This cocojams2 series showcases examples of English language hand clap & jump rope rhymes, with a special focus on examples from African American culture. The pages present examples whose "titles" begin with the featured two letters, with the exception of post #11 in this series which features examples whose titles begin with the letters "u" - "z".)
Unless otherwise indicated, the examples given below were (or "are") "hand clap rhymes".
This cocojams2 series on English language hand clap and jump rope rhymes isn't meant to be a comprehensive listing of those rhymes. For instance, I've chosen not to include a number of versions of rhymes that are generally found on other children's rhyme sites.
A number of these rhymes are featured in posts on my pancocojams blog. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/ and either enter that rhyme's name or enter the words "children's rhymes" or "African American rhymes and cheers".
Also, a number of the exanples in this collection were featured on my cocojams.com cultural website that was online since December 2001. That website vanished late October 2014 [!?!) and I am partially recreating its playground rhymes pages from back-up files and from recent internet "rhyme harvesting". That's the story behind this blog name cocojams2.
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The content of this post is presented for folkloric and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who have contributed to this collection.
THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS.
EXAMPLES OF HAND CLAP & JUMP ROPE RHYMES
Note: These examples are published in alphabetical order based on their titles or the first few words of their first line. Multiple versions of specific rhymes are presented in chronological order based on their publishing date online or their collection date, with the oldest dated examples presented first.
O, P
OOH AH I WANT A PIECE OF PIE (Version #1)I learned it at summer camp as a clapping game:
Winston tastes good just like a cigarette should
Just like an - ooh, ah, I want a piece of pie
Pie too sweet, I want a piece of meat
Meat too brown, I want to go to town
Town too far, I'll have to take a car
Car too black, I want my money back
Money too green, I want a limosine
..... I want some lemonade
Lemonade too sour, by now we have the power
To close our eyes and count to ten
Whoever messes up has to do it again.
And at this point, the clapping pattern got more complicated and the players closed their eyes and counted to ten.
-Guest, Chocolate Pi; http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=26926 "Lyr Req: Oh my, I want a piece of pie", October 10, 2000
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123 (Version #2 of "Ooh Ah I Want A Piece Of Pie")123, My mama takes care of me.
My daddy watches ABC.
Ohh ahh! I wanna piece of pie.
Pie too sweet. I wanna piece of meat.
Meat too rough. I wanna ride a bus.
Bus too full. I wanna ride a bull.
Bull too black. I want my money back.
Money too green. I want a jelly bean.
Jelly bean not cooked. I wanna read a book.
Book not read. I wanna go to bed.
Bed not made. I want some lemonade.
Lemonade too sour. I wanna take a shower.
Shower too cold. I want a piece of gold.
Gold too shiny. I wanna pet a kitty.
Kitty too fat. Now that's the end of that.
Now close your eyes and count to ten.
Whoever messes up has to start all over again!
1, 2, 3, 4, 5....
- Guest, Georgia A; Lyr Req: Oh my, I want a piece of pie http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=26926 "Lyr Req: Oh my, I want a piece of pie" , July 21, 2008
-snip-
In the line "My daddy watches ABC", "ABC" is an American television station. The television station name "MTV" is found most often in examples of this rhyme. And the television station "BET" is also sometimes used instead of "MTV".
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123 MY MAMA TAKES CARE OF ME (Version #3 of Oh Aah I Wanna Piece of Pie)123 my mama takes care of me
my daddy sings do re me
oh ah i wanna piece of pie
pie too sweet i wanna piece of meat
meat too tough i wanna ride a bus
bus too full i wanna ride a bull
bull too mean i wanna jelly bean
jelly bean too red i wanna go to bed
bed not made i want some lemonade
lemonade too sour i wanna take a shower
shower to cold i wanna piece of gold
gold too pretty i wanna kiss a kitty
kittty too fat and thats the end of that
hey tomboy hey tomboy meet me on the corner on a saturday night
we can wiggle we can jiggle we can dance all night
close your eyes and count to 10 and if u mess up start over again
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
- Guest, sophie, http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=26926&messages=37, "Lyr Req: Oh my, I want a piece of pie", April 4, 2009
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OOOH AAH! WANNA PIECE OF PIE (Version #4)OK, I gotta join in because I came looking for just this discussion, and am surprised to not see the version I learned. I grew up in the Anacostia district of SE Washington, D.C. I was born in 1961 and vaguely recall that I learned this one from my older brother maybe between 1967 and 1970. I always assumed he got it from school, but we were pretty much the only whites on our street and the black girls next door spent a lot of time doing some skilled rope jumping with songs and chants, so maybe it came from them. The rhythm seems much too slow for skipping rope, though, unless they jumped at twice the meter or something. But it had a truly "boy sound" to it, always with a deep, growling voice like an alcoholic bum or something...can't imagine girls doing this one!
