A sailor went to sea: theme and variations.
Clapping games are an important part of the play repertoire of primary-school-age girls. The games give the appearance of great complexity when performed by skilled practitioners. A closer examination of the movements and music shows that children use a relatively small number of movements and tunes to devise a remarkable number of games. Examined here is the most popular of the melodies and the ways in which children utilize it.**********
During the last decade I have conducted several surveys of children's playground activities in Keighley, West Yorkshire. The original one, in 1992-93, explored children's oral tradition in nine schools in Keighley and one (a pilot study) in Shipley, which is some five miles further east in the Aire valley. The schools were paired according to the social background of the pupils and included two where almost all the children were of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin. (1) At that time there was a mixture of both first schools, taking children aged from five to nine years, and primary schools, taking children from five to eleven years of age. I therefore concentrated my attention on the eight-year-olds, an age which was common to all the schools. Studying this group of children has the advantage that by this age they have absorbed the culture of the playground. They have watched older children and have practised the games and rhymes which form an integral part of their oral tradition, and so have an extensive repertoire. In the year 2000, the education system was re-organized, first schools becoming primary schools. I have returned in subsequent years to two of the schools in the original study: in 1999, 2000 and 2001 to the school labelled School G in the Appendix, and in 2001 to School C.
High in popularity among the girls, in every school visited, have been a number of hand-clapping games. These were known and played not only by girls whose first language was English but also by children whose mother tongue was Bangla or Punjabi. These girls knew clapping games not only in English but also in Punjabi, though none were collected in Bangla. In my original survey I found a total of thirty-four clapping rhymes, fourteen chanted and twenty with a melody. (2) They consist of a variety of rhymes set to tunes which accompany regular hand-clapping routines. The clapping acts as a rigid percussive timekeeping device and the words and melodies fit in around this rhythm.
Young girls begin to practise the clapping routine as soon as they start primary school, but it is only by the age of about eight that they have acquired the skill to perform the games at speed. Boys of the same age know some of the more popular rhymes but do not join in the games, though younger boys are occasionally co-opted as demonstration partners, if no suitable girl is around. Marsh (3) has underlined the importance of the friendship group in providing psychological safety for the performance of musical games. These games are used by girls to reinforce the solidarity of the group. They are inclusive within the friendship group but sometimes cruel in their exclusivity. Ong (4) has pointed out that material passed on orally must, by its nature, be memorable, and cites the use of gory scenes of battle in oral composition as one feature of oral narrative. (5) Naturally, material collected from children does not contain battle scenes, but it does have a great deal of scatology and sexual references, which may serve the same purpose. Clapping rhymes are no exception. While scatological references are rare, sexual references are many. Factor has drawn attention to the mockery and subversive nature of one rhyme in particular, 'When Susie was a baby', but her comments could equally well refer to much of the genre. (6)
When questioned about where they have acquired these games, children occasionally say 'We made them up', but on further reflection usually explain that they learned the game from a cousin, or friend, either older or the same age as themselves. (7)
While many of the free-ranging games such as football or Bulldogs Charge take up a great deal of space, clapping games can be fitted into odd moments while, for instance, waiting in line to go back into school. Adults vary in their attitudes to children's games. While some are interested, others are dismissive, seeing nothing of interest. Clapping games, in particular, seem to be almost invisible to many adults, who are unaware of or undervalue the musical performances which take place in the playground. Those adults who do take note, however, are impressed by the apparently complicated pattern of the games. Grugeon, for instance, comments on a performance given by two girls: 'They played with such deep concentration; the combination of word and action was particularly elaborate and required split-second timing. As the game progressed they used clapping movements which became ever more complex, but by maintaining eye contact their timing never failed'. (8)
Researchers other than Grugeon have been impressed by the amount of learning which occurs in these informal games. Harter (9) suggests that they contribute to sensorimotor skills (such as rhythm, precision, speed, co-ordination and lateralization, memory and intelligence, sociability, affectivity and creativity), while Hurel and Bustarret (10) see them as a model of memorization using different kinds of memory: procedural, episodic, sensorial, lexical, visual, semantic and musical.
We shall see, however, that while the actions which are often interspersed with the clapping may indeed be complex and become more so as the game progresses, and the rhythm in a good performance is rigidly maintained, the actual pattern of clapping is often relatively simple. Similarly, while giving the impression of having a wide repertoire of tunes, only a small number of melodies or musical phrases are used. Seven of the twenty tunes collected in my original study were variations on one melody and it is this particular one I would like to explore here.
