Various Versions Of The "Hambone" Song (information, lyrics, & YouTube examples)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents information about the "Hambone" song and text (lyric) examples of various versions of "Hambone".

This post particularly focuses on examples of "Hambone" that either include "Hush Little Baby Don't You Cry" ("Mockingbird") verses or "Frog Went A' Courting" verses.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the featured artists and the publishers of these YouTube examples.
-snip-
This post is part of an ongoing series about the "Hambone" song and percussive body patting activity.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/10/pattin-juba-hambone-and-bo-diddley-beat.html for a 2011 pancocojams post on Hambone (pattin juba) beat and body percussion.

Click the tag below for other pancocojams posts that are also part of an ongoing series on "Hambone".

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INFORMATION AND THEORIES ABOUT THE MEANING[S] OF "HAMBONE" SONGS/RHYMES (with or without lyrics)
These comments and song examples are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

The "Song Example" title and the numbers that are assigned for the text (lyrics) examples of this song which are included in this post are given for the purposes of this blog post and aren't included in the source material that is quoted. I've written these examples with numbers in italics to differentiate those numbers from the remainder of those comments.

Excerpt #1:
From Step It Down: Games, Plays, Songs & Stories from the Afro-American Heritage, edited by Bessie Jones and Bess Lomax Hawes, (University of Georgia Press, originally published in 1972, 1987 edition), pages 34-35

"You just say it, and then you say it with your hands

"Hambone" probably refers to the part of the anatomy most involved in playing this hand jive game, though there is undoubtedly more to it than that. Most young black men, I find, know it in one version or another.

"Hambone" may be performed alone or with a group all jiving together. While the rhyme is being said, the players slap their thighs, lightly on the offbeat. After each line of the poem, they pat in the following rhythm [a drawing of musical notes is included here.] ...

The "patting" may be done on one side of the body only, using the right hand or thigh; or on both sides at the same time in parallel motion. The triplet phrase is done as follows:

1. Slap the side of the thigh with the palm of the hand in an upward brushing motion.
2. Continuing the upward brushing: strike the side of the chest with the palm of the hand.
3. Strike the thigh downward with the back of the hand.

Voice
Song Example #1

Hambone Hambone pat him on the shoulder
If you get a pretty girl, I'll show you how to hold her.
Hambone, Hambone, where have you been?
All 'round the world and back again.
Hambone, Hambone, what did you do?
I got a train and I fairly flew.
Hambone, Hambone where did you go?
I hopped up to Miss Lucy's door.
I asked Miss Lucy would she marry me.
(falsetto)"Well I don't care if Papa don't care!"
First come in was Mister Snake,
He crawled all over that wedding cake.
Next walked in was Mister Tick,
He ate so much it made him sick.
Next walked in was Mister Coon,
We asked him to sing us a wedding tune,
Now Ham-....
Now Ham....

Action
Pat thigh on the offbeat while the rhyme is being recited. (The first two lines have been underscored on the offbeat as an example.) At the end of each line of the rhyme, do the hambone "pat" as previously described."
-snip-
Note: The lyrics in this excerpt are given as Example #1 of "Hambone" in this pancocojams post.

SHOWCASE VIDEO: Example #1
Bessie Jones - Hambone



WallakAt, Published on May 26, 2012
-snip-
I remember reading somewhere that Bessie Jones said that the "Hambone, hambone where you been/round the world and back again" verse was about an actual bone with ham meat that was re-used [in a soup] over and over again because people were poor. However, I can't find where I read that statement. I offer this theory for the "record" and not because I necessarily believe it is true.

However, in this example of the song "Hambone", and in other examples, "Hambone" appears to be used as a person's (probably male) nickname.

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Excerpt #2:
From http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/18/arts/re-creating-hambone-body-music-of-the-past.html "Re-creating Hambone, Body Music of the Past" by Glenn Collins, Published: July 18, 1987
..."The body music called hambone is made by using the hands to slap the thighs and the chest muscles. ''I guess lots of people have never seen it,'' said the 23-year-old Mr. [Derique] McGee of the art of hambone. ''Sometimes I'm asked if I invented it.''

In fact, hambone "is a living bit of black history, a neglected part of our heritage that flourished in minstrel shows and vaudeville,'' he said ...

According to Dr. Joseph Boskin, professor of history and Afro-American studies at Boston University, Mr. McGee's efforts to revive hambone "are representative of a growing movement in America to keep alive elements of black culture that have survived through the generations."

