Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides information about the "Cadence-Lypso" music genre.

Information about Cadence-Lypso's popular band Midnight Groovers is also included in this post along with five YouTube videos of that gand. Selected comments from those videos' discussion threads are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Midnight Groovers for their musical legacy and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT CADENCE-LYPSO
From https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCHT_OaqKCeFz6wrF68gFTg Dominica CadenceLypso
"Cadencelypso was Originated in the 1970s by the Dominican band Exile One on the island of Guadeloupe, it spread and became popular in the dance clubs of Dominica and the French Antilles .This channel is Made to keep One of the First Genre of Dominica music (CadenceLypso) Alive .It will Presents Cadence music way back from the 70s to this Modern day .For All the CadenceLpyso Fans"
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/exile-one-band-cadence-lypso-music-from.html for more information about Cadence-Lypso and five examples of Exile One music.

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INFORMATION ABOUT MIDNIGHT GROOVER
From http://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/features/commentary/tribute-midnight-groovers/
Tribute to Midnight Groovers
Dr. Emanuel Finn - Wednesday, October 9th, 2013 at 8:17 AM
The Midnite Groovers of South City (Grand Bay) burst on the musical scene in the early 70s led by Chubby and his brother Coe. Although most of the names and faces of the band have changed since its inception, the strong impression of Groovers’ signature music has not

The musical themes and beat quickly reminds everyone that the message is not simply about the identity, dignity and militant nature of the Grand Bay community, but about Dominica, and the struggles, trials and triumphs of African people all over the world.

The reality has been that Dominican music bands come and go (with the exception of Swinging Stars) at an alarming rate. The ultimate test of a band is in its staying power, message, lyrics and melody.

The songs of Groovers have always been concentrated, honest and uncontaminated. Today, Groovers is much more than a music band, it is a venerable Dominican institution.

Chubby and the boys are from a different genre of die-hard musicians who do things the old fashion way. Because of their grass roots and rugged style, it can be easy to dismiss and characterize the groovers as a one-dimensional band catering only to country folks.

Despite the fact that Dominicans have fallen in love with the more effervescent ‘bouyan’ music, the thought provoking songs of Groovers still resonates with the island and its people at home and abroad.

The band is a beacon of authenticity that defies questioning or critique, and deserves only admiration. In a time when our youth prefer and appreciate gangster rap artists over local musicians, Groovers can be described as an artifact from a lost time and place...

They have thrilled audiences all over with pure, undiluted and uncontaminated music of the Dominican countryside. This compares similarly to the magnitude of the cultural contributions that Taboo Combo has made to Haiti.

From their onset as a band more than three decades ago, Groovers has mounted a relentless crusade through their explosive cadence songs on behalf of the poor and disenfranchised in Dominica. They have taken the lead in the fight to uphold the dignity of the peasantry (Malaway). Hits such as ‘Pou Yon Coco’ (for one coconut) and ‘Toute homme se homme aba soliel la’ (all men are equal under the sun) speak volumes of their powerful message.”...

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From http://www.largeup.com/2012/07/24/cadence-weapon-download-rare-cadence-lypso-from-the-midnight-groovers-of-dominica/ Rare Cadence-Lypso From the Midnight Groovers of Dominica
- Jesse Serwer, 7/24/2012
"You might recall a couple months ago we told you about Sofrito: International Soundclash, Hugo Mendez and Frankie Francis of London-based “tropical” DJ collective Sofrito’s compilation connecting the dots between African, Caribbean and South America rhythms with rediscovered rarities from Trinidad’s Lord Shorty, Haiti’s Les Difficiles de Petion-Ville, Guadeloupe’s Mas Ka Klé and more. To celebrate the release of the comp today, Strut Records has given us an exclusive download of one of the most brilliant tracks on the set, “O Ti Yo,” from the kings of cadence-lypso, the Midnight Groovers.

Still going today, the Midnight Groovers are one of Dominica’s longest running bands, with about 40 albums to their credit. In fact, they just completed an eight-date US tour this spring. “O Ti Yo” is the group in its funky, psychedelic mid ’70’s prime, with the sort of chunky bass synth groove you hear in a lot of our favorites from this era."...

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
These videos are presented in chronological order with the video with the oldest publishing date given first.

Example #1: midnight groovers sera



mashupah99, Published on Oct 5, 2013

music from midnight groovers
-snip-
Selected comment from this video's discussion thread:
TheShauny, 2016
"I love this song I remember as a child my parents used to play this eat every family event it always make me miss my dad listening to it r.i.p"

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Example #2: Midnight Groovers - Anita (CLIP OFFICIEL)



Futurcrew officiel, Published on Apr 22, 2014
-snip-
Selected comments:
2016
Jacqueline Headley
"Old tune but loving dis.. Get's me in the mood for carnival"

**
Jacqueline Headley
"Bwoy old time tunes I grew up with .. Mum and dad would play this and hear this at family parties.. still sounds good."

**
Solomon The ll
"Damn! Will generation coming make nice music like this though? They the future of Dominican music and so far seem to just be taking yankee/yardie style :("

**
DjeasyPromoTV
"To get more of midnight groovers official video check out their VEVO channel ,just search for MidnightGrooversVEVO"

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Example #3: MidnightGroovers - Mandela (Official Video)

MidnightGrooversVEVO, Published on Jul 1, 2015

Music video for Mandela (Official Video) performed by MidnightGroovers.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/midnightgrovers
-snip-
Selected comments:
greguy achille, 2016
where this guy from

**
Reply
Isaiah Graneau, 2017
Grandbay, Dominica

**
Fred Pyrame, 2017
musique top paroles de coeur bon souvenir super

-snip-
(Google translate from French to English)
Music top lyrics Good memory super
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Example #4: MidnightGroovers - Milk And Honey (Official Video)



MidnightGrooversVEVO , Published on Jul 1, 2015

Music video for Milk And Honey (Official Video) performed by MidnightGroovers.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/midnightgrovers
-snip-
Selected comments:

Frederick Parillon, 2016
"My grandmother used to tell us about those good old days.Those lyrics are priceless, long live groovers."

**
Daniel Riviere, 2016
"this song always makes me nostalgic.. its such a beautiful song!"

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Example #5: MidnightGroovers - Talon Haut (Official Video)



MidnightGrooversVEVO Published on Jul 6, 2015

Music video for Talon Haut (Official Video) performed by MidnightGroovers.
-snip-
Google translate from French to English:
"Talon Haut" = “High heels”
-snip-
Selected comments:
2016
Solomon The ll
"Damn! Will generation coming make nice music like this though? They the future of Dominican music and so far seem to just be taking yankee/yardie style :("

**
Reply
BlueRayBusiness Solutions
"You have a strong point doe but also remember the elderly and the parents today never take the opportunity to teach their children creole plus they don't teach it in schools."

**
Reply
Solomon The ll
"+BlueRayBusiness Solutions Shame on them then...They (the parents and government) will be the only reason the their own culture becomes extinct."

**
Reply
Justin Robinson, 2017
"its mainly young people in Roseau who cant speak creole"

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Justin Robinson, 2017
"culture is dying, sad situation."

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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides several internet excerpts about early sources for the 19th century song "Ain't Gonna Rain No More"* (also given as "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More").

Three YouTube examples of "Ain't Gonna Rain No More" is also included in this post.

*Closely related forms of "Ain't Gonna Rain No More" are given as "Ain't No Bugs On Me".

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The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and motivational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the original composer/s of this song, and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the singers/musicians who are featured in these YouTube examples and thanks to the publishers of those YouTube examples.
-snip-
A related pancocojams post about "Standing On The Corner"/"Roaches & Bedbugs [playing basketball]" song/rhyme will be published on pancocojams ASAP and that link added here. Some of those songs/rhymes have "[it] ain't gonna rain no more choruses or verses.

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INTERNET EXCERPTS ABOUT THE SONG "AIN'T GONNA RAIN NO MORE"
(with particular attention to early African American sources for this song)

These excerpts are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.
Excerpt #1:
From http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/R557.html [Traditional Ballad Index entry for "Ain't Gonna Rhyme No More"
"DESCRIPTION: Verses held together by the refrain, "It ain't gonna rain no more." (Either between lines or as a standalone chorus). Examples: "What did the blackbird say to the crow? It ain't gonna....""We had a cat down on our farm; it ate a ball of yarn...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: nonsense nonballad animal
FOUND IN: US(MW,SE,So) West Indies
REFERENCES

[...]

Roud #7657

RECORDINGS:

[...]

CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ain't No Bugs on Me" (tune, structure)
cf. "Ain't Got to Cry No More"
cf. "The States Song (What Did Delaware?)" (tune)

SAME TUNE:
The States Song (What Did Delaware?) (File: CAFS1162)
Tenor solo, "The Klansman and the Rain" (Special K-3, rec. c. 1924)
W. R. Rhinehart, "Klucker and the Rain" (100% K-30, rec. 1924)

NOTES: A popular version of this piece was published in 1923 as by Wendell W. Hall. Even the cover, however, admits that it was an "old southern melody" -- and since we have traditional versions at least from 1925, there is little doubt that the song is traditional. - RBW

[...]

The Ballad Index Copyright 2016 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle."
-snip-
Note that Mudcat folk music forum [quoted below] gives earlier dates for sources for this song.

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Excerpt #2
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=2392
[Pancocojams Editor: These selected comments are also numbered for referencing purposes only.]

1. Subject: RE: Lyr Req: It Ain't Gonna Rain No More
From: GUEST,Richie
Date: 08 Nov 06 - 09:25 AM

"'There Ain't No Bugs On Me'is an adaptation by Fiddlin' John Carson in 1927. It can be heard on Honking Duck. I have both Carson's lyrics and the Garcia's lyrics if anyone wants them."...

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2. Subject: RE: Lyr Req: It Ain't Gonna Rain No More
From: GUEST,Richie
Date: 08 Nov 06 - 09:28 AM

"It should be noted that Wendall Hall's popular versions (first in 1923)were adapted from traditional sources. "
-snip-
-snip-
This Mudcat discussion thread includes two earlier posts [comments] that provide a number of verses from Wendall Hall's "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More" records.

**
3. Subject: Lyr. Add: Satan's Camp A-fire (Spiritual)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Nov 06 - 09:09 PM

"There are several fragments of "Ain't Gonna Rain No More" from 1919 or so in collections, and "the words of a refrain "Ain't Goin' to Rain No Mo'" in JAFL, Sept. 1911, p. 277 under the title "I Ain't Bother Yet" (Fuld).

Fuld notes that the last four bars of "Satan's Camp Afire" in Allen's "Slave Songs of the United States" (1867) have a similar melody. Anecdotally, Sandburg reports that the song is "at least as old as the 1870's." Fuld, J. J., 1966, "The Book of World-Famous Music," p. 307. (Dover, 1985, 3rd. ed.)

"Satan's Camp Afire" is no. 36 in Allen. http://docsouth.unc.edu/church/allen/allen.html

LYR. ADD: SATAN'S CAMP A-FIRE
(Coll. Allen, 1867)

Fier, my Saviour, fier,
Satan's camp a-fire;
Fier, believer, Fier,
Satan's Camp a-fire.

Fragment, with score, no. 36. William Francis Allen, in Ware and Garrison.
The score in Irving Schlein, 1965, "Slave Songs of the United States," p. 64, is not the same.

See Traditional Ballad Index for discussion and examples of "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More," including Brown, 1919."...
-snip-
Read the Traditional Ballad Index entry above.

**
4. Subject: RE: Lyr Req: It Ain't Gonna Rain No More
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 11 Nov 06 - 01:42 PM

"Some of the verses above are similar to those of "Massa Had a Yaller Gal," variants of which have been quoted by White, Odum, Scarborough, Talley and others. These verses have been discussed in other threads.
An article in Literary Digest, 1916, mentions variants from South Carolina, dating back to 1876-1886 (White, American Negro Folk-Songs, p. 152-156).
Examples:

Massa bought a yaller gal,
He bought er frum de south;
Her mouth look like de fireplace
Wid de ashes taken out.

Of all the beasts that roam the woods
I'd rather be a squir'l,
Curl my tail upon my back
And travel all over this worl'.

"Simon Slick" is similar:
Ole marster was a stingy man
And everybody know'd it;
Kept good liquor in his house
And never said here goes it.

Fitting the meter of "It Ain't Gonna Rain No Mo'" much better are songs like "Uncle Ned," a minstrel song from 1848, but the tune is different:

Den lay down de shovel and de hoe,
And hang up de fiddle and de bow;
Dere's no more work for poor Uncle Ned
He's gone where de good old ni&&ers* go. [*Pancocojams editor: The "n word" is fully spelled out in this comment/lyrics]
N. I. White; Alabama, "sung by Negro who fought in Civil War," p. 164ff.

(Digression: The above verse was paraphrased in the Ethiopian Serenaders' Own Book, 1857. White found it surviving and sung by a Black in Alabama. One verse:
Then lay down the agricultural implements,
Allow the violin and the bow to be pendent on the wall,-
For there is no more physical energy to be displayed,
By indigent aged Edward,
For he has departed to the abode designated by a kind
Providence for all pious, humane, and benevolent colored individuals. )

I WOULDN'T MARRY
Used by Johnny Carson in "It Ain't ....," some of the verses may go back to the Ethiopian Serenaders of the 1850's. A variant on "Massa Had a Yaller Gal."

I wouldn't marry a yaller gal,
I'll tell you de reason why:
Her hair's so dad-blamed nappy
She'd break all de combs I buy.
Verse from Jamaica (White, p. 323), but little different from those sung in the southern states.

Also common are the white, yaller and black lady-gal comparisons.

Well a white lady wears a hobble skirt,
A yaller gal tries to do the same,
But a poor black gal wears a Mary Jane,
But she's hobbling just the same.

The form goes back to songs that probably originated with Black slaves:
Mr. Coon he is a mighty man,
He carries a bushy tail
He steals old Massa's corn at night,
And husks it in a rail.

All above examples from White, collections of about 1915, but they can be duplicated and added to in the other references mentioned above."
-snip-
Pancocojams editor: "Yaller gal" = a light skinned Black woman (a light skinned woman of mixed Black-non-Black ancestry)

Mr. Coon = Mr. raccoon.

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5. Subject: RE: Lyr Req: It Ain't Gonna Rain No More
From: GUEST,Dan -Florida
Date: 01 Feb 12 - 08:18 AM

This is how I heard it from my grandfather born in 1908.

Bullfrog sittin on a lillypad gazin up at the sky
lilly pad broke and the frog fell in and got water all in his eye

My daddys got a building its 16 stories high
every room in that building is lined with chicken pie

Took my gal to the movies and what do you reckon she done
sat right down in the middle of the floor and there she chewed her gum

went out to milk my cow but the calf came in to suck it
cow turned around and butted me down and I fell in the bucket

how and the hell can the old folks tell it aint gonna rain no mo"
-snip-
Pancocojams editor: The "bullfrog sittin on a lillypad" verse is a remnant of 16th century British "frog in the well" songs. Nowadays, the best known song in that family is "Frog Went a' Courtin'", but there used to be many other popular "frog in the well" songs in what is now the United Kingdom and in the United States.

Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog_Went_A-Courting for information about "frog in the well" songs.

Also, click for https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/05/song-sources-for-down-by-banks-of-hanky.html fpr a hand clap and hand clap game "Down By The Banks Of The Hanky Panky" whose standard lyrics have their source in the very old British "frog in the well" songs.

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Excerpt #3
From http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/eng/It_Ain%27t_Gonna_Rain_No_Mo%27?View=embedded%27
"It Ain't Gonna Rain No Mo'" is the title of a novelty song that is entirely the creation of the "Red-Headed Music Maker", guitarist and vocalist Wendell Woods Hall (1896–1969). Much like that other major, much-quoted song of the early 1920s, Yes! We Have No Bananas, the novelty, vaudeville aspect of "It Ain't Gonna Rain No Mo'" is similarly undeniable. Hall's 1923 recording of the song, which was also popular in Britain, sold in excess of two million copies.[1] Additionally, it scored 20 weeks on the U.S. charts, six at number one.[2]

IN POPULAR CULTURE
This song may be known to modern audiences because featured at the end of a 7-minute black & white animated cartoon, issued by Pathe Studios in May 1930, the work of John Foster & Mannie Davis, titled Noah Knew His Ark.[3] Part of the song is sung in The Plumber, a 1933 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short.[4] Many antecedents exist from the 19th century. Note the thread at Mudcat.org "Ain't Gonna Rain No More" (the thread discussion begins in 1997). By the 1920s many variants were already extant in popular culture. Carl Sandburg suggests that the song goes back at least to the 1870s and includes verses in his "American Songbag.(published 1927.) This song cycle is an excellent example of the folk tradition of transmission with local variants abounding. Mr. Hall simply took some of what already existed and codified it probably with many of his own original verses. "The Midnight Special" is similarly attributed to Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) though the song certainly preceded him and his recordings."

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Excerpt #4:
From http://www.raymondfolk.com/page/American+Songs
Ain't Gonna Rain No Mo'
"This African-American song is believed to go back to the days of slavery, though it could well be a celebration of emancipation. This version was collected by Alan Lomax and Leadbelly in 1939. The song has been given new lyrics many times, the best known being Wendell Hall's 1923 version, which has become a popular campfire song for Scouts and Guides.

A very different version recorded by The Two Gilberts on an old 78 disc can be heard here.

You can hear my rendition and read the lyrics.*

You can also see a live performance together with Skip to my Lou at a session of The Hong Kong Folk Society at The Canny Man in Wanchai. Five years later I recorded these two songs with my six-year-old grandson, Axel. Here is our video.**

Ain't No Bugs On Me

This song probably developed from the African-American song Ain't Gonna Rain No More, which is sometimes sung to the same tune and shares some of the verses. The song is made up of several nonsense verses, some based on dreadful puns and some of them topical. For example there are references to the Ku Klux Klan, the Scopes trial, Billy Sunday, a well-known preacher in the 1920s and historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln. Several of the verses can be found in other songs, such as Old Joe Clark and Rich Gal, Poor Gal.

The earliest known recording is by Fiddlin' John Carson in 1928. The song has been recorded by a number of artists including Jerry Garcia."...
-snip-
*The words "Read the lyrics" are given as a hyperlink for the lyrics that are sung in this rendition of "Ain't Gonna Rain No More". The link is http://www.raymondfolk.com/page/Ain%27t+Gonna+Rain+No+More. That page only includes a few verses for that song.

**The words "Here is our" video is given as a hyperlink. That video is given as Example #2 below.

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SHOWCASE YOUTUBE EXAMPLES
Example #1: It Ain't Gonna Rain No More



RaymondKamalay Published on Apr 17, 2013

This song is said to have been sung widely in minstrel shows in the 19th Century in the USA. When it was finally published in 1924, Wendell Hall (the Red-headed Warbler) claimed authorship. That's highly dubious. Sing along, if you like!
-snip-
Here are a few comments from this sound file's discussion thread:
rockergod789, 2013
"useless fact: there is an ordinance that bans people from singing this song in Oenida Tennessee"

**
Reply
Frieda Werden, 2017
"I bet that is because the original chorus was "how in hell can the old folks tell it ain't gonna rain no more." That is how my daddy sang it. But in this arrangement "hell" is cleverly changed to "heck."

**
theBaron0530, 2016
"Yeah, it might be a children's song to Baby Boomers and subsequent generations, but I think that's because their parents passed it along to them. My great-aunts and -uncles (from "the Greatest Generation") used to sing this and other songs when they got together at family cookouts or events.

I remember a verse my Uncle Jimmy used to sing,

"A rich man takes a hansom cab
A poor man takes a train
A hobo walks along the tracks
But he gets there just the same"

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Example #2: 1756. Axel presents: Ain't Gonna Rain / Skip to my Lou (Traditional American)



raymondcrooke, Published on Jun 8, 2014

My six-year-old grandson, Axel, continues to learn new folk songs, and even has a go at dancing to the music!

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Example #3: It Ain't Gonna Rain - Cedarmont kids



Cedarmont Kids, Published on Jul 9, 2015
-snip-
This is one of the many (relatively) contemporary, squeaky clean* children's versions of "It Ain't Gonna Rain No More".

*"Clean" versions of songs/rhymes don't contain verses that include content that some children refer to as "dirty" (i.e. profanity, gross references, sexually explicit content, or excess violence).

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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

In honor of Father's Day, this post showcases the 1969 R&B song "Color Him Father" by The Winstons. Information about The Winstons is also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to The Winstons for their musical legacy. Thanks to all positive fathers throughout the world whether or not they are/have been blood related to those they raised/are raising. Thanks to all who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE WINSTONS AND THE SONG "COLOR IN FATHER"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winstons
"The Winstons were an American 1960s funk and soul music group, based in Washington, D.C., United States. They are known for their 1969 recording of an EP featuring a song entitled "Color Him Father" on the A-side, and "Amen, Brother" on the B-side. Half-way into "Amen, Brother", there is a drum solo (performed by G.C. Coleman) which would cause the EP to become the most widely sampled record in the history of electronic music. Sampled audio clips of the drum solo became known as the Amen Break, which has been used in thousands of tracks in a large number of musical genres, including drum and bass, hip hop,[1] jungle, big beat, industrial and electronica.[2]

The "Color Him Father" record sold over one million copies, and received a gold record awarded by the Recording Industry Association of America on 24 July 1969. It also won a Grammy Award for the Best Rhythm and Blues Song (1969).[3]

Members
The Winstons line-up included:[3]
Richard Lewis Spencer (tenor saxophone, lead vocals)
Ray Maritano (alto saxophone, backing vocals)
Quincy Mattison (guitar, backing vocals)
Phil Tolotta (organ, co-lead vocals)
Sonny Pekerol, J.Lee Zane (bass guitar, backing vocals)
Gregory C. Coleman (drums, backing vocals)

The Winstons toured as backup for The Impressions.[3]
-snip-
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SaFTm2bcac for a video about the heavily sampled drum solo in the The Winston's instrumental record "Amen, Brother".

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From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_Him_Father
"Color Him Father" is a song released by funk and soul group The Winstons.

It was released in 1969, and reached number 2 on the R&B charts and number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 that same year. Its composer, Richard Lewis Spencer, won a Grammy Award for Best R&B song in 1970.[1]
"Color Him Father" is one of the best known songs by The Winstons. It was released as a single, and the B-side contained an instrumental track titled "Amen, Brother". "Amen, Brother" contains what has now become one of the most heavily sampled drum breaks in the history of electronic music, especially jungle and breakbeat hardcore. This break has become known as the Amen Break.