The Movements
There are usually two girls taking part, in which case the girls clap hands together in set patterns. The intricacy of the clapping depends on the age and dexterity of the players. The simplest form is clapping one's own hands together, then against a partner's, but as participants grow in expertise the clapping becomes more complicated. Hubbard noted in 1979 and 1980 (11) that the clapping pattern can be simple, but it is carried out at such speed and with such dexterity that it makes for an impressive performance. One pattern I watched, clapped to the four-beats-to-a-bar tune, was a six-beat pattern where the first clap, an introduction to the main pattern, was clapped with hands held with palms horizontal to the ground, left hand facing down, right hand facing up. The first beat of the first bar was clapped with hands held vertically, left hand to partner's right and right hand to partner's left. The second was clapping one's own hands together. Then right hand to the partner's right, own hands clapped, left hand to left hand and own hands clapped. This completed the sequence. Hubbard invented a useful way of representing this:
A: The hands of one player are held horizontally to the ground and clapped against her partner's, which are facing upwards:
B: Hands held vertically and clapped right and left hand of partner and left hand to right hand of partner:
C: Own hands clapped:
D: Right hand clapped against partner's right:
E: Left hand clapped against partner's left:
The following example, with the tune and clapping shown together, demonstrates a pattern of six claps before there is a repetition, set against a 4/4 rhythm in the music. In addition there is an introductory clap corresponding with the anacrusis and extra to the six beat pattern, see Figure 1.
The pattern of clapping is therefore:
A/BCDC/ECBC/DCEC/B
It will be seen that clapping one's own hands becomes a sort of chorus which perhaps allows thinking time for the next movement.
Sometimes the number of children playing is expanded from a pair to a small group, in which case they stand in a circle, with the right hand of one girl slapping the left hand of the girl next to her, and the left hand slapping the right hand of her neighbour.
The Hand-Clapping Rhymes and Tune
Of the twelve clapping tunes recorded in the Opies' The Singing Game, (12) and collected throughout the British Isles, four are versions of the melody under consideration here. 'I am a pretty little Dutch girl' is written in the key of F and is in 4/4 time, 'When Susie was a baby' is in G and 2/2 time, 'I went to a Chinese restaurant' is in E and in 4/4 time, while 'A sailor went to sea' is in A and again in 4/4 time. (13) This, along with the pages of text between the tunes, disguises the fact that they are almost identical. The Opie version is shown in Figure 2.
The second phrase of 'Susie' is different from the one which has predominated in this area, which suggests either that there are different versions of 'Susie' extant in Britain, or that there have been changes in the melody in the intervening years.
Rhyme 1: My Father Went to Sea Sea Sea
The fullest version of the melody in those I collected was 'A sailor went to sea, sea, sea', one of the best known rhymes in 1992-93 (Figure 3). The tunes are noted here in the key of G, although they were not necessarily recorded in that key. This is to facilitate the comparison between the different versions. This tune was recorded by Alison McMorland and appears in her book of songs for children, The Funny Family, published in 1978. (14) It occurs more recently in Okki tokki unga, (15) a song book produced for use in schools with children, and the BBC programme for children entitled 'The Tweenies', (16) where the tune is used in two ways: with the words of the first verse, as given here, and with an entirely different set of words. The Keighley version is as in Figure 4.
The tune consists of a four-bar phrase in 4/4 time repeated to form an eight-bar melody when complete. It centres around an inversion of the tonic triad, d', s, m, with the dominant used as a sort of pivot. The final tonic is repeated in what Hall describes as 'hammering', (17) but is also sometimes referred to as 'drumming', which renders the tune more strongly rhythmical and therefore more suitable for clapping.
The words perpetuate the joke encapsulated in a song from the 1936 Astaire and Rogers film 'Follow the Fleet', where they sang:
We joined the navy to see the world And what did we see? We saw the sea! (18)
This tune forms the basis for eight variations.
Rhyme 2: My Boyfriend Gave Me an Apple
This is clapped to the same tune with variations to fit the different words and without the hammering, see Figure 5.