Like rap music, which has been traced to African roots,the rhythmic patting motion of hambone has its origin in West African dance, ''where movement was a form of communication and religious ceremony,'' said Professor Boskin. It ''was refined in the plantations,'' he added. 'A Lost Art' to Be Preserved�.

[...]

Although the etymology of the word hambone is debated, "It makes sense that the word comes from hitting your thigh, your hambone," said Mr. McGee."..

****
Excerpt #3
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=17443
Subject: Lyrics Req. Hambone

1.
Subject: RE: Lyrics Req. Hambone
From: Stewie
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 07:39 PM

"There's a version recorded on a lovely CD: Various Artists 'Georgia Folk: A Sampler of Traditional Sounds' Global Village Music CD 03. It is performed by Ray Favors - with body patting, mouth popping etc - and was recorded by Dave Evans in 1970."

Song Example #2

"HAMBONE

Hambone, hambone have you heard
Papa gonna buy me a mockingbird
If that mockingbird don't sing
Papa gonna buy me a diamond ring
If that diamond ring don't shine
Papa gonna buy me a nanny goat
It that nanny goat don't rate
Papa gonna whup my boom-de-yay
Hambone!

Hambone, hambone where you aye (?)
In the chicken house cookin' rye
Hambone, hambone where you bin
Round the world and I'm goin' agin
Hambone!"

**
2.
Subject: RE: Lyrics Req. Hambone
From: Bill in Alabama
Date: 26 Jan 00 - 08:41 PM

"I was taught to hambone by friends who worked as "delivery boys" for a small neighborhood grocery store in Chattanooga, where you could telephone in your grocery list and have the goods delivered to your back door. The verses floated in from many other songs, I'm sure. A couple that I recall were "Hambone, Hambone, where ya been? Around the world and I a-goin' again. What you gonna do when you get back? I'm gonna take a little walk down the railroad track." Back in the 'fifties, Bo Diddely put the hambone rhythm to the guitar, replaced the name Hambone with his own name, and became a rock & roll icon."

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3.
Subject: RE: Origins: Hambone
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Mar 12 - 05:18 PM

"Hambone, as a term, was applied to itinerant, unpaid actors in the 1890s (quote from 1895 in Lighter*).

Application of the term to juba patting or juba dancers (body music)seems to be fairly recent; the earliest quote* in 1921.

Articles on the net and in literature put the term as equivalent to juba patting, and then mention the antiquity of body music, but use of the term for the action-song has not been traced back before the quotes in Lighter.
There seems to have been a transference of the term from the itinerant actor to juba patting or body music, perhaps in the 1930s.

*Lighter, Historical Dictionary of American Slang

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Song Example #3
From http://www.metrolyrics.com/hambone-lyrics-taj-mahal.html

Hambone! Hambone! [title]

Hambone, hambone
Where you been?
Round the world and I'm going again
What you gonna do when you come back?
Take a little walk by the railroad track
Hambone

Hambone, hambone
Have you heard?
Papa's gonna buy me a mocking bird
And if that mocking bird don't sing
Papa's gonna buy me a diamond ring
And if that diamond ring don't shine
Papa's gonna take it to the five and dime
Hambone"

****
Song Example #4

From http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/h/hambone.shtml

HAMBONE
(Red Saunders / Leon Washington)

[as sung by Bill Haley]

Hambone! Hambone!

Hambone, hambone
where you been?
Round the world and I�m going again
What you gonna do when you come back?
Take a little walk by the railroad track
Hambone

Hambone, hambone
Have you heard?
Papa�s gonna buy me a mocking bird
And if that mocking bird don�t sing
Papa�s gonna buy me a diamond ring
And if that diamond ring don�t shine
Papa�s gonna take it to the five and dime
Hambone

Hambone, hambone
Where you been?
Round the world and I�m going again
I just skinned an alley cat
To make my wife a Sunday hat
Took the hide right off a goat
To make my wife a Sunday coat

Hambone, hambone
Where�s your wife
Out to the kitchen, cooking beans and rice
Hambone (2x)

Hambone, hambone
Trying to eat
Ketchup on his elbow, pickle on his feet
Bread in the basket
Chicken in the stew
Supper on the fire for me and you