"Color Him Father" is an unabashedly sentimental song in which a boy expresses his love for his stepfather, a hardworking and generous man who married his widowed mother, who had seven children, and embraced them as his own after her first husband was "killed in the war." ("She said she thought that she could never love again/And then there he stood with that big, wide grin.") The song's lyrics resonated strongly with the public in 1969, the height of the Vietnam War. The word "color," in the song, means "label" or "call" and follows the 'color' motif set in Barbra Streisand's 1963 release of My Coloring Book. The song served as a major musical inspiration for the 2016 track "Celebrate" by Anderson .Paak.

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LYRICS- COLOR HIM FATHER
(Richard Lewis Spencer)

"Color Him Father"
There's a man at my house he's so big and strong
He goes to work each day, stays all day long
He comes home each night looking tired and beat
He sits down at the dinner table and has a bite to eat
Never a frown always a smile
When he says to me how's my child
I've been studying hard all day in school
Tryin' to understand the golden rule

Think I'll color this man father
I think I'll color him love
Said I'm gonna color him father
I think I'll color the man love, yes I will

He says education is the thing if you wanna compete
Because without it son, life ain't very sweet
I love this man I don't know why
Except I'll need his strength till the day that I die
My mother loves him and I can tell
By the way she looks at him when he holds my little sister Nell
I heard her say just the other day
That if it hadn't been for him she wouldn't have found her way
My real old man he got killed in the war
And she knows she and seven kids couldn't of got very far
She said she thought that she could never love again
And then there he stood with that big wide grin
He married my mother and he took us in
And now we belong to the man with that big wide grin

Think I'll color this man father
I think I'll color him love
Said I'm gonna color him father

Source - http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/the_winstons/color_him_father.html

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS: The Winstons Performing "Color Him Father"



masterconductor, Uploaded on Dec 4, 2009

The Winstons Performing The National Anthem Of Fathers Day"Color Him Father"

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Example #2: Color Him Father



L Williams, Published on May 30, 2012

A video I made in honor of my grandfather, who will truly be missed.....

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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases the 1988 Hip Hop track (song) "Rollin With Kid N Play" and includes information about that track and a clip from the movie House Party that features that track. In addition, this post provides explanations about American vernacular English terms and sayings that are found in "Rollin With Kid N Play" lyrics.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, linguistics, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Kid N Play for their musical legacy. Thanks to all who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
-snip-
The idea for this post came to me as a result of happening upon a Canadian children's camp song that clearly borrowed its beginning lines from "Rollin With Kid N Play". A pancocojams post that features that camp song and several other camp songs from that website that include lyrics from contemporary (post 1960) African American sources will be published ASAP and that link will be added here.

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INFORMATION ABOUT KID N PLAY
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kid_%27n_Play
Kid 'n Play is an American hip-hop act from New York City that was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The duo was composed of Christopher "Kid" Reid (born April 5, 1964) and Christopher "Play" Martin (born July 10, 1962) working alongside their DJ, Mark "DJ Wiz" Eastmond.[1][2] Besides their successful musical careers, they are also notable for branching out into acting.[3]

History
Music career

[...]

Kid 'n Play recorded three albums together between 1988 and 1991: 2 Hype (1988), Kid 'n Play's Funhouse (1990), and Face the Nation (1991). Hurby "Luv Bug" Azor, the producer for Salt-n-Pepa (who had been a member of The Super Lovers with Play) served as Kid 'n Play's manager and producer during the early portion of their career. All three albums focused upon positive lyrics backed by pop-friendly instrumental tracks. Among the group's most successful singles were 1989's "Rollin' with Kid 'n Play" (#11 on the Billboard R&B singles chart), 1990s "Funhouse" (#1 on the Billboard rap singles chart), and "Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody" (another #1 rap hit). The group's stage show highlighted their teen-friendly personalities, and dances such as their trademark, the Kick Step. Kid's visual trademark was his hi-top fade haircut, which stood ten inches high at its peak. Martin regularly wore eight-ball jackets.

Kid 'n Play were also notable for their dance known as the Kid n' Play Kickstep, first seen in their video "Do This My Way," and described in the song "Do the Kid n' Play Kickstep," from their first album, 2 Hype. Also affectionately known as the "Funky Charleston," it was influenced by the 1920s era dance The Charleston. The Kid n' Play Kickstep featured the new jack swing-aerobic dance moves typical of late 1980s urban street dancing. Unlike the original Charleston, The Kid n' Play Kickstep requires two participants instead of one. This dance also was made quite popular in Kid 'n Play's feature film House Party, in which Kid and Play have a dance competition with Tisha Campbell and A.J. Johnson.

Acting careers
In addition to their music, Kid 'N Play have starred together in five feature films, all of them based around hip hop characters and themes. The duo also appeared on the soundtrack albums to these films. Four of the Kid 'n Play films were entries in the House Party series.[4] The first two House Party films (1990's House Party and 1991's House Party 2) also featured the then-relatively unknown Martin Lawrence and Tisha Campbell, later stars of the TV sitcom Martin. House Party 3 (1994) featured hip-hop/R&B girl group TLC as the music group Sex as a Weapon. Kid 'n Play were absent from the fourth film House Party 4 (2001), which has no connection to any of the prior films or the subsequent film, House Party 5 (2013) in which the duo make a cameo appearance, revealing how successful their characters have become since the events of House Party 3....

Kid 'n Play even had their own NBC Saturday morning cartoon, Kid 'n Play, for one season from 1990 to 1991. On the show, Kid 'n Play were regressed to teenagers, but their recording careers remained intact, as did their comic personas"...
-snip-
Additional information & (pancocojams) editorial comments:
Kid 'N Play's 1988 track "Rollin' With Kid 'N Play" samples Ripple's 1973 track "I Don't Know What It Is, but It Sure Is Funky"
"Sample appears at 0:32 (and throughout)"http://www.whosampled.com/sample/22055/Kid-%27N-Play-Rollin%27-With-Kid-%27N-Play-Ripple-I-Don%27t-Know-What-It-Is,-but-It-Sure-Is-Funky/

**
"Rollin With Kid N Play" uses the call & response format that is characteristic of Washington D.C.'s Go Go music* throughout the track, with the rappers Kid and Play taking turns being the caller or responder or completing each other's sentences. The background singers also use call & response while singing the catchy chorus "O la o la eh/Rollin rollin rollin with Kid N Play now".

* Read information about "Go Go" music below.

**
"Rollin With Kid N Play" serves three purposes besides the creation of a highly danceable jam:
1. Introduce "Kid N Play" (as well as the duo's DJ & producer) and promote the duo, largely through self-bragging, but also with some taunting unnamed Hip Hop competitors
2. Introduce/promote Go Go music
3. Encourage listeners to become their fans

****
SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: Rollin' With Kid 'N Play - Kid 'N Play (1988)



djbuddyloverootsrap, Uploaded on Oct 25, 2011

"Rollin' With Kid 'N Play" was the most successful single release from "2 Hype", the debut album by rap duo Kid 'N Play. The album was released in 1988 for Select Records and was produced by Hurby 'Luv Bug' Azor and The Invincibles. "2 Hype" was a success for the duo, reaching #96 on the Billboard 200 and #9 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and being certified Platinum by the RIAA. Three singles found success on the Hot Rap Singles chart, "Rollin' with Kid 'N Play" (#2), "2 Hype" (#19) and "Gittin' Funky" (#24). In 2008, "Rollin' With Kid N Play" was ranked number 63 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.

Kid 'N Play is a hip-hop and comedy duo from New York City that was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The duo was composed of Christopher 'Kid' Reid (born April 5, 1964 in The Bronx, New York City), and Christopher 'Play' Martin (born July 10, 1962 in Queens, New York City), working alongside their DJ, Mark 'DJ Wiz' Eastmond (born March 21, 1966 in Queens, New York City). Besides their successful musical careers, Kid 'N Play are also notable for branching out into acting. This channel is dedicated to all the great rap music from back in the day. The music that started the whole hip-hop revolution, the incredible music from the 70s, the 80s, and the early 90s . . . The Roots Of Rap are here!
-snip-
I reformatted this YouTube video summary to increase its readability.

****
Example #2: Kid N' Play - Rollin' With Kid N' Play (Video)



kennylavish, Uploaded on Aug 24, 2010

FROM THE ALBUM "2 HYPE" (1988).
-snip-
This is a scene from the first House Party movie.

****
LYRICS - ROLLIN WITH KID N PLAY
(as performed by Kid N Play*)

Chorus:
O la oh la eh.
(O la oh la eh.)
Rollin rollin rollin with Kid and Play now.
(Rollin rollin rollin with Kid and Play now.)
O la oh la eh.
(O la oh la eh.)
Rollin rollin rollin with Kid and Play now.
(Rollin rollin rollin with Kid and Play now.)

Kid - Now ,Play, I don’t know what is it about that beat that we have here,
but it sure is funky.

Chorus:
O la O la eh.
(O la O la eh.)
Rollin rollin rollin with Kid N Play now.
(Rollin rollin rollin with Kid N Play now.)
O la O la eh.
(O la O ha eh.)
Rollin rollin rollin with Kid N Play now.
(Rollin rollin rollin with Kid N Play now.)

Play: Yo, Kid,
I don’t know what is it about this groove that here makin us move,
but it sure is funky.

O la O la eh.
(O la O la eh.)
Rollin rollin rollin with Kid N Play now.
(Rollin rollin rollin with Kid N Play now.)

Play- It is time to rap.
Kid - Shall we?
Play - Sure.
Kid- Kid N Play back goin strong.
Play- Dope and dap, we can get funky with the best.
We just hypin it up.
Kid - You know, just how it had to be.
Play - Just take a look around, boy. Can’t you see that
I’mma bum rushin.
Kid - Girls are just watchin,
Play - Wiz got the scratchin
Kid - while Hurby’s all percussion.
We’re settin the stage
for the stage to get set off
I want some rhyming and dancing to jet off.
So get off ‘cause you bit off
Play- more than you can chew.
Kid- Now watch the dynamic duo
do a little go go thang.
Play - Come on, rock and swing.
You gotta
Kid - roll with Kid N Play.
Play - Now everybody say:

Chorus

Kid- Now we’re the stars of stage,
wax, and video.
Play- We’re here to tear it up.
Kid and Play - So come on, here we go.
Kid- So pump it up, this is hot power stuff.
Play - Kid N Play can’t get enough
Kid and Play - of that funky go go rhythm.
Play - You wanted a dope jam
Well, that’s what we’re givin.
Play - We’re headed for fame
Kid - cause Kind N Play’s drivin.
Play- Boy we don’t shirk
Kid - and large is how we livin.
Play- We stay paid.
Kid- You know the boys have got it made.
Play- You see I’m a tramp.
Kid- And I’m am the fella with the high top fade.
Play- Gettin down to the sound.
Kid- You know, we ‘bout to turn it out.
Play- Come on with Kid N Play.
Kid and Play- Everybody shout:

Chorus

Kid - Now, I bet you ladies
Kid and Play - wanna see
Play - P. L. A. Y.
Kid - and K. I. D.
Kid and Play - We’re not like the rest.
Our style is def
and we present ourselves
Play - as the very best
Kid - on the microphone.
We relay to the
Kid and Play - soul.
Kid - Your whole damn body we will control.
So
stay calm, don’t get alarmed.
Gonna relax you ladies with a deadly charm.
Play - Gonna go to work on you fellas too
to make you wanna do the things we do.
Kid - ‘cause when ah
Play - Kid N Play is in your town
Kid - you gotta
Play - keep rockin to the go go sound.
Kid - You gotta
Play - keep rockin all day all night
‘cause we’re different.
Kid - We’re like dynamite on the mic.
Kid and Play - So shake
Play - your butt, shake it down
‘Cause we got the best
music all around.
Kid - Hurby’s our producer.
Play - Wiz is the DJ.
Kid and Play - Roll with Kid N Play.
Now, everybody say:

[Chorus]
-snip-
This is my transcription of "Rollin With Kid N Play". I made this transcription because i couldn't find the lyrics for this track online.

The words in the chorus that are given brackets designate that they are sung in response to the preceding "call".

Additions and corrections (including which of the duo spoke those lines) are welcome.

Also, if you know the name/s of the composer/s of this Hip Hop track, please share it in the comment section below. Thanks!

****
EXPLANATIONS FOR AND INFORMATION ABOUT AMERICAN VERNACULAR TERMS/SAYINGS IN THE HIP HOP TRACK "ROLLIN WITH KID N PLAY"

Unless otherwise indicated, I'm sharing what I believe are the meanings for these American* vernacular English terms/sayings in the context of this song. I've written those words in italics to emphasize their importance, since vernacular terms often have multiple meanings. One quote from the lyrics that include these terms is given in parenthesis after some of these definitions.

This list also includes the meanings of certain lines in this Hip Hop composition.

Additions and corrections are welcome.

*I believe that most of the terms and sayings that are included in those lyrics are from African American Vernacular English.

A, B

"Bit off more than you can chew" - tried to do more than you are capable of doing ( in this context, other rappers can't do better than Kid N Play)

**
"Bum rushin" -a play on word with “bum" here meaning (a lady's) "butt" (meaning, trying to "romantically" pursue (meet up with) the ladies

****
C, D

"Come on with Kid n Play" = invitation to become fans of Kid N Play (This is another way of saying "Come roll with Kid N Play")

**
"Dap" - (from the word "dapper") someone who looks good, stylish

**
"Def" (from the word "definitely", without any doubt very good ["Our style is def"]

**
"Dope" = very good; exceptional ("Dope and dap, we can get funky with the best."

**
"Drivin" -determined to succeed ("‘cause Kid N Play is drivin)"

**
E, F

"Funky"
From https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=funky&page=2
"funky
Music that has a particular feel or groove.

"Earl King recently told me I was the first guy he ever heard use the term funky about music..."

"'Think about Foley, how funky and dirty he stinks and smells. Think about playing the music just like that."

-Earl Palmer, Backbeat: Earl Palmer's Story
"Damn, that's funky!"
#groove#feel#music#style#feeling
by bbmatt September 22, 2009"

**
G, H
"Get off" - [in the context of this Hip Hop track] spoken to any potential Hip Hop competitors]- leave the stage, leave the Hip Hop competition

**
"getting down to the sound" - really feeling the music and/or performing the music really well

**
"Going strong" - "from American English (still) going strong
​to still be successful after having existed for a long time:https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/still-going-strong

**
"Go go" (sound’ music)
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go-go
"Go-go is a popular music subgenre associated with funk that originated in the Washington, D.C., area during the mid-60s to late-70s. It remains primarily popular in the Washington metropolitan area as a uniquely regional music style...

Inspired by artists such as the groups mentioned above, go-go is a blend of funk, rhythm and blues, and old school hip-hop, with a focus on lo-fi percussion instruments and funk-style jamming in place of dance tracks, although some sampling is used. As such, it is primarily a dance hall music with an emphasis on live audience call and response. Go-go rhythms are also incorporated into street percussion….
In the mid-1960s, "go-go" was the word for a music club in the local African American community, as in the common phrase at the time going to a go-go popularized by a million-selling hit of the same name by The Miracles”...
-snip-
I added italics to highlight that sentence.

Here's some more information about "Go Go music" from From http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1167 The Beat!
Go-Go Music from Washington, D.C. by Kip Lornell and Charles C. Stephenson, Jr:
"Its [Go Go music] super-charged drumming and vocal combinations of hip-hop, funk, and soul evolved and still thrive on the streets of Washington, D.C., and in neighboring Prince George's County, making it the most geographically compact form of popular music.

Go-go--the only musical form indigenous to Washington, D.C.--features a highly syncopated, nonstop beat and vocals that are spoken as well as sung”....

**
"Got it made" - "is certain to be successful and have a good life, often without much effort"http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/have+got+it+made ("The [Kid N Play} boys have got it made.")

**
"Groove"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groove_(music)
"In music, groove is the sense of propulsive rhythmic "feel" or sense of "swing". In jazz, it can be felt as a persistently repeated pattern. It can be created by the interaction of the music played by a band's rhythm section (e.g. drums, electric bass or double bass, guitar, and keyboards). Groove is a key of much popular music, and can be found in many genres, including salsa, funk, rock, fusion, and soul.
…Musicologists and other scholars have analyzed the concept of "groove" since around the 1990s. They have argued that a "groove" is an "understanding of rhythmic patterning" or "feel" and "an intuitive sense" of "a cycle in motion" that emerges from "carefully aligned concurrent rhythmic patterns" that stimulates dancing or foot-tapping on the part of listeners."

**
"High top fade"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi-top_fade
"A hi-top fade is a style of haircut where hair on the sides is cut off or kept very short while hair on the top of the head is very long.[1]

The hi-top was a trend symbolizing the Golden Era of hip hop and urban contemporary music during the 1980s and the early 1990s.[2] It was common among young black people between 1986 and 1993 and to a lesser extent in the mid-1990s (1994–1996).[3]"...
-snip-
High top fades are usually considered a Black male (natural) hair style ; “Kid” [one member of the Hip Hop duo “Kid N Play”] wore his hair in a high top fade, but all high top fades weren’t (aren’t) as high as his.

**
"Hypin it up" - raising the energy of the [at the] event or with the music, making it more exciting

****
I, J
"Jam" - a musical record, track, tune ("a dope jam")

**
"Jet off" = move fast "I want some rhyming and dancing to jet off"

****
K, L
"Livin large" - being rich and living a life surrounded by luxury ("large is how we livin")

****
M. N
"N" - and ("Kid N Play")

****
O, P,
"On the mic - microphone; referent to a MC (rapper) rapping (spitting bars)

**
"Pump it up" - raise the energy, excitement higher (synonym - "Get hype") ("So pump it up, this is hot power stuff)

****
Q, R
"Rockin" - dancing to, moving to, performing ("Keep rockin to the go go sound")

**
Rollin (with Kid N Play) - "hanging with" (traveling with)Kid N Play, but with the meaning "becoming fans of this Hip Hop duo; the lyrics "Come on with Kid N Play" basically have the same meaning as "Rollin With Kid N Play"

****
S, T
"Scratchin"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scratching
"Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique used to produce distinctive percussive or rhythmic sounds and sound effects by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with African-American hip hop music, where it emerged in the mid-1970s, it has been used in the 1990s and 2000s in some styles of rap rock, rap metal and nu metal. Within hip hop culture, scratching is one of the measures of a DJ's skills."

**
"Tear it up" - do something exceptionally well (contemporary African American Vernacular English synonyms; "murdered" [it], "killed" [it] ) ("We’re here to tear it up")

**
Thang = thing

**
"Tramp" = Play's persona in the Kid N Play duo; In the context of this Hip Hop duo, "tramp" is a man who is a "playa" (note "Play's" stage name), a bad boy [man] or "dirty" man who has a lot of women (i.e. "loves them and leaves them", travels from one woman to the next; "bad" here means the opposite of good"; (I wonder was Kid's persona in this duo is a man who acts like a kid, providing some comic elements in his interactions with Play & others, and also providing a comic element regarding the height of his high top fade hair style.)

**
Turn it out – do really well (synonym "tear it up") ("We ‘bout to turn it out")

****
U,V

****
W, X
Wax = record, album, Cd

**
"We stay paid" = we always have money from gigs (work; concerts, record sales etc.)

**
"We’re settin the stage for the stage to get set off" - we're introducing ourselves (via this album) so that our successful career will begin

****
Y,Z
"Yo" = Hey

**
"You bit off more than you can chew" - "to try to do something that is too big or difficult to do"http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/bite+off+more+than+can+chew

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases seven American children's camp songs or cheers that I believe have their source in contemporary (post 1960) African American songs, rhymes, cheers, or rhymes.

These examples are from the website . I believe that website is for a Girl Scout camp named Camp Maripai in Prescott, Arizona http://www.girlscoutsaz.org/en/camps/our-camps.html. Please correct this information if I'm mistaken.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
DISCLAIMER:
This post is not meant to be a comprehensive listing of contemporary children's camp songs or cheers that have African American sources.

I believe that some song examples* on that showcased website may be post 1960s variant forms of older African American (or Caribbean) songs or rhymes. However, in this post I chose to focus on post 1960s examples or post-1960s songs or rhymes.

*For example, "Little Sally Walker, walkin’ ‘round the street" is a contemporary form of the very old singing game "Little Sally Walker".

****
PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S COMMENTS
I happened upon this web page of children's camp songs while looking for examples of children's rhymes that include the term "FBI". After reading the example entitled "Emerald’s Chant" on that website's page and given below, I published a pancocojams post on the 1988 Hip Hop track (song) "Rollin With Kid N Play"https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/kid-n-play-rollin-with-kind-n-play.html.

I consider children's rhymes, cheers, singing games, camp songs etc. to be folk material and as a self-identified "community folklorist", I'm interested in documenting sources for folk material-including demographic information (race, ethnicity, gender, geographical location). Also, as a community folklorist, I'm interested in documenting how rhymes are spread across geographical areas, including nations- in this case from the United States to Canada.

I'm also interested in documenting continuity or changes in the lyrics and/or performance activities of American children's rhymes, cheers, singing games etc. over time or in different populations at the same time.

No songs from that camp's website mention race, and I consider a few examples to racially offensive- the most offensive example is entitled "The Washerwoman" which (I believe) stereotypes Asians (note the speech patterns and the references to doing laundry":

Washerwoman Song
I live-ee in-ee a teeny weeny house-ee
I live-ee on-ee the thirty-first-ee floor
I take-ee in-ee the dirty dirty laundry
Ruffles on the petticoat ten cents more.
I like a pow pow better than a chow chow
I like a little girl, she like-a me.

One day in Hong Kong
Bigga Momma come along-a
Take away my little girl
Poor poor me.'

-snip-
That website also includes a form of the traditional African American song "Dry Bones" that includes the African American dialectic use of the word "dem" for "them": .
"Dry Bones
Dry bones sittin’ in a canyon, some of dem bones are mine
Dry bones sittin’ in a canyon, some of dem bones are mine
Some of dem bones are (enter person or unit name here)
Some of dem bones are mine
Some of dem bones are (enter person or unit name here)
Some of dem bones are mine"

-snip-
Also, given the racist use of "monkeys" as a derogatory referent for Black people, the line in the example entitled "Emerald's Song" which is given below "Those girls are funky/Always acting like monkeys!" could be considered offensive or could at least be problematic if Black or Brown girls were part of the group who was singing this song.

