Selected Examples Of The Hand Clap Rhyme "Miss Sue From Alabama" (1965-1990s)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series on "Miss Sue From Alabama".

Part I provides my brief editorial comments about why I believe "Miss Sue From Alabama" with originated as an African American rhyme.

Part I of this pancocojams series also presents selected examples of "Miss Sue From Alabama" regardless of their titles* from 1965-1999. These examples probably include (accidental) folk processed* versions as well as purposely changed versions of that rhyme and may also include verses from another stand alone hand clap (or jump rope) rhyme.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/09/selected-examples-of-hand-clap-rhyme_1.html for Part II of this series. Part II of this pancocojams series presents selected examples of "Miss Sue From Alabama" hand clap rhymes regardless of their titles that are dated from 2000 on as well as examples from the "Miss Sue From Alabama" rhyme family (regardless of their titles) that have no demographic information about their dates, but which I believe are later versions.

The tune of the sound file embedded in Part I and the video embedded in Part II are the same. However, compare the how different many of the words of these later examples are from the earlier examples of these rhymes that are featured in Part I. The examples that are featured in Part II also include (accidental) folk processed versions or purposely changed versions of that rhyme. Furthermore, it appears to me that more post 1990s examples of "Miss Sue From Alabama" include that rhyme's verses in combination with verses from other stand alone hand clap rhymes.

*Instead of the referent "Miss Sue", a number of examples in the "Miss Sue From Alabama" family of hand clap rhymes include titles (first lines) such as "E.T.", "My soup", "Mazoo", and "Missing from Alabama".

DISCLAIMER: This series isn't meant to be a comprehensive compilation of all of the numerous versions of rhymes in the "Miss Sue From Alabama" rhyme family.

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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/11/folk-processing-childrens-rhyme-miss.html for a 2013 pancocojams post on "Folk Processing The Children's Rhyme "Miss Sue From Alabama" for my theories about the meanings of the referent "Scooby Doo" and the phrase take a smooth shot" in some examples of "Miss Sue From Alabama"

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who contributed examples to this post and all those who are otherwise quoted in this post. Thanks also to those who are featured in the embedded video in this post, and thanks to the publisher of that video.

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WHY I BELIEVE THAT "MISS SUE FROM ALABAMA" IS PROBABLY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ORIGIN
I believe that the hand clap rhyme "Miss Sue From Alabama" probably originated with African Americans because of these characteristics in the early examples that I have found:
1. the examples' textual structure, and the African American American Vernacular English (grammar & words/phrases) that are found in these examples.

2. the percussive hand clapping performance activity that accompanies the performance of these rhymes is also associated with African Americans.

3. the fact that most of the earliest examples of "Miss Sue From Alabama" that I've collected are attributed to African Americans.

4. anecdotal comments from some contributors* suggests that this rhyme is very well known among African American girls (after a certain time period).**

*For instance, this comment: "I lived in Indiana my whole life although I changed schools alot, and this song ["Miss Sue From Alabama" seemed to be known by every other African American child I met." [The example that accompanies this comment is given in Part II of this pancocojams series].

**I'm an African American female who performed two partner hand clap routines in the 1950s (in Atlantic City, New Jersey) and I have no recollection of any version of "Miss Sue From Alabama".

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EXAMPLES OF "MISS SUE FROM ALABAMA" (1965-LATE 1970s)
These rhymes are given in relative chronological order based on the demographic information that is given with the contributor's comments or with the example itself.

Brief editorial comments are included after some of these examples.

Numbers are assigned for referencing purposes.

NOTE: The earliest example that I've collected of "Miss Sue From Alabama" is from 1965. However, I don't mean to imply that there were no examples of that rhyme before that date.