Look at him holler, look at him moan
That hambone just can�t hambone
Hambone (2x)
-snip-
The "skinned the cat/to make a Sunday hat" verse is from the "Juba This And Juba That" song. That song is included in Thomas W. Talley's now classic book Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise And Unwise. In the notes for that book, Talley wrote that "skinning the cat" was a dance step. https://archive.org/stream/negrofolkrhymes00tallgoog/negrofolkrhymes00tallgoog_djvu.txt

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Showcase Video #2

Hambonin' Nebo; Hambone



NeBo411, Published on Dec 4, 2007

NeBo performs the artistic, thigh-slapping artform called Hambone.
-snip-
Song Example #5

HAMBONE (a contemporary version with spoken word additions)
(NeBo411)

Now what you are about to see
is a little bit of lost history.
A little bit of lost history.
But I�m glad
Somebody showed me.
Whether one or two or all alone
Everybody can enjoy
a little hambone.
Hambone, hambone what is that?
Hambone is more than a hit or a pat.
Hambone is more than a rhyme.
Hambone is more than a notion.
To get into hambone
you gotta show emotion.
So look up!
Listen here!
Hambone�s about to bring you some cheer. Hah!

[Begins hambone patting and after several pats with no words, continue pattin while saying these lines]

Hambone, hambone have you heard?
Mama�s gonna buy me a mockin� bird.
If that mockin� bird don�t sing
Mama�s gonna buy me a diamond ring.
If that diamond ring don�t shine
Mama�s gonna buy me a fishing line.
If that fishing line should break
Mama�s gonna throw it in the lake.
If that water splash on me
Mama�s gonna beat my b.u.t.

[Stops hambone pattin and without any break flows into the next line]

Tea is what I like to drink
When I know I need to think.
When I like a little song
I like to do the -Hambone. Hah!

[Begins hambone pattin� again then after several pats says]

Break it down! Hah! Hah!

[Does mouth pop]

Hambone!
-snip-
*Transcription from the YouTube video by Azizi Powell, 8/17/2010.

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Showcase Video #3
Hambone by Adrian elementary school



keith feagin Published on Mar 20, 2015

ham bone, ham bone, have you heard?
-snip-
This is a "Mockingbird" version of the "Hambone" song.

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Categories: African American children's rhymes African American folk songs Bo Diddley Beat children's rhymes

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References To "The FBI" In Children's Rhymes Before The "I Believe I Can Fly I Got Shot By The FBI" Parodies

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post documents various examples of American children's rhymes that include references to the FBI that were known before the children's parodies of R. Kelly's 1996 inspirational song "I Believe I Can Fly".

The oldest children's parody example of "I Believe I Can Fly" that I've collected (directly and via the internet) is from 1999. Here's that example:

I believe I can fly.
I got chased by the FBI. (or "I'm being chased by the FBI").
It's all because of those collards greens
that I ate with those chicken wings.
I believe I can fly.
See me running through that open door.
I believe I can fly.
I believe I can fly.
-African American boys & girls (ages 7-12), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, collected by Azizi Powell, 1999

In contrast, the earliest example that I've found online of a children's rhyme that mentions "the FBI" is from the mid to late 1940s. That example is given below as A #1.

Note that according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation, the United States government department that is now know as the FBI was created in July 26, 1908. However, that department wasn't named "Federal Bureau of Investigation" (FBI) until 1935 and therefore no children's rhymes with that acronym could have existed before 1935.

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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 are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/10/childrens-parodies-of-i-believe-i-can_2.html and https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/were-african-americans-originally.html for pancocojams posts that include examples of "I Believe I Can Fly" parodies.

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DISCLAIMER:
This post is not meant to be a comprehensive compilation of children's rhymes (songs) that include a reference to "the FBI". Please add to this compilation in the comment section below, especially if you know any children's rhymes that mention "the FBI" in other rhymes besides those given in this post. Don't forget to add demographic information (particularly decade and geographical location such as city & state). Thanks!

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"THE FBI" MENTIONED IN THE CHILDREN'S RHYMES
These examples are given in rhyme sub-categories and are numbered within those categories. The examples within those sub-titles are given in no particular order.

When an entire long rhyme is given, the verse that includes "The FBI" is written in italics to highlight that particular verse.

These sub-categories are presented in order according to the number of examples with "the FBI" references that I have found (to date), with "the rhyme/song family" with the most examples given first.