These example provide me with an opportunity to share the following links to some of the pancocojams posts that I've published about children's rhymes and race:

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/racialized-versions-of-i-like-coffee-i.html"Racialized Versions Of "I Like Coffee I Like Tea"

**
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/07/anti-asian-rhymes-i-went-to-chinese.html"Anti-Asian Rhymes - I Went To A Chinese Restaurant"

**
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/10/stereeotypical-references-to-american.html"Stereotypical References To American Indians In "I Went To A Chinese Restaurant" Rhymes"
-snip-
Here are comments that I wrote from some of those posts:
I believe that the stereotypical content in playground rhymes should be documented for the folkloric record, and also for the purpose of encouraging people interested in an eradicating stereotypes to the presence of this content.

In spite of children's attachment to the version of a rhyme that they first learned, given the large number of non-stereotypical versions of "I Went To The Chinese Restaurant, I believe that children can be complimented for their creativity but still be redirected to alternative, non-stereotypical examples of that rhyme. It's up to adults to educate the children in their care that the words and/or accompanying actions of these & some other playground rhymes are problematic and hurtful.

The children's rhyme "Eenie Meenie Miney Mo" stands as a strong testimony to the fact that offensive references can be completely excised from playground rhymes, as many adults today who grew up with that rhyme and are surprised to learn that it once included a pejorative reference for Black people.

**
Although most of the video examples and, presumably, also most of text examples that I've found of this rhyme are from White children and White adults, I'm including this subject in this blog that focuses on Black cultural indices because non-offensive and some offensive examples of "I Went To A Chinese Restaurant" appears to have become a part of the cultural body of playground rhymes in the United States and in some other English language nations to a large extent regardless of children's the race/ethnicity. Note that a link given below to another pancocojams post given includes a video of two young Black women who indicate that they remember reciting this rhyme in their childhood. Also, there are people with Black/Asian (or Asian/Black) descent in the United States and elsewhere. Therefore, this topic is quite suitable for a blog about Black culture & customs in the United States & throughout the world.

**
It's important to consider that the words to examples of "I Went To The Chinese Restaurant" may appear to be non-offensive, but those words might be accompanied by the gesture of holding the skin at the ends of both eyes to mimic a squinting look. And while there should be no question that gesture is offensive, it clearly is something that children have to be made aware of, even if they don't intend to be hurtful or otherwise cause offense.

-snip-
Some of the examples featured in this post are from the sub-category of children's recreational material that I call "foot stomping cheers". Here's a quote from one of several pancocojams post on foot stomping cheers https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/at-playground-foot-stomping-cheer-that.html"At The Playground" - A Foot Stomping Cheer That Combines Words From A TV Commercial, The "Homey Don't Play That" Saying, & A Kiddie Hip Hop Record
"Foot stomping cheers" is the term that I coined in 2000 for a relatively new category of children's recreational play that is (was?) performed mostly by preteen and younger girls and that involves chanting and choreographed foot stomping combined with (individual) clapping movements.

Foot stomping cheers" have a textual structure and traditionally* have a performance style* that is distinct from hand clap rhymes, jump rope rhymes, other cheerleader cheers, and other categories of children's recreational rhymes. That record featured four examples of African American girls from Washington D. C. performing cheers in 1973-1975.

*By traditional, I mean the way that foot stomping cheers were performed by African American girls in the 1980s and 1990s, and perhaps in the early 2000s. I've noticed changes in the way that these cheers are performed as they become more mainstream (i.e. are performed by White or predominately White cheerleader squads.)"...

****
EXAMPLES OF CHILDREN'S SONGS/CHEERS THAT (I BELIEVE) HAVE THEIR SOURCE IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN AMERICAN SONGS, RHYMES, OR CHEERS

Pancocojams Editor:
These examples are given in alphabetical order on this pancocojams website. I've assigned numbers to these examples for referencing purposes only.

A link to a pancocojams posts about (what I believe are) the African American sources for these examples is given below the camp example itself.

***
From http://maripai-songbook.tripod.com/songlyrics.html
[website Last Updated: May 20, 2009


1. A Boom Chicka Boom
(a repeat song)
I said a boom-chicka-boom!
I said a boom-chicka-boom!
I said a boom-chicka-rocka-chicka-rocka-chicka-boom!
Uh huh!
Oh yea!
Again!
(Put next name of style here) style!
Styles:
Underwater: sing with fingers dribbling against your lips
Loud: as loud as you can!
Slowly: as slow and drawn out as possible
Opera: sing in an opera voice
Alien: high-pitched, beep sounds
Valley Girl:
I said, like, boom-chica-boom!
I said, like, boom chicka-boom!
I said, like, booma-chicka, like, rocka-chicka, like, rocka-chica like boom!
Like, uh-huh!
Like, for sure!
Like, same thing...
Janitor style:
I said a Broom-Pusha-Broom,
I said a Broom-Pusha-Broom,
I said a Broom-pusha-mopa-pusha-mopa-pusha-broom.
-snip-
This is listed in that camp song website under "FAST songs"

I've categorized "A Boom Chicka Boom" as a song (chant) with an African American source even though I haven't been able to track down the earliest example of that song/chant. "A Boom Chicka Boom"'s text (words) and its call & response format are the elements that strongly suggests to me that it originated among African Americans (or was composed in imitation of African American cheers). I've collected similar foot stomping cheers such as "A Rah Rah A Boom Tang" in the 1980s among African American girls in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list.html.

****
2. "Big Fat Pony
Ride around that big fat pony
Ride around that big fat pony
Ride around that big fat pony
This is how she does it:
Front to front to front my baby
Back to back to back my baby
Side to side to side my baby
This is how she does it.
Actions: This is a dancing game that is done in a circle. One girl is in the center of the circle, and while the whole group sings the first three lines and claps, the girl in the center gallops like a horse around the circle. When the fourth line of the song is reached,the girl much stop in front of the girl she is nearest, and both shimmy towards each other, then turn and shimmy away from each other, then turn to the side and shake their hips back and forth. The partner for the center girl now becomes the new center girl."
-snip-
This is listed on that camp song page under "DANCING/GAME/CHANT songs"

Click https://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/11/little-sally-walker-ride-that-pony_9.html for a cocojams2 post about this game song.

****
3. "Emerald’s Chant
(repeat song)
Oh-la, oh-la, eh!
Roll, roll, roll to the beat, now
I don’t know
Just what it is
Those girls are crazy
Always shakin’ their daisies!

Oh-la, oh-la, eh!
Roll, roll, roll to the beat, now
I don’t know
Just what it is
Those girls are funky
Always acting like monkeys!"
-snip-
This is listed on that camp song page under "DANCING/GAME/CHANT songs"

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/kid-n-play-rollin-with-kind-n-play.html for the lyrics and videos of the 1988 Hip Hop song "Rollin With Kid N Play".

****
4. "Funky Chicken
(Leader) Let me see your funky chicken!
(All) WHAT'S THAT YOU SAY?
(Leader) Let me see your funky chicken!
(All) WHAT'S THAT YOU SAY? I said....

Chorus: (everyone)
Ooo, ah-ah-ah ooo, ah-ah-ah ooo, ah-ah-ah ooo,
One more time, now!
Ooo, ah-ah-ah ooo, ah-ah-ah ooo, ah-ah-ah ooo,
One more time now!

Other Verses: Dracula, Orangutan, Elvis Presley, Cleopatra, John Travolta, do the polka, shopping car

(Actions: During first and third line of chorus, do silly movement that corresponds with verse)
-snip-
This is listed in that camp song website under "FAST songs"

Published on Dec 25, 2014
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group International

Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn-F_GmNr-A for a video of the 1970 Jackson 5 R&B song "How Funky Is Your Chicken"

[Since I can find no record that I've previously posted online the example that I collected around 1999 from three sisters under the age of 12 years (Faith, Grace, and ?, I remember that her name wasn't "CharitY", African American girls in Braddock, Pennsylvania), here's that example- The girls said it was a cheerleader cheer:

[chanted in unison]

How funky is the chicken
How loose is the goose
So come on everybody
and shake your caboose
Shake your caboose
Shake your caboose.

[The girls shook their butt to the side while saying "Shake your caboose".)

****
5. "Gigalow

Person 1: Hey (insert Person 2’s name here)!
Person 2: Hey what?
1: Hey (Person 2’s name!
2: Hey what?
1: Show us how you gigalow, I said, show us how you gigalow!
2. My hands are high, my feet are low, and this is how I gigalow.
All: Her hands are high, her feet are low, and this is how she gigalows!"
-snip-
This is listed on that camp song page under "DANCING/GAME/CHANT songs"

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/12/childrens-rhyme-gigalo-examples.html for the pancocojams post "The Children's Rhyme "Gigalo" - Examples & Probable Sources"

****
6."Humpty Dumpty Song
Hump-dee, dump
Hump, hump, dee, dump-dee dump-dee
Hump-dee, dump
Hump, hump, dee, dump-dee dump-dee
(enter any nursery rhyme and sing for 12 beats of song)

(I.e.) Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey (HEY!)
Along came a spider and sat down beside her…|
Singing UHH! Ain’t that funky now?

End song with the Humpty Dumpty rhyme."
-snip-
-snip-
This is listed in that camp song website under "FAST songs"

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/02/pre-dozens-childrens-foot-stomping.html for the pancocojams rhyme "Pre-The Dozens Girls' Foot Stomping Cheer "Hump De Danda""

**
7. "Ooh Ungowa
My back’s a-breakin’, my belt’s too tight
My hips a-shakin’ from left to right
Singin’ ooh Ungowa, (enter person or unit name here)’s got the power
You know it, you said it,
And now you represent it.
Singin’ OOH UNGOWA (enter name here)’s GOT THE POWER!"
-snip-
This is listed on that camp song page under "DANCING/GAME/CHANT songs"

The lines "my back's achin and my bra's too tight" are found in the African American children's rhyme "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train". However, those children's rhymes lifted those lines from African American military cadences and the risque social song "Bang Bang Lulu". https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/08/bang-bang-choo-choo-train-rhyme-cheer.html.

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-real-origins-of-word-ungawa-various.html for the pancocojams post entitled "The REAL Origin Of The Word "Ungawa"& Various Ways That Word Has Been Used In The USA"

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visiting comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post documents various examples of American children's rhymes that include references to the FBI that were known before the children's parodies of R. Kelly's 1996 inspirational song "I Believe I Can Fly".

The oldest children's parody example of "I Believe I Can Fly" that I've collected (directly and via the internet) is from 1999. Here's that example:

I believe I can fly.
I got chased by the FBI. (or "I'm being chased by the FBI").
It's all because of those collards greens
that I ate with those chicken wings.
I believe I can fly.
See me running through that open door.
I believe I can fly.
I believe I can fly.
-African American boys & girls (ages 7-12), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, collected by Azizi Powell, 1999

In contrast, the earliest example that I've found online of a children's rhyme that mentions "the FBI" is from the mid to late 1940s. That example is given below as A #1.

Note that according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation, the United States government department that is now know as the FBI was created in July 26, 1908. However, that department wasn't named "Federal Bureau of Investigation" (FBI) until 1935 and therefore no children's rhymes with that acronym could have existed before 1935.

****
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/10/childrens-parodies-of-i-believe-i-can_2.html and https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/were-african-americans-originally.html for pancocojams posts that include examples of "I Believe I Can Fly" parodies.

****
DISCLAIMER:
This post is not meant to be a comprehensive compilation of children's rhymes (songs) that include a reference to "the FBI". Please add to this compilation in the comment section below, especially if you know any children's rhymes that mention "the FBI" in other rhymes besides those given in this post. Don't forget to add demographic information (particularly decade and geographical location such as city & state). Thanks!

****
"THE FBI" MENTIONED IN THE CHILDREN'S RHYMES
These examples are given in rhyme sub-categories and are numbered within those categories. The examples within those sub-titles are given in no particular order.

When an entire long rhyme is given, the verse that includes "The FBI" is written in italics to highlight that particular verse.

These sub-categories are presented in order according to the number of examples with "the FBI" references that I have found (to date), with "the rhyme/song family" with the most examples given first.

A. I WOKE UP SUNDAY MORNING" RHYMES (also known as "Roaches and Bedbugs", "The Wiffer Woofer" and other titles)

From http://rolandanderson.se/bedbugs.php
Numbers #1 and #2 in this sub-category

Pancocojams Editor's Note:
I'm prefacing these two "The FBI" examples with the following excerpt from the book Bald Mountain Childhood by Roland Anderson:
"Centered around Mary Pawlak, this is an autobiographic, biographic and historical description of growing up in a Carpatho-Rusyn family on Bald Mountain near Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania during the 1920's and 30's.

[...]

Verses [of "Beetles And The Bedbugs"] similar to the ones that Mary recite occur in innumerable versions of folk songs popular during the early 1900's. A version that appears to be one of the oldest concerns the trepidations of a vagrant in New York City. That the song was also popular in the Wilkes-Barre and the surrounding Luzerne County area is attested to by the fact that there is a version of the New York City song that has been modified so that it refers to Luzerne County. The verses are included in the song "I don't want no more of this army life" which was popular during World War II. This comic description of army life was sung by Bugs Bunny in a Warner Brothers cartoon film during the war years. This version of the song is frequently resurrected when the United States engages in new conflicts. Additionally, the verses about the bedbugs playing baseball are quite popular and often occur in songs built up from bits and pieces taken from a number of sources. Below are a few of the folk songs in which contain verses similar to the one that Mary recalls."...

[Pancocojams Editor: I've numbered these selected examples from that book.]

"THE BEETLES AND THE BEDBUGS

1. This song version evidently comes from Oregon. The secret agent occurring in a verse in "Bedbugs and Skeeters" above, has here become a german and hints at a WWII origin

My mother was a German
My father was a spy
And if you don't believe me
Just call the FBI

Someone, likely wanting to keep the song up-to-date during the 1950's, replaced the German spy verse above with the following:

My mother is a Russian
my father is a spy
And if you don't believe me,
just ask the FBI"
-snip-
Roland Anderson indicates that the German spy verse is from the 1940s [World War II]

****
3. From https://kilowan.wordpress.com/2006/09/02/skeeters-and-the-bed-bugs/
{Comment] A fellow camper
September 12, 2006 at 11:04 am
How I learned it:

"I woke up Sunday morning
and looked up on the wall
the beatles and the bed bugs
were playing a game of ball

The score was seven-nothing
The beatles were ahead
The beatles hit a home run
and knocked me out of bed

I’m singing
eenie-meenie and a minie moe (oh oh oh)
catch a whipper-whopper by the toe (oh oh oh)
and if he hollers hollers hollers
let him go (oh oh oh)
eenie-meenie and a minie moe

I went downstairs to breakfast
I ordered ham and eggs
I ate so many eggs
The ham rolled down my legs!

I’m singing…

My mother was a German
My father was a spy
And if you don’t believe me
Just call the FBI

I’m singing…

I fell into the sewer
That’s where I plan to die
Some people call it murder
I call it sewer-cide

I’m singing…"

****
4. From http://maripai-songbook.tripod.com/songlyrics.html http://maripai-songbook.tripod.com/songlyrics.html
"I Woke Up Sunday Morning
I woke up Sunday morning, and looked upon the wall
The skeeters and the bedbugs were playing a game of ball
The score was three to nothing, the skeeters were ahead
The bedbugs hit a home run, and knocked me out of bed

Chorus:
I’m singing, eener meener and a miner mo
Catch a whipper whopper by the toe,
And if he hollers, hollers, hollers, don’t let him go
Im singing, eener meener and a miner mo

I went downstairs for breakfast, I ordered ham and eggs,
I ate so many pickles, the juice ran down my legs
My mother gave me a nickel, my father gave me a dime
My sister gave me a boyfriend, who kissed me all the time
My mom’s a secret agent, my father is a spy
And I’m the little big mouth, that told the FBI"

****
5. From http://dragon.sleepdeprived.ca/songbook/songs5/S5_79.htm The Whipper Whopper Song (Eener Meener); contributed by Sue Moore
"I woke up Sunday morning,
I looked up on the wall,
The beetles and the bedbugs
Were playing a game of ball.

The score was 6 to nothing,
The beetles were ahead,
The bedbugs hit a homerun
And knocked me out of bed.
Chorus:

I'm singing - Eeny meeny and a miney mo, mo, mo, mo
Catch a Whipper Whopper by his toe,
And if he HOLLERS, HOLLERS, HOLLERS, let him go.
I'm singing - Eeny meeny and a miney mo, mo, mo, mo
I went downstairs for breakfast,
I ordered ham and eggs,
I ate so many eggs
The ham ran down my legs.

I went outside to play,
I looked up in the sky,
I saw a little bluebird,
It poo-pooed in my eye.

My mother is a butcher,
My dad's a side of beef
And I'm the little hot dog
That runs around the street.

My father is a crook,
My mother is a spy,
And I'm the little big-mouth
That told the FBI.

I fell into the sewer,
And this is where I'll die,
Some people call it suicide,
I call it sewer-cide.
-snip-
6. This verse is found in another example of this rhyme that was contributed by Aubrey:
"My mother is a banker,
My father is a spy,
And I'm the little big mouth,
Who told the FBI."

****
7. From http://playgroundjungle.com/2009/12/i-woke-up-saturday-morning.html I Woke Up Saturday Morning
Example posted by Paul Kyle:

I woke up Sunday Morning
I looked up on the wall
The beetles and the bedbugs
were playing a game of ball

The score was 6 to nothing
The beetles were ahead
The bedbugs hit a home run
and knocked me out of bed

I’m singin’, Eenie-Meenie and uh, Minie-Moe
Catch a tigger tiger, by his toe
If he hollers hollers, let him go
I’m singin’, Eenie-Meenie and uh, Minie-Moe

I went downstairs for breakfast
I ordered ham and eggs
I ate so many eggs
the ham rolled down my legs.

I’m singin’, Eenie-Meenie and a, Minie-Moe
Catch a tigger-tiger, by his toe
If he hollers-hollers, let him go
I’m singin’, Eenie-Meenie and a, Minie-Moe.

My father is a baker
my mother is a spy
and if you don’t believe me
go ask the FBI
-snip-
8. From the Comment section of that post:
Suzy January 18, 2010
"Well, I have heard this as "the cooties and the bedbugs".

[...]

My father is a commie
my mother is a spy
and I'm the little hotdog
that told the FBI".

Midwest during the 1980's but I heard them from my dad who grew up in Iowa in the 50's and 60's.”

**
9. Patrick, July 13, 2016
"So many different versions. I lived in Kansas City, and a new neighbor from “who-knows-where” taught it this way (but my mother banned us from singing it any more.):

My mother was a commie
my father was a spy,
I’m the little “blankty-blank”
that told the FBI."

****
10. From http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/childrens_songs/eenie_meenie-lyrics-1138582.html
"I woke up Sunday morning
And looked up on the wall
The cooties and the bedbugs
Were having a game of ball.

The score was six-to-nothing,
The cooties were ahead.
The cooties hit a home run
And knocked me out of bed!

[Chorus]

I'm singin
Eenie meenie and a-miny-mo
Boom boom boom
Catch a whifferwhaffer by the toe
Boom boom boom
And if he holler hollers let him go
Boom boom boom
Eenie-meenie and a-miny-mo

My father gave me a nickel
My mother gave me a dime
My sister has a boyfriend
Who looks like Frankenstein

[Chorus]

My father is a lawyer,
My mother is a spy
Me and my big mouth
I told thee FBI!

[Chorus]

I went downstairs for breakfast
I ordered ham and eggs
I ate so many eggs
That the yolk ran down my leg

[Chorus]

I went into the sewer
And that is how I died
They didn't call it murder
They called it "sewer-side!"

submitted by guest]

****
11. [with note] From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=312
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Roaches and Bedbugs?
From: GUEST,cosmos42
Date: 21 Aug 15 - 10:15 PM

"May I repeat that you people are amazing?

I have a list of songs which I need to add to my songbook, some of which I don't have the words for. Guess what song I added to that list yesterday.

Catch A Wiffer Woffer!

It's now stuck in my head, but it's worth it.

Another verse which we used:

My mother is an Indian
My father is a spy
And if you don't believe me
I'll call the FBI"

****
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Roaches and Bedbugs?
From: GUEST,cosmos42
Date: 21 Aug 15 - 10:26 PM

"And, skimming other internet songbooks, it seems like most peoples' mothers were something that made more sense than "an Indian" - a German, a Russian, or even a banker or martian."

****
B. "MISS SUSIE HAD A STEAMBOAT" ("MISS LUCY HAD A STEAMBOAT"0 RHYMES
#1. From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=90418
Subject: RE: Folklore: Lady's alligator purse? Her own thread
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Feb 11 - 01:54 PM

Kids Dont jump rope to this song im in the fourth grade and we just sing it we dont do any movements to the song
Miss Suzie had a steam boat
The Steamboat had a bell
Mrs.Suzie went to heaven
The steamboat went to
Hello Operator
Give me number 9
if you disconnect me
I'll kick you from
Behind the refrigerator
there was a piece of glass
Miss Suzie sat upon it
And broke her little
Ask me no more questions
ill tell you no more lies
The boys are in the bathroom
Zipping down their
Flies are in the meadow
Bees are in the grass
The boys and girls
Are kissing in the
D-A-R-K D-A-R-K
Darker than the ocean
Darker than the sea
Darker than the black boy
That's chasing after me
Dark is like a movie
A movie is like a show
A show is like a T.V. set
And that is all I...
Know my dad is a robber
I know my mom is a spy
I know that I'm the little brat that
Told the F.B.I.
My mom gave me a nickel
My dad gave me a dime
My sis' gave me a girlfriend
And I know she's is witch
she made me wash the dishes
she made me wash the floor
she made me wash her underwear
So I kicked her out the door
I kicked her over London
I kicked her over France
I kicked her to Hawaii
Where she did the Hoola Dance!
-snip-
[#2 & #3] Two similar versions of this rhyme, but with the first line "Mrs. Lucy Had A Steamboat" and "Miss Lucy Had A Steamboat" can be found at http://bussongs.com/songs/miss-lucy-had-a-steam-boat.php. One of those versions has "the FBI" verse as exactly given above, and one has that verse without the "I know" preface to those lines.

****
C. "FBI" MENTIONED IN OTHER RHYMES
(besides those given above, including "I Believe I Can Fly" parodies)
#1. From http://mudcat.org/jumprope/jumprope_display.cfm?rhyme_number=69
"Don't say 'ain't'.
Your mother will faint.
Your father will fall
In a bucket of paint.
Your sister will cry.
Your brother will die.
Your dog will call the FBI.

Source: Hastings (1990)"

****
#2. From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=110403

Subject: RE: Law Officers in Songs &Children's Rhymes
From: Cool Beans
Date: 19 Apr 08 - 09:49 AM

My country tis of thee
Sweet land of Gernmany
My name is Fritz.
My father was a spy
Caught by the FBI
Tomorrow he will die.
My name is Fritz.