MISS SUE FROM ALABAMA (Version #1)

Miss Sue
Miss Sue
Miss Sue from Alabama

Someone is in your garden
Miss Sue
Miss Sue
Someone is in your garden
Miss Sue from Alabama

Show me what you can do
Miss Sue
Miss Sue
Show me what you can do
Miss sue from Alabama

Is this the way you do
Miss Sue
Miss Sue
Is this the way you do
Miss Sue from Alabama

Hey Hey
A doobie-do-wah
Your mama's broke
And your papa's broke
Turn to the east
Turn to the west
Turn to the very one you love the best
Milk in the pitcher
The butter's in the bowl
Can't catch a sweetheart
To save your soul


I think this is the way we sang this game in Northern Mississippi cira 1965.
-GUEST,nanasallthat, 11 Dec 07, http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63097
Subject: RE: Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?
-snip-
This contributor didn't any racial demographic information. However, the textual structure and vernacular language of this example is clearly of African American origin,. Also, note that the certain verses (particularly the last verse aster the words "You papa's broke") can be found in other African American folk rhymes such some in Thomas W. Talley's 1922 book Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise And Otherwise.
-snip-
The scatting phrase "a doobie-do-wah" is probably the folk processed source of the name of the cartoon character "Scooby Doo".

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MISS SUE FROM ALABAMA (Version #2)
Miss Sue, Miss Sue
Miss Sue from Alabama
Hey you Scooby -doo
Now let me see you smoothing
Now let me see you smoothing
-from Yo Mama!: New Raps, Toasts, Dozens, Jokes, and Children's Rhymes from Urban Black America, edited by Onwuchekwa Jemie, (Temple University Press, 2003, page 99)
-snip-
Here's an excerpt from a summary of this book that is found on https://books.google.com/books?id=9_4fUgF9BFMC&dq=miss+sue+from+alabama+in+other+countries&source=gbs_navlinks_s:
Collected primarily in metropolitan New York and Philadelphia during the classic era of black street poetry (i.e., during the late 1960s and early 1970s) these raps, signifyings, toasts, boasts, jokes and children's rhymes will delight general readers as well as scholars. [These texts range] from the simple rhymes that accompany children's games to verbally inventive insults and the epic exploits of traditional characters like Shine and Stagger Lee"..."
-snip-
Read my comments after Version #2 for the probable meaning of "now let me see you smoothing".

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MISS SUE FROM ALABAMA (Version #3)
mmm-Miss Sue (clap clap clap)
Miss Sue (clap clap clap)
Miss Sue from Alabama
Now let�s have a party.
Chicka boom chicka boom
chicka boom boom boom
Now let�s have a tic tac toe
Ah tic ah tac ah tic tac toe
My mother�s in the kitchen peelin white potatoes
My father�s in the alley drinkin lemonade-o
Brother in the clink waitin for the clock to go
boom tic tock boom tick a wally wally (7x)
boom tic tock

Miss Sue (clap clap clap)
Miss Sue (clap clap clap)
Miss Sue from Alabama
She ma *
My mother had a baby
My father called it crazy
But, if it�s a girl
I�ll give it a curl
And If it�s a boy
I�ll give it a toy.
Wrap it up in toilet paper
Send it down the elevator
First floor � Stop!
(Think it over)
Second floor -Stop!
(Think it over)
Third floor, you better not stop
'Cause S.T.O.P spells stop.
-Songs for Children from New York City [1976]
Transcribed by Azizi Powell from the sound file published on YouTube.
-snip-
*"She ma" seemed like it was an utterance that the girls chanting this rhyme caught and then moved on to the "My mother had a baby" verses. "Mother had a baby" is a stand alone jump rope (hand clap) rhyme (a rhyme that can be chanted by itself).

