The REAL Origin Of "I Don't To Go To Mexico" Rhymes (from 1938 to 2016)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides information about the "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" rhymes and debunks the belief that the original rhyme (and the contemporary versions of this rhyme that I have found to date)* have anything whatsoever to do with insulting Mexicans, and/or anything to do with illegal immigration from Mexico to the United States and/or deportation of Mexicans from the USA.*

*I recognize that some adults believe that "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" rhymes demean Mexicans, and/or refer to illegal immigration/deportation. However, I think those associations with this rhyme come from adults, and aren't what most children think of when they chant and play "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" rhymes.
-snip-
[Update: Added September 6, 2017 at 2:07 PM]
In spite of the fact that early versions of the rhyme that became "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" had nothing to do with Mexico and in spite of the fact that later versions of that rhyme probably don't have anything to do with Mexico and/or Mexicans, context is important. Given the political realities of immigration and deportation, and given prejudice against Latinos/Latinas, it probably isn't a great idea for children to recite versions of that rhyme that mention "Mexico"- note the other versions of that rhyme that are featured in this pancocojams post.

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This post is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on urban legends about children's rhymes. That series uses this definition of urban legends: "a modern story of obscure origin and with little or no supporting evidence that spreads spontaneously in varying forms and often has elements of humor, moralizing, or horror" http://www.dictionary.com/browse/urban-legend

Click the "urban legends about children's rhymes" tag for other pancocojams posts in this series.

Also, click the tag "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" for other pancocojams posts on this rhyme.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the contributors of these examples.
-snip-
DISCLAIMER: This post isn't meant to be a comprehensive collection of "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" rhymes.

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THE BACKGROUND STORY FOR "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO MEXICO NO MORE"
From http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/11/nyregion/fyi-323470.html?mcubz=0 "F.Y.I" by DANIEL B. SCHNEIDER, MARCH 11, 2001
"Macy's Doggerel

Q. Children in New York used to chant a clapping song, almost like a nursery rhyme, about not wanting to go to Macy's. How did it go?

A. Like this:

Oh, I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more

There's a big fat policeman at the door, door, door

He'll pull you by the collar

And make you pay a dollar

Oh, I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more.

The authorship is obscure, but the rhyme was popular by the turn of the 20th century, and might have been associated with an incident that occurred when the modern department store was still in its infancy.

On Dec. 24, 1870, Elizabeth B. Phelps, a suffragist and woman of no small renown, was accused of petty thievery while shopping at Macy's, then at 14th Street and Sixth Avenue. At issue was a box of bonbons that Mrs. Phelps dropped on the floor that day. Margaret Grotty, a salesgirl, asserted that Mrs. Phelps was trying to steal it, while she insisted that it had fallen as she was trying to extract payment from her coin purse while juggling her packages. The store detective was summoned.

Mrs. Phelps's arrest was exhaustively covered by the popular press, and it turned out that several other well-to-do women had been detained at Macy's the same day, for other and seemingly innocent lapses in protocol. A judge threw Mrs. Phelps's case out of court, and Macy's was left to struggle with the perception that, whether due to class animosity or confusion over department store etiquette, innocent shoppers were routinely harassed. Though picket lines and boycotts were planned, they never materialized. The rhyme, whatever its origins, survived well into the 1950's."
-snip-
Notice that this article indicated that "I Won't Go To Macy's" was popular by the turn of the 20th century. However, the first published example of this rhyme wasn't until 1938 (as cited by barry popik in Excerpt #1 below).

Click http://www.actuarialoutpost.com/actuarial_discussion_forum/showthread.php?t=76535 "Should I forbid this?"- a discussion thread about whether parents should allow their children to chant "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" rhymes because the parents are concerned that the rhymes either demean Mexicans, and/or the parents are concerned that these rhymes have something to do with the deportation of Mexicans- which they don't support.

I was surprised to find that something I wrote on this subject in 2004 for my no longer active cocojams.com cultural blog was quoted early on in that discussion. That quote is given below.

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A 2004 COMMENT I WROTE ABOUT "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO MEXICO" RHYMES

"I Don�t Want To Go To Mexico
Shame Shame Shame.
I don�t want to go to Mexico
no more, more, more.
There�s a big fat policeman
at door, door, door.
He�ll grab you by the collar
and make you pay a dollar.
I don�t want to go to Mexico
no more, more, more.
Shame.
-Multiple sources; posted by Azizi Powell, 2004

My comments:
"I Don�t Want To Go To Mexico� appears to be a widely known handclap rhyme. Like most hand clap rhymes, it is recited in unison.

I collected this version in 1998 from a number of school aged African American girls and boys living in various Pittsburgh, PA. neighborhoods.

In 2001, I also collected a version of this same rhyme from my school age Philadelphia cousins Breeana and Tonoya. Breena�s and Tonoya�s version also starts with �Shame, shame, shame� and has all of the same words until the section about the big, fat policeman. At that point they say: "if he pulls you by the collar, girl, you better holler�. Their version ends with the players saying �I don�t want to go to Mexico, no more, more, more� / �Shut the door!� Each partner tries to be the first to say �shut the door!�. Whoever says it first, lightly taps the other player on the shoulder or on the side of their head and then points to them in a �Got ya!� manner.

Barbara Michel's and Bettye White's 1983 book of African American children's rhymes Apple On A Stick contains a version of this rhyme from Houston, Texas [entitled] �I Don�t Want To Go To College.� That rhyme has the same words as the examples mentioned above, up to and including the line "at the door door door". It then continues by saying:
See what I mean,
Jelly Bean.
Wash your face with gasoline.
Jump in a lake.
Swallow a snake.
Come back home with a tummy ache.

The source for all of these versions is probably the rhyme �I Don�t Want To Go To Macy�s.� Roger Abraham notes in his collection Jump-Rope Dictionary that "I Don't Want To Go To Macy's" was documented as being performed by American children in 1938. �Macy�s� is the name of a chain of department stores. The most famous Macy's store is located in New York City.

My theory is that these children substituted "Mexico" for "Macys" since they weren't familiar with the "Macy's" store or the word �Macy�s�. This is an example of �folk etymology� Folk etymology occurs when people change foreign words or unfamiliar words into familiar words or sounds that are similar to the word they don�t know.

The original version of �I Don�t Want To Go To Macy�s� doesn�t have any introductory phrase, but a lot of African American songs have beginning (introductory) phrases such as �Shame, Shame, Shame�. One seven year old Pittsburgh girl recited the same version as other Pittsburgh children had shared with me, but she started the rhyme by saying �Shine, shine, shine�.

�Shine� may be another example of �folk etymology�. The girl may have thought she heard the word �shine� when she actually heard children saying �shame�. After all, it makes more sense to say �shame� then �shine� when talking about police grapping you by the collar.
-Azizi; cocojams.com [site no longer active]"

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NOTES ABOUT THE EVOLUTION OF "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO MEXICO" RHYMES
The earliest title for "I Don't Want To Go To Macys" rhymes appears to be "I Won't Go To Macys". Children substituted the word "Mexico" for "Macys" because they weren't familiar with the "Macys" store or the word �Macys�. This is an example of �folk etymology�. Folk etymology occurs when people change foreign words or unfamiliar words into familiar words or sounds that are similar to the word they don�t know.

