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I want to compile « tape la main » songs and put them all together into a book. I don’t know what it is called in English. It is that game little girls play by clapping their hands together to the beat of a song. They clap the other girl’s hands straight and crosswise and up and down. My memory may be playing games but I seem to recall it being called something like patty cake in English. It is amazing but my niece, who is seven, didn’t even know about this game. I taught her some but it would be nice to have more.

Do you ladies remember any of the tappe la main songs you used to sing. I’d love to have some from all over the place. (and, if you don’t mind, I’d attribute them to you, like “Michel je t’abandonne” from Ginette / Canada.

[bold]The hyphen is used to mark a syllable pauses: [/bold]

I remember one in French:

Michel je t’abandon-ne
Je ne veux plus te voir
La peine que tu m’as fai-te
M’as mis au désespoir
…..…boum, boum
Assis sous la fenê-tre
Je le regarde passer
Et dis t’a ma grand mè-re
Voici mon bien aimé
…..…boum, boum
Si faut que je l’embra-se
Ah oui je l’embrasse-rai
Si faut que je’l chatoui-lle
Ah oui je’l chatouille-rai
…..…boum, boum.

Translated it it not rhytmic at all » » »
Michel I abandon you
I don’t want to see you anymore
The sadness you have given me
Has made me so depressed
Sitting by the window
I watch him go by
And say to my grandmother
There goes my true love
If I have to kiss him
Oh yes I will kiss him
If I have to tickle him
Oh yes I’ll ticke him

(at the last bit you were supposed to wait after the boum boum part and try to tickle the girl in front of you)

We used to play this non-stop when we were little girls - before the advent of gameboys and portable video toys. Any favorites out there?




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Here is one bel, from the deep south, overheard by me, who even as a little boy, was fascinated by the rythmic chants of black girls playing.

Clap, clap, My Mother told me, clap, clap,
If I'd be goodie, clap, clap,
That she would buy me, a rubber dollie.
I told my Mommie, clap, clap.
That I'd be goodie, clap, clap
If she would buy me, a rubber dollie.


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Wow! Does this ever take me back! Growing up in the south mah own seff, I too remember the song milum cited and it was later done by a girl group in the late 60s - early 70s. They added another one of those songs to it. All I can remember is something about "the streetcar line, the line broke, the monkey got choked and they all went to heaven in a little row boat clap-clap..."

I can't think of what we called them, bel, nor can I think of any songs we did, but I know we did them. I'll put my subconscious to work on it.


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Bel, my subconscious is now on your payroll too. Just don't expect it to do any useful work...

I think 'patty cake' is an American term but I have absolutely no idea what we called all those clapping rhyme games in the UK. And the only one I can remember is (done in parts - as many of you as there were stood around in a giant circle and I cannot remember the clapping rhythm at all):

"Who stole the cookies from the baker's shop?"
"Number one stole the cookies from the baker's shop?"
"Who, me?"
"Yes, you!"
"Couldna been!"
"Then who?"
"Number two stole the cookies from the baker's shop."
"Who, me?"
"Yes, you!"

...and so on ad infinitum, or until someone got it wrong or until the bell went.


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There's a very complicated hand game that children perform to "Four White Horses," a Caribbean song. I'll see whether I can remember the lyric here:

Four white horses up the river,
Heh, heh, heh, up tomorrow.
Up tomorrow is a rainy day.
Come along to the shallow bay.
Shallow bay is a ripe banana,
Up tomorrow is a rainy day.

Four children form a square. They begin the hand jive independently of each other and clap across each other on the off-beats. I'll teach it to anyone who wants to learn it should we ever meet. Terrific, complicated hand jive and lots of fun--my kids at school consider themselves to be superstars once they've got a square that can get through the whole song without a mistake--or mis-clap!

Beat regards,
Wordwinner


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On a similar vein, there is one I remember from my Girls Scout days, that my daughter still brings up and I'm sure will be part of my granddaughters vocabulary before she learns to say "granny"! It's played in a group, while alternating clapping your own hands, then slapping your own thighs in rhythm. It's usually done while sitting "Indian style" around a campfire and having one person lead and have the rest repeat each line on the beats. It's nonsensical words, but they work to the rhythm. Now remember, one person says a line, then the rest repeat it, then the one says the next line, and so forth:

Flea!