A. I WOKE UP SUNDAY MORNING" RHYMES (also known as "Roaches and Bedbugs", "The Wiffer Woofer" and other titles)

From http://rolandanderson.se/bedbugs.php
Numbers #1 and #2 in this sub-category

Pancocojams Editor's Note:
I'm prefacing these two "The FBI" examples with the following excerpt from the book Bald Mountain Childhood by Roland Anderson:
"Centered around Mary Pawlak, this is an autobiographic, biographic and historical description of growing up in a Carpatho-Rusyn family on Bald Mountain near Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania during the 1920's and 30's.

[...]

Verses [of "Beetles And The Bedbugs"] similar to the ones that Mary recite occur in innumerable versions of folk songs popular during the early 1900's. A version that appears to be one of the oldest concerns the trepidations of a vagrant in New York City. That the song was also popular in the Wilkes-Barre and the surrounding Luzerne County area is attested to by the fact that there is a version of the New York City song that has been modified so that it refers to Luzerne County. The verses are included in the song "I don't want no more of this army life" which was popular during World War II. This comic description of army life was sung by Bugs Bunny in a Warner Brothers cartoon film during the war years. This version of the song is frequently resurrected when the United States engages in new conflicts. Additionally, the verses about the bedbugs playing baseball are quite popular and often occur in songs built up from bits and pieces taken from a number of sources. Below are a few of the folk songs in which contain verses similar to the one that Mary recalls."...

[Pancocojams Editor: I've numbered these selected examples from that book.]

"THE BEETLES AND THE BEDBUGS

1. This song version evidently comes from Oregon. The secret agent occurring in a verse in "Bedbugs and Skeeters" above, has here become a german and hints at a WWII origin

My mother was a German
My father was a spy
And if you don't believe me
Just call the FBI

Someone, likely wanting to keep the song up-to-date during the 1950's, replaced the German spy verse above with the following:

My mother is a Russian
my father is a spy
And if you don't believe me,
just ask the FBI"
-snip-
Roland Anderson indicates that the German spy verse is from the 1940s [World War II]

****
3. From https://kilowan.wordpress.com/2006/09/02/skeeters-and-the-bed-bugs/
{Comment] A fellow camper
September 12, 2006 at 11:04 am
How I learned it:

"I woke up Sunday morning
and looked up on the wall
the beatles and the bed bugs
were playing a game of ball

The score was seven-nothing
The beatles were ahead
The beatles hit a home run
and knocked me out of bed

I�m singing
eenie-meenie and a minie moe (oh oh oh)
catch a whipper-whopper by the toe (oh oh oh)
and if he hollers hollers hollers
let him go (oh oh oh)
eenie-meenie and a minie moe

I went downstairs to breakfast
I ordered ham and eggs
I ate so many eggs
The ham rolled down my legs!

I�m singing�

My mother was a German
My father was a spy
And if you don�t believe me
Just call the FBI

I�m singing�

I fell into the sewer
That�s where I plan to die
Some people call it murder
I call it sewer-cide

I�m singing�"

****
4. From http://maripai-songbook.tripod.com/songlyrics.html http://maripai-songbook.tripod.com/songlyrics.html
"I Woke Up Sunday Morning
I woke up Sunday morning, and looked upon the wall
The skeeters and the bedbugs were playing a game of ball
The score was three to nothing, the skeeters were ahead
The bedbugs hit a home run, and knocked me out of bed

Chorus:
I�m singing, eener meener and a miner mo
Catch a whipper whopper by the toe,
And if he hollers, hollers, hollers, don�t let him go
Im singing, eener meener and a miner mo

I went downstairs for breakfast, I ordered ham and eggs,
I ate so many pickles, the juice ran down my legs
My mother gave me a nickel, my father gave me a dime
My sister gave me a boyfriend, who kissed me all the time
My mom�s a secret agent, my father is a spy
And I�m the little big mouth, that told the FBI"

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5. From http://dragon.sleepdeprived.ca/songbook/songs5/S5_79.htm The Whipper Whopper Song (Eener Meener); contributed by Sue Moore
"I woke up Sunday morning,
I looked up on the wall,
The beetles and the bedbugs
Were playing a game of ball.

