
Long, long thread.

Lead:
Oh, thread and needle
Thread and needle.

Rest:
Long, long thread,
Thread and needle, needle
Long, long thread."
-snip-
Nyango doesn't indicate how he (or she) learned this song, but it clearly has its source in the British "Thread The Needle" game.

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EXCERPT FROM THE 1922 BOOK "FOLK-GAMES FROM JAMAICA"
From https://archive.org/stream/Folk-gamesOfJamaica/FolkGamesJamaica_Beckwith_84pgs51310747_djvu.txt
Folk-Games of Jamaica

COLLECTED BY MARTHA WARREN BECKWITH

WITH MUSIC RECORDED IN THE FIELD BY HELEN H. ROBERTS

VASSAR COLLEGE

POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK

1922

"[page] 38 Field Work in Folk-lore
Folk Games Of Jamaica Beckwith
31. Thread the Needle/

a. Thread Needle.

(1) (Maroon Town.)

T'read needle, t'read needle,long,long t'read.Nannie got to t'read, oh, long, long t'read.

Tread needle, t'read needle, long long t'read,

Nannie got to t'read, oh, long long t'read.

Players join hands in a curved line. The end player passes under his own and the second player's linked hands, then, followed by the second player, under the hands of the third and fourth, and so on until all are wound up in a coil.

(2) (Bethlehem.)

Annie, Annie, thread the needle, reel and sew,
Thread the needle, thread the needle, reel and sew.

[Note #] 35 See Folk-lore Record 5, 88. This is perhaps the "interesting dance movement" which Mrs. Gomme fails to find in versions of the "Babylon" game. The words "Dan, Dan, thread the needle, Dan, Dan, sew," as well as other references to "threading the needle" are found attached in some songs to the game of "How Many Miles to Babylon?" See Gomme I, 234; County Folk-lore (Suffolk), 63. In this it resembles the familiar
Open the gates as wide as high
And let King George and I go by"...
-snip-
[ADDED March 18, 2017 11:47 AM]
Here's the portion of Beckwith's 1922 book that serves as an introduction to these thread the needle games and other folk cultural examples:
[page] 8
"The wake or "set up" for the dead is probably the most strictly popular of ajl [sic] Jamaican festivities and the one most closely approaching old African customs. On the third night after death — some say on the third to remain until the ninth night — the spirit of the dead is believed to return at night "to visit his relatives and associates and overlook all his possessions. " For this reason, the friends must gather on this night — the third in some districts, the ninth in others — and indulge in all sorts of sports supposed to interest the ghost and prevent him from harm- ing anyone until day dawns. 7 Such a festivity is called "Bakin- ny," or "Back in i' " as I take to be the meaning with reference

Folk Games of Jamaica [page] 9

to the driving of the ghost back to the grave. A bonfire is built outside the house, around which the men and boys gather in a circle while the women sit by to watch the sport. Among the games most commonly played are the stone-pounding and stone- passing games, and such song-games as "Going through the
rocky road," "Thread the needle/' and "Hill and gully riding." Games of wit with words are also popular at such times. Only a few specimens of the innumerable games, songs and dances improvised for such an occasion are represented in this collection."

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: traditional Jamaican Dances



Simon Miller Published on May 9, 2015
-snip-
The ring game is shown at 12:07-14:03 in this video.

Here's my transcription of that game song's lyrics and the narrator's words: [Additions and corrections are welcome]
[Girls singing in unison]
"Nanny, show me how you thread the needle
Your long long thread
Thread oh, thread oh
Your long long thread

Show me how you thread the needle
Your long long thread.
Thread oh, thread oh
Your long long thread".

Narrator:
"Ring games were originally English children's games. In the past, traditional ring games were played by not only by children but also by adults. Today, however, it is mostly children who play the games of song and dance.

Ring games have taken on a local flavor over the years and now show some physical dexterity and creativity."
-snip-
The video narrator doesn't give any name for this game. I posted a comment requesting the name for this game in this video's discussion thread and in the discussion thread for this blog about Jamaican names:
http://jahmykah.blogspot.com/2013/01/some-jamaican-ring-games.html.

However, I didn't receive any response to those queries. As a result of Google search I found the "Long Long Thread" examples in Martha Warren Beckwith's 1922 book Folk- Games From Jamaica. And those examples led me to the other information about "thread the needle" games that is presented in this post.