SHOWCASE SOUND FILE: Miss Sue From Alabama; Miss Sue From Alabama



Various Artists - Topic, Published on May 30, 2015

Songs for Children from New York City [1976]

Provided to YouTube by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

? 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings / 1978 Folkways Records

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MISS SUE FROM ALABAMA (Version #4)
Miss Sue
Miss Sue from Alabama
Hey you,
scooby do
your Mama's got the measles
Your papa's got the flu
magic measles
magic flu
Take an a b c d e f g
Take an h i j k l.m.n.o.p.
Take a smooth shot
Take a smooth shot
and now freeze.
-Eleanor Fulton, Pat Smith, editors Let's Slice The Ice, (Magnamusic-Baton, 1978; St. Louis, Missouri; p. 16)
-snip-
In this example & in other examples of "Miss Sue From Alabama" playground rhymes, the word "smooth" is an adjective whose 1970s slang meaning is "doing something difficult without effort, with finesse." The word "smooth" was often used this way when someone performed a difficult action in a way that made that action seemed easy.

The line "Now let me see you smoothing" in the example given as Version #2 above, the word "smoothing" probably carries the same vernacular meaning of doing something difficult with finesse.

"Take a smooth shirt" is just one folk processed example of "take a smooth shot" that is found in multiple versions of "Miss Sue From Alabama" (or other titles).

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MISS SUE FROM ALABAMA (Version #5)
Miss Sue, (clap, clap)
Miss Sue (clap, clap)
Miss Sue from Alabama,
Let's make a movie,
Sittin' in a rocker,
Eatin' Betty Crocker,
Hey wise girl,
Whatcha gonna do,
When your mama's at work,
Baby's got the flu,
Daddy's got the chicken pox,
And so do you?
Take an a b c d e f g,
Take an h i j k l m n o p,
Take a booty shot,
take a booty shot,
And FREEZE!!
-from http://www.inthe80s.com/rhymes.shtml "Children's Rhymes From the Eighties
-snip-
This page begins with this note:
"The purpose of this page is to list out various childrens' rhymes that were popular during the 80s."

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MISS SUE FROM ALABAMA (Version #6)
Miss Sue (Clap Clap)
Miss Sue from Alabama
She's havin a party
Chica Boom Chica Boom Chich Boom Boom Boom
Mama got the measels
Daddy got the flu
I ain't lyin
Neither are you
Just sittin in the field pealing white potatas
Sittin in the hall drinkin achahol
Got to drunk I fell out
How many hours was I knocked out
-from http://www.inthe80s.com/rhymes.shtml "Children's Rhymes From the Eighties
-snip-
This entire example was written in upper case letters, and was also written in paragraph form. I changed those features in order to conform to the other examples on this page.s

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ET FROM OUTER SPACE (Version #7 of "Miss Sue From Alabama")
ET from outer space.
He has an ugly face.
Sittin in a rocket
eatin very tocket
watchin the clock go
Tick tock
tick tock shawally wally
ABCDEFG
You betta get your black hands offa me
You gotta smoooth cho
You gotta smoooth cho
You gotta smooth, smooth, smooth, smooth, smooth.
Now Freeze!
(alternative last line: My mama said "Black eye peas").
-Kiera, African American girl, 8 years old, (Pleasantville, New Jersey) and Kion, African American male, 6 years old, (Pleasantville, New Jersey), 11/8/2008
-snip-
Comments:
Kiara & Kion are my great niece & great nephew. Their mother, Kiemon, told me that she recited this same rhyme when she was a child in the 1980s.

The "ET" in the rhyme is the lead character from the hit 1982 American science fiction movie, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial for more information about this movie. I'm not sure why that character and his ugly face replaced the standard "Miss Sue from Alabama" lines.
-snip-
Italics added to highlight this note.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/10/get-your-black-hands-off-of-me.html for a pancoocjams post about the line "Get your black hands off of me."

