Rollicking rhymes and singing games belong to the oral traditions of youth culture. Rich in the folklore associated with community roots, childhood customs can be found in nearly every society. Although some scholars lament the purported disappearance of traditional games and rhymes, others focus on the transformation of the poetic arts of children. In truth, nearly all active folk games have some rhyme attached to them. Pulling sources from a diverse array of cultural influences, game songs and rhymes in American folklore continue to evolve on children’s playgrounds and city streets.
One of the first serious published investigations into American children’s traditions was the 1883 book Games and Songs of American Children, written by William Wells Newell. Over his lifetime, Newell worked as a minister, a teacher, and finally as a folklorist. It was during his tenure as head of a private school in New York City that Newell observed and collected children’s games being played in the city streets. In 1888 Newell continued his work in the field of folklore as the founder of the American Folklore Society and as the editor of the Journal of American Folklore.
In his groundbreaking book, Newell notes that the majority of the children’s games he observed originated in England with a smattering of stories “borrowed from the French or the German.” In his chapter on “The Pleasures of Motion,” Newell recorded the tunes and lyrics of many game songs that are still popular today including “Ring around the Rosie,” “The Farmer in the Dell,” and “Right Elbow In.” A few of the more obscure game songs in his collection include such titles as “Go Round and Round the Valley,” “Darby Jig,” and “Rhymes for a Race.” In Newell’s words, “the New World has preserved what the Old World has forgotten” (Newell 1884, 3).
Newell’s research affirmed that game songs and rhymes moved across cultural and geographical borders and, in doing so, were transformed through oral transmissions. Even so, he feared that the authentic verses were a dying art form and lamented what he believed to be the inevitable loss of these rich reminders of America’s colonial roots.
Later works, such as One Potato, Two Potato: The Folklore of American Children by Mary and Herbert Knapp, proved otherwise. These folklorists, along with other researchers working in the field, found that instead of diminishing, children’s singing games and rhymes continued to have a solid presence among America’s youth. However, as often occurs in the oral transmission of stories, many of the historic verses had become twisted and turned into adaptations featuring the relevant issues of modern times.
At the heart of children’s folklore is the idea of play, making movement a frequently featured component of singing games. In 1985, Iona and Peter Opie published a pivotal work on children’s games that are traditionally paired with rhymes. In The Singing Game, they organized game songs and rhymes into several categories including “Matchmaking,” “Wedding Rings,” “Cushion Dances,” “Witch Dances,” “Calls of Friendship,” “Eccentric Circles,” “Buffoonery,” and “Clapping.” Although the Opies centered this collection of work on practices and verses found in the United Kingdom, their work helped shape the development of folklore collection in the United States and the recording of American children’s folk games.
Some of the simplest and most common rhymes found in games are those related to calling games. These verses, such as the nursery rhyme “Girls and Boys Come Out to Play,” are used to assemble participants for game play while others, such as the counting rhyme “Duck, Duck, Goose,” are used to select a single player in such competitive sports as hide and seek. Other simple rhyming meters can be found in ball-bouncing games such as “A, my name is Alice” and in hand-clapping activities like those found in “Miss Susie” and “Miss Mary Mack.” As with all folklore in the domain of children, the language often shifts to reflect cultural norms. For example, a racial slur originally found in the counting rhyme “Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe” was later substituted with more acceptable two-syllable words such as “tiger,” “monkey,” or “spider.”
The more complex rhymes found in circle dances, many of which deal with such mature themes as courtship and marriage, are believed to have roots in the adult round-about dance forms of square dancing and play-parties, both of which rely on the recitation of rhymes for instructions. A few of the more popular songs used in children’s versions of these circle dances include “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush,” “Ring around the Rosie,” and “Skip to My Lou.”
Over the years, there has been debate on the origins of such nursery rhymes. For instance, popular culture claims that the popular tune “Ring around the Rosie” is a reference to the Black Plague. However, folklorists refute this interpretation due to the many different versions in existence and the functional form of the rhyme, which is often used in rounds mimicking playful courtship games such as “Skip to My Lou.”
“Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin’.
Fly in the buttermilk, Shoo, fly, shoo.
Fly in the buttermilk, Shoo, fly, shoo.
Fly in the buttermilk, Shoo, fly, shoo.
Skip to my Lou, my darlin’.”
At the end of the verse in this play-party game, the central figure calls out, “Lost my partner, what’ll I do?” before stealing a companion from one of the circling couples. The newly single participant then takes his place in the center to wait for the end of the next verse and his turn to take a new partner.
These more challenging rhymes can also be found in communal catching games such as “London Bridge Is Falling Down.”
“London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.”
Interpretations of this popular game song range from whispered accusations that the bridge was built on the bones of sacrificed children to the remembrance of an eleventh-century Viking attack on London.
Just as there are various levels of complexity in singing games, the rhymes found in skipping games can range from simple counting chants to lively action rhymes. The most basic of these skipping rhymes or jump-rope rhymes sets the pace of the rhythm and can be leveled up with an open-ended counting rhyme, which continues until the jumper misses.
“I love coffee, I love tea,
How many boys are stuck on me?
One, two, three, four …”
More challenging jump-rope rhymes utilize speed jumps, which are set off by such trigger words as “hot” and “fire,” and action rhymes, where the jumper performs the behavior described in the verse while continuing to jump rope.
Over time, children’s folklore culture has continued to evolve by incorporating the chants and rhymes from other ethnic groups. Folk songs found near the U.S.-Mexico border include such circle games as El Toro Torojil, which combines rhymed verse and elements of tag, and courting games such as Arroz con Leche, where the participant in the center of the circle chooses a favored person of the opposite sex to swap places. Others such as Green Sally Up, a clapping game, and Zoodio, a partnered game song performed in a lineup, provide historical commentary on African American culture.
In the end, these communal games and ritualistic rhymes rely on the fantasy and innovation of children at play. In addition to obvious resistance to adult-imposed norms, children’s game songs celebrate creativity and imagination through formulaic verse preserved by children from generation to generation.
Carina Bissett
See also American Folklore Society (AFS); Bettelheim, Bruno; Blues as Folklore; European Sources; Lullaby; Nursery Rhymes
Further Reading
Botkin, B. A. 1983. “Singing and Play-Party Games.” In A Treasury of American Folklore, 803–818. New York: Crown.
Bronner, Simon J. 2006. American Children’s Folklore (American Folklore Series). Little Rock, AR: August House.
Cole, Joanna. 1989. Anna Banana: 101 Jump Rope Rhymes. New York: HarperCollins.
Knapp, Mary, and Herbert Knapp. 1978. One Potato, Two Potato: The Folklore of American Children. New York: W. W. Norton.
Newell, William Wells. 1884. Games and Songs of American Children. New York: Harper and Brothers.
Opie, Iona, and Peter Opie. 1985. The Singing Game. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Seeger, Pete. 2000. American Folk, Game and Activity Songs. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.
Sierra, Judy. 2012. Schoolyard Rhymes. New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers.
Sutton-Smith, Brian, and Jay Mechling. 1999. Children’s Folklore: A Source Book. Logan: Utah State University Press.