(Learned in the 1950s when I was a little kid.)

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents statements about why and how I collect, document, study, and share English language children's recreational material.

The word "rhymes" in this post is a generic term "rhymes" that refers to multiple children's recreational compositions including jump rope rhymes, hand clap rhymes, singing games, parodies, "choosing it' rhymes, chants, children's cheerleader cheers, and the sub-set of cheerleader cheers that I call "foot stomping cheers" but which some people call "steps".

Since I began informally collecting children's recreational rhymes in 1985, I've been most interested in Black children's rhymes -particularly contemporary (post 1960s) African American children's rhymes. I'm most interested in this sub-set of children's recreational rhymes in part because I'm African American and also because it appears to me that there has been very little collection, documentation, and sharing of those sub-sets of children's recreational material. And, if I were to drill down even farther, "foot stomping cheers" are the types of African American children's rhymes that I really most interested in.

I've recently published this post in which I critique the analysis of a children's parody that appears to be widely known among African American children and non-African American children: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/were-african-americans-originally.html"Were African Americans The Originally Composers Of "I Believe I Can Fly" Parodies?"

This evening I happened upon this second online excerpt that provides a number of analysis of contemporary African American children's rhymes: "Children's Rhymes from 1971 to 2001" in The Man who Adores the Negro: Race and American Folklore by Patrick B. Mullen, https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0252074866.
While I very much agree with Mullen's conclusion that [certain] "play activities [can be] "part of the process of racial and gender identity formation", I very much disagree with some conclusions that that researcher/writer made about certain rhymes that I'm very familiar with. I believe that Muller relied too heavily on literal meanings and gave far fetched explanations for specific words and for famous fictional and real characters who were named within those rhymes. I wondered if Muller had paid too little attention to the possibility of rhyming word play as the reason for those words and for some of those character placements. Also, it seems to me that Muller ascribed political and/or sociological meanings to specific rhymes in general and to specific lines or verses in those rhymes although the rhyme's contributors (informants) didn't indicate those were the meanings of those rhymes and when it didn't at all appear to me that those meanings were warranted.

Reading that excerpt led me to this decision to write what it is that I believe is important about how and why I collect, document, and share children's recreational material. I do so for my own clarification and for those who might be interested.

Recognizing that anyone can disagree with me, and that different people who are interested in the same subjects may have different methodologies and interests, here's my list of what I consider when I'm collecting, documenting, studying, and sharing children's recreational rhymes, with special attention to African American rhymes (i.e. rhymes that I directly collected from African Americans and/or have collected online and elsewhere which are either attributed to African Americans or are said to be performed by African Americans and/or which meet certain textual structures, textual content, are percussive, and -usually- have some performance activities)

[I've numbered these points although they might not be in any real order of preference.)

1. Text and performance activity

I'm interested in documenting the text (words), the performance activity (if any), and as much demographic information as I can [including race, ethnicity (i.e. Latino/a or any other ethnicity) nation, city, state, neighborhood, age when recited or learned/heard this rhyme, age range who performed this rhyme, year or decade when first recited this rhyme, and gender (girls only or boys only?).

Also, with regard to the rhyme, I'm very interested in document the vernacular meanings of the text for those who are sharing that example, and their meanings of any topical elements in that example. I'm also interested in documenting how the rhyme contributor learned that rhyme, and if she or he knows any other versions of that rhyme.

With regard to the performance activity, I'm interested in documenting whether the rhyme is a sung/chanted in unison or in a call & response pattern. And if it is performed in a call & response pattern, I'm interested in documented what form of call & response pattern is used.

I'm also interested in knowing the tune and tempo of the rhyme. When I collected rhyme examples face to face, I taped the examples. When I collect text only rhyme examples online, if the words and the textual structure are the same or similar as an example that I already know (from direct collection), I can assume that the tune and tempo are the same, but I can't be certain of that. I check YouTube to see if I can find a video (or less often, a sound file) of that rhyme, and often YouTube has examples. Of course,
that still doesn't mean that the text only online example that I found has the same tune and performance activity. But it's likely that it does.

2. Textual structure

I'm interested in how the rhyme is written (structured) i.e. the rhyming pattern, whether the rhyme is made up of strung together verses that are often unrelated and are often found as "floaters" in certain other rhymes, or could be used as standalone (independent rhymes).

Certain types of rhymes (traditionally*) have their own characteristic textual structure. For instance, "Foot stomping cheers" have a textual structure and a performance style that is distinct from hand clap rhymes, jump rope rhymes, other cheerleader cheers, and other categories of children's recreational rhymes. Foot stomping cheers "traditionally"* have a signature group call & consecutive soloist response structure. "Group call" means that the entire group (or the group minus the first soloist) is heard first. "Consecutive soloist"' means that in that cheer is immediately repeated from the beginning so that every member of the squad can an opportunity to be the soloist. Each soloist's performance is the same length. Some foot stomping cheers have several group calls followed by brief responses by the soloist before the soloist has a somewhat longer verbal and/or movement response. Other foot stomping cheers have one or two group calls followed by the soloist's verbal and/or movement response.

*By traditional, I mean the way that foot stomping cheers were performed by African American girls in the late 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and perhaps also in the early 2000s to dste. I've noticed changes in the way that these cheers are performed as they become more mainstream (i.e. are performed by White or predominately White cheerleader squads.)

3. Dating rhyme examples, and ascertaining the possible source/s for specific rhymes and

I'm interested in finding early or the earliest example of rhymes and I'm interested in comparing those early rhyme examples to other early (and later children's rhymes) as well as to recorded songs, poems, folk sayings, television ads, etc.

I'm interested in comparing the performance activity of contemporary rhymes with the "old school" performance activities such as "show me your motion circle singing games".

4. Examine Societal influences on Rhymes

I'm interested in exploring how other aspects of African American culture influenced/influence children's recreational rhymes. For instance, I believe that foot stomping cheers were greatly influenced by "stomp and Shake cheerleading, Funk music, and Go Go music, all of which were developing around the same time and around the same geographical area.

I also believe that racialized rhymes such as the "I Love Coffee I Love Tea" versions with their "Step back white boy/You don't shine/ Imma get a black boy to beat your behind" verses were/are influenced by the nation's racial tensions and (also possibly) with experiences with integration in schools.
-snip-
June 22, 2017 [11:17 AM]
Here's an excerpt of my comments in this 2012 pancocojams post: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/racialized-versions-of-i-like-coffee-i.html Racialized Versions Of "I Like Coffee I Like Tea"
"I believe that children's playground rhymes often reflect the mores of the society in which children live, move, and have their being. Therefore, girls (or boys) who recite rhymes with racial content are usually echoing what they have absorbed from society in myriad (often unconscious) ways. Just as I don't think that every mention of race or ethnicity is racist, I don't think that every mention of race in children's playground rhymes is racist."...
-end of addition-

5. taboo words, "dirty" content

I examine whether the rhyme has profanity and/or other taboo words, other risque content, and I am interested in how the contributors describe these examples- for instance a statement like "My mother would have whipped my butt if she saw how I was shaking my hips when I said that rhyme" or "If my mother knew that I said that rhyme I wouldn't have been allowed out for years".

6. Rhyme types & rhyme family

I document the category of rhyme that the example is (if possible, based on the contributor's comments, and/ or based on its performance activity). I also note what "family" of rhyme that example belongs to (based on its words, textual structure, tune, and performance activity).

7. Collect multiple versions of each rhyme

I'm interested in collecting multiple examples of each rhyme to document how that rhyme is the same or different within populations (including the same race and other races/ethnicities, age groups, and perhaps also genders) at the same time within the same city, state, nation, and/or within other cities, states, nations.

I'm also interested in reading comments about what the contributors think their version of the rhyme is about.

8. Continuity and change

I'm interested in examining multiple versions of a particular rhyme to ascertain if that rhyme's text, textual structure, tune, tempo, and/or performance activity has remained the same over time or how it has changed within the same population and with different populations at different times.

9. Values and Concerns

I'm interested in studying (analyzing) the text of a rhyme or families or rhymes to consider what values and/or concerns that rhyme or those rhymes may be expressing. For instance, I believe that many "foot stomping cheers" promote the twin values of being "hard" (tough, assertive, able to defend yourself against anyone who might attack you verbally or physically) and also "sexy" (physically attractive and stylish in the latest Black urban street "fly girl" fashions).

10. Rhymes as opportunities to play, to be creative, and to excel

I'm interested in documenting the fact that children play because they like to play. Rhymes provide opportunity to develop, reinforce, and enhance children's creativity. Rhymes also provide opportunities to learn and reinforce social skills and gross motor skills while having fun. Children performing hand clap routines or jumping single rope or double Dutch, or doing step routines are memorizing words or quickly thinking of new responses, or new rhyming lines that fit the rhythm of a foot stomping cheer while at the same time remaining on the beat of a synchronized, choreographed foot stomp routine. Mastering these elements is work, but it's also enjoyable- and also is a way for children to learn self-confidence and gain status if they do well. Sometimes -maybe a lot of the time- the performance (which is often play acting in the dramatic sense) is more important than the words.

11. Preparing for adulthood

I'm interested in how certain rhymes in particular say about adult roles and adult experiences, and since most rhymes are performed by girls, I'm particularly interested in the ways that rhymes's words and performance activities help prepare girls and teens to be women.

12. Influence and impact on Black people

I'm interested in whether and how specific rhymes help Black people cope and confront racism. For instance, although it's not a contemporary example I believe the words of the African American singing game"Johnny Cuckoo" were composed to help Black children learn how to develop self-esteem that would help them (us) in the withstand verbal racial attacks. I'm specifically thinking of the "Johnny Cuckoo" being told "You are to black and dirty" and then answering "I'm just as good as you are".

13. Giving credit where credit is due

I'm interested in helping to ensure that African Americans and other Black people get credit for recreational material that we originated or adapted.

Too often African Americans' creative products are appropriated and our contributions are denied or minimized. I see that happening already with the foot stomping cheers.

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I may add to this list in the future. Thanks for reading!

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The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

[Revised June 23, 2017]

This pancocojams post provides selected examples of referents for Black people in English language children's rhymes. The word "rhymes" in this post is a generic term "rhymes" that refers to multiple children's recreational compositions including jump rope rhymes, hand clap rhymes, singing games, parodies, "choosing it' rhymes, chants, children's cheerleader cheers, and the sub-set of cheerleader cheers that I call "foot stomping cheers" but which some people call "steps".

The following referents for Black people are included in these rhyme examples:
Black
Brown
Colored
Soul sister
the spades
-snip-
In addition, this post documents some examples of children's rhymes that include the line "step back jack/your hands are too black" and examples of children's rhymes that include the line "Get your black hands off of me".

Many children's rhymes from the past and the present include what is commonly known as "the n word" -either fully spelled out or given in some euphemistically represented form such as I've done. However, I've chosen not to include any children rhymes that include the "n word" in this compilation.

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The content of this post is presented for folkloric and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.

DISCLAIMER:
This should not be considered a comprehensive listing of English children's rhymes that include references to Black people.

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S COMMENTS
This post doesn't include any analysis of or comments about these examples except for my general editorial statement and comments about these rhyme examples:
1. [some versions of] "I Love Coffee, I Love Tea" rhymes
2. the phrase "the spades go" [found as an introduction to some "I Love Coffee I Love Tea" rhymes]
3. the line "dark as the Black boy chasing me" [found in some versions of "Miss Susie Had A Steamboat" rhymes]
4. the line "Get your black hands off of me."

These comments will be given after each of those entries.

Generally speaking, these referents can be given as
-a racial identification/ statement of fact, with likely positive connotations (one example: "This brown girl is going to boogie for you.")

or

-as a racial identification/ statement of fact without positive or negative connotations (one example: "I gonna get a black boy to beat your behind".), although this example might also have positive connotations.

or

-as a racial descriptor with negative connotations (examples: "Get your black hands off of me", "Your skin is too black/you look like a monkey on a railroad track", and "darker than the black boy chasing me").

It's my position that some White people and other non-Black people might use Black racial referents with negative connotations in children's rhymes not because they are actually racist, but as a reflection of societal norms and as a way of engaging in risque behavior with little or no real consequences (depending on where, when, and around whom they use those terms.

When Black people use Black racial referents with negative connotations we* are also reflecting societies negative connotations of our race, but I think that the element of engaging in risque behavior is less a factor- or is a different factor than when those referents are use by non-Black people.

*I use that inclusive pronoun although I can't recall myself doing this.

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EXAMPLES OF CHILDREN'S RHYMES THAT INCLUDE REFERENCES TO BLACK PEOPLE
These examples are given under the rhyme name and are presented in no particular order. Multiple examples that are given within each listing are numbered for referencing purposes only.

The Black racial referents with their accompanying noun are given in italics to highlight that referent. Note that the racial referent "White" may also be include in some of these examples.

I. NINETEEN MILES TO BLACKBERRY CROSSS
"Nineteen miles to Blackberry Cross,
To see a Black Man ride on a white horse.
The rogue was so saucy he wouldn't come down
To show me the road to the nearest town.
I picked up a turnip and cracked his old crown,
And made him cry turnups all over the town
-Guest, Children's Street Songs, 01 Jul 04 - 03:18 AM

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II. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, CHILDREN TOO
"Ladies and gentlemen, children too
This brown girl
She gonna boogie for you
She gonna turn all around
She gonna wear her dresses up above her knees
She gonna shake her fanny just as much as she please.
I never went to college.
I never went to school.
But when it comes to boogie,
I can boogie like a fool.
You go in out, side to side.
You go in out, side to side.
- Barbara Ray (African American female), memory of childhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the 1950s; collected in November 1996 & in August 2009 (second interview) by Azizi Powell

**
2. Partial introduction to The Pointer Sisters' performance of the Jazz song “Wang Dang Doodle” without any instrumental musical accompaniment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G6a6bIrmg8
"Thank you!
Here we go:

Walkin down the alley, alley, alley
Shakin your jally, jally, jally.
Swingin your partner, partner, partner.
LADIES, and gentlemen, children too
These brown babies gonna boogie for YOU."...

****
III. I LOVE COFFEE I LOVE TEA, (also known as "I Like Coffee I Like Tea" and "Down Down Baby"
1. "This may be classed as un PC now but.this is what we sang ...

I like coffee
I like tea
I like sitting on a black man's knee

we sang it as a skipping song "
-sasbear [Female], http://britishexpats.com/forum/barbie-92/playground-songs-448434/page3/, May 9th 2007, 12:03 am, #39

**
2. "I like coffee
I like coffee I like tea I like sitting on a black mans knee With a one and a two and a three on "three lift your skirt, turn tround quickly, bend over and show your bum< -http://www.odps.org/glossword/index.php?a=term&d=3&t=381, retrieved June 22, 2017
-snip-
The directions given beginning with "with a one..." are given in italics in this example.

**
3. Down, down baby
Down, down the roller coaster
Sweet, sweet baby
I'll never let you go
Chimey chimey cocoa pop
Chimey, chimey pow
Chimey, chimey cocoa pop
Chimey, chimey pop
I like coffee, I like tea
I like a colored boy and he likes me
So lets here the rhythm of the hands, (clap, clap) 2x
Let hear the rhythm of the feet (stomp, stomp) 2x
Let's hear the rhythm of the head (ding dong) 2x
Let's hear the rhythm of the hot dog
Let's hear the rhythm of the hot dog
Put em all together and what do you get
(Clap clap, stomp stomp), ding dong, hot Dog!
-Yasmin Hernadez; 2004; memories of New York City {Latino/ African American neighborhood in the 1980s; www.cocojams.com [This was my website. It is no longer active.]

**
4. Down down baby
down down the roller coaster
sweet sweet baby
sweet sweet i love you so
Jimmy Jimmy coco puffs
Jimmy Jimmy pow
Jimmy Jimmy coco puffs
Jimmy Jimmy pow
take a peach
take a plum
take a stick of bubblegum
no peach
no plum
just a stick of bubblegum
I like coffee and i like tea
I like a colored boy and he likes me
So step back whiteboy you don't shine
I'll get my colored boy to beat ya behind
He beat ya high
he beat ya low
he beat you all the way to Mexico
-Aiakya at April 4, 2006; http://blog.oftheoctopuses.com/000518.php. [website no longer available], retrieved by Azizi Powell in 2006.

**
5. "I went to elementary school starting in 1980, in Bloomfield, Connecticut (adjacent to Hartford). The girls (including my sister) did clapping games on the bus everyday it seemed, and when they hung out in the street, etc. Demographic note: my family is White; Blacks (including many Jamaicans) are a majority in the town, and were most of our playmates.

The version to this one went:

I like coffee, I like tea
I like a Black/White boy an' he likes me
So step back White/Black boy, you don't shine
I'll get a Black/White boy to beat your behind."

The girls would switch the race of the boy, depending on who was singing. Sometimes there'd be confusion if a White and a Black girl were playing together, and they'd sort of get jumbled up on that word and try to push their version. Sometimes they would agree on a skin tone based on a previous conversion about who the girl whose "turn" it was actually "likes."
From GUEST,Gibb (, 05 Mar 09 - 12:21 AM, http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=115045&messages=66, Not Last Night But The Night Before-rhyme

**
6."Ina Lina Thumbelina
Two times Thumbelina
Iriatchee Liriatchee
I love you
Take a piece take a plum
not a piece of bubblegum
I like coffee I like tea
I like a Black/White boy
And he likes me
So step back White/Black boy
You don't shine
I gotta a Black/White boy
To kick your behind
See that house on top of the hill
Thats where me and my baby gnna leave
We gnna chop some wood
Eat some meat
Come on Babi
Lets go to sleep
- GUEST,17yr old kid at heart:), Children's Street Songs,20 Jul 10 - 11:47 AM
-snip-
I reformatted this example from essay form and all capital letters.

This example reflects the much higher value placed on how fast a person can write something online than whether the comment contains correctly spelled words and the correct use of punctuation or any punctuation.

"gnna"= gonna [going to]

**
Read the above comment from Gibb about the meaning of "Black/White" in these "I Love Coffee I Love Tea" rhymes.

Also, hat tip to Patrick B. Mullen, author of The Man who Adores the Negro: Race and American Folklorehttps://books.google.com/books?isbn=0252074866 for his comment [on page 171] that females of one race might indicate a racial preference for males of another race "as reflection of her individual preference." In the example that Mullen gives of that rhyme in his book [on page 170-171] two African American sisters chanted "I Love Coffee I Love Tea" and at the same time one girl said "I love a white boy" and the other sister said I love a black boy". Prior to reading this I thought that the [Black/White] referents in these rhyme examples meant that a Black girl and a White girl were chanting this rhyme together and that the Black girl said "I like a Black boy" and the White girl said "I like a White girl".

**
7."Went to a pretty racially mixed elementary school in Georgia in the early 90's. We white girls *definitely* knew Down Down Baby as a story of white aggression:

"I like ice cream
I like tea
I like a white boy and he likes me
So stand back, black boy
You don't shine
I got a white boy to beat ya behind!"

I don't remember ever seeing black girls doing that rhyme, so I don't know if they did it differently. But as a child it made sense to me that the rhyme would assert white dominance. It was just another example of the casual racism we were immersed in in rural Georgia. Even at that age my white friends and I understood that a white boy beating up a black boy for flirting with his girl was the expected norm, not the other way around.
- GUEST,mindy, 28 Feb 2015 Lyr Add: Down Down Baby-Race in Children's Rhymes
-snip-
Here's a comment that I wrote in 2008 about contemporary (post 1970s?) racialized examples of "I Love Coffee I Love Tea":
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=115045""Not Last Night But The Night Before", Azizi Powell

""I Love Coffee I Love Tea" {also known as "I Like Coffee I Like Tea"} handclap rhymes are unique among contemporary English language children's rhymes from the USA because of their references to race. This is a marked change from the "standard" versions of this children's rhyme. The standard version {meaning the version of this rhyme that is usually published in books} contains no references to race and no contentious encounters between the children. But these rhymes are also unique just because of their reference to race, a topic which is seldom mentioned in other children's rhymes that I have collected from {mostly} African American children, teens, and adults over the last twenty years.

Based on the number of examples that have been sent to my website on children's rhymes in the last five years, and also based on the examples that I have read elsewhere on the Internet, these versions of "I Love Coffee I Love Tea" are rather widely known throughout the USA. In each of the examples that I've heard {in Western and Eastern Pennsylvania} and that I've read online, a Black girl rejects the offer of romantic friendship from a White boy and boasts that he doesn't shine*. The Black girl then threatens that White boy by saying she will get a Black boy to beat his behind**. It should be noted that to date, I haven't heard or read any example of this rhyme that contains the pattern of a White girl saying "step back Black boy". I have read one example in which the lines are "Step back White girl, you don't shine/I'mma get a Black boy to beat your behind". It's important to note that I've not found any examples of this "racialized" version of "I Love Coffee I Love Tea" in any off-line publication {books, magazines}, though examples of this version may be included in children's folklore journals.

The pattern for this "racialized" version of "I Love Coffee I Love Tea" indicates to me that it originated among Black people. That said, I've read online examples of this book that appear to have been recited by White children since they use the racial referent "colored boy", a racial referent that has been retired by African Americans for forty years or so {except for its retention in names of some organizations, especially the NAACP}. However, I that conclusion may not always be valid. For instance, I received an example of this rhyme that used the term "colored boy" from a Latino woman who indicated that she remembered the rhyme from her childhood in a Black/Latino borough of New York City in the 1990s.

I don't think that the use of the old referent {"colored"} means that the examples are from the time when that term was used as a group or individual referent by African Americans. Were that the case, it seems to me that some examples of that rhyme would have been included or referenced in books of American children's rhymes that were published during those decades or since. That doesn't appear to be the case.

I believe that the racial referents that are widely found in these contemporary versions of "I Love Coffee, I Love Tea" rhymes reflect & document the racial tensions that were {are being?} experienced in newly integrated schools and/or other newly integrated social settings. For more commentary and examples of this rhymes, visit here.

* My interpretation of "don't shine" is that the girl is saying that the boy doesn't measure up to her standards; he's not someone whose personality or physical being shines brightly.

** "Beat your behind" means "fight you"; "beat you up""
-snip-
Since I wrote that comment, I've learned that the racial referents in versions of "I Love Coffee" aren't as unique as I thought they were. That said, with regard to another example of race in "I Love Coffee" rhymes, I believe that "I like sitting on a black man's knee" are older examples of this rhyme which may be "localized" in the United Kingdom.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/racialized-versions-of-i-like-coffee-i.html for a few other racialized versions of "I Like Coffee I Like Tea" rhymes.