OOOH! AHH!
Wanna piece o' pie!
Pie too sweet,
Wanna piece o' meat!
Meat too tough,
Wanna ride a bus!
Bus too full,
Wanna ride a bull!
Bull too black,
Want ma' money back!
Money too green,
Go get Mr. Clean!
(with emphasis...)
Mr. CLEEAAN SEZ...(pause)
(start over at top and repeat, endlessly)
I had to do it for my 7-year-old son tonight, as I always do, when I got out the Mr. Clean to clean up a mess of his. Who knows, maybe I picked up some kind of marketing version of it!
- Guest, Robert http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=26926&messages=37, "Lyr Req: Oh my, I want a piece of pie", April 15, 2009
-snip-
"Mr. Clean" is a brand name for a form of liquid household cleanser.
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OOH AHH I WANNA PIECE OF PA (Version #5)
This is how I remember it from 1969 in Western NYS- and after seeing the other posts I have to laugh because we always said Pa instead of pie and it never made any sense to me-but most of these didn't anyway.....And I also can see a reference to the times-related to the bus being too black....
Ooh Ahh, Wanna piece of Pa
Pa too sweet
Wanna piece of meat
Meat too tough
Wanna ride a bus
Bus too black
Want my money back
Money too green
Make me wanna scream
"Your father's got a head like a submarine!"
- Guest, cknick (Western New York state), http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=26926&messages=37, "Lyr Req: Oh my, I want a piece of pie", September 21, 2010
-snip-
This example's contributor wrote that ".. I also can see a reference to the times-related to the bus being too black.".
That contributor may have been referring to the fact that the late 1960s was a time when slogans such as "Black power!" and "Say It Loud/I'm Black and I'm Proud" were being heard. Also, some African Americans began to wear their hair in afros, change their names to traditional African or Arabic names, and wear adapted African styles such as dashikis or geles (African headwraps). Perhaps the contributor's comment about "the times-related to the bus being too black" referred to those outward expressions of Black pride and self-confidence.
I've wondered what impact, if any, the line "bull (or bus) too black" might have on Black children who are struggling with the development of positive self-identity and group identity.The rhyme could have been "the bull's too fat/I want my money back". But then people who are overweigh might have issues with that line...
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OH MY, I WANT A PIECE OF PIE (Version #6)Oh, My, I want a piece of pie, pie too sweet, I want a piece of meat, meat too rough, I want to ride a bus, bus to full, I wanna ride a bull, bull too black, I want my money back, Money back too green, I wanna jelly bean, jelly bean not cooked, I wanna read a book, book not read, I wanna go to bed, bed not made, I want some lemonade, Lemonade too sour; girl you got that superpower, brick wall; waterfall, girl you think you know it all; you don't I do; so poof* with the attitude poof*; peace, punch, captain crunch; thats right you better run, wait; come back, you need a tic- tack; not one; not two; but the whole six pack. Elbow, Elbow, Wrist, Wrist, Blow me a kiss.
-Guest ,Emily M., http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=26926&messages=47, May 17. 2012
-snip-
This example is written in a paragraph format. I've noticed a number of online posts written in this format rather than in poetry form. Sometimes that is because online sites (such as YouTube) appear to automatically convert posts to paragraph form. But I'm aware that isn't the case on that Mudcat site. I think that it's easier and faster to write online in paragraph form than in poetry form, and (because speed is highly valued) many people, particularly younger people) write blog posts in paragraph form, often with little or no punctuations.
Examples of "Brickwall Waterfall" will be included in the cocojams2 children's taunting rhyme page.
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ONCE UPON A TIME (Version #1)Once upon a time
The goose drank wine.
The monkey did the shimmy
One the street car line.
The line broke.
The monkey got choked.
And they all went to heaven
In a little row boat.
-various sources including Azizi Powell, memories of childhood in Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1950s
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ONCE UPON A TIME (Version #2)Our version is South Carolina was:
Once upon a time, a goose chewed wine
Billy goat a'settin' on the streetcar line
Streetcar broke, the monkey got choked
and they all went to heaven on a nanny goat.
-Guest, WadeHP, http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=5088&messages=46 "Once upon a time, the Goose drank wine", November 4, 2003
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THREE SIX NINE THE GOOSE DRANK WINE (Version #3 of Once Upon A Time)...I was in Southeastern Massachusetts when I learned this rhyme on the playground sometime in the mid 1960s. The way I learned it...
Three, six, nine, the goose drank wine
The monkey threw tobacco on the streetcar line
The line broke, the monkey got choked
And they all went to heaven in a little rowboat (clap, clap)
[with the second part...]