Flea, fly!

Flea, fly, flo!

A veesta!

Cooma lotta, cooma lotta, cooma latta veesta!

Oh, no no no not the veesta!

Eeny meeny, desa meany, ooo alla walla meany, exa meany, zalla meany, ooo alla walla meany!

Beep, biddly oaten doaten doe doe da deeten datten SHHHHHHHH!


OMG....I am laughing so hard I have tears streaming down my cheeks! Trying to spell this out was a riot! I think it must lose something in the translation, and it dawned on me as I was typing it, that the first four lines and the last line are spoken, but the rest has a melody to it. Hey, Sparteye, you think we could have a campfire at Wordapalooza! so I can properly demonstrate this one? Of course, we better all bring a cane or walking stick so we can get up off the ground after sitting on the ground with our legs crossed!


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dear bel,
you have just opened a flood gate.. in my family, i am the repository for all these song. some are clapping songs, and some are jump rope songs, and some are counting out (deciding who is going to be it, in a game of tag) songs..
the have been compilations done for NY songs, but it was back in the early 70!

some NY (and Boston, baltimore, etc) street songs, are american varients of child ballads, with the same tunes, and only a few word changed.

Like

Miss Mary Mack, Mack, mack
with silver buttons all down her back, back,
(many verses-- i'll think about them and write them down if you want)

Mary, mary, was your feet,
the board of health, across the street

this, the board of health, is an idiom for a Bof H nurse or social worker

Starting in a whisper, repeat, each time louder

Who put the overalls in Mrs Murphy's chowder?
If you won't answer, i'll ask a little louder!


a varient of a very old song.. it might even been a child ballad..

Miss lucy had a steam boat,
the steam boat had a bell
Miss lucy went to heaven,
the steam boat went to Hell--
O operater, give me number 9
i want to report a robbery,
He tried to steal my laundry
but all he got was a pile of shi--
(shi)ne your shoes and button

(and more- once i get started my siblings remember the parts i forget. It ends with some one falling some broken Glass.

My sistr had a baby,
she put him in the tub
He drank up all the water
He ate up all the soap
He died last night with a bubble in his throat.
Dead said the doctor,
dead said the nurse,
dead said the lady with the alligator purse!

the lady with the alligator purse=social worker

A Jump rope song, slow, then fast at the alphabet

Strawberry shortcake, cream on top,
My true love name starts on the letter i stop
A, B, C, ...

a counting out song...
Ink a bink,
a bottle of ink,
the cork fell out and you stink!

not because you're dirty
Not because you're clean
just because you kissed a girl
in a dirty magazine.


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it was later done by a girl group in the late 60s - early 70s.
__________________________

I thought it was Bananarama in the 80's?

3, 6, 9
the goose drank wine
the monkey chewed tobacco on the street car line
the line broke
the monkey got choked
and they all went to heaven in a little row boat
clap, clap!

and the rubber dolly bit went on for several verses and made tell of how her auntie told her mother that she'd kissed a soldier and now she wouldn't buy her the rubber dolly

there was another one we used to do, but it's completely escaped me for the moment, I'll have to give it some thought!

It's definitely a girl thing though - we had a voice coach in choir who was trying to get us to do something very similar (as part of an exercise to do with making the right and left sides of the brain work together) and the boys were just painful to watch!! They usually have the same problems with aerobics and step classes too!


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We used to do this one - it had a pretty elaborate clapping schematic, which I only remember parts of... I guess it's true - the mind is the first to go.

Say say oh playmate
Come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three
Climb up my apple tree
Slide down my {rainbow? rain barrel?}
Into my cellar door
And we'll be jolly friends
Forever more, more, three four.

There was a "Say say oh enemy" revision that was my first real introduction to the concept of parody, but I don't remember the words...


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I thought it was Bananarama in the 80's

Thanks, rkay. This senior has her moments!


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