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IV. MISS SUSIE HAD A STEAMBOAT
"Kids Dont jump rope to this song im in the fourth grade and we just sing it we dont do any movements to the song
Miss Suzie had a steam boat
The Steamboat had a bell
Mrs.Suzie went to heaven
The steamboat went to

Hello Operator
Give me number 9
if you disconnect me
I'll kick you from

Behind the refrigerator
there was a piece of glass
Miss Suzie sat upon it
And broke her little

Ask me no more questions
ill tell you no more lies
The boys are in the bathroom
Zipping down their

Flies are in the meadow
Bees are in the grass
The boys and girls
Are kissing in the

D-A-R-K D-A-R-K
Darker than the ocean
Darker than the sea
Darker than the black boy
That's chasing after me

Dark is like a movie
A movie is like a show
A show is like a T.V. set
And that is all I...

Know my dad is a robber
I know my mom is a spy
I know that I'm the little brat that
Told the F.B.I.

My mom gave me a nickel
My dad gave me a dime
My sis' gave me a girlfriend
And I know she's is witch

she made me wash the dishes
she made me wash the floor
she made me wash her underwear
So I kicked her out the door

I kicked her over London
I kicked her over France
I kicked her to Hawaii"
Guest, http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=90418, RE: Folklore: Lady's alligator purse? Her own thread, 27 Feb 11 - 01:54 PM
-snip-
I reformatted this example to separate its strung together verses.

The example "dark as the Black boy chasing me" [which is usually found in some versions of "Miss Susie Had A Steamboat"] is probably has a negative racial connotation for non-Black people that it doesn't have for Black people. Also, the "dark as the Black boy chasing me" line probably doesn't have the same scary or titillating meanings for Black chanters as might have for White chanters.

Also, I don't think that any skin color tone (as in "dark skin" or "light skin" Black people) has any relevance to this particular children's rhyme.

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V. I AM A PRETTY LITTLE GIRL
[variant title: I AM A SECOND GRADER]
"Zing Zing Zing
at the bottom of the sea.
I am a little __ second grade*
as pretty as can __ be be. {"___" indicates one beat before recitation begins again}.
And all the boys around my house
go crazy over __ me me.

My boyfriend's name is __ Yellow.
He comes from Ala__bama
with 25 toes
and a pickle on his nose
and this is how the story goes.
One day I was ah __ walkin
I saw my boyfriend __ talking
to a very pretty girl
with cherry pie curls
And this is what she said
"I L-O-V-E __ love you."
"I K-I-S-S __ kiss you."
"I A-D-O-R-E __ adore you"
So S-T-O-P. STOP!
1-2-3-4
Get your black hands off of me!
-Diarra, K'azsa, and Michelle, Fort Pitt Elementary School, Pittsburgh, Pa, 2004; collected by Azizi Powell, 2004
-snip-
*"Second grad" = "second grader", the girls' year in elementary school
"1,2,3,4" is usually given as the rhyming phrase "1,2,3".
-snip-
In April 2010, I collected the same rhyme from two 9 year old African American girls (Takeya and Alexus) who live in the same neighborhood as Fort Pitt Elementary School (now titled Fort Pitt Accelerated Learning Academy). When the rhyme called for the girls to give their grades, one girl chanted "I am a second grader" and the other girl chanted "I am a third grader". Both girls said the "get your black hands off of me" line."

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VI. STEP BACK, JACK (YOUR HANDS ARE TOO BLACK)
Note: This couplet could be a stand alone rhyme, but is often found in other children's rhymes such as "I Love Coffee I Love Tea".

1. "down down baby down by the rollercoaster
sweet sweet baby, I'll never let you go
shimmy shimmy coco pop, shimmy shimmy rah!
shimmy shimmy coco pop, shimmy shimmy rah!
I like candy, I like tea, I like a little boy
and he likes me.
so step off jack, your hands are black
your looking like a monkey on a rail road track
To the front to the back to the side by side
To the front to the back to the side by side,
Ladies and gentlemen children too
this old lady's gonna boogie for you
she's gonna turn around
touch the ground
boogie boogie boogie till her pants fall down!!!

this version i remember from when i was little..i loved it!!"
-GUEST,guest..jenna, Down Down Baby-Race in Children's Rhymes, 01 Oct 10 - 04:12 PM

**
2. "Lol. I'm a guy and I remember Black girls saying this in the 70s in Tx. They said "Step back Jack, your hands too black. Looking like a monkey on a railroad track"
-GUEST,Jj Peterson, Down Down Baby-Race in Children's Rhymes 26 Mar 16 - 04:45 PM

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VII. I'LL BE
"I'll be. be
Walking down the street,
Ten times a week.
Un-gawa. Un-gawa {baby}
This is my power.
What is the story?
What is the strike?
I said it, I meant it.
I really represent it.
Take a cool cool Black to knock me down.
Take a cool cool Black to knock me out.
I'm sweet, I'm kind.
I'm soul sister number nine.
Don't like my apples,
Don't shake my tree.
I'm a Castle Square Black
Don't mess with me."
-John Langstaff, Carol Langstaff Shimmy Shimmy Coke-Ca-Pop!, A Collection of City Children's Street Games & Rhymes {Garden City, New York, Double Day & Co; p. 57; 1973}
-snip-
"What is the story"/"What is the strike" = "What's happening". "What's up?".
"Take a cool cool Black to knock me down" = It would take a cool, cool Black [person] to knock me down. "Cool" is used in its vernacular sense and means "hip" (up to date with the latest street culture and also "unruffled", in control of her or his emotions.
"Castle Square" is probably a neighborhood or a housing development [a housing project] within a neighborhood known as "Castle Square".

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VIII. UNGAWA, WE GOT THE POWA
1. "soul sister number nine stuck it to me one more time
said un, ungawa, we got the power
said un, ungawa we got the power
little sunny walker walking down the street
she don't know what to do
so she jump in front of me
and said go on girl do your thing,
do your thing,do your thing,
said go on girl do your thing, do your thing, stop!
-snip-
ayraness, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWbVAbCwc_M, This video is entitled "serbiiis" and is a poor visual quality video of two girls doing hand clapping routine in a car; on Sep 21, 2009

**
2. "My husband actually taught my daughter's a song that he remembered as a child in the late 60s/early 70s.

Hey you, over there, with the nappy nappy hair.
My back is achin' my pants too tight, my bootie shakin' from the left to right
M' Gowa, Black Power, yo' mama needs a shower.
Destroy, little boys, soul sister number nine, sock it to me one more time.
Mmm! Mmm! Mmm!"
GUEST,Shamiere, http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=4300, Children's Street Songs, 24 Mar 04 - 02:25 PM

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IX. THE SPADES GO [introductory phrase]
[rhyme title] TWO LIPS
"I remember parts of this song:

The spades go two lips together
tie them together
bring back my love to me.

What is the me-ee-eening
of all these flow-er-er-ers
they tel the sto-or-or-y,
the story of love,
from me to you.

I saw the ship sail away,
it sailed three years and a day,
my love is far far away,
and I love him so, oh yes I do.

My heart goes bump ba de dump bump,
bump ba de dump bump,
over my love for you.

You are my one and only,
I love you passionately,
Source: Guest, susan; http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=81350 I'm Rubber . You're Glue: Children's Rhymes
-snip-
Here's a comment that I wrote in a 2012 pancocojams post https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-real-meaning-of-spades-go-space-go.html"The REAL Meaning Of "The Spades Go"&"The Space Go" In Playground Rhymes":
"I believe that most children who chant rhymes that begin with the phrase "the spades go" didn't in the past and don't currently attribute any meaning whatsoever to those particular words. Instead, children say those words, if not the entire rhyme, by rote memory and focus more on the rhythm and the performance activity.

That said, it's my position that, early on, when a specific meaning was given to the introductory phrase the "spades go", that phrase meant "(This is the way) Black people go (say or do this rhyme). Unlike the idiom "calling a spade a spade"*, no pejorative connotations were/are attributed to the words "the spades go" in children's rhymes. Saying "the spades go" was a way of attributing the words of those rhymes or the way the rhymes were performed to Black people (or more specifically, to Black girls). That attribution lent authenticity to those rhymes and/or to their performance activities. That was because Black girls were (and still are) considered to be the arbiters of "the real way" that those songs or those hand clap rhymes were/are supposed to be sung, or chanted and performed...

[Furthermore] Black girls were/are considered to be the sources of many of these rhymes, or were/are considered to be the "coolest" or "hippest" examples of how those rhymes should be performed. This same dynamic can be found in the use of introductory phrases as "the Black people say" or "the Black people sing" in vaudeville songs. And this same dynamic can be found in past and current attitudes that mainstream American (i.e. White America) had/has about Black people being the "go to" population when it comes to learning how to do popular R&B/Hip Hop dances."....
-snip-
This comment was reformatted by me for clearer readability.

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X.ET FROM OUTER SPACE
1. ET. ET.
ET from outer space.
He has an ugly face.
Sittin in a rocket
eatin very tocket
watchin the clock go
Tick tock
tick tock shawally wally
ABCDEFG
You betta get your black hands offa me
You gotta smoooth cho
You gotta smoooth cho
You gotta smooth, smooth, smooth, smooth, smooth. Now Freeze!
(alternative last line: My mama said "Black eye peas").
-Kiera, African American girl, 8 years old, (Pleasantville, New Jersey) and Kion, African American male, 6 years old, (Pleasantville, New Jersey), 11/8/2008l collected by Azizi Powell
-snip-
"You gotta smoooth cho" is also found in some "Miss Sue From Alabama" rhymes as "take a smooth shot".

**
2. E.T.::clap clap::
E.T.::clap clap::
E.T. from outer space
he had an ugly face
sittin in a rocker eatin betty crocker
watchin the clock go tick tock
tick tock she walla wala
tick tock she walla wala
A. B.C.D. E. F.G.
YOU BETTA CET CHO BLACK HANDS OFFA ME
I gota smooth shaa(?)
I gota smooth shaa(?)
I gota smooth smooth smoth smooth shaa(?)
and then u say sumthin like ya name and then go FREEZE! LOL!
-SharmaineB: http://bn-in.facebook.com/notes.php?id=505682703&_fb_noscript=1“HandClaps Throwbacks”; posted 2007; retrieved 9/15.2009
-snip-
"smooth shea" probably means "smooth shot". People probably did a sliding side to side movement while chanting that line.

**
3.
ET
ET from outer space.
He had an ugly face.
Sitting in a rocket.
Eating chocolate.
Watching soap operas
All day long.
A B C D E F G
Get your black hands off of me.
Now freeze!
-Naijah S.; (African American female, 9 years old; Hazelwood section of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; January 14, 2011; Collected by Azizi Powell 1/14/2011
-snip-
[Note written January 2011] While waiting for others to come to an African storytelling session that I was commissioned to do for children of members of Zeta Phi Beta, Sorority Inc. a historically Black sorority, I took the opportunity to collect rhyme examples from a little girl who had arrived early.
Naijah recited "ET" without my asking for it by name. She said that the "ABCDEFG" part is used in another rhyme which she later recited. (Read "I Am A First Grader" in this Hand clap rhyme series.

*I said to Naijah that I heard that "get your Black hands off of me line before in other rhymes and I
wondered if if meant that people were ashamed of being Black. Naijah looked shocked and said "I enjoy my heritage".
-snip-
I've never heard of or read any children's rhyme with the line "Get your White hands off of me" or "Get your brown hands off of me". In spite of (then) nine year old Naijah's response to my question, I still believe that "black" in the line "Get your Black hands off of me" reflects some Black people's continued use of "black" as an insult.

To provide some background to some Black children's use of "black" as an insult, in 2005-2006 I worked as a substitute teacher at a predominately (99.9%) African American elementary school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania {Fort Pitt school]. On several occasions, I had to stop arguments between two Black students in which one student called the other student "Blackie". And, sometimes, the person calling the student "Blackie" was darker than the student that was being addressed by that term.

My daughter who was a teacher at that school, shared with me that some newly enrolled students at that school from Somalia, East Africa were being taunted by some African American students at that school because of their dark skin color.

****
XI. EENY MEENY SYSALEENY (also known as "Take A Peach Take A Plum"]
Hi I live in East Harlem in New York and hand games are very much alive.
Eeny Meeny
Sys a leeny,
ooh aah tumble leeny,
ochy Cochy Liver achy
I Love you.
Take a peach
take a plum
not a stick of bubble gum.
No peach no plum
just a stick of bubble gum.
I saw you with your boyfriend last night.
I looked through the window.
Nosey.
I ate a bag of cookies.
Greedy.
I didn't take a bath.
Dirty.
I jumped out the window .
Now I know you crazy.
I like icecream
I like tea
I like the color boys
and they like me
so step off white boy
you don't shine,
I'm gonna get my boyfriend
to kick your behind.
He'll kick you up,
he'll kick you down,
he'll kick you all around the town.

(very racial driven at the end I know)
-Guest, KLC (East Harlem, New York, New York) ; http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63097"Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?" ; July 10, 2008
-snip-
Here's is part of the response that KLC posted on that Mudcat discussion thread to my request that she provide demographical information about who plays this rhyme and other rhymes she shared:
"The children that play these games range from 5 - 12 years old. Both boys and girls play these games but girls are more into it and know a lot more hand games then the boys. The children that I see playing these games are Hispanic, African American, Carribean, Caucasian and Asian because that is the population that I serve at my program."
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides excerpts from a 2007 -2009 online discussion that I and other Mudcat folk music forum members and guests participated in. The discussion was about the use of double negatives in the children's rhyme "Bazooka Bubble Gum" and in other examples of English written and verbal communication.

The Addendum to this post presents excerpts from two other online sources about the use of double negatives in English and in other languages.

The content of this post is presented for linguistic and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to Tha Heights for their performance of the official Bazooka Bubble Gum ad song, and thanks to the publisher of that YouTube video.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-chewin-gum-song-rhyme-my-mother.html for a 2013 post on "The Chewin Gum Song & Rhyme (My Mother Gave Me A Nickel)".

****
EXAMPLES OF DOUBLE NEGATIVES IN A BAZOOKA BUBBLE GUM RHYME THAT PREDATES THE OFFICIAL BAZOOKA AD SONG

"My mom gave me a penny
She said to buy a henny
But I didn't buy no henny
Instead, I bought BUBBLE GUM
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM

My mom gave me a nickel
She said to buy a pickle
But I didn't buy no pickle
Instead, I bought BUBBLE GUM
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM

My mom gave me a dime
She said to buy a lime
But I didn't buy no lime
Instead , I bought BUBBLE GUM
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM

My mom gave me a quarter
She said to buy some water
But I didn't buy no water
Instead, I bought BUBBLE GUM
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM

My mom gave me a dollar
She said to buy a collar
But I didn't buy no collar
Instead, I bought BUBBLE GUM
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM

My mom gave me a five
She said to stay alive
But I didn't stay alive
Instead, I choked on BUBBLE GUM
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA BUBBLE GUM

i learned that one in elementary school... not sure how i remembered it! have fun... whoever needs this
- i know hand games! ; December 22, 2005 [From http://blog.oftheoctopuses.com/000518 - This website is no longer available.]

****
EXAMPLES OF DOUBLE NEGATIVE IN THE OFFICIAL BAZOOKA BUBBLE GUM SONG (2006 Advertising campaign)

Bazooka Bubble Gum Song Official Music Video



Ana Lages Published on Apr 15, 2011
-snip-
LYRICS: BAZOOKA BUBBLE GUM
(as sung by Tha Heights)

Awwww yeah!

Yo, my Moms!
She gave me a dollar
She told me to buy a collar
but i aint buy no collar
Instead I bought some

(Chorus)
Bubble Gum
Bazooka-zooka BubbleGum
Bazooka-zooka BubbleGum

My Moms!
She gave me a quarter
She told me to take the porter
But I aint take no porter
I bought some

(Chorus)

Yo, my Moms!
She gave me a dime
She told me to buy a lime
But I aint buy no lime
Instead I bought some

(Chorus)

my Moms!
She gave me a nickel
she told me to buy a pickle
But I aint buy no pickle
Instead I bought some

(Chorus)
-Tha Heights
-snip-
This song was transcribed by Azizi Powell from the video given above. Corrections & additions are welcome.
-snip-
Here's an excerpt of a brandweek.com article about the Bazooka Bubblegum Company's ad campaign
From "Bazooka Relaunches With Bubblegum Song" By Sandra O'Loughlin, August 15, 2006 [The link that was given no longer leads to that article.]
"NEW YORK -- Topps' Bazooka Bubble Gum this week launched a global ad campaign that it hopes will stick in everyone's head. The campaign, via Duval Guillaume, New York, includes TV, online and a viral marketing effort that plays up a song and music video by Brooklyn-based music group Tha Heights.

The Bazooka Bubblegum Song and Dance is the center of five 15-second commercials in which people indicate their strong desire for the gum. One spot takes place on a baseball diamond where an umpire calls out, "Strike three!" After the batter argues with the call, the ump begins the rhyme, "Listen Kid, I said it was a strike, why don't you take a hike!" The batter responds with, "But I don't want no strike. All I want is bubblegum. Bazooka-Zooka Bubblegum."

"We want kids to make their own rhymes," said Helen Jackers, account director, which they can do by visiting www.bazookajoe.com to download the ads, play the music video, learn the dance and send in their own versions of the song...

"The Bazooka Bubblegum song has been sung at summer camps for years and years and was never really picked up by a big audience," said Tom Van Daele, creative director, in a statement. "Ever since we started to work on this catchy tune, it's been stuck in our heads."

The ads are set to run on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Nick at Nite and ABC Family for the next six weeks"."...

****
EXCERPTS FROM MUDCAT DISCUSSION THREAD ABOUT DOUBLE NEGATIVES
Pancocojams Editor's Note: These comments are numbered for referencing purposes only without any spelling corrections. Examples of "Bazooka Bubble Gum"/Chewing Gum" rhymes are also included in that discussion thread.

From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=102593

1. Subject: Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum
From: Azizi
Date: 18 Jun 07 - 11:46 AM

"The children's rhyme "Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum" serves as an interesting case study of a children's camp song or rhyme that has its source in a pop song that may or may come from an earlier folk song.

What makes this rhyme so interesting to me is that it appears that an earlier kid's version of this song was appropriated by a corporate entity {Bazooka Bubble Gum} and used as a marketing tool for its brand name bubble gum. However, the kids' version {learned at summer camps, school yards, and elsewhere} appears to have prevailed or at least be fondly remembered by adults of certain ages.

Enter the same corporate entity in 2006 with a new marketing campaign to revive the brand name "Bazooka Bubble Gum". Will kids use the official version of this rhyme with its sappy, bland ending?
Or will they choose to sing the song their own way with its quirky somewhat counter-culture ending of choking on Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum? Inquiring minds want to know.

Inquiring minds {or my mind anyway} would also love to know who remembers this rhyme and when they remember it. I'd also like to know when [what year or decade] the rhyme changed from "I'm crazy about chewing gum" {or "bubble gum" or "choo'n gum"} to focus on the brand name "Bazooka Bubble Gum". Furthermore, I'm wondering why the corporate powers that be lashed on to a children's rhyme that uses AAVE {African American Vernacular English, otherwise known as "Black English" and "Ebonics" to market their product. I'm specifically referring to the line "I don't want no ____. I want Bazooka Zooka Bubblegum". For instance, one of the company's tv commercials had these lines "We don't want no Kumbaya. We want Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum"."

And finally {yeah, right} I'm interested in identifying other children's songs or children's rhymes {or adult songs?} in addition to "Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum" that include the line "my mother gave me a nickel/to buy a pickle".

Why? Well, why not? Being song & rhyme detectives can be an enjoyable pastime. And information gleaned from this type of research can shed light on the lifestyles, values, hopes, and concerns of populations of children, youth, and adults."...

****
2. Subject: RE: Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 10 Jul 08 - 02:50 PM

Azizi,

I'm not sure the "double negative""I didn't buy no ____" is only part of AAVE. I was raised in a predominantly white area (less than 4% African-Americans) and educated in segregated schools (I was born in 1946) until the ninth grade of high school. Yet, I remember being drilled in avoiding double negatives. I believe I and my classmates were quite apt to use double negatives like "I didn't buy no...".

I remember Bazooka Bubble Gum, but I do not remember the song or the manufacturer's advertising.

Roger in Baltimore (which is not where I grew up).
-snip-
"AAVE" = African American Vernacular English

****
3. Subject: RE: Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum
From: Azizi
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 09:59 AM

Roger in Baltimore,

I've just read your post from July 2008 about double negatives {as in this example posted above "my mom gave me some gold, she said im pretty old but i didnt want no gold"...

I agree with you that this grammatical construct is not just used by African Americans. While "negative concords" {more commonly known as "double negation" are often cited as a characteristic of African American Vernacular English {AAVE}, it is also a feature of nonstandard [non-African] American English.

However, I want to point out the possibility that at least one source for using double negatives could come from African languages where that usage isn't grammatically incorrect. To quote one sentence of this article on African American Vernacular English:

"It has been suggested that AAVE has grammatical structures in common with West African languages or even that AAVE is best described as an African based language with English words".

While, I don't know enough about the subject of African American vernacular English, it is interesting to read about the possibility of West African sources for not just various words that have entered the English language, but also for various grammatical features.
-snip-
The words "this article" is a hyperlink to the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_Vernacular_English

****
4. Subject: RE: Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum
From: Piers Plowman
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 10:35 AM

I am fairly certain, though I'm not sure that this can be proved, that the interpretation of a double negative as the negation of the negative is a feature of standardized languages and "educated" speech and is not part of colloquial speech in most if not all languages. I must admit that I don't know much about non-Indo-European languages.

Whereas conventional wisdom has it that standardized language is "real" language and colloquial speech and dialects are somehow suspect, it is very nearly the other way around: "real" language is what people actually speak, which is not to say that standardized language isn't useful.

Wherever I have run across it, it is always meant as intensifying the negation rather than negating it. In some languages it is even the standard form of negation. For example, "nit keyn" ("not no") is a normal kind of negation in Yiddish. This may be from the influence of Slavic languages, where, I believe, the double negative is also used for negation. However, it was a long time ago when I took a class in Russian, so I might be wrong about this.

****
5. Subject: RE: Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 10:53 AM

Both Chaucer and Shakespeare used the double negative as an intensifier so while grammarians and educators may discourage such usage we can contend that it's long been a part of colloqial English. The construction didn't have to be brought in from other languages as it was already there from the start.

****
6. Subject: RE: Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum
From: Azizi
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 01:24 PM

Thanks!