My mother told me
If I was goodie
That she would buy me
A rubber dollie.
My auntie told her
I kissed a soldier
Now she won't buy me
A rubber dollie!
-Guest mamabear, http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=5088&messages=46 "Once upon a time, the Goose drank wine", November 30, 2003
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ONCE UPON A TIME (Version #4)Once upon a time the goose drank wine
the monkey played the fiddle on the sweet potato vine.
The vine broke
the monkey choked
they all went to heaven on a billy goat
I learned that verse from my Gradmother (Louisiana)
-Guest, Beckie In louisiana, http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=5088&messages=46 "Once upon a time, the Goose drank wine", January 14, 2010
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OO THE BEESTAYThis rhyme is part of the "Flea Fly Flow" ("Cumula Vista") rhyme family. Examples of these rhymes are found in the "F" page of this series under the title "Flea Fly Flow"
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PIZZA PIZZA DADDY OExamples of this rhyme will be included in the cocojams2 post on children's games and movement rhymes.
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PLAYMATE (Version #1)This song starts with your left pinkie hooked into your friend's right pinkie, and vice versa. Swing your hands instead of clapping, through the word "playmate" which has to be stretched to three beats; then start a four-clap pattern immediately, and launch into "come.." on the third clap. Sort of difficult to describe. The lines thereafter should coincide with the start of the pattern, which means that a couple claps at the end of most lines don't get syllables. On the "more"s, stop the pattern and clap hands with your friend (left to right and vice versa). You can also stop to rub your eyes exaggeratedly on the "boo hoo"s if you feel really inspired.
See see oh playmate,
Come out and play with me,
And bring your dollies three,
Climb up my apple tree,
Slide down my rainbow
Into my dresser drawer
And we'll be jolly friends
For ever more more moremoremoremore.
See see oh playmate,
I cannot play with you.
My dollies have the flu,
Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo.
Can't slide down rainbows
Into your dresser drawer,
But we'll be jolly friends
For ever more more moremoremoremore.
We were sadistic kids and liked singing this parody best.
See see oh enemy,
Come out and fight with me,
And bring your weapons three,
Climb up my poison tree,
Slide down my razor blade,
And through my dungeon door,
And we'll be enemies,
For ever more more shut-the-dungeon-door.
-Casey via her older sister Bridget Spitznagel (St. Louis, Missouri), http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~sprite/jmp.html#snickers "Clapping Rhymes and Jumprope Jingles’", October 1997; retrieved September 12, 2010
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POLICEMAN POLICEMAN DO YOUR DUTY (Jump Rope Rhyme)Policeman, Policeman, do your duty.
Here comes [girl's name]
An American beauty,
She can wiggle
She can wobble
She can do the split.
But I betcha five dollars
She can't do this.
Lady on one foot, one foot, one foot
Turn all around, around, around.
Lady on two foot, two foot, two foot
Touch the ground, the ground, the ground.
Lady on three foot, three foot, three foot
Say your prayers, your prayers, your prayers.
Lady on four foot, four foot, four foot
Jump right out.
-Azizi Powell, memories of Atlantic City, New Jersey (mid 1950s.)
-snip-
This rhyme is sometimes called "Mailman Mailman". "Do the split" was sometimes given as "do the flip" {meaning the acrobatic movements}. However, these words were changed to "do the twist" in the 1960s when that dance became popular.
Here's what I believe are the meanings of "one foot, "two foot" etc. All of these movements are done while jumping in the center of a rope that two people are turning (at both ends of the rope):
"One foot" means hopping. One foot touches touching the ground when you jump.
Two foot" is jumping with both feet off the ground.
"Three foot" is two hands touching the ground and one leg raised (?). I'm not certain about that one.
"Four foot" is jumping with both hands and both feet touching the ground.
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POLICE LADY POLICE LADY DO YOUR DUTY (Jump Rope Rhyme)Police lady, police lady,
Do your duty.
Here comes [girl's name]
with ah African booty.
She can wiggle.
She can wobble.
She can do the split.
But I betcha five dollars
She can't do this.
Lady on one foot, one foot, one foot
Turn all around, around, around.
Lady on two foot, two foot, two foot
Touch the ground, the ground, the ground.
Lady on three foot, three foot, three foot
Say your prayers, your prayers, your prayers.
Lady on four foot, four foot, four foot
Jump right out.
TMP, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, mid 1980s
-snip-
The change from "policeman" to "police lady" is quite significant. When I was growing up, there were no female police officers that I knew of.
An "African booty" means a "big butt". This descriptor is based on the erroneous idea that all Black women have big butts. In the context of this rhyme, having a big butt is something good.
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