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)