-April 7,  2023 addition:


Here's a comment from the discussion thread for the video that is embedded in the beginning of this pancocojams post:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOux_Y6tFgU&lc=UgjC0N9_LGbtsHgCoAEC.8Q6itoa1FRG9oC-kRDq5il

mzcriz, 2021
"They’re singing: “Nanny, Nanny, thread your needle/ Long, long thread/ Thread-oh, thread-oh/ Your long, long thread.”  They’re pronouncing “thread” as “tread” and “your” as “yuh” the way most Jamaicans do when not speaking formal English."

-end of April 7,2023 addition

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I also found this video of a Yiddish thread the needle dance:

Threading and unthreading the needle


dancinstevechicagoUploaded on May 7, 2007

Steve Weintraub leads folkdancers at Cornell U. in the classic yiddish dance figure. Joel Rubin and the

Cornell Klezmer Ensemble playing.

There's undoubtedly a connection between the British, United States, Cameroon, and Jamaican examples of "Thread The Needle" games/dances. But is there also a connection between this Yiddish dance and the British "Thread The Needle" game/dance which is the primary source for those games in the other nations that I listed? If so, did the Yiddish game come before the British game?

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ADDED March 16, 2017
Here are two videos of a British thread the needle game songs

Ally Ally Oh



Vincent Bates Uploaded on Mar 23, 2011

Oh, the big ships are sailing down the Ally Ally Oh, the Ally Ally Oh, the Ally Ally Oh.
Oh, the big ships are sailing down the Ally Ally Oh. Hey, ding dong day.

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In And Out The Dusty Bluebells



thefoxtamer, Published on Dec 12, 2012

Traditional Nursery Rhyme

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Mention Of "Bruck" Or "Brucking" (Physical moves) Included In Examples Of Jamaican Children's Singing Games Published in 1922

Edited by Azizi Powell

December 27, 2019 - revised title

This pancocojams post provides two examples of Jamaican children's singing games that mention "bruck" or "brucking" that are included in the 1922 book Folk-Games of Jamaica collected by Martha Warren Beckwith with music notated by Helen H. Roberts. Both of those examples include the word "bruck" as a type of dance or another type of movement.

These examples are significant because they document that the word "bruck" was used as a dance or movement term in Jamaica long before the advent of the 1990s "bruk up" dance that was created and popularized by the dancer known by that name (Bruck Up"/George Adams). And these examples also document that the word "bruck" was used in Jamaica long before the 2012 Dancehall record "Bruk It Down" by Mr. Vegas. That said, it's my guess that the movement referred to as "bruck" in the singing games in that 1922 book was probably the same as or similar to the Caribbean movement known as "wining" [gyrating your hips] rather than the dance moves now known as "bruk up" or "bruk it down", dance moves which aren't the same thing. "Bruk up"= more contortionist pantomining storytelling, and "bruk it down" = twerking.

The Addendum of this post includes links to a "bruk up" video and the above mentioned "Bruk It Down" video. Excerpts from two articles about "bruk up" and "flex" dancing are also included in the Addendum.

The content of this post is provided for folkloric, cultural, historical, and aesthetic reasons.

All copyrights remains with their owners.

Thanks to the Jamaican children whose singing games are featured in this 1922 book. Thanks also to Martha Warren Beckwith and Helen H. Roberts for their field work and editing this book. Thanks also to those who published Folk-Games of Jamaica on the internet.

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NOTES ABOUT THESE EXAMPLES
These examples are given as found online, including the asterisks with the exception of the citation of the source.
.

The words in parenthesis are place names in Jamaica where the example was collected.

The notes given below the example are citations of other examples of similar songs.

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FEATURED SINGING GAME #1
Bluebird

(Bethlehem.)

Outside, Bluebell, through the window,
Outside, Bluebell, through the window,
Inside, Bluebell, through the window,
Tra-la-la-la-la.

Outside, Bluebell, through the window,
Inside, Bluebell, through the window,
Welcome, Bluebell, through the window,
Tra-la-la-la-la.

Pick a little Bluebell, through the window,
Pick a little Bluebell, through the window,
Pick a little Bluebell, through the window,
Tra-la-la-la-la.

Pick a little Bluebell and pat her on the shoulder,
Pick a little Bluebell and pat her on the shoulder,
Pick a little Bluebell and pat her on the shoulder,
Tra-la-la-la-la.