I appreciate the information about double negatives.

It's interesting to learn that double negatives were an accepted grammatically feature and may still be a grammatically, correct feature of Indo-European languages and other languages, including some African languages.

Still, I think that most people would agree that it's best not to use double negatives in academic and other formal English communication.

In the same token, it shouldn't be acceptable to chew Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum during formal occassions, such as weddings. But that doesn't stop some people from doing it.

****
7. Subject: RE: Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum
From: Piers Plowman
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 03:15 AM

Azizi wrote:
"It's interesting to learn that double negatives were an accepted grammatically feature and may still be a grammatically, correct feature of Indo-European languages and other languages, including some African languages."

"Correct" is a problem when talking about language. Who gets to decide? The main object of the study of language is language as its really spoken, not standardized language, though there are people who study other aspects of language, including the latter. For medieval languages, which is what I specialized lo these many years ago, there was no spoken language to study, of course.

One distinguishes between "descriptive" and "prescriptive" grammar. It's relatively easy to make prescriptive rules for a standard version of a language, but it is impossible to make up a set of rules that completely describes a real spoken language. For one thing, one would have to account for regional dialects and even idiolects, i.e., the versions of a language spoken by individual people.

I could go on about this (and on and on), but I need to start work.

I remember Bazooka bubble gum, which I mostly bought for the sake of the little Bazooka Joe comics. I grew up in a northern suburb of Chicago and was born in 1963. I never heard of the song before and don't remember ever seeing or hearing and radio or TV advertising for Bazooka bubble gum. I don't remember if there were billboards, newspaper ads, or anything like that.

****
8. Subject: RE: Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 05:49 AM

I think Azizi is right to decry the use in formal language. It can be ambiguous and the idea of formal language is clarity.

****
9. Subject: RE: Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum
From: Piers Plowman
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 06:46 AM

I'm not by any means suggesting that schoolteachers start accepting "not no", "ain't no", etc., in pupils' homework or denying that standardized language has its rightful place in the scheme of things. In fact, I think the standardizers have become a little too lax and also trendy in recent years, viz. the debacle of the so-called "orthographical reform" in Germany, where I live (don't get me started).

However (and this is a big however), language as it's really spoken by real people is the real thing and standardized language is an artificial construct. There is the additional problem of people speaking in an "unnatural" way for reasons of fashion, but that's another kettle of fish. Dialect speakers are still looked down upon and standard language is still generally considered to be "superior" in some way. From the point of linguistics, it is not.

****
10. Subject: RE: Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum
From: Azizi
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 09:28 AM

Who would have thought that a thread about bubblegum would spark such interesting comments about linguistics. This goes to show that just about anything is possible on Mudcat threads.

I'm just sayin...
[Which is a colloquial expression which means I'm implying more than I'm saying-or writing].

But-to use a hip-hop saying-it's all good.

In reference to my first sentence in this post, the hip hop saying "It's all good" means that I'm not going to "get on a set" {get annoyed or get angry} because folks have gone on off on a tangent and aren't providing examples from this family of children's rhymes or from related families of children's rhymes.

Not that it matters a hill of beans {or a pack of Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum} what I think about what comments other people post on this Mudcat thread or any other Mudcat thread...

;o)

****
11. Subject: RE: Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum
From: Azizi
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 09:53 AM

I just read this entire thread again and realized that I had mentioned African American Vernacular English and double negatives and mainstream English in my first post. So I guess posts about linguistics really aren't that tangental or aren't tangental at all.

I now formally apologize to Piers Plowman [I love your name btw] and others for implying that your interesting comments about linguistics were off topic.

The sad thing is that because these comments are posted to [in?] a children's rhyme thread, folks who might want to read about and/or discuss these linguistic features won't be able to find them.

Does anyone want to start a thread on this subject?

I'd do it but I've little energy to post on threads nowadays let along start threads. But if someone did start a thread on the aspects of linguistics that have been discussed so far in this thread, I would participate in that discussion.

****
12. Subject: RE: Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum
From: Piers Plowman
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 11:31 AM

Azizi wrote:

"I now formally apologize to Piers Plowman [I love your name btw] and others for implying that your interesting comments about linguistics were off topic."

Don't worry, I'm not that sensitive. I've never been that bothered about threads going off-topic, here or elsewhere.

I chose the name "Piers Plowman" over on a message board for the British radio soap opera "The Archers", where something vaguely agricultural would be suitable. Since I was shamelessly plugging some things I posted over there when I first came here (having found out about Mudcat from other posters over there when I asked something about the song "English Country Gardens"), I thought I might as well keep the name.

I've never actually read "Piers Plowman", although I discovered I have it paperback, when I was going through my cartons of books some months ago.

For what it's worth, I don't think folklore can be separated from language and perhaps it serves some useful purpose to clear up misconceptions about language, though what one considers a misconception depends on one's point of view, of course.

Children's rhymes are hardly my area of expertise and I'd never heard of this family of rhymes. I would have just assumed that the brand of bubble gum had been there first.

****
13. Subject: RE: Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 10:36 PM

"I think Azizi is right to decry the use in formal language. It can be ambiguous and the idea of formal language is clarity. "

I disagree firmly. Very few people, when confronted with a statement like "I didn't buy no bubblegum", are honestly confused about what that statement means.

Furthermore, your premise is entirely flawed. Formal can be - and frequently *is* - used in a deliberate attempt to confuse others. Think of bureaucratic doubletalk! There is nothing inherent to standard English that makes it more or less confusing than other registers and dialects of the language. Some parts of AAVE are even clearer or simpler than their equivalents in Standard American English, in fact, such as the habitual use of the verb "be", much decried though it is among prescriptivists.

The only reason the standard is the standard is because it's spoken by the people who, well, make the standards - the people in power. Nothing more, nothing less. It's a good idea to know the standard so you can speak it when necessary, but there's no reason to call it more correct than other forms of English, any more than my version of Barbara Allen is "more correct" than your version. You use the right tool (or dialect, or song) for the right moment, and your life is richer for it in the end, of course.

****
14. Subject: RE: Bazooka Zooka Bubble Gum
From: Azizi
Date: 10 Mar 09 - 11:14 PM

GUEST Date: 10 Mar 09 - 10:36 PM, first let me say that I hope that your post isn't deleted because Mudcat has a relatively new policy of deleting comments of Guest posters who don't add another name with that Guest title.

Guest, I appreciate your comments, but I still don't think this thread is the appropriate one for an indepth discussion about linguistics. That said, let me note for the record that I agree with these points that you made:

1. Some parts of AAVE [African American Vernacular English] are even clearer or simpler than their equivalents in Standard American English.

2. The only reason the standard is the standard is because it's spoken by the people who, well, make the standards - the people in power. Nothing more, nothing less.

3. It's a good idea to know the standard so you can speak it when necessary, but there's no reason to call it more correct than other forms of English...

4. You use the right tool (or dialect, or song) for the right moment, and your life is richer for it in the end, of course.

-snip-

With regard to point 4, I still believe that a double negative should not be used in formal conversations/writings."...
-snip-
This was the end of that linguistic discussion in that thread. To my knowledge, no thread on double negatives was started on Mudcat.

****
ADDENDUM: EXCERPTS FROM TWO ARTICLES ABOUT DOUBLE NEGATIVES
These excerpts are given in no particular order.

Excerpt #1:
From https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/02/grammar-myths-3/
What is a double negative?
Is there a specific grammatical slip that’s guaranteed to make you wince? I bet there is! While it’s hard to say why certain linguistic errors cause our hackles to rise rather than others, everyone has their own bête noire. You could split your infinitives till kingdom come and I wouldn’t bat an eyelid, but whenever I hear something like:
I don’t know nothing about computers.
OR
It won’t do you no good.

I cringe and have to restrain a nitpicking urge to say, ‘two negatives make a positive: do you really mean that you know something about computers?’. However, as a Rolling Stones fan, I don’t come over all grammatically correct about ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’. It’s completely illogical, I admit.


[...]

The perspective from the past and elsewhere on the double negative

Any linguists out there will be aware that in some languages (for example, Spanish, Portuguese, and French), double negatives are grammatically acceptable: rather than cancel each other out, they serve to strengthen the negative idea. Students of English language and literature will also know that, had you lived in England up to the 17th century, you’d also have been doubling your negatives with gay abandon and not incurring the wrath of the grammar police. The works of Chaucer and Shakespeare contain many examples of double and even multiple negatives:
Ther nas no man nowher so vertuous. (Chaucer, ‘The Friar’s Tale’)

I never was nor never will be. (Shakespeare, Richard III)

After the 17th century, certain writers attempted to make English spelling and grammar more systematic, and relate the rules of language to those of logic. The Oxford English Dictionary records that in 1775, Lowth’s A Short Introduction to English Grammar stated:
Two Negatives in English destroy one another, or are equivalent to an Affirmative.

This edict had an impressive staying power and remains the case today. Double negatives, when used to express a negative idea, aren’t acceptable in standard English and you should avoid them in all but very informal situations (or when singing along to pop songs).

It’s not unusual….singing the praises of some double negatives

Here’s where things are less clear cut: there’s a second type of double negative that’s considered correct. In this category, two negatives are used in the same sentence or clause to express a positive idea rather than a negative one. For instance, in the sentence:
Blake was not unaware of his appearance.

Other rhetorically positive and grammatically acceptable examples are:
When I look back I don’t regret not going to school.
[meaning: I’m glad that I didn’t go to school]

We can’t just do nothing in the face of this mounting threat.
[meaning: we must take some action to combat this threat]

I couldn’t not help him.
[meaning: I strongly felt I should help him]

If you really fret about linguistic issues, this means that in some cases you can sing along to pop songs containing double negatives and stay on the grammatically acceptable side of the tracks, as in the 1965 hit ‘It’s Not Unusual‘, recorded by the Welsh singer, Tom Jones. It’s a not inelegant way of expressing the fact that being in love is very usual indeed. Yay!"

****
Excerpt #2:
From https://www.grammarly.com/blog/3-things-you-must-know-about-double-negatives/

"Learning standard English negation is difficult because many languages and some English dialects use double negatives conventionally.

Though it’s easy to assume that double negatives are simply unnatural aberrations, this assumption is wrong. In many languages worldwide, it is grammatically incorrect to use anything but the double negative! (This is called negative concord.)

No hay ningun problema. (Spanish) “There isn’t no problem.” meaning “There isn’t a problem.”

Я не хочу нічого їсти. (Ya ne hochu nichogo yisty.) (Ukrainian) “I don’t want nothing to eat.” meaning “I don’t want to eat anything.”

To make it more complicated, it’s not just foreign languages that conventionally employ double negatives but some dialects of English do as well! African American Vernacular English (AAVE), Southern American English, and some British regional forms use negative concord constructions. Negative concord is even used several times in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. (For example, a line about the Friar, “Ther nas no man no wher so vertuous,” literally means “there wasn’t no man nowhere as virtuous.”)

So, while double negatives are not correct in standard English, that doesn’t make them any less useful in other dialects. We encourage writers to learn how to negate sentences using the standard grammar — especially for professional settings — but we love the diversity of English (and language in general) and think that use of dialectal grammar is fine in open, less formal environments."

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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post was first published in 2011. This version includes additional text and three additional videos.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/11/nimbaya-formerly-known-as-amazones.html to read comments that were posted to that 2011 post.

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This is the first post of an ongoing pancocojams series on Black female drummers. This post focuses on Nimbaya! female djembe drummers of Guinea, West Africa. [revised June 24, 2017]

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/11/rwandan-female-drummers.html for the second post in this series.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/11/african-female-drummers-senegal-rwanda.html for the third post in this series.

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-djembes-became-african-drum-to-beat.html for a 2011 pancocojams post entitled "How Djembes Became The African Drum To Beat In The United States"

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This post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Nimbaya! for their musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these YouTube videos.
-snip-
If you know the language and the meaning of the word "Nimbaya", please add that information to the comment section of this post. Thanks!

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INFORMATION ABOUT DJEMBES
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djembe
"A djembe ... also known as jembe, jenbe, djbobimbe, jymbe, yembe, or jimbay, or sanbanyi in Susu; is a skin-covered drum meant to be played with bare hands...

It is a member of the membranophone family of musical instruments: a frame or shell (in the djembe's case it is a wood shell) covered by a membrane or drumhead made of rawhide or some other material...The primary notes are generally referred to as "bass", "tone", and "slap", though a variety of other tones can also be produced by advanced players. The slap has a high and sharp sound, the tone is more round and full, and the bass is low and deep...

Origin
There is general agreement that the origin of the djembe is associated with a class of Mandinka blacksmiths known as Numu. The wide dispersion of the djembe drums throughout West Africa may be due to Numu migrations."

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NIMBAYA! GUINEA FEMALE DJEMBE PLAYERS
From http://www.amazoneswomandrummers.com/press.html
"Nimbaya!, previously Amazones Women Master Drummers, welcomes in the new age, presenting West Africa’s traditional musical arts in a graceful proficiency that clearly differs from the masculine drumming style...

Before this group formed, no females in Guinea were permitted to learn the art of djembe drumming. In 1988, with the support of the Department of Culture of Guinea, group founder Mamoudou Conde brought together 15 women from the four different regions of Guinea. Some of these women faced disownment from their families by pushing the boundaries of tradition, but after training for years to become master drummers, the women began to tour the world…playing instruments that have traditionally been denied them."

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From http://www.amazoneswomandrummers.com/history.html
"...From The creation and realization of “NIMBAYA!” aims to address three objectives, all of which are both diachronic and synchronic.

From the point of view of rehabilitating musical culture through the djembe, “NIMBAYA!” constitutes a response of sorts to the age-old traditions, which have demeaned the Djembe vis-à-vis other instruments such as the princely Cora or the ancient mythical Bala. “NIMBAYA!” is also daring considering the <> imposed on women concerning the practice of the djembe. Never before has a woman played this instrument in Guinea.

From the point of view of the economic liberation, which took place in Guinea following the change of political regime in 1984, the women are engaged in a fight for survival through the development of a lucrative art-form, capable of supporting its members. Each ‘NIMBAYA!’ has chosen to break with the uncertainty and the precarious lifestyle imposed on her by her individual social situation - woman without education; woman with an ‘undesired pregnancy’, sent away from the family home; woman-victim of the duplicity of a ‘bad-man’; young woman from a family struck by poverty... In choosing to become a djembe-player, each of these categories of women shows her desire to dignify herself by dignifying her instrument.

But it is with NIMBAYA! That a brave new adventure is beginning - a socio-cultural and economic departure from tradition, which is fired by a fervent determination to attain the level of the great djembefola and to live by the sweat of their own brows. Hence the name ‘NIMBAYA’, recalling the bravura and courage of the intrepid warrior-women of the ancient kingdom of Dahomey (now called Benin). Equally daring is their goal to ‘demystify’ the djembe, an instrument historically reserved for male players and for many years, an instrument without nobility or notoriety. With ‘NIMBAYA!’ all these preconceptions melt away and what is left is a powerful, energetic and grandiose spectacle, which sends to the world, its message of peace, optimism and serenity.
-Saidou Dioubate, National Director of Culture of the Republic of Guinea, Conakry and edited by Nathalie Roy & Mamoudou Conde".
-snip-
Note: "Djembefola" means "djembe player. "Bala" is a traditional name for "balafon".

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From http://www.amazoneswomandrummers.com/bio.html
Nimbaya! The Women's Drum & Dance Company of Guinea

"It’s the drumbeat that pulls you in… These women are in demand around the world, as much for their prodigious choreographies as for their fiery djembe rhythms. Their unique concept and their energy drive the crowds wild!

NIMBAYA! is a daring response to taboos stretching back thousands of years. Never before had women played the djembe in West Africa, the instrument being historically reserved for male players. In 1998, while managing the world-renowned ensemble “Les Percussions de Guinée”, Mamoudou Conde realized the world was ripe for change and decided to create an all-women percussion and dance ensemble.

Chosen from among those living in the most difficult conditions - jobless and often with children to support - the women artists participate in the development of a lucrative art-form, one that has facilitated a change in their economic independence. Each artist strives to break free of the financially precarious lifestyle imposed upon her by society. In choosing to become a percussion player, these women have demonstrated their desire to control their destiny."...

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: African Women Djembefola



Uploaded by chicagodjembeproject on Oct 11, 2006

African women playing djembe in Guinea, West Africa

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Example #2: Amazones - Women Drummers of Guinea @ CCC 092007



Uploaded by rpmime on Sep 20, 2007

The Amazing "Amazones - Women Drummers of Guinea" performed at the 'One World Under One Roof', part of the World Music Festival (2007) last day here in Chicago.

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Example #3: NIMBAYA!



Uploaded by Nathalie Roy on Jan 18, 2010

THIS IS STUDIO RECORDING - Formerly named Amazones Women Master Drummers, NIMBAYA! Drum & Dance Company is the first professional all-female ensemble on traditional drums. they have toured USA, Canada, UAE, Brazil, Europe, South Korea...

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[UPDATE: VIDEOS ADDED JUNE 24, 2017]

Example #4: Archives: Amazones Master Women Drummers in Philadelphia



GRIOTWORKS Published on Jul 23, 2009

Presented by the African Diaspora Arts Collective, Amazones women drummers of Guinea come to Philadelphia to bring hope and inspiration to youth, particularly young girls. Video by Jos Duncan [2007]

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Example #5: NIMBAYA! EDUCATIONAL video



Sekou Conde, Published on Oct 23, 2011

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Example #6: NIMBAYA!'s Auditions, Charleston SC - Im in Heaven!!!



BRENDA J. PEART, Published on Oct 29, 2012

Im lost in the drums, nearly forgot it was auditions.. They're JAMMIN'!!!
NIMBAYA! is an ALL Female Percussion group from Guinea, the first to tour the world!!!!
This is part of the auditions held in Charleston SC, even drawing in dancers from Charlotte, North Carolina!!!

Sitting in with them from Charleston by way of Buffalo NY, JAMES HARRIS, by way of Columbia SC, Thomas OLA Mosley....

the dancers MELLISSA SCOTT, ONEAKA MACK, SHALENA CAPERS, FAITH CADE, BRANDY JOHNSON, CHRISTINA BATTLE, MIYA FOWLER & SOFIE!!!!

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Example #7: Beating the Odds: The Women of Nimbaya!



colacollkoalas, Published on Apr 9, 2015

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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video compilation of ten "soundies" of vintage African American music.

"Soundies" are short films that were produced in the United States between 1940-1947.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are featured in these soundies. Thanks also to the publisher of this compilation of 1940s soundies.

Some of the artists and/or some of the songs that are featured in this soundie are also showcased on separate pancocojams posts such as this one: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/01/the-jubailaires-noah-1940s-gospel-rap.html The Jubailaire's Noah - 1940s Gospel Rap.

To identify those posts use Google search or enter the artist name or the title of the song in pancoocjams's internal search engine.

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INFORMATION ABOUT "SOUNDIES"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundies
"Soundies were three-minute American musical 16mm films, produced in New York City, Chicago, and Hollywood, between 1940 and 1946, each containing a song, dance and/or band or orchestral number. The completed Soundies were generally made available for rental within a few weeks of their filming, in film collections of eight to a reel, primarily by the Soundies Distributing Corporation of America, from which the name "Soundies" was generalized to any similar film, including later, single pieces shot as "filler" for early television. The last true Soundies group was released in March 1947. The films were displayed on the Panoram, a coin-operated film jukebox or machine music, in nightclubs, bars, restaurants, factory lounges, and amusement centers.

Musical genres
Soundies covered all genres of music, from classical to big-band swing, and from hillbilly novelties to patriotic songs."...

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: Soundies: Black Music from the 1940s



The Riverbends Channel, Published on Oct 22, 2012

From Internet Archives:
0:12:13 Delta Rhythm Boys in "Take the 'A' Train" (1941).
0:14:46 Fats Waller in "Your Feet's Too Big (1941).
0:17:45 Count Basie Orchestra in "Take Me Back, Baby" (with vocal by Jimmy Rushing) (1941).
0:20:19 "Preacher and the Bear" featuring The Jubalaires (vocal quartet)
0:23:23 "Ring Those Bells" (Black children vocal quintet, unidentified; Possibly The Cabin Kids.)
0:24:22 The Ali Baba Trio in "Patience and Fortitude" (1946) (featuring Valaida Snow singing and playing jazz trumpet - with trio of guitar, bass and accordion!)
0:27:06 "Rocco Blues" featuring Maurice Rocco (piano and vocal)
0:30:00 Gloria Grey sings "Oh By Jingo" (looks later, circa 1950 or so)
0:32:42 "I Want A Man", sung by Annisteen Allen and accompanied by Lucky Millinder and his Orchestra (huge big band)(1943).
0:35:36 Woman jazz harpist (LaVilla Tulos) playing "Swanee River" (a title list of Soundies has this entry as "Swanee Swing").
-snip-
Selected comments from this video compilation's discussion thread:
Neil Soulman Hagan, 2013
"Classic. From hollywoods golden era. Very rare! Impeccable talent. Thanks for posting, I have much respect for these artists who shined even in the face of all the burdens and predjudace that prevailed in that day. Love the cabin kids. Thanks so much for posting."

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pbrgma1, 2013
"The Cabin Kids clip is not from a Soundie. It is actually from their very first film appearance from a 20 minute comedy short from Educational Pictures titled "She my Lilly (I'm Her Willie)" from 1934.At the time of this film they were originally called THE 5 SPIRITS OF HARMONY and this was the way they were billed in this film.From their 2nd film on they were known as The Cabin Kids.The other songs they sang in this film were:"This Train" and 'Honey."

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George Sperry, 2014
"great music and a super entertaining snippet of music of the past!"

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Brandon Lee Kirby, 2024
"I think it's more that that's what the white people in charge wanted and allowed. The novel Invisible Man touches up on the idea well.
The guy who wrote it was a huge fan of this music, Ralph Ellison."

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Zillous Grom, 2014
"
NO ink spots!!??!

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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides selected examples of the almost always negative adjectival use of the word "ghetto" to describe almost entirely Black female members of Winston-Salem State University's (WSSU)'s cheerleading squads.

These selected comments are from six YouTube video discussion threads of WSSU's cheerleading squads (published in 2008-2015) and one hbcusports.com (Historically Black College & University sports) discussion thread about that 2008 video of WSSU's cheerleading squad video that is featured in this post. These selected comments document the use of the word "ghetto" as a usually negative descriptions of the almost entirely Black female members of WSSU's cheerleading squad.

In contrast to the disparaging use of the word "ghetto" to describe these cheerleaders, this post documents some comments from those same YouTube discussion threads that express positive opinions about WSSU's cheerleading squads, and in particular about the female members of those squads.