The score was 6 to nothing,
The beetles were ahead,
The bedbugs hit a homerun
And knocked me out of bed.
Chorus:

I'm singing - Eeny meeny and a miney mo, mo, mo, mo
Catch a Whipper Whopper by his toe,
And if he HOLLERS, HOLLERS, HOLLERS, let him go.
I'm singing - Eeny meeny and a miney mo, mo, mo, mo
I went downstairs for breakfast,
I ordered ham and eggs,
I ate so many eggs
The ham ran down my legs.

I went outside to play,
I looked up in the sky,
I saw a little bluebird,
It poo-pooed in my eye.

My mother is a butcher,
My dad's a side of beef
And I'm the little hot dog
That runs around the street.

My father is a crook,
My mother is a spy,
And I'm the little big-mouth
That told the FBI.

I fell into the sewer,
And this is where I'll die,
Some people call it suicide,
I call it sewer-cide.
-snip-
6. This verse is found in another example of this rhyme that was contributed by Aubrey:
"My mother is a banker,
My father is a spy,
And I'm the little big mouth,
Who told the FBI."

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7. From http://playgroundjungle.com/2009/12/i-woke-up-saturday-morning.html I Woke Up Saturday Morning
Example posted by Paul Kyle:

I woke up Sunday Morning
I looked up on the wall
The beetles and the bedbugs
were playing a game of ball

The score was 6 to nothing
The beetles were ahead
The bedbugs hit a home run
and knocked me out of bed

I�m singin�, Eenie-Meenie and uh, Minie-Moe
Catch a tigger tiger, by his toe
If he hollers hollers, let him go
I�m singin�, Eenie-Meenie and uh, Minie-Moe

I went downstairs for breakfast
I ordered ham and eggs
I ate so many eggs
the ham rolled down my legs.

I�m singin�, Eenie-Meenie and a, Minie-Moe
Catch a tigger-tiger, by his toe
If he hollers-hollers, let him go
I�m singin�, Eenie-Meenie and a, Minie-Moe.

My father is a baker
my mother is a spy
and if you don�t believe me
go ask the FBI
-snip-
8. From the Comment section of that post:
Suzy January 18, 2010
"Well, I have heard this as "the cooties and the bedbugs".

[...]

My father is a commie
my mother is a spy
and I'm the little hotdog
that told the FBI".

Midwest during the 1980's but I heard them from my dad who grew up in Iowa in the 50's and 60's.�

**
9. Patrick, July 13, 2016
"So many different versions. I lived in Kansas City, and a new neighbor from �who-knows-where� taught it this way (but my mother banned us from singing it any more.):

My mother was a commie
my father was a spy,
I�m the little �blankty-blank�
that told the FBI."

****
10. From http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/childrens_songs/eenie_meenie-lyrics-1138582.html
"I woke up Sunday morning
And looked up on the wall
The cooties and the bedbugs
Were having a game of ball.

The score was six-to-nothing,
The cooties were ahead.
The cooties hit a home run
And knocked me out of bed!

[Chorus]

I'm singin
Eenie meenie and a-miny-mo
Boom boom boom
Catch a whifferwhaffer by the toe
Boom boom boom
And if he holler hollers let him go
Boom boom boom
Eenie-meenie and a-miny-mo

My father gave me a nickel
My mother gave me a dime
My sister has a boyfriend
Who looks like Frankenstein

[Chorus]

My father is a lawyer,
My mother is a spy
Me and my big mouth
I told thee FBI!

[Chorus]

I went downstairs for breakfast
I ordered ham and eggs
I ate so many eggs
That the yolk ran down my leg

[Chorus]

I went into the sewer
And that is how I died
They didn't call it murder
They called it "sewer-side!"

submitted by guest"

****
11. [with note] From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=312
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Roaches and Bedbugs?
From: GUEST,cosmos42
Date: 21 Aug 15 - 10:15 PM

"May I repeat that you people are amazing?

I have a list of songs which I need to add to my songbook, some of which I don't have the words for. Guess what song I added to that list yesterday.

Catch A Wiffer Woffer!

It's now stuck in my head, but it's worth it.

Another verse which we used:

My mother is an Indian
My father is a spy
And if you don't believe me
I'll call the FBI"

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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Roaches and Bedbugs?
From: GUEST,cosmos42
Date: 21 Aug 15 - 10:26 PM

"And, skimming other internet songbooks, it seems like most peoples' mothers were something that made more sense than "an Indian" - a German, a Russian, or even a banker or martian."