Then you ride little Bluebell, through the window,
Then you ride little Bluebell, through the window,
Then you ride little Bluebell, through the window,
Tra-la-la-la-la.

Then you run little Bluebell, through the window,
Then you run little Bluebell, through the window,
Then you run little Bluebell, through the window,
Tra-la-la-la-la.

Then you wheel little Bluebell, through the window,
Then you wheel little Bluebell, through the window,
Then you wheel little Bluebell, through the window,
Tra-la-la-la-la.

Then you bruck little Bluebell, through the window,
Then you bruck little Bluebell, through the window,
Then you bruck little Bluebell, through the window,
Tra-la-la-la-la.

The players form a circle, Little Bluebell runs in and out of
the circle according to the words of the song, then "picks" a part-
ner and "pats," "rides," "runs," "wheels" and "bruks" with her
while all sing. The partner chosen becomes "Little Bluebell" in
the next game.

47 Newell, 118; Gardner (Michigan), JAFL 33, 94.

Source: http://archive.org/stream/Folk-gamesOfJamaica/FolkGamesJamaica_Beckwith_84pgs51310747_djvu.txt
Folk-Games of Jamaica Collected by Martha Warren Beckwith with music recorded in the field by Helen H. Roberts, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, 1922, Example #60, pages 69-70

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FEATURED SINGING GAME #2 : Mother Roland's Daughter

(J. Christiana.)

De grass so green, de lemon on de tree,
De bunch ob roses fallin' down,
Turn to de east an* turn to de west,
An* turn to de pretty little somber gal.
Take a lily an* a lily white rose,
Give her a-cross de ocean,
Give her a kiss an* a one, two, free,
An* bruck Mudder Rolan's daughter.

Bruck Mudder Rolan's daughter,

Bruck Mudder Rolan's daughter,

Bruck Mudder Rolan', bruck Mudder Rolan',

Bruck Mudder Rolan's daughter.

b. (Ballard's Valley.)

The grass so green, the lemon on the tree,
The bunch of roses we all can see.
Turn to the east, turn to the west,
Turn to the very one you love the best.
Oh, take a lily an* a lily-white girl,
And skip her across the ocean,
Give her a kiss and a one, two, three,
And jig Mother Roland's daughter.

(1) Jig Mother Roland's daughter,
Jig Mother Roland's daughter,

Jig Mother Roland, jig Mother Roland,
Jig Mother Roland silly girl.

(2) Dip Mother Roland's daughter. . . .

(3) Bruck Mother Roland's daughter . . .

(4) Wheel Mother Roland's daughter. . . .

Players join hands in a ring, two inside. All dance and sing.
At line six, the two in the center choose two out of the ring and
"skip," "jig," "dip," "brack,*" and "wheel" with them according
to the words of the song, which may be varied to suit the players.

48 "Rosy Apple, Lemon and Pear," Gomme II, 117; Udal (Dorsetshire), Folk-
lore Journal 7, 210; County Folk-lore (Suffolk), 64; (Surrey) Folk-lore Record 5, 85.
Cf. "Tread, tread the Green Grass*' and "Uncle John," Newell, 50, 72. In some
Versions, the name of the player is substituted for "Madame Roland." In Dorset-
shire, the song runs "old mother's runaway daughter"; in Suffolk it reads "Mrs.
Kilburn's daughter."

Source: http://archive.org/stream/Folk-gamesOfJamaica/FolkGamesJamaica_Beckwith_84pgs51310747_djvu.txt
Folk-Games of Jamaica Collected by Martha Warren Beckwith with music recorded in the field by Helen H. Roberts, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, 1922, Example #61, pages 70-71
-snip-
"Brack" given in the directions for the singing game is probably a typo for “bruck”

"Wheel" means to spin around fast then stop and spin in the opposite direction.

"Jig" means to dance.

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PROBABLE MEANING OF "BRUCK" IN THESE SINGING GAMES
Based soley on the way that many contemporary Jamaicans dance at parties and clubs (as shown in dancehall videos), I think that it's likely that the word "bruck" in these Jamaican children's singing games refers to "wining" (gyrating their hips seductively) and/or doing a dance that is similar if not the same as what is now known as "twerking".