**
Like most jump rope rhymes, by at least the early 1970s, the performance activity for "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" rhymes (regardless of their titles) switched from jumping rope or ball bouncing to (usually a partner) hand clapping routine. However, like other partner hand clapping routines, "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" can also be played by a group of three or four persons. In most of the examples of "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" that I've observed in person or via YouTube, people stand while doing the hand clap routine that accompanies chanting this rhyme.

**
I'm not sure whether "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" originated with African Americans, but that rhyme appears to be widely known among African Americans, and that rhyme appears to be known perhaps to a somewhat lesser extent among other people of other races/ethnic groups in the USA.

In my experience (in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from around 1997-2008), like other (mostly non-competitive hand clap rhymes*) "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" was mostly performed by girls ages 5-12 years. Some boys (ages 5-8 years old) also performed this rhyme, but usually after age eight, boys would say that that rhyme (and other non-competitive hand clap rhymes*) were "girls stuff".

*I distinguish between (mostly non-competitive) hand clap rhymes such as "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" and competitive hand slaps (which are performed by a group of people forming a circle) such as "Stella Ella Ola" and "(versions of) "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky".

**
Since at least the 2000s, it appears that in the United States the rhyme "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico No More" is usually known as "Shame". That title comes from the introductory words "Shame Shame Shame" that are said before the rhyme's hand clapping pattern and the words for that rhyme actually began. The word "Shame!" is also usually said at the end of many examples of "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico". In the context of these rhymes, "Shame" means "Aren't you ashamed?" or "You should be ashamed". The title "Shame" for "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" rhymes (including other versions in this rhyme family such as "I Don't Want To Go To Hollywood") originated with African Americans.

It should be noted that there are other children's hand clap rhymes that also begin with the words "Shame Shame Shame".* However, usually when African American girls say that they are going to do [the rhyme] "Shame", they mean "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico".
*For instance, the rhyme "Brick Wall Waterfall" as performed by two African American girls in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br9fAi7HdDk.

**
Beginning hand clap rhymes with three repeating words (such as "Shame Shame Shame"), or with a brief introductory phrase (such as "Zing Zing Zing in the deep blue sea") is a characteristic of many, but not all, African American children's rhymes. Most of the contemporary examples of "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" (and other similar titles) have this introductory phrase, reflecting the influence of African Americans, if not "copying" off of and/or repeating African American examples of this rhyme (and other) African American created or influenced hand clap rhymes.

**
Since at least the 1990, many versions of "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico", "Mexico" is usually replaced with some other place that the chanters don't want to go- i.e. "I don't want to go to Hollywood", "I Don't Want To Go To College", or "I don't want to go to school". However, one example below replaced "Mexico" with "Disney World".

In some contemporary rhymes, the "policeman" is replaced by "Michael Jackson" (i.e. there's a big fat Michael Jackson at the door", or "there's a skinny Michael Jackson at the door" or "there's a fake Michael Jackson at the door"). Some examples replace "policeman" with "a cute boy" or "two cute boys", or "a tall man" etc. Often in those rhymes, the person or persons at the door takes the girl by the hips and kisses her on her lips. In other versions, the person takes the girl by the pants and makes her do a dance.

A risque (1990s or later?) version of "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" that appears to be quite widely chanted and quite popular has the person or persons at the door (policeman, Michael Jackson, cute boy etc) peeing on the floor. (Notice that "door" and "floor" rhyme), suggesting that "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" or, at least, this version of that rhyme is chanted by children as a way to challenge society's rules and experience being a little bit bad (i.e. not good) in a safe, relatively consequences free way.

For the record, when I was collecting examples of children's rhymes and cheers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (beginning in 1985, but most actively from 1997-2008), the only examples of "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" that I collected had the words that referenced "Mexico" and "policeman" and the words of those examples didn't include any peeing on the floor.

**
Although it wasn't an element in early examples of this rhyme, by at least the 1980s, a competitive and aggressive, if not violent, ending was added to "I Don't Want To Go To Mexico" rhymes (whatever their titles/words). For instance, both partners doing the hand clap routine shout "Shame!" (or shout "Shut the door!") and try to be the first person to tap, poke, or hit their partner on the forehead. The person who is the first one to complete that action "wins" that hand clapping "contest".

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MORE EXCERPTS ABOUT AND EXAMPLES OF "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO MEXICO" (Including Other Titles In That Rhyme Family)
These excerpts are given in chronological order based on their publishing date with the oldest dated excerpt /quote given first.

Excerpt #1.
From http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/i_wont_go_to_macys_any_more_more_more_jump_rope_jingle_1938 �I Won�t Go To Macy�s Any More, More More� (Jump-rope jingle, 1938) by Barry Popik, from January 27, 2005
"This New York "jump rope jingle" involves Macy's. It's also in the book Rimbles: A book of children's classic games, rhymes, songs, and sayings (1955, 1956, 1960, 1961) by Patricia Evans, pg. 30.

10 May 1938, New Masses, section two, pg. 109:
I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more!
I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more!
There's a big fat policeman at the door, door, door!
He will squeeze me like a lemon.
A chalachke zol em nehmen.*
I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more!

(Also, as "New York Children's Street Rhymes and Songs", by Fred Rolland, pages 565-567, in Sidewalks of America: Folklore, Legends, Sagas, Traditions, Customs, Songs, Stories and Sayings of City Folk, edited by B. A. Botkin, Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1954 - ed.)

14 April 1946, New York Times, "Jump-Rope Jingles," pg. 109:

I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more.
There's a big fat policeman at the door, door, door.
He takes me by the collar, and makes me pay a dollar.
So, I won't go to Macy's any more. more. more." "
-snip-
*No information is given about the meaning of this line.

Here's a comment from that article:
"Our grammar school in Newark, NJ had one city block cordoned off to serve as a play yard until the school bell rang. There, we played games such as this rhyme bouncing a rubber ball under our legs (Oh, I won�t go to Macy�s any more more more...)--so sweet, so innocent. Now, I can afford to go to Macy�s, but I would trade it in a minute for a rubber ball, my cousin Mary, Mary Ellen Flynn and the rest of the gang at St Columba�s. Those were the days, my friend".
-Posted by Elizabeth Garris on 01/05

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Excerpt #2
From http://mudcat.org/jumprope/jumprope_display.cfm?rhyme_number=130
"I won't go to Macy's (* A big store in New York *)
Anymore, more, more.
There's a big fat policeman
At the door, door, door.
He takes me by the collar.
He makes me pay a dollar.
I won't go to Macy's
Anymore, more, more.

Source: Abrahams (1969)"

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Excerpt #3
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63097 "Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?"
-Guest Brittany, June 4, 2011
"I do [still play hand games.]