Recording games played by children in 1916 in London, Norman Douglas notes a skipping rhyme which contains the kernel of this later game:
Eight o'clock the bells are ringing. Mother, may I go out? My young man's a-waiting For to take me out. First he bought me apples Then he bought me pears. Then he gave me sixpence To kiss him on the stairs. I gave him back his apple. I gave him back his pears. I gave him back his sixpence To kiss him on the stairs. Then he tears the leg of my drawers And that's the last of all. (19)
The TSB (Trustee Savings Bank) reference has dropped out of the rhyme in the 2001 version, now the bank is no longer in the headlines, but the new millennium has obviously brought in a robust attitude to domestic responsibilities.
Because the clapping provides a rigid 4/4 rhythmic accompaniment to the song, the minim at the end of the first line of each verse of the text is accompanied by two claps while the dotted minim at the end of the second line is accompanied by three claps (though the dotted minim at the end had only one clap, providing a rather perfunctory ending).
Rhyme 3: My Teacher Gave Me an Apple
This is a version which appears to be modelled on the previous verse. Again it uses the same basic tune.
My teacher gave me an apple. My teacher gave me a pear. My teacher gave me a table to share. I gave her back her apple. I gave her back her pear. I gave her back her table Because she lost her hair.
The first verse consists of only three lines, as childish invention runs out, and there is an interesting association and inversion of ideas which results in the teacher giving the child an apple, rather than the other way round. The clapping pattern is undisturbed by this lack of symmetry in the words and continues with unrelenting enthusiasm to the final beats of the second verse. The tune follows the words by omitting bars seven and eight and carrying on with a repeat of the full version of the melody, as it is in the original.
Rhyme 4: My Mother Told Me to Open the Door
Another variation collected in 1993 provides the melody for 'My mother told me to open the door', which is in the form of a full-blown folk song. This has parallels with a song which was popular in the eighteenth century throughout the British Isles, the English version being 'There was an old man came o'er from Lee'. It has a different tune but the form of the words and the story they tell have similarities.
The children's version is:
1. My mother told me to open the door. Chorus: Ooh, aah, la la. I opened the door and he fell on the floor, Chorus: That silly old man from China. 2. My mother told me to give him a drink. I gave him a drink and he fell down the sink. 3. My mother told me to take him to Spain. I took him to Spain and he fell off the plane. 4. My mother told me to ask him to pay. I asked him to pay and he said, 'No way'.
An adult version:
1. There was an old man came o'er from Lee. Chorus: Eh but I'll not have him. There was an old man came o'er from Lee Chorus: A-courting me, a-courting me, With his old grey beard With his old grey beard Just newly shaven. 2. My mother she told me to get him some pie. I gave him some pie and he put the crust by. 3. My mother she told me to hand him a stool. I hand him a stool, he sat down like a fool. 4. My mother she told me to give him some wine. I gave him some wine and he drank like a swine. 5. My mother she told me to take him to church. I took him to church but left him in the lurch. 6. My mother she told me to take him to bed. I took him to bed and he asked me to wed.
An adult version appears in the Musical Miscellany, London in 1730. (20) It was widespread throughout England and Scotland, and the text cited in The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, the one quoted here, is amplified from the Wiltshire version.
The tune of the playground version takes the basic melody, and as with 'My boyfriend gave me an apple', omits the hammering. The second line of the verse uses minims in the run up the scale which have two claps to them. The third line is a repeat of the first while the rhythm of the fourth line of music is adapted to fit the rhythm of the words, with syncopation of the final bar, with the clap being on the first beat as well as the second and third beats.
Further examples of the use of this tune show more variation, with the use of parts of the tune interspersed with actions, or with extra bits of melody tagged on to provide an impressive ending.