One video of a Winston-Salem State University's cheerleading squad is showcased in this post to provide one visual example of this university's Stomp & Shake cheerleading styles and the football stadium's crowds' reactions to that cheering.

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The content of this post is presented for historical, linguistic, and cultural purposes.

This post helps document information about and perceptions of Stomp & Shake cheerleading among Black and non-Black Americans from 2008-2015 (the years that these comments were published).

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Winston-Salem State University's cheerleading squads and all those who are featured in these videos and quoted in this post. Thanks also to all those who have published these YouTube videos.

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S GENERAL COMMENTS ABOUT THIS POST
This post is part of pancocojams' ongoing series on Stomp & Shake cheerleading.

"Stomp & Shake" cheerleading is a referent for a relatively new form of African American originated style of cheerleading for football games or for basketball games. The earliest date that I've found for stomp & shake cheerleading is the early to mid 1970s.

Stomp & shake cheerleading focuses on the group performance of choreographed percussive, rhythmic foot stomping, (individual) hand clapping, leg lifts, and African American/Caribbean originated dance moves. These body movements are often but not always accompanied by the cheer squad's performance of self-bragging and/or competitor insulting unison chanting. Although most stomp & shake cheerleaders are female, a few males also are members of some (usually university) stomp & shake squads. This appears to particularly be the case among university cheerleading squads that perform stomp & shake cheerleading and mainstream ("traditional") cheerleading.

Like mainstream cheerleading, the purpose of the cheer squad is to increase the enthusiasm of event attendees. However, the focus of stomp and shake cheer squads' performances and their textual (word) cheers are on the cheer squad itself, and not on the football (or basketball) athletic team. Stomp & Shake is a relatively new form of cheerleading. The earliest documentation that I've found for stomp &shake cheerleading is the early to mid 1970s at Virginia State University's cheerleading squad the "Woo Woos and Winston-Salem State University cheerleading squads (known as Cheer Phi or Rams, or Red Team and White Team).

Stomp & Shake cheerleading has vehement supporters who love the creativity, innovation, skill, showmanship, "hardness" and "for realness" (according to Black cultural criteria) of this type of cheerleading. However, stomp & shake cheerleading also has vehement detractors who don't consider it to be "real cheerleading", but a form of fraternity/sorority stepping and/or cheer dancing. Stomp & cheer detractors also routinely negatively label stomp & shake cheerleading and its (almost exclusively) Black female squad members as being "ghetto" (behaving and dressing in ways that are highly inappropriate by middle class standards, particularly to behave and dress in sexually provocative ("slutty) ways, and behaving in loud and overly aggressive confrontational ways.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/overview-of-stomp-shake-cheerleading.html for an earlier pancocojams post on stomp & shake cheerling. Additional pancocojams posts on this subject can be found by clicking the "stomp and shake cheerleading tag" below.

Winston-Salem State University's (WSSU)'s cheerleaders were selected as the focus for this post partly because it appears that that university's cheerleading squads -along with Virginia State University's (VSU's) Woo Woo cheerleaders were the founders or among the first originators and performers of Stomp & Shake styles of cheerleading (in the mid to late 1970s/early 1980s). Furthermore, it also appears that WSSU and VSU continue to be widely acknowledged as Stomp & Shake leaders and innovators (with regard to performance styles and textual cheers) by some other universities, high schools, middle schools, and community based Stomp & Shake cheerleading community - using the criteria of the number of YouTube videos, video hits, positive YouTube discussion thread viewer comments, and particularly using the criteria of the number of non-university cheerleading squads "copy" WSSU's and/or VSU's cheers and/or performance styles.

A closely related pancocojams post on YouTube viewer's comments about Virginia State University's Woo Woo cheerleaders will be published ASAP and its link will be added to this post.

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ADJECTIVAL USES OF THE WORD "GHETTO" IN SEVERAL YOUTUBE DISCUSSION THREADS ABOUT WSSU'S STOMP & SHAKE CHEERLEADING SQUADS

As of this date (2017), most Stomp & Shake cheerleading squads are located in the southern region of the United States. That isn't surprising as (it appears from my online research) that Stomp & Shake cheerleading originated in the mid to late 1970s and 1980s in the Southern states of Virginia and North Carolina. Significantly, Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU) based majorette dance teams (J-Setting) also appears to have originated in North Carolina and Virginia during that same time period. Also, historically African American fraternity and sorority Greek letter stepping appears to have become more prominent in the late 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s, and Howard University, located near Virginia in Washington D.C., is the epicenter for early historical information about "stepping". In the early to late 1970s Washington, D.C. became known for percussive, uptempo, call & response "Go Go" music, and Washington D. C. is one of the location of the earliest documented text examples of what I refer to as "foot stomping cheers" (in the mid to late 1970s). I believe that none of this is a coincidence.

A number of commenters on YouTube discussion threads about Winston-Salem State University's cheerleading squads used the word "ghetto" not as a noun to refer to poor and lower income working class, crime ridden, mostly urban, and mostly African American neighborhoods, but as an adjective that disparaged the (almost entirely Black) female members of those cheerleading squads mostly because of their body movements, the styles of their cheerleader uniforms, and their aggressive chanting and body mannerisms.
, among other elements.

My sense is that most of the people making those comments in those featured videos' discussion threads were Black, based on the text of those comments, including the commenters' racial self-identification, and based on the photos that accompanied many of those comments. There were also some racists comments in these discussion threads, mostly from people who self-identified as White in those comments or by those comments' accompanying photograph. However, this post doesn't provide examples of those types of comments.

It's my guess that these selected comments which document the use of the word "ghetto" as a usually negative adjective that was used to describe the almost always Black female members of WSSU's cheerleading squad also by extension, describe the almost always Black female members of other historically African American university Stomp & Shake cheerleading squads. In addition, by extension, these usually negative adjectival use of the word "ghetto" describe the (almost always) female members of (predominately or exclusively) Black middle school, high school, and/or community based Stomp & Shake cheerleading squads.

Note that Winston-Salem State University's cheerleading squads usually include a few males. However, it's rare for anyone on the discussion threads of these YouTube videos to make any comment either positive or negative about these squad's male cheerleaders.

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Here's an urbandictionary.com entry for the vernacular term "ghetto" that fits the way that "ghetto" was often used in these featured discussion thread:

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ghetto&page=13
"Ghetto
A description that non-black people use for black people who are, at the time, doing anything gross, undesirable, obnoxious, loud, dressing trashy or giving unnecessary attitude - a description inherent to black people from the ghetto.

Jennifer usually looks really classy but tonight she just looked straight up ghetto.
#getto#trashy#ugly#disgusting#wrong#stink#
by campnewyork July 05, 2011
-snip-
"straight up" = undeniably, definitely, totally

As a reminder, it appears to me that most of the comments that use "ghetto" to disparage the stomp & shake discussion threads that are featured below seem to have been written by Black people.

There are other vernacular adjective definitions for the word "ghetto" than the ones that are mentioned in this post. Among those definitions is the positive meaning of being resourceful, improvising, inventive, and otherwise doing things that help a person survive in difficult economic situations. However, I don't believe that that definition applies to the comments in these online discussion threads about Stomp & Shake cheerleading.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: 2015 WSSU Cheerleaders, Hey Everybody



Artistry Photography, Published on Oct 23, 2015

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THESE FEATURED VIDEOS' DISCUSSION THREADS
These comments are presented in chronological order, according to the title of that video or the title of their blog posting. I've assigned numbers to these comments based on its publishing date, with the oldest dated comments within those titles given first, except for responses. However, some comments within each titles are grouped according to subject matter, regardless of the year that they were posted.

When the word "ghetto" is used as a positive descriptor of Stomp & Shake cheerleaders or that cheerleading style, I've added an editorial comment below that comment indicating that.

I. WSSU CHEERLEADERS GETTIN' CRUNK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyRaRAge3PE

ORIGINALCHEERPHI Published on Feb 22, 2008

WSSU CHEERLEADERS SHOWING U HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE AT THE ULTIMATE CHEER & DANCE EXPERIENCE TRIAD HIGH SCHOOL CHEERLEADING COMPETITION 2007

Comment:
1. Jair, [The remaining portion of this name omitted because of this blog's policy about inapporpriate language], 2015
"What's great about this is how it calls on the cultural significance of South African Boot and indigenous Tribal dance. Clearly it's been adapted to entertain. People can call this ghetto or low class but if you put it in the history of dance from African and other indigenous cultures it's what people had to do to maintain ties to their history. I'm glad these cheerleaders and others at HBCU's keep this style and don't assimilate. It's fun to watch and creates excitement for their fans, which is what cheerleading is supposed to do.

This particular team seems to have great synchronicity and original routines. Even ones I've seen them do in compteition or exhibition uses popular music but they find unique moves and ways to dance to it as well as using music like, "O Fortuna" by Carl Orff and music from the band Kraftwerk..."
-snip-
This is the entire text of this comment.

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II. WSSU CHEERLEADERS FOR MTV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAVz7StUoow

Flow Child Entertainment Published on Sep 24, 2008
WSSU Cheerleaders tryout for MTV Show

Comments:
1. Afton Hills, 2013
"Grunting and squealing isn't cheering. It's sometimes really hard to understand what their saying. This is why so many people consider cheerleading not a sport. You can still be loud and have cute cheers with less shaking. Some people consider it vulgar..."

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Reply
2. Khaulee Tooten, 2017
"Afton Hills stomp and shake"

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3. magandaMadi, 2013
"forget MTV they would rather show spoiled white girls doing the same "GO TEAM GO" [profanity deleted] just like the rest of the other white cheer teams. do't mean to sound racist but it's true.

this is what gets the crowd pumped! i love it
-snip-
"MTV" = American national television channel that began as a music video channel which didn't air any Black videos

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4. AORaines, 2013
"Love the originality, the loudness, and the enthusiasm but cheerleaders don't woo nor eyyyupp....not sorority cheerleaders"
-snip-
"Eyyyupp" is a high pitched yelp that is performed during cheers by a member of WSSU's cheerleading squad. Another commenter, dstgirl9of94, commented that "FSU got thier eeyyooppp from WSSU!"

"FSU" = Florida State University (another HBCU.

As an aside, the screen name "dstgirlof94" means that the commenter is a member of the historically Black Greek letter sorority "Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., having joined that sorority in 1994.

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III. WSSU CHEERLEADERS 2010-11 Basketball BATTLE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkpOiVssR0s

cavettaj, Published on Jun 11, 2011
RAMS BACK IN THE CIAA... taking names!
:::: finishing off Livingstone in a friendly battle::::
WSSU vs Livingstone 2010-11
-snip-
Selected comments
1. Conscious, 2012
"That was awesome, I watched it about 30 times now, the red bone on the end was hot too so I think that helped some of the effect of the video, but it was good competition, especially when the game is boring...lol that's a hood cheerleading competition right there"
-snip-
"Hood" here is a synonym for "ghetto" and that word is used in a positive sense in this video as a referent for populations of Black people who are creative, innovative perhaps because they aren't restricted by mainstream (White) middle class rules and values.

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2. Kiara Holley, 2012
"omg i just love this it go to hard"
-snip-
"to" = very
"hard" = aggressive and/ or "telling something without sugar coating itmodoing something to the fullest extent", both positive descriptors in 'the hood.

"it go" = it is

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3. kimmie6209, 2013
"This IS NOT collegiate cheerleading, this is some backyard teach yourself low-rent mess. Being in college is about being learned &scholarly. U are also to show sportsmanship as a cheerleader. But the chant starts off with "you get no respect"& god knows what else crap they said. Also cheerleading moves are very structured, not doing moves like cabbage patching & flailing arms all over the place. But leave it to black people to mess cheerleading with just like they messed up their names.
-snip-
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Reply
4. percabethcool, 3013
"@kimmie6209 that waz so rude and races its good 2 speak d truth but wat u said waz raw"
-snip-
"races" = probably a typo for "racist"
'raw" = probably means "unfiltered" in a negative sense

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Reply
5. Logan Anon, 2013
"Im white myself, and go to a white school. But i think these girls killed it and bring a different type of cheerleading style just like A LOT of other people. And to be honest i think they do better then our all white girl team.."

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6. Rebecca Babosh, 2013
"Wow. Bellies. That's so inappropriate. They should be arrested."

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7. Gabby Stull, 2013
"Im sorry but the outfits are showing to much.I mean I know your a cheerleader but you are repesenting Your school"

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8. datgirlflirt, 2013
"Y are their uniforms a problem do y'all complain about other squads uniforms

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9. Jeané Beauty, 2013
"They are grown women in COLLEGE! they can show what they want"

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10. Hannah Loring, 2013
"Ghetto Style! I LOVE IT!!!!"
-snip-
I believe that "ghetto style" here is used to compliment someone or something “raw”, "for real"; i.e. something "ghetto" is original, innovative, unfiltered, not homogenized, expressing the essence of something or someone

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11. SIESIE CHAMPION, 2015
"This called ratchet leading"
-snip-
"Ratchet" is a negative African American Vernacular English term that means "uncouth", "nasty"; perhaps from the word "wretched"

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12. Mazda6boy, 2015
"True life:I'm a ghetto cheerleader"
-snip-
This appears to be a positive use of the term "ghetto".

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Reply
13. GScott7, 2015
"Nah., True Life im an HBCU cheerleader.
-snip-
"HBCU" = Historically Black Colleges & Universities

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14. Brandi Gordon, 2016
"they raw my daughter is a cheerleader and she loves this cheer💯💯💯👍👍👍👍👍"
-snip-
I believe that "raw" here is meant as a positive descriptor means "unfiltered" (by mainstream society's rules and expectations.

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IV. WSSU Rams Cheerleaders

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGXXWSWC8Mk

Published on Dec 6, 2011
2011-12 Winston-Salem Rams Cheerleaders during basketball game

1. shalocka larrison, 2013
"They look stank"
-snip-
"Stank" is an African American Vernacular English adjective and not a past tense verb of "stink"). "Stank" means someone who stinks but also someone who is a slut.

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2. Cedric Perkins, 2013
"I thought yall was ratchet at first but not now.. yall crunk af.. girl in the frnt killed it"
-snip-
"rachet" = an insult meaning "a mess" ("messed up'), "slutty"

crunk = usually a complimentary term meaning "hyped, wild, behaving with little or no inhibitions

af= as + four letter profanity beginning with the letter "f".

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3. Briana Glossy, 2014
"They look good, just because you're not used to seeing other types of Cheer/Dance doesn't mean you can judge them."

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4. Jamika Adkins, 2014
"Yo they sassyas"
-snip-
"sassyas" here may be the word "sassy" with the added word "ass". This may be a complimentary comment or it may be an insult.

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V. 2013 WSSU Red Sea Of Sound

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoWM7NNssiA

Artistry Photography

Selected Comments:
superGJ24, 2014
"this look like some shyt straight out the ghetto"

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Reply
2. Taya alberto, 2015
"You saying the ghetto but they in college boo they not dancing in the street"

**
Reply
3. neva jones, 2015
"yea they look but there not"
-snip-
..."They may look ghetto [in its negative sense] but they're not ghetto".

**
Reply
4. Kourtnie ross, 2015
"+neva jones shut up"

**
Reply
5. neva jones, 2016
"+Kourtnie ross i don't have to shut up. shut up for what? all i said was yea they look but there not so why do't u shut up talkin to me"

**
6. Mimi Mariee, 2015
"Smh why are they wearing net stalkings that's so Unlady like 😒 they should be wearing the leggings that the other dancers got on"
-snip-
"Smh" = shake my head (an expression symbolizing exasperation, annoyance, disgust etc.

**
Reply
7.. Jaidarius Titus, 2015
"Everybody has a different style.. Let them live."

**
8. Annaa Idekijustloveyoutube, 2016
"GUYS THIS VIDEO IS SO NIT GHETTO OR RATCHET, THERE IN COLLEGE MEANING THEY CAN WEAR STUFF LIKE THIS AMD NOT TO BE RACIST BUT UVE SEEN LIKE ALL WHITE TEAMS WEAR HARDLY ANYTHING AND NO ONE SAYS ANYTHING PLUS THESE LADIES ARE TALENTED AND CONFIDENT, STOP BEING RACIST AGAINST PEOPLE BECAUSE OF THEIR SKIN, YOU SHOUKD BE HAPPY TO SEE A BIDEO LIKE YHIS BECAUSE ITS ALL CONFIDENCE AND THEYRE ON BEAT AND THEIR VEY CLASSY SO STOP HATING
-snip-
I think that the word "NIT" is a typo for "NOT" and the word "VEY" is a typo for "VERY"

**
9. Shatara DeVane, 2016
"Peep the girl with the whole in her tights .. Just ratchet lol"
-snip-
"peep" = look at, notice

**
Reply
10. OSKARTGROUCH, 2016
"+Shatara DeVane Sometimes tights rip after you put them on... IJS. Not too much you can do if you ripped them while performing."
-snip-
IJS+ I’m just sayin

**
11. toolcrib75, 2016
"They're smart lil ladies so they can wear anything thing and maybe the ones talking mad because they're r not in college
-snip-
..."and maybe the ones [who are] talking [are] mad [angry] because they're r [are]* not in college.

* The word "are' isn't needed in this sentence as it is already given in the word "they're".

**
12. DearestMe, 2016
"Beautiful girls and the most realistic fake hair of ALL the HBCU dance groups."
-snip-
This may be "throwing shade" as it's insulting to say or point out that a woman is wearing fake hair. Then again, a lot of HBCU cheerleaders and majorette dance teams are known for their members wearing long fake hair that is unrealistic looking. In contrast, a number of WSSU cheerleaders have short [straightened] hair cuts. So this comment might not be a diss after all.

**
13. michael wright, 2016
"Dancing dolls of WSSU look like prostitutes."
-snip-
"Dancing Dolls" is the name of Southern University's majorette dance team (and the name of the teen and children's Hip Hop majorette dance team that are featured in the national television show Bring It.

"They" here refers to WSSU's majorette dance team.

**
Reply
14. Darrell Emerson, 2016
"Fyi, they're called Scarlet Lace; and they don't look like prostitutes you asshole.."

**
Reply
15. dperfect28, 2017
"That's so disrespectful to our sisters 😡😡 (in college to)"
-snip-
"Sisters" here means "Black females".

**
16. Joe Kelly, 2016
"Sweet Baby Jesus. I fell in love 8 times.....you know your gorgeous, ignore the haters."

**
17. Seth Williams, 2017
"Gorgeous young women and a great band. High class!!! That's why there are haters."

**
18. Jae Shuler, 2017
"look at those beautiful black queens 😍😍😍😍 they look like sexy black panthers..."
-snip-
"Queens" is a complimentary referent for Black women.

****
VI. 2014 WSSU Cheerleaders, Show The World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZzxhyhunhg

Artistry Photography

music&mars00, 2016
"ratchet ghetto cheerleaders"

****
VII. From https://www.hbcusports.com/forums/threads/southern-jackson-state-you-gets-no-respect-in-here.118763/ Southern-Jackson State YOU GETS NO RESPECT IN HERE!!
Discussion in 'The Smack Board' started by getuprams, Sep 11, 2014.

[Pancocojams Editor: www.hbcusports.com is a probably unofficial sports discussion forum for members of guests. "HBCU" = Historically Black Colleges & Universities. This particular forum featured comments about the video of Winston-Salem State University's cheerleading video that was featured as video/comments #I above.

The word "smack" in "Smack board" is an African American Vernacular English term that means "trash talking", "talking about, insulting, dissing other people or groups, and/or bragging about yourself and/or your group

1. getuprams, Sep 11, 2014 #11
DallasCowboyGirl said:
“So where were they at a non-Greek Step Show because that was not cheerleading!
Yes It's Cheerleading! It has a name it's called Stomp-n-Shake and WSSU is one of the originators of the style, It's VERY popular in NC\VA\DC\MD\TN"
-end of quote-

"The CIAA is famous for its Cheerleading which is SnS as oppsed to "White Girl Go Fight Win"!!

The CIAA Cheerleading Exhibition last cheer drew over 8,000 people!

cheerleaders is a perky, always smiling, female who fits a particular body mold.

However, in the late 1970s, a new style of cheerleading emerged in North Carolina and Virginia. This African American originated style of cheerleading is called “Stomp n Shake”. Stomp n Shake cheerleaders have the same goals as “traditional cheerleaders” — to motivate their sports team and raise the enthusiasm of fans. However, Stomp n Shake uses African American dance/stepping aesthetics”
-snip
The portion that begins with the word "...cheerleaders is a perky..." is a (unattributed) quote from me. That portion is either from my (now retired) cocojams.com website or from a previous pancocojams post that I wrote about stomp & shake cheerleading.

**onhe line cheerleader is a perky…[from my cocojams also quoted on pancoocjams [give link]

**
2. DallasCowboyGirl, Sep 11, 2014#12
"Country Ghetto!"

****
3. getuprams, Sep 11, 2014 #13
"Regardless of your denial, Go Fight WIN DOES NOT excite a black crowd. I don't know why SWAC squads continue to use there imitation NCA style of cheerleading. It's just not INTERESTING to black people!

Cheerleading battles are a major factor in CIAA sporting events, much like Dance Lines are in the SWAC!

I guarantee you WSSU fans react more to WSSU's cheers than Southern's does when they stunt"

**
4. icey23, Sep 11, 2014 #15
"still ghetto in my book. Ghetto phi Stomp n Shake"
-snip-
"Ghetto Phi" is a negative adaptation of one of the names that Winston-Salem State University cheerleaders have used for their squads.

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a three part pancocojams series that documents some text examples (words) of stomp & shake cheerleading cheers.

Selected YouTube video of certain cheers or hyperlinks to YouTube videos of these cheers are included in this post. This post also includes some brief explanatory comments about vernacular terms that are used in these cheers.

In addition, this post includes my comments about the debate about cheerleading squads using stomp & shake cheers that are attributed to other cheerleading squads.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/examples-of-stomp-shake-cheerleading_29.html for Part II of this series.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/examples-of-stomp-shake-cheerleading_73.html for Part III of this series.

Selected videos are included for some of these cheers. These videos are chosen to be showcased for no particular reasons. When a video of s aren't In addition, links to pancocojams posts on stomp & shake cheerleading are included with some of these cheers.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, cultural, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who composed these cheers. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post, all those featured in these videos, and the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

****
DISCLAIMER:
This post documents a very small number of stomp & shake cheers and isn't meant to be a comprehensive compilation of stomp & shake cheers.