Shame,shame,shame,
I dont wanna go to mexico,
no more more more,theres
a big fat policeman,
at the door door door,if you
grab him by the collar boy you better
hollar if you grab him by the pants,
boy you betta dance,i dont wanna go to mexico
no more more more shut the door

Im 13 and i still play that"

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Excerpt #4:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AClapping_game/Examples
"Shame, Shame, Shame
Shame, shame, shame (Both people put their hand together and go back and forth)
I don't want to go to mexico no (middle, top, middle, right hand grab, left hand grab)
more, more, more. (slap thigh, snap, clap right hands)
There's a big fat policeman(clap back of right hands, clap, back and forth)
at the door, door, door (middle, top, middle, right hand grab)
grabbed me by the collar, (left hand grab, slap thigh, snap, clap right hands)
made me pay a dollar. (clap back of right hands, clap, back and forth)
I don't want to go to mexico no (middle, up, middle, right hand grab, left hand grab)
more, more, more. (slap thigh, snap clap right hands)
SHAME! (both people point at the other's face)

alternate lyrics:
Shame, shame, shame, I don't want to go to Hollywood no more, more, more. There's a fake Michael Jackson at the door, door, door. Grabbed me by the hips, kissed me on the lips, I don't want to go to Hollywood no more, more, more SHAME! � Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.194.118.238 (talk) 04:39, 27 July 2014 (UTC)"

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Excerpt #5
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55TnrD5re5g
[Pancocojams Editor's Note: This link is to a vlog hosted by a young Asian woman from Canada. The vlog and its numerous comments document and provide comments about the large amount of violence, "weirdness", and racist (especially toward Asians) words and performance activities that are found in contemporary children's rhymes. A number of commenters shared violent rhymes from non-English speaking nations, particularly from various nations in Europe and from various nations in South America. WARNING: Some of these examples include profanity and what is commonly known as the "n" word.]

1. TheParadoxSocks, 2015
"Here's one I did at my school
"Shame, shame, shame,
I don't wanna go to Mexico
No more, more, more,
There's a big fat policeman at the
Door, door, door
He'll grab you by the collar
Make you scream and holler,
I don't wanna go to Mexico
No more, more, more.

I never thought anything of it until once when I was 17 I sang it to a couple of my current friends, much to their horror, then immediately realized it's a song about deportation."

**
2. Jordan Smith, 2015
"We had two Mexico ones:

shame shame shame
I don't wanna go to Mexico no more more more
there's a big fat policeman at the door door door
he'll grab you by the collar, make you pay a dollar,
I don't wanna go to mexico no more more more
SHAME ON YOU

or:
shame shame shame
I wanna go to Mexico some more more more
there's a cute boy knockin on the door door door
he'll grab you by the hips, kiss you on the lips
I wanna go to Mexico some more more more
SHAME ON YOU"

**
3. Andrea Mercier, 2015
"We had one that was like
I wanna go to mexico some more, more , more
There's a big fat police man at the door,door,door
If you open the door he'll pee on the floor
I don't wanna go to mexico no more, more, more

Mexico alternated with Hollywood and the fat police man sometimes were 2 cute boys who'd grab you by the hips and kiss you on the lips. Both honestly sounded really gross to us and more funny then anything."

**
4. Melanie Niemann, 2015
"our version of that was slightly different.
"I don't wanna go to mexico no more more more
there's a big fat policeman at the door door door
he'll grab you by the collar and make you pay a dollar
I don't wanna go to mexico no more more more
shame!

But I wanna go to mexico some more more more
there's a really cute guy at the door door door
he'll grab you by the hips, and kiss you on the lips
oh I want to go to mexico some more more more
shame!"

**
5. _DontFeedTheOtaku _, 2015
"the one i heard was changed to Disney world " i don't wanna go to Disney world no more more more!
There's a creepy costumed princess at my door door door!
she grabbed me by the neck made me write a check!
i don't wanna go to Disney world no more more more!
SHAME smack in the face"

**
6. Excess Sleeper, 2015
"+_DontFeedTheOtaku _ Whoa dude, that's dark"

**
Reply
7. _DontFeedTheOtaku _, 2015
"+Tiana Buchanan I know right?! WE WERE 6!!"

**
8. Evan F, 2015
"For the Mexico one after the rhyme we'd shout "SHAME!" and whoever said it first got to push the other's forehead back with two fingers."

**
9. Rachel Rea, 2015
"The one my school sang was:
"Shame, shame, shame,
I don't wanna go to Mexico
No more, more, more
There's a big fat police man
at the door, door, door
He'll grab you by the hips
Kiss you on the lips
I don't want to go to Mexico
No more, more, more"
And then we would say shame on you before the other person."

**
10. Sierra Gale, 2015
"My favorite was
Chain chain chain
I don't wanna go to mexico no more more more
There's a big fat policeman at my door door door
He grabbed me by the hips
And kissed me on the lips
I don't wanna go to mexico no mo"

**
11. Lynn Abrams, 2015
"we have one at my school that goes

idont wanna go to mexico
no more more more
there is this really tall guy at the door door door
he'll grab you by the hips
kiss you on the lips
i dont wannna go to mexico
no more more more
(then you try to see who can slap the other on the forehead faster and say shame)"

12. Talia Smid, 2015
"Chang chang chang
I don't want go go to Mexico no more more more
There's a big fat policeman at the door door door
Grab you by the collar. Make you pay a dollar
I don't want to go to Mexico no more more more

re more more
vicious race to say CHAIN first"

**
JadeOmega, 2016
"#1: I don't want to go to mexico no more more more there's a big fat policeman at the door door door if he pulls you by the collar, girl you better hollar I don't want to go to mexico no more more more SHUT THE DOOR"

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Excerpt #6
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55TnrD5re5g
Marel Smietana, 2015
"I played this:
I don't want to go to Mexico no more, more, more
There's a big fat policeman at the door, door, door
He grabbed me by the collar
Made me pay a dollar
I don't want to go to Mexico no more, more, more SHAME
(whoever yelled SHAME and hit the other player's head first won)"

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Excerpt #7 [added 9/5/2017]
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KL0LNtitYM
Love10n, 2016
"I think the one I learned was Shame I dont wanna go to mexico no more mroe more, theres creepy boys at my door. They grab you by the hips, Then kiss you on the lips. Shame shame shame.
Er, thats all I remember, been a LONG time sense i've done it!?"

**
Breanna Buchanan, 2016
"what about the one shame shame shame I don't won't to go to mexico no more more more there's a big policeman stand at my door door door he grabbed me by my hips and made me miss his lips I don't won't to go to mexico no more more more?"

*****
SHOWCASE YOUTUBE EXAMPLES
Example #1: Shame Shame Shame (hand game)



The Jervlons, Published on Jul 29, 2010

Here Irene and her Dad demonstrate how to do the hand game (simple version) known as "Shame Shame Shame" or "I Don't Want to Go to Mexico."
-snip-
The summary indicates that the written directions for this hand clap are given on the website whose link is provided, but that website doesn't have those directions [at least as of 9/4/2017]

Notice that the introductory hand slap or hand clap is different from the actual hand clapping pattern that is used for the rhyme. That hand clapping routine usually has the distinctive over/under pattern that is shown in this video and in the video given below as Example #2.
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Example #2: SHAME HAND GAME - MEXICO | TI&NAISH



CanadianQueen76, Published on Jun 30, 2013

SHAME lyrics:
SHAME - SHAME - SHAME
I don't want to go to Mexico
no MORE - MORE - MORE

There's a big fat police man at the
DOOR - DOOR - DOOR
He will hang you by the collar
make you pay a dollar
I don't want to go to Mexico
no MORE - MORE - MORE
SHAME

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Categories: African American children's rhymes and cheers Children's rhymes and cheers I Don't Want To Go To Mexico urban legends about children's rhymes

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Commercialized Children's Jump Rope & Hand Clap Rhymes

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series on commercialized children's jump rope and hand clap rhymes.