Rhyme 5: When Susie Was a Baby
The first verse of this game has already been given to show the way the clapping pattern fits with the music. The words of the complete rhyme are:
This well researched rhyme is considered by the Opies to have developed in the latter part of the twentieth century from a nineteenth-century singing game, 'When I was a young girl', several versions of which are recorded in Gomme. (21) Collecting in various parts of London, Kelsey has very neatly plotted the changes from the nineteenth-century version to the present one, beginning in 1964 with 'When Mary was a baby, a baby, a baby'. (22) Unfortunately he does not give a melody, though he comments that it is different from those given by Gomme and is based on a simple structure of six or seven notes. This is one of the clapping games collected by Hubbard in Birdsedge, South Yorkshire in 1982 and as might be expected, it is slightly different from the 1992 Keighley version. (23) There are Australian, Danish, German and French versions of this rhyme, which again are slightly different from the Keighley version. The Australian version is nearer to Kelsey's early recording, with the second half of the first line being a double repetition of the stage of life instead of a reversal of the first half of the phrase:
When Susie was a baby, a baby, a baby, When Susie was a baby, She used to go like this. (24)
In the French version, as in the English, there is a difference between the pattern of claps and that of the music. Arleo (25) has recorded two different patterns of clapping, both of them being a three-clap pattern set against an 8 beat line of music. The first example is:
A: Palm of right hand turned upwards, palm of left hand turned downwards. Clap partner's hand. B: Hold hands vertically in front of chest with palms facing partner. Clap partner's hand. C: Hold hands vertically in front of chest and clap own hands together.
In Hubbard's notation this would be:
The alternative version is:
A: Clap both hands against own thighs. B: Hold hands vertically in front of chest and clap own hands together. C: Hold hands vertically in front of chest with palms facing partner. partner's hands. (26)
Here there is a problem with Hubbard's notation, as she has not developed anything which shows larger body movements as in A above. I suggest:
This creates, as Bruckert has noted, (27) a very complex shift of accents, as occurs in the English versions. Arleo is of the opinion that the French version derives from the English-language tradition, one reason being that the phrase 'Quand Fanny/Delphine etait un bebe'. would more normally be expressed as 'Quand Fanny etait bebe'. (28) The French version is included for comparison. (Figure 9)
It is immediately obvious that the French version owes much to the carol 'Il est ne, le Divin Enfant', which Arleo acknowledges. He also points out that the main rhythmic differences between the French and the Australian version are that the Australian game begins with an upbeat, with the downbeat falling on the the first syllable of 'Susie', whereas the French begins with a downbeat. This also occurs in the English version and is attributed by Arleo to the differences in stress between the two language systems. In English it is natural to stress the even-numbered syllables while in French the position is reversed. The stress therefore occurs in English on 'Su', 'was' and the first syllable of 'baby' while the French stress lies on 'Quand', the second syllable of 'Delphine', 'un' and the second syllable of 'bebe'.
The text is particularly interesting in its presentation of the life-cycle. Carey notes a child's difficulty in conceptualizing time. (29) Some things, such as a child's name, stay the same, while other things such as body shape and the landmarks of the human life cycle change around it. Susie's life moves from stages experienced personally: childhood and school life, to those roles the girls have observed: being a teenager, a mother, a grandmother, to the imagined: death and decay. Arleo suggests that this progression through the life-cycle 'may therefore be considered as a representation of existing notions, as a reinforcement and reminder of the culture's temporal divisions, and as a way of understanding the growth process'. (30)
Rhyme 6: 'My Mother is a Baker' (appears to be modelled on 'Susie')
This rhyme was first collected in Toronto, where it was recorded by Fowke in 1962, (31) though the dustbinman is called 'garbage man' in the Canadian example, while the sister is a hairdresser. The tune is used in the same way as in 'Susie', interspersed with actions which illustrate the words, and appears to be modelled on that rhyme.
Rhyme 7:I Know a Chinese Girl
'I know a Chinese girl' has evidently greatly increased in popularity since the 1980s, when the Opies record it under the title 'I know a Dutch girl' as one of the less popular rhymes. (32) It was popular in three of the original nine schools surveyed, and has maintained its place in the repertoire throughout the decade.
The rhyme again uses the four-bar phrase which is repeated. The anacrusis is omitted, starting directly on the tonic, and the verse ends with a repetition of a fragment of tune, 'I tiddley I tie', repeated three times. This motif is a two-bar phrase in common time. The final perfect cadence is abandoned in favour of a dramatic and declamatory 'Like this', as one player sinks into the arms of her partner.
Rhyme 8: I Went to a Chinese Restaurant
The word 'Chinese' occurs quite often in children's oral tradition and seems to denote 'foreign'. 'I went to a Chinese restaurant' contains one of the devices commonly used by children to lengthen their compositions: two seemingly unconnected verses are cobbled together by a phrase such as 'And this is what he said'.