This definition for the contemporary Jamaican slang phrase "bruk it down" may be similar if thot of to the actions these children did while singing those songs:

From http://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/Bruk-It-Dung/1419#.VPi_mI3wtv4
"Bruk It Dung (Noun)

English Translation
Break It Down

Definition
Jamaican dance move similar to twerking in which the dancer shakes her hips in an up-and-down bouncing motion.

Example Sentences [none given]

Patois: bruk, bruk, bruk, bruk, bruk, bruk it dung!
English: Break, break, break, break, break, break it down!

Related Words
Wine, Daggering, Bubble, Dutty wine ,
posted by oneidamorgan on October 2, 2013
-snip-
Definition of "wine" from http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wine
"form of dance, involves gyration of hips, can be slow or fast must always be sexy. performed to mainly west indian music like reggae, calypso and soca.

if you don't mind...would you take a wine with me?
by destra November 05, 2003
-snip-
It should be noted that in Jamaica the word "bruck"/"bruk" combined with an adverb doesn't always refer to dancing. For example, "Bruk out" [is a] Slang expression used to describe someone who acts unruly or rebellious". http://jamaicanpatwah.com/term/Bruk-out/1456#.VPi-lY3wtv4

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ADDENDUM
Link to a video about "Bruk Up" dance:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLuYj9ZKxd4 Bruk Up origins (The movement) pt.1
Uploaded by by LBXdancers, on Apr 28, 2011
"The Bruck Up style was founded in Jamaica nd moved to NY around the yr 94'.
Bruck Up was founded by the man dancing in this named Bruck Up (George
Adams)... it has its own interpretation of animation (jamaican flavored) and storytelling.... with trademark moves such as the crabwalk, the shoulder pop, and many many more. Bruk Up (the original style) also has more looser movements tht look similar to Shotta dancing. Bruck Up in the current days incorporated waving, gliding, and bone breaking into the style for transitional purposes. The style has gradually evolved since then...'

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Excerpt from http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/332-bounce-ballroom/
"Bounce Ballroom: A Night of Voguing, Flexing, and Housing"
By Miles Raymer, May 2, 2014 at 5:30 p.m. EDT
..."Hot 97 DJ Bobby Konders represented dancehall for the night, with a group of Brooklyn bruk-up and flex dancers accompanying him from a tiered stage. Bruk-up is the Jamaican style that you might be familiar with if you’ve ever watched any dancehall music videos; flexing is its Brooklyn-born descendent that pushes impressionistic breakdance moves like the robot into the fully abstract realm. (You may have seen this New Yorker profile on flex dancer Storyboard P.) The combination is a study in contrasts: sinuousness versus twitchiness, vogue-like fluidity versus something like a hyper-exaggerated version of the robot. At least two of the dancers were double-jointed. A husky member of the troupe took a solo shirtless, the better to show off his girth. One of them lifted up his t-shirt to demonstrate the compellingly odd and kind of gross way he can suck his gut in. It was a small demonstration of the possibilities of the human body, which is in many ways the basic job of dance."
-snip-
Click http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/01/06/the-impossible-body
Onward and Upward with the Arts January 6, 2014 Issue
The Impossible Body: Storyboard P, the Basquiat of street dancing.

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Excerpt from the New Yorker profile of flex dancer Storyboard P [That article includes one instance of profanity and one instance of a homophobic referent.]
The style ][Flex] originated in the nineties, in Jamaica, where a young dancer who called himself Bruck Up—patois for, roughly, “broken”—became famous despite, or perhaps because of, having suffered a bone infection in his right leg as a child. Bruck Up’s style, heavy on rubbery contortions, spread through Brooklyn reggae clubs around the turn of the century, giving rise to flex...

Storyboard builds on the tension between virtuosity and handicap in Bruck Up’s dancing; he creates a feeling of grace only to hobble it. He performs languorous twirls and glides, but fits of trembling motion give the impression that he moves under painful constraint"...

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Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5EBrftUKBY for Mr. Vegas' "Bruk It Down"
[Warning: That video might be considered somewhat risque.]

Note that "bruck"/"bruk" aren't the same thing as the United States dance terms "buck" [the tap dance "buck and wing", or the clogging term "buck dancer" or the New Orleans Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs/second line term "buck jumpers", or the New Orleans Hip Hop/Majorette term "bucking" as
it is included in battle stands which have been popularized on the American television show "Bring It!".

Pancocojams posts on each of those subjects can be found by entering those terms in this blog's search engine.

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