Part I features an excerpt from Chapter 4: "Double Dutch And Double Cameras: Studying The Transmission of Culture In An Urban School Yard" by Anna Richman Beresin in the 1999 book Children's Folklore: A Sourcebook edited by Brian Sutton-Smith, Jay Mechling, Thomas W. Johnson, Felicia McMahon (Utah State University Press) and an excerpt of Chapter 4 "Nike, Nike, Who Can Do The Nike: New Commercialization and Scripted Exploitation" in the 2010 book Recess Battle: Playing, Fighting, and Storytelling by Anna R. Beresin.

My comments about the status of the commercialized rhymes that the researcher/writer showcased are given in the Addendum to this post.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/08/brand-names-jump-rope-hand-clap-rhymes.html for Part II of this series. Part II provides an alphabetized list of selected examples of children's jump rope and hand clap rhymes that include a brand name for a product, store, or television station.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Anna R, Beresin for her research and her writing. Thanks also to all of the girls whose play is discussed in this excerpt and thanks to all others who are quoted in this post.
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Portions of this post are included in this previous pancocojams post: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/07/excerpt-about-recreational-double-dutch.html
-snip-
This is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on Double Dutch (jump rope) and jump roping rope in general, particularly as those activities relate to African American females.

Also, click the tags below to find other posts in this series.

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EXCERPT I:
Chapter 4: "Double Dutch And Double Cameras: Studying The Transmission of Culture In An Urban Shool Yard" by Ann Richman Beresin in Children's Folklore: A Sourcebook edited by Brian Sutton-Smith, Jay Mechling, Thomas W. Johnson, Felicia McMahon (Utah State University Press, 1999)
http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1059&context=usupress_pubs

[Pancocojams Editor's Note: This chapter is quoted without citations.]

"[page] 79
...Several games were studied in this larger exploration of the folklore of the 1991-92 Mill School yard [Philadelphia Pennsylvania], including the games of the third- through fifth-grade boys. This paper, however, will serve as a window to the specific game worlds of the double dutch players. (For a complete view of the larger study, which includes handball, folk basketball, hopscotch, step dancing, and play fighting, see Beresin 1993.) Double dutch was perhaps the chief peer-led activity for African American girls at the Mill School, and provided a performance focus for a mobile audience of both girls and boys in the school yard.

[...]

[page 82]
As Cheyna, a fourth-grade African American girl had said, "Want to hear my favorite?" (Snap fingers on down beat. Accented syllables are capitalized)
Big MAC, Fillet FISH, Quarter POUNDer, French FRIES, Ice COKE,
Milk SHAKE, Foot
Fillet FISH, Quarter POUNDer, French FRIES, Ice COKE, Milk
SHAKE,
BOUNCE
Fillet FISH, Quarter POUNDer, French FRIES, Ice COKE, Milk
Shake,
HOP
Fillet FISH, Quarter POUNDer, French FRIES, Ice COKE, Milk
Shake,
TURN
Fillet FISH, Quarter POUNDer, French FRIES, Ice COKE, Milk
Shake,
CRISS

[page 83]
Big Mac appeared in twenty-three out of fifty-six live unrequested recordings of double dutch chants, closely followed by a follow-the-Ieader game, "Challenge Challenge, One, Two, Three." This contrasted with the rest of the active repetoire, of which two or three versions were recorded of each. First observed in mid-October, "Big Mac," and its occasional partner "Challenge Challenge," were the only chants jumped at recess until February. Most of the other rhymes did not appear at all until April. "Big Mac" represented forty percent of all the songs sung for double dutch, with "Challenge Challenge" representing thirty percent.The remainder totaled three to six percent, tallying another thirty percent. "Big Mac" was therefore not only the first jump-rope rhyme to appear in the school yard and not only the most frequently jumped, but, as we will see, also the one used for learning how to play the game of double dutch itself.

Collectors of jump-rope games have typically emphasized the antiquity of the games and rhymes, in part because of the archive methodology available, as discussed, and in part because of the inherent romance in finding things old. Paradoxically, the most significant rhyme for the players of this game was the newest one, invented by the McDonald's Corporation as a menu chant. Again and again the local jump-rope experts-the third, fourth, and fifth-grade girls-claimed that the "Big Mac" rhyme was commercial and approximately ten years old, but that the game was learned from their mothers and sisters. The dating of this particular chant was confirmed by the national public-relations office of the McDonald's Corporation, which indicated that the menu chants are periodically placed in local papers as part of a contest. It is significant that McDonald's has been a national sponsor of double dutch competitions since the late 1970s and that the only other long commercial text that emerged was in an interview setting: This was "R-E-E-B-O-K do your footsies the Reebok way." Reebok is also a national sponsor of double dutch competitions. All of the new attempts at double dutch recorded in the school yard were done to the "Big Mac" rhyme. When Isha, a fifth-grade expert jumper, was asked what was the easiest rhyme, she answered, "Challenge Challenge," because "you just had to imitate what was done before you." When asked why the younger girls and the ones new to double dutch started with "Big Mac," she answered, "Because they don't have nothing else." Commercial culture is, for the kids of the school yard, the most basic of common culture. The commercial is easily learned: It's short, it's quick, and it's "fun in the mouth." Children who are bused in from all sections of the city know it, and children from all economic levels have access to it. It may have been introduced by the corporate-sponsored leagues and ad campaigns and may be a future classic example of the "invention of tradition" (Hobsbawm and Ranger 1983), but it would not have continued if it did not serve some function.... recess period that allows only fifteen minutes for play in this city.

In an environment where raw materials are inaccessible and consistently removed from the play time, it appears that the African American children from poorer neighborhoods, rich with oral traditions, are teaching non-African American children what can be done, as Isha says, "when you don't hanve nothing else". This is especially true of the play of girls, which is especially repressed in the school yard by the institution of school itself. Here it is commercial culture that is the common denominator, both within the ethnic tradition and across ethnic traditions.

One of the most relevant texts on this topic is Newell's 1883 book Games And Songs Of American Children. His essays "The Inventiveness Of Children" and "The Conservatism Of Children" address the dynamics inherent in the play study, the idea of play being both traditional and transitional, and the idea that children reconstruct and reinvent performances relevant to their complex lives. The key word is "relevant". Valuable things are reused, recycled and retold. And, as we will see, the repetition of the commercial rhyme may be fixed, but the variation and frequency of the game can be found in the foot work. In a sense, the folklorist begins with the text, but cannot stop there."...

****
EXCERPT II
from Recess Battle: Playing, Fighting, and Storytelling by Anna R. Beresin (University Press of Mississippi, Jackson; 2010)

[Pancocojams Editor's Note: This book is quoted without citations. The underlined portions of the rhymes are as they were given in the chapter and represent the accented beat of the rhyme.]

"[page 64]
....Many traditional double-dutch songs list specific steps in order, and the commercial ones utilize the old formulas well:

footsies - two basic running steps with one small two-footed bounce
hopsies - one foot hopping
bouncies - two footed small jumps
turnsies - a complete rotation while inside the two turning ropes
walksies - basic running step
criss - crossing both legs repeated while jumping

At times multiple players jump at the same time, and jumpers often improvise, adding fancy turns and gestures while increasing the speed and duration of the jumping. The game was studied by the Mill School's [Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] seven-year-olds and perfected by the twelve-year-olds....