The second half of the rhyme can be one of a number of alternatives. The Opies record it linked to:
Alli alli Chickerlye chickerlye, Om pom poodle, Walla walla whiskers, Chinese chopsticks, Indian chief says, 'How!' (33)
I collected two different second halves. The first example, recorded in 1992, is:
My name is Elvis Presley Girls are sexy Sitting in the back seat Drinking Pepsi. S-E-X-L-Y (sic) SEXY!
While this version persists, another, recorded in 2002, is also popular:
My name is Elvis Presley. Girls are sexy Sitting in the back seat Drinking Pepsi. Going to the movies. Feeling boobies. What about the popcorn? Full stop!
The second example collected was:
Chinese men are funny. (Action: Bow to each other with This is how they count their money. hands in prayer position, then Ooch oocha turn and bump bottoms.) Turn around and boomcha.
The first alternative ending is sung to a different tune from the first half of the rhyme, while the second alternative is chanted and is still in the current repertoire.
Rhyme 9: I Hid a Box of Matches
The final example of the use of this tune is with a short verse, 'I hid a box of matches'. (Figure 13)
Here the hammering is restored, as can be seen in the repetition of the words 'door' and 'more'. After the first four lines of the verse, the clapping is abandoned in favour of dancing round with arms linked with the final exclamation accompanied by a kick. The tune, of course, is the chorus of 'She'll be coming round the mountain'.
Conclusion
Girls have a great many clapping games and at a casual glance would seem to have an extensive repertoire of movements, actions and songs in their games. A closer examination, however, reveals that they build a wide variety of games from a small number of hand movements and snatches of melody. In the examples given here the most skilled performers use a pattern of usually no more than six hand movements performed at very high speed. What is really impressive is their ability, among the most skilled performers, to demonstrate a sequence of hand clapping whose rhythm does not coincide with the four beat rhythm of the music. The girls must therefore organise the somatic part of the performance independently of the words and music. No wonder Grugeon expressed such admiration.
The small number of musical phrases and tunes they sing are utilized to give a variety of games. They have one tune which with variations provides nine different games. They appear to be unaware that they are using just one melody. When they have given a version of one of the preceding games, I have sometimes asked 'Do you know any more clapping games to the same tune?' Their response has invariably been incomprehension. In other aspects of their play what adults see as one game with variations children consider to be different games. Small differences mark out one game from another. There are innumerable variations on the basic game of tig, for example, which are clearly labelled by the children as different games. It seems probable, therefore, that they are unaware that one tune provides the basis for several games.
While girls are practising a great many complex skills in the course of these clapping games and are almost certainly unaware of this, they are aware of the desirability of giving a good performance. This may well be why an ending which consists only of an end to the clapping and the verse is often abandoned in favour of something more stylish and dramatic: a high kick, for instance, or falling into the arms of one's partner. The games are also a performance in that they are played often with younger children looking on and copying. The performance is therefore a means of establishing oneself as a competent and stylish performer who can be admired by others, a means to enhance one's reputation and standing in the world of the playground.
To summarize, then, clapping games are an important group of activities, providing as they do the opportunity for girls to hone their hand-eye co-ordination and intellectual skills, while at the same time allowing them to define their social position by their performance in the psychological safety of the friendship group. The apparent complexity of these games is actually built upon a small number of movements and a limited number of melodies, the most popular being the one studied here. What is remarkable is the children's ingenuity in adapting the tune and their ability to organize independently the somatic and musical elements of their performance.
Notes
(1) Mavis Curtis, 'Zig Zag Zoo and Other Games: The Oral Tradition of Children of Asian Origin in Keighley, West Yorkshire', Folk Life, 38 (2000), 71-82.
(2) See Appendix.
(3) Kathryn Marsh, 'It's not all black and white', in Play Today in the Primary School Playground' ed. by Julia C. Bishop and Mavis Curtis (Buckingham: Open University Press, 2001), pp. 80-97 (p. 93).
(4) Walter Ong, Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word (London and New York: Routledge, 1982), p. 33.
(5) Ong, p. 44.
(6) June Factor, Captain Cook Chased a Chook: Children's Folklore in Australia (Ringwood, Victoria: Penguin 1988), p. 175.
(7) For a discussion of the transmission process see Mavis Curtis, 'Counting in and Counting out: Who Knows What in the Playground' in Play Today, pp. 62-80.
(8) Elizabeth Grugeon, 'Children's Oral Culture: A Transitional Experience' in Oracy Matters, ed. by Margaret Maclure, Terry Phillips and Andrew Wilkinson (Buckingham: Open University Press, (1988), pp. 159-73 (pp. 159-60).