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B. "MISS SUSIE HAD A STEAMBOAT" ("MISS LUCY HAD A STEAMBOAT") RHYMES
#1. From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=90418
Subject: RE: Folklore: Lady's alligator purse? Her own thread
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Feb 11 - 01:54 PM

Kids Dont jump rope to this song im in the fourth grade and we just sing it we dont do any movements to the song
Miss Suzie had a steam boat
The Steamboat had a bell
Mrs.Suzie went to heaven
The steamboat went to

Hello Operator
Give me number 9
if you disconnect me
I'll kick you from

Behind the refrigerator
there was a piece of glass
Miss Suzie sat upon it
And broke her little

Ask me no more questions
ill tell you no more lies
The boys are in the bathroom
Zipping down their

Flies are in the meadow
Bees are in the grass
The boys and girls
Are kissing in the

D-A-R-K D-A-R-K
Darker than the ocean
Darker than the sea
Darker than the black boy
That's chasing after me

Dark is like a movie
A movie is like a show
A show is like a T.V. set
And that is all I...

Know my dad is a robber
I know my mom is a spy
I know that I'm the little brat that
Told the F.B.I.

My mom gave me a nickel
My dad gave me a dime
My sis' gave me a girlfriend
And I know she's is witch

she made me wash the dishes
she made me wash the floor
she made me wash her underwear
So I kicked her out the door

I kicked her over London
I kicked her over France
I kicked her to Hawaii
Where she did the Hoola Dance!

-snip-
I reformatted this example to separate its strung together verses.
-snip-
[#2 & #3] Two similar versions of this rhyme, but with the first line "Mrs. Lucy Had A Steamboat" and "Miss Lucy Had A Steamboat" can be found at http://bussongs.com/songs/miss-lucy-had-a-steam-boat.php. One of those versions has "the FBI" verse as exactly given above, and one has that verse without the "I know" preface to those lines.

Note: Neither of those "bussong"s versions have the "black boy chasing after me" verse.

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#4. [Added June 23, 2017]

"hey i remember this version of ms suzy:

Ms. Suzy had a steamboat,
the steamboat had a bell toot toot,
the steamboat went to heaven
ms. suzy went to
hello operator,
plase give me number nine,
and if you disconnect me,
ill chop of your
behind the 'fridgarator,
their lay a piece of glass,
ms. suzy sat apon it
and broke her little
ask me no more questions,
tell me no more lies
the boys are in the bathroom
zipping up their
flys are in the meadows
the bees are in their hives,
ms suzy and her boyfriend
are kissing in the
D-A-R-K D-A-R-K dark dark
dark as in the movies
the movies like a show,
the show is like a tv screen
and that is all i know
i know my ma,
i know i know my pa,
i know i know my sister
with the 40 acre bra.
My mom gave me a penny,
my dad gave me a dime,
my sister gave me a boyfriend,
who kissed me all the time.
He made me wash the dishes,
he made me scrub the floor,
he made me clean his underwear
so i kicked him out the door.
I kicked him over london
i kicked him over france,
i kicked him over china,
and stole his underpants.
Brocolli makes you smell good,
carrots help you say,
bananas make you constipate
and water makes you pee.
My mother is a burglar,
my father is a spy,
and im the little bugger,
that told the F.B.I.
Hello operator
please give me number 10,
and if you disconnect me,
ill sing this song again!!"
-posted by megan at March 28, 2006, http://blog.oftheoctopuses.com/000518.php [retrieved by Azizi Powell, 2006; website no longer available]
-snip-
I reformatted this example from essay format to enhance its readability.

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C. "FBI" MENTIONED IN OTHER RHYMES
(besides those given above, including "I Believe I Can Fly" parodies)
#1. From http://mudcat.org/jumprope/jumprope_display.cfm?rhyme_number=69
"Don't say 'ain't'.
Your mother will faint.
Your father will fall
In a bucket of paint.
Your sister will cry.
Your brother will die.
Your dog will call the FBI.

Source: Hastings (1990)"

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#2. From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=110403

Subject: RE: Law Officers in Songs &Children's Rhymes
From: Cool Beans
Date: 19 Apr 08 - 09:49 AM

My country tis of thee
Sweet land of Gernmany
My name is Fritz.
My father was a spy
Caught by the FBI
Tomorrow he will die.
My name is Fritz.

(Learned in the 1950s when I was a little kid.)

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Categories: African American children's rhymes children's parodies children's rhymes I Believe I Can Fly parodies

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