These new rhymes were slick jump rope games, emerging from jump rope competitions, sponsored by the "Big Three" corporations whose names were in the jingles- Nike, Reebok, and McDonalds.

The children who jumped rope spoke these words every day, over and over, each time I observed in 1991, 1992, and 2004. Unlike earlier generations which parodied commercials during play, the Mill School girls repeated the jingles verbatim, though the children were not robots. They

[page 65]
concentrated on moving their own way, adding fancy jumps, turns, and twists, leaning on an older tradition for variation.They parodied each others' styles, exaggerated gestures, rolled their eyes at each other, and burst out laughing. Movement offers commentary when the words make little room for it-assuming the players are allowed to move.

This chapter introduces the new commercially scripted jump rope rhymes, which have yet to be published anywhere , and makes a case for paying attention to their increased popularity. One the one hand, they squeeze out older, bolder, more subversively dreamy traditional rhymes; on the other hand, the children utilize traditional style and turn the advertisements into what they really are- a big game.

The games with commercial texts were consistently used to teach outsiders the African American art of double-dutch. They are the "easiest", the students said, "our favorite" . "It's what you use when you don't have nothing else".


Nike

Nike Nike
Who can do the Nike?
Foot to the N-I-K-E
Hop to the N-I-K-E
Walk to the N-I-K-E
Bounce to the N-I-K-E
Turn to the N-I-K-E
Criss to the N-I-K-E
(1992, 2004)

Reebok

R-E-E
B-O-K
Do your footsies the Reebok way
R-E-E
B-O-K
Do your hopsies the Reebok way
R-E-E
B-O-K
Do your footsies the Reebok way
R-E-E
B-O-K
Do your walksies the Reebok way
R-E-E
B-O-K
Do your bouncies the Reebok way
R-E-E
B-O-K
Do your turnsies the Reebok way
R-E-E
B-O-K
Do your crisses the Reebok way
(1992, 2004)

[page 66]
Big Mac [Version 1]

Big Mac, Filet o' Fish
Quarter Pounder Frenchie Fries
Icee Coke, milk shake foot

Filet o' Fish
Quarter Pounder Frenchie Fries
Icee Coke, milk shake bounce

Filet o' Fish
Quarter Pounder Frenchie Fries
Icee Coke, milk shake hop

Filet o' Fish
Quarter Pounder Frenchie Fries
Icee Coke, milk shake turn

Filet o' Fish
Quarter Pounder Frenchie Fries
Icee Coke, milk shake criss

Filet o' Fish
Quarter Pounder Frenchie Fries
Icee Coke, milk shake walk
(1991, 1992, 1999, 2004)


Big Mac (Version 2)

Big Mac, Filet o' Fish shake and fries
She's a mean mama honey and that's no lie
Together
McDonald's got footsies play that beat
McDonald's got hopsies.
(1992, 1999)

[page 67]
Challenge, Challenge/Big Mac/Hey Consolation Medley
(Challenge is a competitive follow-the-leader game)

Challenge, challenge
1,2,3,4,5,6,7.8, 9, 10

Big Mac, Filet o� Fish foot
And bounce
And hop
And turn
And walk
And criss

Hey consolation
Where have you been?
Around the corner, and back again
Stole my money
Knocked my honey
Papa�s go the hiccups
Mama�s got the ice
So come on baby
Let�s slice that ice

2, 4, 6, 8, 10 hop
2,4,6,8,10 turn
2, 4, 6, 8, 10 criss
2,4,6,8,10 turn walk
(1991, 1992, 1999, 2004)

Only one song mixes modern commentary, traditional moves, and commercial messages.** Although it mentions specific corporations, it is not a simple advertisement. The first two lines come from a rap by recording artist KRS-One, but the rest of the Mill School�s version diverges from the original yet stays true to its message of confidence. Tashi and Naisha gave it special status., and its words were sung with an eye twinkle. This one was different. It is complex in its layering of street competition, sarcasm. And African American traditional foot work. In this sense, it is much more than a traditional singing game.

[page 68]
Criminal Minded [Version 1]

Criminal minded, you've been blinded
Looking for a shoe like mine, can't find it

Mine cost more
Yours cost less
Mine Footlocker
Yours Payless

So criminal minded
Foot, you got it
So criminal minded
Foot, you got it
So criminal minded
Hop, you got it
So criminal minded
Walk, you got it
So criminal minded
Criss, you got it
(2004)

Criminal Minded [Version 2]
Criminal minded, you've been blinded
Looking for a shoe like mine, can't find it

Mine cost more
Yours cost less
Mine Footlocker
Yours Payless

Do your footsies, 1, 2, and three
And your hopsies, 1, 2, and three
And your bouncies, 1, 2, and three
And your walksies, 1, 2, and three
And your turnsies, 1, 2, and three
And your crisses, 1, 2, and three
(1999)


[page 69]
In 1992, twenty-three of the fifty-six rope rhymes performed (41 per cent) had commercial themes; in 1999, that figure had risen to twenty-six percent, included all the older traditional rhymes. �Big Mac� was heard daily from 1991 through 1999 an into 2004, while �Reebox� and Nike� gradually made their way into the mainstream rope repertoire. I was shocked not only by their prevalence but by their dramatic increase over time. Rope was not more popular in 1999-there were always several games going on simultaneously. The commercial texts were now more popular.

[page 70]
The commercial texts became new bridges between neighborhoods, social classes, and ethnicities. �
These commercial rhymes are also qualitatively different from the commercial parodies of the 1970s.

McDonald�s is our kind of place
They feed you rattlesnakes
Hamburgers up your nose
French fries between your toes

The next time you go there
They�ll steal your underwear
McDonald�s is our kind of place

McDonald�s is your kind of place
Hamburgers in your face
French fires up your nose
Ketchup between your toes
McDonald�s your kind of place
Ain�t got no parking space
McDonald�s your kind of place.

Winston taste good like a cigarette should
No filter, no taste, just a fifty cents waste

Winston taste bad like the last on I had
No filter, no flavor, just plain toilet paper

Oh! I wish I wasn�t an Oscar Meyer Weiner
That�s what I wouldn�t want to be
Because if I was an Oscar Meyer Wiener
There would soon be nothin� left of me.

[page 71]
...Given the volume of commercial messages presented to children via television and radio, on billboards and storefronts, on clothing and food items, it is not surprising to find commercial texts increasingly prevalent in children�s lore. But this phenomenon represents more than just a repository of larger cultural images. Some commercials are emerging right in the classroom.

Channel 1 is the commercially driven television show that advertises directly in classrooms on a daily basis. The well-publicized deal allows poor schools across the country gain access to free media technology in exchange for permitting students to view advertising in the classroom. [10] . Channel 1, and every morning Channel 1�s �news� and �entertainment� shows could be heard drifting down the hallway/ The commercial songs in the school yard are reinforced not only by the commercial breaks between segments of shows but by the characters in the educational programs. �I sure could go for a cheeseburger�, said the story�s happy lion. The forth-graders take in everything-story, burger, and bun.