(9) Jean-Louis Harter, 'Regards Croises sur Fanny: Aspects Ludiques', in Jeux de Cour: 25 Comptines, Tape-mains, Rondes et Jeux Danse's. Etude pluridisciplinaire d'une Enquete Video, ed. by Anne Bustarret (unpublished study deposited at Paris, Mediatheque Pedagogique de la Cite de la Musique, 1998), pp. 33-38 (p. 37).
(10) Bustarret, quoted in Andy Arleo. 'The Saga of Susie: The Dynamics of an International Handclapping Game' in Play Today, pp. 115-132 (p. 119).
(11) Jane Hubbard, 'Children's Traditional Games from Birdsedge: Clapping Songs and their Notation', Folk Music Journal, 4.3 (1982), 246-64 (p. 246).
(12) Iona and Peter Opie, The Singing Game (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988).
(13) Opie, pp. 450, 458, 465, 467.
(14) Alison McMorland, The Funny Family (London: Ward Lock, 1978), song 33.
(15) Okki Tokki Unga, ed. by Beatrice Harrop, Linda Friend and David Gadsby. 2nd edn (London: A. and C. Black, 1996), p. 78.
(16) Tweenies Song Time (BBC Worldwide Ltd, 1999). Produced by Telltale Productions for the BBC. BBCV 6914. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/tweenies/songtime/songs/a/asailorwenttosea/shtml.
(17) Hazel S. Hall, 'Study of the relationship between speech and song in the playground rhymes of primary school children' (unpublished doctoral thesis, Monash University, 1984), p. 258.
(18) Opie, p. 468.
(19) Norman Douglas, London Street Games, 2nd edn (London: Chatto and Windus, 1931), p 38.
(20) The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, ed. by Ralph Vaughan Williams and A.L. Lloyd (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968), pp. 76, 119.
(21) Alice Bertha Gomme, The Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland, The Dictionary of British Folklore, pt 1. 2 vols (London: David Nutt, 1894, 98), ii, 362, quoted in Opie, pp. 458-61.
(22) N.G.N. Kelsey 'When they were young girls', Folklore, 92 (1981), 104-09.
(23) Hubbard, pp. 254-55.
(24) Arleo, p. 131.
(25) Arleo, p. 124.
(26) Arleo, p. 124.
(27) Jacqueline Bruckert, 'Regards croises sur Fanny: Aspects Vocaux et Musicaux' in Jeux de Cour, quoted in Arleo, p. 124.
(28) Arleo, p. 120.
(29) S. Carey, Conceptual Changes in Childhood (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1985), p. 65.
(30) Arleo, p. 129.
(31) Edith Fowke, quoted in Opie, p. 477.
(32) Opie, p. 477.
(33) Opie, p. 464.
1. My father/A sailor went to sea sea sea (Actions: salute) To see what he could see see see And all that he could see see see Was the bottom of the deep blue sea sea sea. 2. My father went to chop chop chop (A chopping movement To see what he could chop chop chop with the edge of And all that he could chop chop chop the hand against Was the bottom of the deep blue chop chop chop. the opposite arm) 3. My father went to knee knee knee (Touch the knee) To see what he could knee knee knee And all that he could knee knee knee Was the bottom of the deep blue knee knee knee. 4. My father went to China (Bow with hands in To see what he could China etc. prayer position) 5. My father went to sea chop knee China (All the previous To see what he could see chop knee China, etc. actions) Figure 4 My father went to sea sea sea A 1992 version: A 2001 version: My boyfriend gave me an apple My boyfriend gave me an apple My boyfriend gave me a pear. My boyfriend gave me a pear My boyfriend gave me a kick up the My boyfriend gave me a kick up the bum bum And threw me down the stair. And threw me down the stairs. I gave him back his apple. He threw me over England I gave him back his pear. He threw me over France I gave him back his kick up the bum. He threw me over the USA And kicked him down the stair. And he lost his underpants. I kicked him over England. I gave him back his apple I kicked him over France. I gave him back his pear I kicked him over the TSB I gave him back his kick up the bum And he lost his underpants. And threw him down the stairs. We looked all over England. I threw him over England We looked all over France. I threw him over France We looked all over the TSB I threw him over the USA And he found his underpants. And he found his underpants. I made him wash the dishes I made him wash the floor I made him scrub the baby's bum In 1994. Figure 5 My boyfriend gave me an apple 1. When Susie was a baby, a baby Susie was And she went goo, goo, a-goo goo goo. (Action: thumb in mouth) 2. When Susie was a toddler, a toddler Susie was And she went scribble, scribble, scribble scribble (Action: scribble. scribbling movement with land) 3. When Susie was a school girl, a school girl Susie was And she went 'Miss! Miss! I can't do this! (Hand raised.) I've got my knickers in a great big twist!' (Twisting movement of hand at hip level.) 