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wow Offline
Carpal Tunnel
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Playmate,Come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three
Climb up my apple tree
Yell down my rain barrell
Slide down my cellar door

And we'll be jolly friends
For ev-er more!

Fiberbabe! ... Oh, what memories you have conjured up! I remember the above (changes in blue & bold) as a song from my far distant youth! Late 1930, early '40s.
Perhaps it was adapted later to a clapping game ?!?!?!

Oh, yelling into a rain barrell produces a booming hollow voice. And exterior cellar entrances had doors you could slide down! Fun!





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Pooh-Bah
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My boyfriend went to sea-sea-sea
And all that he could see-see-see
Was the bottom of the deep blue
Sea-sea-sea


In succeeding verses, the "c-c-c" part was replaced with other, nonsensical, terms. I recall "ooo-watch-ee-wah."

In this one, the term "long-legged" is varied, and the hand position changes to depict the pertinent physical attribute:

Did you ever, ever, ever
In your long-legged life
See a long-legged lover
And his long-legged wife?

No, I never, never, never
In my long-legged life
Saw a long-legged lover
And his long-legged wife


Long-legged becomes, in succession, short-legged, knock kneed, and bow-legged.


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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Slide down my {rainbow? rain barrel?}
Into my cellar door


This clapping game is an old song lyric. Try,

Hide in my rain barrel
Slide down my cellar door



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Carpal Tunnel
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Oh, i remember that one fiber, in ny slightly different..

Say say oh playmate.............Oh my little playmate
Come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three
Climb up my apple tree
Slide down my {rainbow? rain barrel?}we'll sit on the lawn
Into my cellar door.................by the cellar door
And we'll be jolly friends...........best of friend
Forever more, more, three four.......more, more, more!

and it reminded me
Chose your partner, skip to my Lou
Chose your partner, skip to my Lou
Chose your partner, skip to my Lou
Skip to my Lou, my darling

skip, skip, skip to my lou
skip, skip, skip to my lou
skip, skip, skip to my lou
skip to my lou, my darling

Lost my partner, what should i do, (etc)

I'll get another one, prettier than you, (etc)

Flys in the sugar bowl, shoo, fly shoo, (etc)
red is the burden/chorus, and is repeated..
there are hundreds of verses.. i am sure others here will remember more..

and
When you get married
and your husband gets cross
Just pick up the broom
and ask, Who the boss?


and a spring time one
I have a little pussy
her coat is silver grey
she lives out in the meadow,
she stays there all the day
she'll always be a pussy,
she'll never be a cat
for she's a pussy willow,
now what do you think of that?


and
white coral bells, upon a slender stalk
lilys of the valley (mugets du bois)
deck my garden walk
Oh how i wish, that i could hear them ring
that will happen only when the fairy's sing!


and of course, we all sang and played (girls that is!)
London bridges falling down, falling down, falling down
London bridges falling down, My fair lady!

Take a key and lock her up, lock her up, lock her up (ect)

Get some money to build it up, build it up, build it up,(etc)

Still the bridge is half way down, half way down, half way down,[etc)

Some one go and tell the king, tell the king, tell the king (etc)

and many more verses..


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W
Carpal Tunnel
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of Troy:

We sing "Miss Mary Mack" here this way:

Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack,
All dressed in black, black, black,
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons,
Up and down her back, back, back.

She asked her mother, mother, mother
For fifty cents, cents, cents,
To see an elephant, elephant, elephant
Jump over the fence, fence, fence.

It jumped so high, high, high,
Up to the sky, sky, sky,
And didn't come back, back, back
Till the fourth of July, -ly, -ly!

Beast regards,
Wordwind


#67657 04/28/02 10:53 PM
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W
Carpal Tunnel
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Let me put my penny in, too -

the Bronx, 1945-50 -


Miss lucy had a steam boat, the steam boat had a bell
Miss lucy went to heaven, the steam boat went to
Hell-o Operator...
etc,

was one of a whole genre, including "Sweet Violets" which as I recall was even made into a popular song about that time:

"There once was a farmer who took a young miss
In back of the barn where he gave her a
Lecture on horses and chickens and eggs
And told her she had the most beautiful
Manners that suited a girl of her charms
A girl whom he's like to take into his
Washing and ironing and" (I misremember the next line or two)
"...They could get married and raise lots of
Sweet Violets, sweeter than the roses,
Covered all over from head to foot,
Covered all over with Sweet Vi-i-o-lets"

and so on for several more verses...


The rhythmic hand-jive routines that I was exposed to were used for jump-rope chants, and the shorter ones bounce-ball routines (remember "Spaldeens" - the pink rubber balls made by the Spalding company?)

"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 take you by the collar
And he'll make you pay a dollar
So I won't go to Macy's any more, more, more."

I'm too close - is it possible to read them without the rhythm coming through?

And just for fun - any cats-cradle or fifteen-puzzle aficionados handy?




PS for the non-folk-music-savvy - the "child" in american variants of child ballads doesn't refer to immature humanoids but rather to one Harold Childe (?) who went about the English countryside many years ago collecting and cataloging and recording (on paper) all the folk songs he could gather, from the Middle Ages forward, a formidable reference work now known as the "Childe Ballads". (Somebody should check the details of this)

#67658 04/28/02 11:10 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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Remember "Spaldeens" - the pink rubber Spalding Hi-Bounce balls-- it a favorite of mine..

een as a diminutive is pure irish! and the irish influence in NY made little balls, spaldeens!

eens shows up in Maureen (Maura is the proper name) Kathleen, (a diminute of Cathrine) Pegeen, (beloved of David Copperfield, a most likely a Margaret, made Peg, made to Pegeen!-- and in on of my all time favorite word (wrong thread i know!) smithereens!


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W
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One that we played when I was a kid--long, long ago--was:

Two Lips Together

Two lips together
Tied up forever--
Bring back my love to me.
What is the meaning
Of all the flowers?
It is the story
Of my true from me to you!
Et vous?

It had a kind of Caribbean rhythm performed over the steady beat of the hand jive. On "et vous?" we slapped our hands out together in a final double clap.

Beat regards,
WordWhythm


#67660 04/28/02 11:34 PM
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Oh WOF, do you think I could cajole you into writing out all the verses on those tappe la main songs.

(I love the switch in the Hell-o operator one.)


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[honorary girl]

One I remember listening to in the playgrounds of Kent:


My Mother said

My Mother said that I never should
Play with the gypsies in the wood
If I did she would say
Naughty girl to disobey
Disobey, disobey,
Naughty girl to disobey


A site with a few soundtracks amongst other things…

http://www.firebirdtrust.sagenet.co.uk/clap/clap.html


[/honorary girl]

and wow, was that a ruthless sisterhood thang - get too close at your peril!


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