The terms of the Mill School�s contract with Channel 1 required administrators to play the commercially sponsored �educational� programs every school day. No matter how large the generosity of Channel 1, the Ronald McDonald House, or Nike�s Project PLAY (a $10 million sport and playground program), the agenda is to fill children�s bodies with the McDonald�s- approved diet and cover them with Nike-approved footwear. [11]. These acts of charity can be seen as at best assuaging corporate guilt and at worst as image manipulation.

McDonald�s representatives confirmed to me that the Bug Mac chant had arisen from a campaign conducted in the advertising inserts included

[page 72]
with Sunday newspapers. I received a copy of the record, which was designed to look like a jukebox and presented the �menu chant� version as a mock lesson:

Good Morning, Class.
Today we�re going to learn the McDonald�s Menu Song and give a listener out there a chance to win a million dollars. So repeat after me: Big Mac, Filet o� fish�.

At the end of the recording, nobody wins. Only the teacher can properly say the Big Mac rhyme.

McDonald�s, Reebok, and Nike each sponsor national double-dutch competitions. Coaches of local double-dutch leagues long for corporate sponsorship of their underfunded community programs. The corporate sponsorship supports the double-dutch leagues, which in their professionalism require uniforms and sneakers. And this corporate largesse comes with corporate jingles.

But these campaigns ask poor children to purchase what they cannot afford. Black children, who make up the majority of Philadelphia�s poor and the majority of the Mill School�s student body, are double exploited; poor black, female children are triply exploited. [11]...

[page 73]
In light of the recognition that comes with sound and motion, each sneaker conversation and each jump rope jingle is money in the bank for Nike, McDonald�s, or Reebok. Like the Coca-Cola logo painted on the bottom of Philadelphia�s public swimming pools, and stenciled onto the backboards of recreation centers basketball hoops, the school yard becomes a television screen for agenda that is not that of the children or the school and that benefits no one in the school region with a livable wage....

Commercial games have become a new tradition, simultaneously old and brand-new, that is embedded in the folkloric process of cultural recycling and fueled by industry...

[page 74]
Like jazz before them, hip-hop and school yard rhymes are misunderstood, underappreciated, and eaten up by racialized commercial interests beyond their control. [18] Sociologist Juliet Schor take us further: �Although many aspects of African American culture have had a long historical association with cool, such as jazz and sartorial styles as well as a legacy of contributions to popular culture, what is happening now is unique. Never before have inner-city styles and cultural practices been such as dominant influence on, even a definer of popular culture. [I]n the words of Douglas Holt again�it is now the context itself- the neighborhood, the pain of being poor, the alienation experience of black kids. These are the commodifiable assests.� [19]

But Naisha and Tashi have their own list of commodifiable assets. They require that as song be aesthetically pleasing, that it have an interesting rhythm, that it be familiar enough that it is immediately obvious what to do, that it allow for skill-serious skill- to be displayed, and that it be fast. The can mix and match movement styles with prefabricated texts, and if they have the freedom, they can make medleys all of their own....*

****
ADDENDUM: My comments about the "commercialized rhymes" that were quoted from Recess Battle: Playing, Fighting, and Storytelling by Anna R. Beresin (University Press of Mississippi, Jackson; 2019)

The "Nike" and "Reebok" rhymes don't appear to be found anywhere but the Recess Battle book. There's no other online citation for either of these rhymes. Also, for what it's worth, I've never come across either of these rhymes in my direct collection (among mostly African American girls and boys in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area- which is about four and a half hours away from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

**
I haven't found any other example of "Big Mac" [Version 1 or Version 2] as they are given in the Recess Battles book. However, there are countless versions of the rhyme "Big Mac", in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area and throughout the United States (and probably throughout much of the world, thanks to the internet, travelers, missionaries, etc.) However, "Big Mac" appears to be most often referred to as "Welcome To McDonalds", and also appears to be most often played as a two person hand clap game. My guess is that most children and teenagers don't even know that "Welcome To McDonalds" (aka "Big Mac") used to be a jump rope rhyme.

**
As somewhat of an aside, the line "She's a mean mama honey and that's no lie in "Big Mac" [Version #2] is adapted from the 1981 hit R&B song "She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked)" by Carl Carlton. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She%27s_a_Bad_Mama_Jama_(She%27s_Built,_She%27s_Stacked)

**
I have found four* other examples of the rhyme "Hey Consolation" that is given as part of "Challenge Challenge". Those other examples use the word "Hey Concentration" instead of "Hey Consolation". Click https://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/10/g-h-hand-clap-jump-rope-rhymes-examples.html for one example of that rhyme.

The beginning lines of the "Hey Consolation" portion of the "Challenge Challenge" rhyme and the "Hey Concentration" rhymes ose rhymes are lifted from "Hambone Hambone" ("Where you been/round the world/ and back again) song/rhyme.

A pancocojams post that features "Hey Consolation"/"Hey Concentration" rhymes will be published soon, and that link will be added here.

* [Update: 8/7/2017] *I just received another example of this rhyme via email from Nina Gonzalez, Jersey City, New Jersey. Thanks, Nina!!]

The first two lines of "Criminal Minded You've Been Blinded" rhyme are adapted almost word for word from the KRS-One's hit Hip Hop record with that title: "Criminal minded, you've been blinded/Lookin', for a style like mine you can't find it". https://genius.com/Krs-one-criminal-minded-lyrics.

I wasn't aware of the "Criminal Minded" rhyme until I read it in this book. I'm looking online for examples of it. If I find any examples or mention of this rhyme (and not the Hip Hop song), I'll update this post.

It's interesting that the researcher only cites the "Criminal Minded" rhyme in 1999 and 2004. The KRS_One record was first released in 1987. It seems likely that that rhyme was known to the double dutch jumpers prior to it being documented in 1999.

"Footlocker" is a somewhat upscale store that sells tennis shoes (sneakers) and other sports products. "Payless" is a discount shoe store. That rhyme might not be "subversive", but it fits the self-bragging/dissing pattern of many other African American children's rhymes as well as the self-bragging/opponent dissing styles of Blues and Hip Hop genres.

-snip-
UPDATE: August 6, 2017
A reference to the double dutch rhyme "Criminal Minded" is given in the chapter: �Double Forces Has Got The Beat: Reclaiming Girl�s Music In The Sport of Double- Dutch" by Kyra D. Gaunt in the 2011 book The Girls' History and Culture Reader: The Twentieth Century , edited by Miriam Forman-Brunell and Leslie Paris (University of Illinois Press).

Here's that quote:
"Around 1999, I watched two sisters (one nine and the other thirteen, assisted by a neighborhood friend) perform a series of double-dutch game songs in their home in Philly. They had rolled back the living room carpet with their mother�s permission, despite their father�s rule: no jumping rope in the house.
As they performed their repertoire, Candance, the older sister, kept complaining to her younger sister Bridgette, that she really didn�t really learn her �turnsies� right. Interestingly, the rap �Criminal Minded� by urban poet and recording artists KRS-One was the basis of their play. The opening lyrics of that rap song were more or less the same lyrics that opened their game song:

Criminal minded, you�ve been blinded
Lookin for a style like mine, you can�t find it.

"
-snip-
I plan to publish a brief except of that chapter on pancocojams as part of this blog's ongoing series on double dutch jump rope.