4. When Susie was a teenager, a teenager Susie was And she went, 'Ooh, aah. Lost my bra! (Arms across chest) Left my knickers in my boyfriend's car'. (Wiggle of hips) 5. When Susie was a mother, a mother Susie was And she went, 'Boys, boys, stop that noise!' (Wagging finger) 6. When Susie was a grandma, a grandma Susie was And she went knit, knit, a great big twit. (Pretend knitting) 7. When Susie was a skeleton, a skeleton she was. And she went rattle, rattle, rattle rattle rattle. (Shaking the body.) 8. When Susie was a pile of dust, a pile of dust she was And she went (A puff of breath five times) 9. When Susie was a nothing, a nothing Susie was And she went.... (Silence.) My mother is a baker, A baker mother was And she went, Yum, yum, a yum yum yum (Action: rub tummy.) My daddy is a dustbinman A dustbinman he was, And he went Pong, pong, a pong pong pong. (Hold nose) My sister is a show-off A show off sister is. And she went nuh, nuh, a nuh nuh nuh. (Hand on waist and flouncing movement) My brother is a cowboy And this is what he says. Hands up, stick 'em up. Turn around and pull 'em up. (Skirts pulled up.) Figure 10 'My mother is a baker' Appendix Clapping rhymes collected in 1992-93 Rhyme School A School B School C School D School E A sailor went to sea Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Chinese men Yes Yes Yes Donny macker Yes Yes Yes Yes My boyfriend gave me Yes Yes Yes Yes an apple Who stole the cookie Yes Yes I went to a Chinese Yes Yes Yes restaurant Under the bramble Yes Yes Yes bushes I know a Chinese girl Yes Miss Mary Mack Yes My mother is a baker Yes See see my playmate Yes When Susie was a baby Yes Yes Boys have got the Yes muscle May tithley hou Yes My name is Elvis Yes Yes Presley Om pom pear Yes Yes Zig zag zoo Yes Baa baa black sheep Yes Brick on a brick Yes Georgie Porgie Yes I went to the animal fair Melanie Melanie Yes My little pony My mother told me to Yes open the door My name is Cinderella Yes My name is Diana Ross My name is Solomon Grundy My teacher gave me an Yes apple Noddy's car goes down the street I hid a box of matches Popeye the sailor man Yes Susie crossed the Yes airline Two more days to Yes Halloween The Queen of Spain We are the gruesome Yes greenies Rhyme School F School G School H School I School J A sailor went to sea Yes Yes Yes Yes Chinese men Yes Yes Yes Donny macker Yes My boyfriend gave me Yes an apple Who stole the cookie Yes Yes Yes I went to a Chinese Yes restaurant Under the bramble Yes bushes I know a Chinese girl Yes Yes Miss Mary Mack Yes Yes Yes My mother is a baker Yes Yes See see my playmate Yes Yes When Susie was a baby Yes Yes Boys have got the Yes muscle May tithley hou Yes My name is Elvis Yes Presley Om pom pear Zig zag zoo Yes Baa baa black sheep Brick on a brick Georgie Porgie I went to the animal Yes fair Melanie Melanie My little pony Yes My mother told me to open the door My name is Cinderella My name is Diana Ross Yes Yes My name is Solomon Yes Grundy My teacher gave me an apple Noddy's car goes down Yes Yes the street I hid a box of matches Yes Popeye the sailor man Yes Susie crossed the airline Two more days to Halloween The Queen of Spain Yes We are the gruesome greenies
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| Author: | Curtis, Mavis |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Folk Music Journal |
| Geographic Code: | 4EUUK |
| Date: | Jan 1, 2004 |
| Words: | 6117 |
| Previous Article: | Editorial. |
| Next Article: | John Barleycorn: the evolution of a folk-song family. |
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