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MISS MOO (Version #8 of "Miss Sue From Alabama")
Miss Moo
Miss Moo, Miss Moo, Miss Moo from out of space,
Rocking in a rocking chair
Eating candy floss
Watching the clock go tick tock tick tock bananarama
Tick tock tick tock bananarama
A B C D E F G
Watching the stars jump out of me
Moonshine moonshine moonshine FREEZE! Vashti (talk) 01:42, 5 January 2017 (UTC)
- Vashti, (southeast Wales, UK version circa 1986, sung to music); January 2017; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AClapping_game/Examples#Miss_Moo_.28southeast_Wales.2C_UK_version_circa_1986.2C_sung_to_music.29 (talk page)
-snip-
Here's a note about this example from the editors of this Wikipedia talk page:
"This one is interesting, it has the same hand movements as the Midwest version above, and "Bananarama" is clearly a British 80s adaptation of "banana-wana", but it also has the moonshine part from the Appalachian version listed here."
-snip-
Those examples that are referenced in that note don't include any demographic information about when they were performed.

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MISS SUE FROM ALABAMA (Version #9)
Hi there. I'm from Mississippi and was in elementary school in the late 80's through early 90's. the version of "Miss Sue" I remember was not listed here. I thought I'd help you out. Last time I heard it, I think it had varied ever so slightly from when I was in school, but this is how I remember it:

Miss Sue (clap clap clap)
Miss Sue (clap clap clap)
Miss Sue from Alabama Sittin' in a rocker
eatin' betty crocker
watchin' that clock go
tick-tock, tick-tock-banana-nana
tick-tock, tick-tock banana-nana
ABCDEFG-wash those stains right out'a my knees
MUSHKA, MUSHKA, MUSHKA FREEZE
(as fast as you can) 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10!

I never got the last part...sometimes the rule was you had to stay still while you counted, and sometimes it was to count the fastest. The most distinct difference I remember is that there were always three claps after "Miss Sue." I hope that was helpful.
-Allison {Mississippi; late 1980s, early 1990s}; 2/28/2007 [cocojams.com]

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MISS SUE FROM ALABAMA (Version #10 & "MAZOO FROM ALABAMA" Version #11)
"grind gremlin said:
�Miss Sue, Miss Sue,
Miss Sue from Alabama.
She's sittin in the kitchen, doin a bit of knitting,
watching the clock going
tic, toc, tic, toc bananarama
tic, toc, tic, toc bananarama
ABCDEFG, wash those cobwebs off my knee,
Awooshka, Awooshka, turn around and freeze.

[also includes an example of "C C my playmate"]"


We had versions of these two as well. They seem to have come from the U.S.

Ours went something like this:

Mayzoo, Mayzoo,
Mayzoo from Alabama,
Sittin' in her rockin' chair
Doin' a bit of knittin'
Watchin' the clock go
Tick tock, tick tock shawala wala,
Tick tock, tick tock shawala wala,
ABCDEFG,
wipe those cobwebs of my knee,
With a woochacha, woochacha
woochachacha,
A woochacha, woochacha
woochachacha,
Turn around, tip the ground and freeze!


[includes an example of "Sisi my playmate"],

[..].

We would have played these games around 1993 - 1999.
-Emily88, https://www.boards.ie/b/thread/2055548787/3?,
School-yard Rhymes. [from the United Kingdom ?], 26-Oct-2014

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E.T. FROM OUTER SPACE (Version #12)
E.T....E.T....
E.T from outer space he has an ugly face, sitting in the rocker, eating betty crocker, watching the clock go tick tock, tick tock shawawa(sp)(x2), a-b-c-d-e-f-g betta get your mama off of me, betta get your mama off of me musha, musha, musha, freeze.
-IHEARTWRITING, http://nothingliketheninetys.blogspot.com/2008/08/etet.html, August 3, 2008 "I Heart The 90s�
-snip-
"Get your mama off of me (also given as "get your grandma off of me") is a Dozens type sexual put down as it infers that the mother (or grandmother) of the person referred to as "your" has trying to have sex with the person who is chanting this rhyme.

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This concludes Part I of this two part series on selected examples of "Miss Sue From Alabama" (and other titles).

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