**
I believe that it's important to note that R&B/Hip Hop music was a vital, creative, and important source for double dutch rhymes and other categories of children's rhymes that are included in Anna R. Beresin's Recess Battles book (such as hand clap rhymes, and what she calls "steps" and I call "foot stomping cheers". I've found R&B/Hip Hop record to be sources of many of the rhymes and cheers that I've directly collected and that I've found on the internet (particularly on YouTube discussion threads and other social media sites.)

I should also note that, in contrast to most of the double dutch rhymes that Ms. Beresin documented in her Recess Battles book, I've found a number of the hand clap rhymes and some of the "steps" that she included in her book in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and those same hand clap rhymes and "steps" are also somewhat widely found on the internet.

I plan to publish a pancocojams post on the "steps" that are documented in Ms. Beresin's Recess Battle book and I'll add that link to this post when it is published .

****
This concludes Part I of this pancocojams series on commercialized children's jump rope rhymes & hand clap rhymes.

All of the rhymes that were quoted in this post as well as some additional rhymes are included in Part II of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Categories: African American children's rhymes and cheers brand name children's rhymes Children's rhymes and cheers

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"Ooh Ungowa", "Funky Chicken" & Five Other Camp Songs & Cheers From Contemporary African American Sources

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases seven American children's camp songs or cheers that I believe have their source in contemporary (post 1960) African American songs, rhymes, cheers, or rhymes.

These examples are from the website http://www.girlscoutsaz.org/en/camps/our-camps.html [the Girl Scout camp named Camp Maripai in Prescott, Arizona].

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
DISCLAIMER:
This post is not meant to be a comprehensive listing of contemporary children's camp songs or cheers that have African American sources.

I believe that some song examples* on that showcased website may be post 1960s variant forms of older African American (or Caribbean) songs or rhymes. However, in this post I chose to focus on post 1960s examples or post-1960s songs or rhymes.

*For example, "Little Sally Walker, walkin� �round the street" is a contemporary form of the very old singing game "Little Sally Walker".

****
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S COMMENTS
I happened upon this web page of children's camp songs while looking for examples of children's rhymes that include the term "FBI". After reading the example entitled "Emerald�s Chant" on that website's page and given below, I published a pancocojams post on the 1988 Hip Hop track (song) "Rollin With Kid N Play" https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/kid-n-play-rollin-with-kind-n-play.html.

I consider children's rhymes, cheers, singing games, camp songs etc. to be folk material and as a self-identified "community folklorist", I'm interested in documenting sources for folk material-including demographic information (race, ethnicity, gender, geographical location). Also, as a community folklorist, I'm interested in documenting how rhymes are spread across geographical areas, including nations- in this case from the United States to Canada.

I'm also interested in documenting continuity or changes in the lyrics and/or performance activities of American children's rhymes, cheers, singing games etc. over time or in different populations at the same time.

No songs from that camp's website mention race, and I consider a few examples to racially offensive- the most offensive example is entitled "The Washerwoman" which (I believe) stereotypes Asians -note the speech patterns and the references to doing laundry in that example:

Washerwoman Song
I live-ee in-ee a teeny weeny house-ee
I live-ee on-ee the thirty-first-ee floor
I take-ee in-ee the dirty dirty laundry
Ruffles on the petticoat ten cents more.
I like a pow pow better than a chow chow
I like a little girl, she like-a me.

One day in Hong Kong
Bigga Momma come along-a
Take away my little girl
Poor poor me.'

-snip-
That website also includes a form of the traditional African American song "Dry Bones" that includes the African American dialectic use of the word "dem" for "them": .
"Dry Bones
Dry bones sittin� in a canyon, some of dem bones are mine
Dry bones sittin� in a canyon, some of dem bones are mine
Some of dem bones are (enter person or unit name here)
Some of dem bones are mine
Some of dem bones are (enter person or unit name here)
Some of dem bones are mine"

-snip-
Also, given the racist use of "monkeys" as a derogatory referent for Black people, the line in the example entitled "Emerald's Song" which is given below "Those girls are funky/Always acting like monkeys!" could be considered offensive or could at least be problematic if Black or Brown girls were part of the group who was singing this song.

These example provide me with an opportunity to share the following links to some of the pancocojams posts that I've published about children's rhymes and race:

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/racialized-versions-of-i-like-coffee-i.html "Racialized Versions Of "I Like Coffee I Like Tea"

**
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/07/anti-asian-rhymes-i-went-to-chinese.html "Anti-Asian Rhymes - I Went To A Chinese Restaurant"

**
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/10/stereeotypical-references-to-american.html "Stereotypical References To American Indians In "I Went To A Chinese Restaurant" Rhymes"
-snip-
Here are comments that I wrote from some of those posts:
I believe that the stereotypical content in playground rhymes should be documented for the folkloric record, and also for the purpose of encouraging people interested in an eradicating stereotypes to the presence of this content.

In spite of children's attachment to the version of a rhyme that they first learned, given the large number of non-stereotypical versions of "I Went To The Chinese Restaurant, I believe that children can be complimented for their creativity but still be redirected to alternative, non-stereotypical examples of that rhyme. It's up to adults to educate the children in their care that the words and/or accompanying actions of these & some other playground rhymes are problematic and hurtful.

The children's rhyme "Eenie Meenie Miney Mo" stands as a strong testimony to the fact that offensive references can be completely excised from playground rhymes, as many adults today who grew up with that rhyme and are surprised to learn that it once included a pejorative reference for Black people.

**
Although most of the video examples and, presumably, also most of text examples that I've found of this rhyme are from White children and White adults, I'm including this subject in this blog that focuses on Black cultural indices because non-offensive and some offensive examples of "I Went To A Chinese Restaurant" appears to have become a part of the cultural body of playground rhymes in the United States and in some other English language nations to a large extent regardless of children's the race/ethnicity. Note that a link given below to another pancocojams post given includes a video of two young Black women who indicate that they remember reciting this rhyme in their childhood. Also, there are people with Black/Asian (or Asian/Black) descent in the United States and elsewhere. Therefore, this topic is quite suitable for a blog about Black culture & customs in the United States & throughout the world.

**
It's important to consider that the words to examples of "I Went To The Chinese Restaurant" may appear to be non-offensive, but those words might be accompanied by the gesture of holding the skin at the ends of both eyes to mimic a squinting look. And while there should be no question that gesture is offensive, it clearly is something that children have to be made aware of, even if they don't intend to be hurtful or otherwise cause offense.

-snip-
Some of the examples featured in this post are from the sub-category of children's recreational material that I call "foot stomping cheers". Here's a quote from one of several pancocojams post on foot stomping cheers https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/at-playground-foot-stomping-cheer-that.html "At The Playground" - A Foot Stomping Cheer That Combines Words From A TV Commercial, The "Homey Don't Play That" Saying, & A Kiddie Hip Hop Record
"Foot stomping cheers" is the term that I coined in 2000 for a relatively new category of children's recreational play that is (was?) performed mostly by preteen and younger girls and that involves chanting and choreographed foot stomping combined with (individual) clapping movements.

Foot stomping cheers" have a textual structure and traditionally* have a performance style* that is distinct from hand clap rhymes, jump rope rhymes, other cheerleader cheers, and other categories of children's recreational rhymes. That record featured four examples of African American girls from Washington D. C. performing cheers in 1973-1975.

*By traditional, I mean the way that foot stomping cheers were performed by African American girls in the 1980s and 1990s, and perhaps in the early 2000s. I've noticed changes in the way that these cheers are performed as they become more mainstream (i.e. are performed by White or predominately White cheerleader squads.)"...

****
EXAMPLES OF CHILDREN'S SONGS/CHEERS THAT (I BELIEVE) HAVE THEIR SOURCE IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN AMERICAN SONGS, RHYMES, OR CHEERS

Pancocojams Editor:
These examples are given in alphabetical order on this pancocojams website. I've assigned numbers to these examples for referencing purposes only.

A link to a pancocojams posts about (what I believe are) the African American sources for these examples is given below the camp example itself.

***
From http://maripai-songbook.tripod.com/songlyrics.html
[website Last Updated: May 20, 2009


1. A Boom Chicka Boom
(a repeat song)
I said a boom-chicka-boom!
I said a boom-chicka-boom!
I said a boom-chicka-rocka-chicka-rocka-chicka-boom!
Uh huh!
Oh yea!
Again!
(Put next name of style here) style!
Styles:
Underwater: sing with fingers dribbling against your lips
Loud: as loud as you can!
Slowly: as slow and drawn out as possible
Opera: sing in an opera voice
Alien: high-pitched, beep sounds
Valley Girl:
I said, like, boom-chica-boom!
I said, like, boom chicka-boom!
I said, like, booma-chicka, like, rocka-chicka, like, rocka-chica like boom!
Like, uh-huh!
Like, for sure!
Like, same thing...
Janitor style:
I said a Broom-Pusha-Broom,
I said a Broom-Pusha-Broom,
I said a Broom-pusha-mopa-pusha-mopa-pusha-broom.
-snip-
This is listed in that camp song website under "FAST songs"

I've categorized "A Boom Chicka Boom" as a song (chant) with an African American source even though I haven't been able to track down the earliest example of that song/chant. "A Boom Chicka Boom"'s text (words) and its call & response format are the elements that strongly suggests to me that it originated among African Americans (or was composed in imitation of African American cheers). I've collected similar foot stomping cheers such as "A Rah Rah A Boom Tang" in the 1980s among African American girls in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list.html.

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2. "Big Fat Pony
Ride around that big fat pony
Ride around that big fat pony
Ride around that big fat pony
This is how she does it:
Front to front to front my baby
Back to back to back my baby
Side to side to side my baby
This is how she does it.
Actions: This is a dancing game that is done in a circle. One girl is in the center of the circle, and while the whole group sings the first three lines and claps, the girl in the center gallops like a horse around the circle. When the fourth line of the song is reached,the girl much stop in front of the girl she is nearest, and both shimmy towards each other, then turn and shimmy away from each other, then turn to the side and shake their hips back and forth. The partner for the center girl now becomes the new center girl."
-snip-
This is listed on that camp song page under "DANCING/GAME/CHANT songs"

Click https://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/11/little-sally-walker-ride-that-pony_9.html for a cocojams2 post about this game song.

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3. "Emerald�s Chant
(repeat song)
Oh-la, oh-la, eh!
Roll, roll, roll to the beat, now
I don�t know
Just what it is
Those girls are crazy
Always shakin� their daisies!

Oh-la, oh-la, eh!
Roll, roll, roll to the beat, now
I don�t know
Just what it is
Those girls are funky
Always acting like monkeys!"
-snip-
This is listed on that camp song page under "DANCING/GAME/CHANT songs"

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/kid-n-play-rollin-with-kind-n-play.html for the lyrics and videos of the 1988 Hip Hop song "Rollin With Kid N Play".

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4. "Funky Chicken
(Leader) Let me see your funky chicken!
(All) WHAT'S THAT YOU SAY?
(Leader) Let me see your funky chicken!
(All) WHAT'S THAT YOU SAY? I said....

Chorus: (everyone)
Ooo, ah-ah-ah ooo, ah-ah-ah ooo, ah-ah-ah ooo,
One more time, now!
Ooo, ah-ah-ah ooo, ah-ah-ah ooo, ah-ah-ah ooo,
One more time now!

Other Verses: Dracula, Orangutan, Elvis Presley, Cleopatra, John Travolta, do the polka, shopping car

(Actions: During first and third line of chorus, do silly movement that corresponds with verse)
-snip-
This is listed in that camp song website under "FAST songs"

Published on Dec 25, 2014
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group International

Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn-F_GmNr-A for a video of the 1970 Jackson 5 R&B song "How Funky Is Your Chicken"

Since I can find no record that I've previously posted online the example that I collected around 1999 from three sisters under the age of 12 years (Faith, Grace, and ?, I remember that her name wasn't "Charity", African American girls in Braddock, Pennsylvania), here's that example- The girls said it was a cheerleader cheer:

[chanted in unison]

How funky is the chicken
How loose is the goose
So come on everybody
and shake your caboose
Shake your caboose
Shake your caboose.

[The girls shook their butt to the side while saying "Shake your caboose".]

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5. "Gigalow

Person 1: Hey (insert Person 2�s name here)!
Person 2: Hey what?
1: Hey (Person 2�s name!
2: Hey what?
1: Show us how you gigalow, I said, show us how you gigalow!
2. My hands are high, my feet are low, and this is how I gigalow.
All: Her hands are high, her feet are low, and this is how she gigalows!"
-snip-
This is listed on that camp song page under "DANCING/GAME/CHANT songs"

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/12/childrens-rhyme-gigalo-examples.html for the pancocojams post "The Children's Rhyme "Gigalo" - Examples & Probable Sources"

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6."Humpty Dumpty Song
Hump-dee, dump
Hump, hump, dee, dump-dee dump-dee
Hump-dee, dump
Hump, hump, dee, dump-dee dump-dee
(enter any nursery rhyme and sing for 12 beats of song)

(i.e.) Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey (HEY!)
Along came a spider and sat down beside her�|
Singing UHH! Ain�t that funky now?
-snip-
This is listed in that camp song website under "FAST songs"

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/02/pre-dozens-childrens-foot-stomping.html for the pancocojams rhyme "Pre-The Dozens Girls' Foot Stomping Cheer "Hump De Danda""

**
7. "Ooh Ungowa
My back�s a-breakin�, my belt�s too tight
My hips a-shakin� from left to right
Singin� ooh Ungowa, (enter person or unit name here)�s got the power
You know it, you said it,
And now you represent it.
Singin� OOH UNGOWA (enter name here)�s GOT THE POWER!"
-snip-
This example is listed on that camp song page under "DANCING/GAME/CHANT songs"

The lines "my back's achin and my bra's too tight" are found in the African American children's rhyme "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train". However, those children's rhymes adapted those lines from African American military cadences which probably lifted those lines from the risque social song "Bang Bang Lulu". https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/08/bang-bang-choo-choo-train-rhyme-cheer.html.

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-real-origins-of-word-ungawa-various.html for the pancocojams post entitled "The REAL Origin Of The Word "Ungawa" & Various Ways That Word Has Been Used In The USA"

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Categories: African American children's rhymes and cheers African American Hip Hop African American Rhythm and Blues African American singing games children's game songs

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