Please add to this compilation for folkloric purposes by sharing words to stomp & shake cheers and/or sharing links to stomp & shake YouTube videos videos in the comment section below. Thanks!

****
COMMENTS ABOUT WHETHER CHEERLEADING SQUADS SHOULD PERFORM STOMP & SHAKE CHEERS THAT ARE KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN COMPOSED AND PERFORMED BY ANOTHER CHEERLEADING SQUAD
There's considerable disagreement about whether other cheerleading squads should perform stomp & shake cheers unless members of the cheerleading squad that originated that cheer teaches that cheer to those cheerleaders (in cheer camps or otherwise) or unless other cheerleading squads receive prior permission to perform those cheers. Opponents of the use of another squad's original stomp & shake cheers- and particularly using the same moves as the original composers of those cheers consider such use to be stealing and believe that such use is evidence those squads' lack of creativity.

However, it's a widespread custom-particularly among high school, middle school, and younger cheerleading squads- to perform cheerleader stomp and shake cheerleader cheers from unknown and from unknown sources -just as it's a universal custom for cheerleading squads on those levels to squads to perform any mainstream cheerleader cheer that they like.

Also, for whatever reasons, cheerleading squads that are known to have originated certain cheers (and who are often opposed to these cheers being performed without permission by other squads) did publish YouTube videos of their squads performing those cheers. Doing so certainly makes it easier for other people to "copy" those cheers.

I can see both sides of this debate, but, as a (self-described) community folklorist, I'm glad that these videos and lyrics are available for people in the present and the future to see, hear, and read (and study) for information and insights about the people who composed them and perform/ed them.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT THESE EXAMPLES
All the cheer examples that are given in this post were retrieved from YouTube videos. The text (words) of these cheers were either retrieved from a comment in a video's discussion thread, or were transcribed by me from that video.

There are many more stomp & shake cheers that I'd LOVE to add to this compilation, but unfortunately I can't find their words online and I can't understood what is chanted in their videos.

The titles used below for these cheers may not be the only titles that have been used in the past or are now used for these cheers. Also, the words for these cheers may not be the original words or what was considered the definitive words for that cheer or what is now considered the definitive words for that cheer.

When no title for a cheer is given, I’ve chosen a title for that cheer and placed an asterisk next to it to indicate the fact that this title is my guess.

Particularly with regards to high school and younger cheerleading squads, in most cases, readers shouldn't assume that the cheerleading squad who performed these cheers in these video is the original composer of that cheer or even the original choreographer of that cheer's movements.

I've selectively included a video for some of these cheers. In some cases, I've included a video for cheers that (I believe) are widely popular, based on YouTube comments and videos. In other cases, I've selected (usually high school cheerleading squad) cheer performances to document how stomp & shake cheers are performed.

If your squad uses these cheers, when applicable, substitute the names of opposing high school, and/or that school mascot, or substitute your school's name and/or mascot.

Additions and corrections to these cheer examples and the words to these cheers are welcome.

****
EXAMPLES OF STOMP & SHAKE CHEERLEADER CHEERS
A, B
ALL YOU GOTTA DO
if you want to rock
all you've got to do
is rock
all you've got to do
is rock
If you want to rock
if you want to rock
here’s how we do
all you gotta do
is rock
all you gotta do is
is rock
all you gotta do
is rock
we got to
you got to
you got to
rock
-snip-
This is my transcription of this cheer from a video that is included in the pancocojams post "Five Stomp And Shake Videos Of The West Meck High School Varsity Cheerleading Squad" (Charlotte, North Carolina) https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/01/five-stomp-and-shake-videos-of-west.html

Additions and corrections to this transcription are welcome.

In the context of this cheer, “rock” means to be very good at doing something and also means "move your hips back and forth to the rhythm".

****
BEST GIT BACK (version #1)
MiQuelW, 2007
"You best get back, you best get tough cuz the (mascot) is gon strut their stuff, alright hey! alright, hey!"

**
BEST GIT BACK(Version #2)
MiQuelW, 2007
"When we did this cheer in HS, it was "You better get ready, you better get tough cuz the Bulldogs are gon' strut their stuff. Alrite, hey, alrite... hey!" and the moves were a little different.

**
"Best Git Back" = "Best get back" ([You] better get back.). "Get back" means "move away from someone or some group" or "move away ("back off") [from a confrontation]

**
Featured cheer video: SASSY (Best git back)



Prince Edward Varsity Cheerleaders "Best Git Back"

woowooworkit Published on Jan 30, 2007
-snip-
This publisher's name "Woo Woo work it" directly refers to Virginia State University's (VSU)'s "Woo Woos" cheerleading squad and their signature battle cheer "Work It" (That cheer is found below).

"Sassy" is the cheerleading squad name from Prince George County High School (Virginia). According to some commenters in carious Sassy YouTube video discussion threads, one or more former members of VSU's cheerleading squad have taught Sassy some of their cheers, and/or Sassy (and probably certain other Virginia high school cheerleading squads) have received prior permission to perform VSY cheers, and/or members of Virginia area high school cheerleading squads have attended VSU cheer camps and therefore learned VSU cheers.

C, D
CAN YOU JAM
Can you jam like those west cheerleaders
can you jam like we do
we do
we do
-jasmine mills, 2011
quoted in the pancocojams post "Five Stomp And Shake Videos Of The West Meck High School Varsity Cheerleading Squad" (Charlotte, North Carolina) https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/01/five-stomp-and-shake-videos-of-west.html
-snip-
In the context of this cheer, “jam” means “move”.

E, F
FIGHT THE POWER

[Pancocojams Editor's Note: This WSSU cheer can be found in Part III of this pancocojams compilation under the title that is most often given for it: “Say It In Our Face”.

****
FIRE IT UP
Come On Hawks
Lets Hear It
Fire Up That Spirit !
Do do it..
Do It
You Got to Put Your Mind Into It...
Everybody Get Get Down......
Everybody Get Down..
-West Meck High School Cheerleaders (Charlotte, North Carolina) words posted by Nakayla Lane, 2011
-snip-
This commenter corrected the words that another person wrote for this cheer, saying "i Would Know Because I go To West Meck".

Featured video: West Meck HS Varsity Cheerleaders-Fire it up



Sophia Ward, Uploaded on Feb 22, 2011
-snip-
"Fire it up" means to raise the energy.

In the context of this cheer, "get down" here means "do something really well".

****
G, H
"HAWK ROCK"
If you want to rock
like a hawk rocks,
all you have to do
is rock nonstop.
just rock
(just rock)
just rock
(just rock)
ROCK NONSTOP
-BVCS2011, 2012
-snip-
from West Meck HS Varsity Cheerleaders-Hawk Rock.MOV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZCZoTkWK_o

Sophia Ward, Uploaded on Feb 22, 2011

****
HAWKS WE DO
Hawks we do
this is how we do
Hawks we do
we do
-snip-
This is my transcription of this cheer; quoted in Five Stomp And Shake Videos Of The West Meck High School Varsity Cheerleading Squad (Charlotte, North Carolina) https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/01/five-stomp-and-shake-videos-of-west.html

Additions and corrections to this transcription are welcome

****
HEY*
Hey
Hey You
It's the Red White and Blue
The things you think you do
"school name" does times two
So put down your pompoms
And take out your bows
Now that we're here
You can go
-posted by Coach Kay, 2015 in the video given below.

*No title was given to this cheer so I given it this title until I learn otherwise.

Friendly HS vs. Forestville HS 2014 Cheer Battle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uCSKuSAFok

Coach Kay, Published on Mar 1, 2015

Forestville Cheerleaders came over on our side of the field and challenged us! THEY WASN'T READY!!!
-snip-
This is a high school (stomp & shake) cheer battle, but I'm not sure where these high schools are located.

****
This concludes Part I of this series.

This is a work in progress as additional cheers may be added to this post.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part II of a three part pancocojams series that documents some text examples (words) of stomp & shake cheerleading cheers.

Selected YouTube video of certain cheers or hyperlinks to YouTube videos of these cheers are included in this post. This post also includes some brief explanatory comments about vernacular terms that are used in these cheers.

In addition, I've included a comment exchange in this post from the discussion thread of one of the featured videos that highlights the subject of one cheerleading squad using cheers from another squad, and the subject of the original sources for the movements that some cheerleading squads perform.

This post also includes my comments about the debate about cheerleading squads using stomp & shake cheers that are attributed to other cheerleading squads.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/examples-of-stomp-shake-cheerleading.html for Part I of this series.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/examples-of-stomp-shake-cheerleading_73.html for Part III of this series.

Selected videos are included for some of these cheers. These videos are chosen to be showcased for no particular reasons. When a video of s aren't In addition, links to pancocojams posts on stomp & shake cheerleading are included with some of these cheers.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, cultural, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who composed these cheers. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post, all those featured in these videos, and the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

****
DISCLAIMER:
This post documents a very small number of stomp & shake cheers and isn't meant to be a comprehensive compilation of stomp & shake cheers.

Please add to this compilation for folkloric purposes by sharing words to stomp & shake cheers and/or sharing links to stomp & shake YouTube videos videos in the comment section below. Thanks!

****
COMMENTS ABOUT WHETHER CHEERLEADING SQUADS SHOULD PERFORM STOMP & SHAKE CHEERS THAT ARE KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN COMPOSED AND PERFORMED BY ANOTHER CHEERLEADING SQUAD
There's considerable disagreement about whether other cheerleading squads should perform stomp & shake cheers unless members of the cheerleading squad that originated that cheer teaches that cheer to those cheerleaders (in cheer camps or otherwise) or unless other cheerleading squads receive prior permission to perform those cheers. Opponents of the use of another squad's original stomp & shake cheers- and particularly using the same moves as the original composers of those cheers consider such use to be stealing and believe that such use is evidence those squads' lack of creativity.

However, it's a widespread custom-particularly among high school, middle school, and younger cheerleading squads- to perform cheerleader stomp and shake cheerleader cheers from unknown and from unknown sources -just as it's a universal custom for cheerleading squads on those levels to squads to perform any mainstream cheerleader cheer that they like.

Also, for whatever reasons, cheerleading squads that are known to have originated certain cheers (and who are often opposed to these cheers being performed without permission by other squads) did publish YouTube videos of their squads performing those cheers. Doing so certainly makes it easier for other people to "copy" those cheers.

I can see both sides of this debate, but, as a (self-described) community folklorist, I'm glad that these videos and lyrics are available for people in the present and the future to see, hear, and read (and study) for information and insights about the people who composed them and perform/ed them.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT THESE EXAMPLES
All the cheer examples that are given in this post were retrieved from YouTube videos. The text (words) of these cheers were either retrieved from a comment in a video's discussion thread, or were transcribed by me from that video.

There are many more stomp & shake cheers that I'd LOVE to add to this compilation, but unfortunately I can't find their words online and I can't understood what is chanted in their videos.

The titles used below for these cheers may not be the only titles that have been used in the past or are now used for these cheers. Also, the words for these cheers may not be the original words or what was considered the definitive words for that cheer or what is now considered the definitive words for that cheer.

When no title for a cheer is given, I’ve chosen a title for that cheer and placed an asterisk next to it to indicate the fact that this title is my guess.

Particularly with regards to high school and younger cheerleading squads, in most cases, readers shouldn't assume that the cheerleading squad who performed these cheers in these video is the original composer of that cheer or even the original choreographer of that cheer's movements.

I've selectively included a video for some of these cheers. In some cases, I've included a video for cheers that (I believe) are widely popular, based on YouTube comments and videos. In other cases, I've selected (usually high school cheerleading squad) cheer performances to document how stomp & shake cheers are performed.

If your squad uses these cheers, when applicable, substitute the names of opposing high school, and/or that school mascot, or substitute your school's name and/or mascot.

Additions and corrections to these cheer examples and the words to these cheers are welcome.

****
EXAMPLES OF STOMP & SHAKE CHEERLEADER CHEERS
I, J
I LOVE MY HBCU (Winston-Salem State University version)
"I love my H in front of my B. My B in front of my C. I love my HBCU. They got me singing Ohhhhh Old State U"
-comment posted by RJRDEMONS, 2015 in the discussion thread of the video given below:

2014 WSSU Cheerleaders, I Love My HBCU



Artistry Photography Published on Sep 28, 2014
-snip-
"I love my H.B.C.U. (Historically Black College & University) is an adaptation of several historically Black Greek letter fraternity chants. As such, it technically isn't a stomp & shake cheer. However, it is performed by a cheerleading squad, and the line "Old State U" is an adapted form of the actual line in the HBCU song: "I love my H.B.C.U".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/01/delta-sigma-theta-sorority-i-love-my.html for the pancoocjams post Delta Sigma Theta Sorority - "I Love My DST" (Text Examples & Videos).

Also, click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9JKyPZd_Ns&t=1s for a Central State University performance of "I Love My HBCU".

****
I SEE YOU WANT TO BE

Beauty By Brooke, 2017
What're the words to the "we see you want to be " cheer?

**
Reply
Jaylyn Strickland, 2017
[commenter who asked this question]:
"I See you want to be an ag-gie we can't be stopped we'll reach the top we'll d-e-f-e-a-t"
-snip-
These comments are found in the discussion thread to this video:
NC A&T Cheerleaders (Aggie Cheer) / Powerhouse National Competition (Stomp and Shake)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZDoZBLuouI
Kevin Crawford, Published on Mar 17, 2017
-snip-
NC A&T, North Carolina Agricultural & Technological University
From http://www.ncat.edu/divisions/academic-affairs/bulletin/2014-2015/gen-info/location.html
"North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is located in the city of Greensboro, North Carolina. This city is 300 miles south of Washington, D.C. and 349 miles north of Atlanta."...
-snip-
I found that interesting because (since I'm geographically challenged), I didn't realize how close North Carolina and the Washington D.C./Virginia area was. That's significant since it appears from my online research that stomp & shake cheerleading originated in and is still most strongly active in North Carolina and Virginia.

****
IT’S CALLED SURVIVAL
it's called survival
only the rams can survive,
survival, in order stay alive,
survival ×4, it's called survival
- Winston-Salem State University cheer; posted in the discussion thread for the video given below by Charity Ewing, 2016 [I reformatted this cheer for this post from sentences to line patterns]

Featured video: 2012 WSSU Cheerleaders, It's called Survival



Artistry Photography, Published on Oct 22, 2012

2012 Winston Salem State University Cheerleader performance of survival cheer.

****
JUMP ON IT
"We got it, you want it, dont sweat it, jump on it"
-words posted by kat124, 2012 in the discussion thread for the video given below:

SASSY (Jump On It)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1xn9FA2AaE

woowooworkit, Published on Jan 30, 2007

Prince Edward Varsity Cheerleaders do another cheer (little shaky though, some peeps were in my way)

****
K, L
LET'S GO BRONCOS
[Pancocojams Editor's note:
I'm making an exception to my rule of only including cheers in this compilation if all of the words to that cheer are found online (in that video's discussion thread) or elsewhere, or if I think that I'm able to transcribe the entire cheer from the video.

The only words that I'm sure of in this cheer are "Let's go Broncos". However, I'm including this cheer's video because the cheerleader squad's performance style is different from any other squad that I've ever seen. Although I've seen historically Black Greek letter sororities rhythmically alternating individual hand claps with knee pats I don't recall seeing any stomp & shake cheerleaders doing this. That alternating hand clapping/knee patting motion is called "pattin juba". "Hambone" is a form of pattin juba.

Here's that video:

Cheer Phi Smoov's "Let's Go, Broncos"



Christopher Blacksher Published on Oct 4, 2015

Fayetteville State University's own cheerleading squad performs their signature and most poplar cheer during the FSU vs Lincoln University of Pennsylvania football game on October 3, 2015.
-snip-
Fayetteville State University (FSU) is located in Fayetteville, North Carolina. As an aside, most Historically Black Colleges & Universities are in the southern region of the United States. Lincoln University of Pennsylvania is one of two HBCUs in Pennsylvania. The other HBCU in Pennsylvania is Cheyney University of Pennsylvania.

****
M, N

****
O, P

****
Q, R
ROLL ALL OVER
Let's get physical,
get down
get funky
get mean,
watch those mighty Eagles,
roll right over you team....
It's time to get physical
it's time to get mean,
watch those mighty Eagles roll right over your team"
- as performed by Sassy- Prince Edward County High School, Virginia,
posted in the video given below by bystarquality90, 2015

That commenter posted these words in response to a request. She wrote "Hi +Karen Midgett , I was a cheerleader on this squad (I'm actually in the video)....We had a lot of fun doing these cheers! Good luck with your cheer squad!!"
-snip-
I reformatted this comment from sentence form to line form.)

Featured video: SASSY (Roll All Over)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGhYOaGfK4M

woowooworkit, Published on Feb 3, 2007

SASSY does a new cheer!

Here's a portion of an exchange in this video's discussion thread (Note that it is generally acknowledged that the Virginia high school cheerleading squad "Sassy" (from Prince George County High School, Virginia) are taught or otherwise have permission to use Virginia State University (VSU)'s Woo Woo cheerleader cheers, and Sassy is said to perform like "young Woo Woos".

MiQuelW, 2007
"That was so VSU. No disrespect to my Woo Woo's, because again, they taught me what I know. But they should REALLY leave the step shows to the Greeks & Step Teams. Like the whole clapping under an upstomp thing... I mean, that's the only reason people don't take them seriously as a squad. :

But the girls did what they did beautifully. I loved the execution, but I hated the cheer.
-snip-
"upstomp" is a characteristic stomp & shake movement that is performed by lifting one leg in time to the beat with the knee bent and the toes pointed.

**
blkmaverick03, 2007
"That is their thing though and personally it works for them. Seeing as to how long the woo woos have been around there is no telling if these stepshow tricks came from them or greeks.

**
Mrs. Roc Royal Babee, 2011
"@grammerpolise actually the[y] stole it from strikers allstars who stole it from school days who stole it from traditional stepping."
-snip-
"School days" refers to the 1988 Spike Lee movie School Daze which is a "story about fraternity and sorority members clashing with other students at a historically black college during homecoming weekend. It also touches upon issues of colorism and hair texture bias within the African-American community.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_Daze

The words "traditional stepping" in that comment refers to historically Black Greek letter fraternity and sorority stepping.

**
KORTNI HERNANDEZ, 2012
"@grammerpolise, every team "borrows" a move or two from someone else. Don't get mad because they did it WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

****
This concludes Part II of this series.

This is a work in progress. Other cheer examples may be added to this post.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part III of a three part pancocojams series that documents some text examples (words) of stomp & shake cheerleading cheers.

Selected YouTube video of certain cheers or hyperlinks to YouTube videos of these cheers are included in this post. This post also includes some brief explanatory comments about vernacular terms that are used in these cheers.

In addition, this post includes my comments about the debate about cheerleading squads using stomp & shake cheers that are attributed to other cheerleading squads.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/examples-of-stomp-shake-cheerleading.html for Part I of this series.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/examples-of-stomp-shake-cheerleading_29.html for Part II of this series.

Selected videos are included for some of these cheers. These videos are chosen to be showcased for no particular reasons. When a video of s aren't In addition, links to pancocojams posts on stomp & shake cheerleading are included with some of these cheers.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, cultural, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who composed these cheers. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post, all those featured in these videos, and the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

****
DISCLAIMER:
This post documents a very small number of stomp & shake cheers and isn't meant to be a comprehensive compilation of stomp & shake cheers.

Please add to this compilation for folkloric purposes by sharing words to stomp & shake cheers and/or sharing links to stomp & shake YouTube videos videos in the comment section below. Thanks!
****
COMMENTS ABOUT WHETHER CHEERLEADING SQUADS SHOULD PERFORM STOMP & SHAKE CHEERS THAT ARE KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN COMPOSED AND PERFORMED BY ANOTHER CHEERLEADING SQUAD
There's considerable disagreement about whether other cheerleading squads should perform stomp & shake cheers unless members of the cheerleading squad that originated that cheer teaches that cheer to those cheerleaders (in cheer camps or otherwise) or unless other cheerleading squads receive prior permission to perform those cheers. Opponents of the use of another squad's original stomp & shake cheers- and particularly using the same moves as the original composers of those cheers consider such use to be stealing and believe that such use is evidence those squads' lack of creativity.

However, it's a widespread custom-particularly among high school, middle school, and younger cheerleading squads- to perform cheerleader stomp and shake cheerleader cheers from unknown and from unknown sources -just as it's a universal custom for cheerleading squads on those levels to squads to perform any mainstream cheerleader cheer that they like.

Also, for whatever reasons, cheerleading squads that are known to have originated certain cheers (and who are often opposed to these cheers being performed without permission by other squads) did publish YouTube videos of their squads performing those cheers. Doing so certainly makes it easier for other people to "copy" those cheers.

I can see both sides of this debate, but, as a (self-described) community folklorist, I'm glad that these videos and lyrics are available for people in the present and the future to see, hear, and read (and study) for information and insights about the people who composed them and perform/ed them.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT THESE EXAMPLES
All the cheer examples that are given in this post were retrieved from YouTube videos. The text (words) of these cheers were either retrieved from a comment in a video's discussion thread, or were transcribed by me from that video.

There many more stomp & shake cheers that I'd LOVE to add to this compilation, but unfortunately I can't find their words online and I can't understood what is chanted in their videos.

The titles used below for these cheers may not be the only titles that have been used in the past or are now used for these cheers. Also, the words for these cheers may not be the original words or what was considered the definitive words for that cheer or what is now considered the definitive words for that cheer.

When no title for a cheer is given, I’ve chosen a title for that cheer and placed an asterisk next to it to indicate the fact that this title is my guess.

Particularly with regards to high school and younger cheerleading squads, in most cases, readers shouldn't assume that the cheerleading squad who performed these cheers in these video is the original composer of that cheer or even the original choreographer of that cheer's movements.

I've selectively included a video for some of these cheers. In some cases, I've included a video for cheers that (I believe) are widely popular, based on YouTube comments and videos. In other cases, I've selected (usually high school cheerleading squad) cheer performances to document how stomp & shake cheers are performed.

If your squad uses these cheers, when applicable, substitute the names of opposing high school, and/or that school mascot, or substitute your school's name and/or mascot.

Additions and corrections to these cheer examples and the words to these cheers are welcome.

****
EXAMPLES OF STOMP & SHAKE CHEERLEADER CHEERS
S, T
SAY IT IN OUR FACE*
Eeeyep!
Fight fight the power,
Hey go head go head.
Hey fight fight he power.
Go head go head.
Hey fight the power.
We are the Rams
And we stay on your case.
If you have something to say
Say it to our face. Haw!
Hey fight the power
Hey fight the power,
Say what
Say what
We are the Rams
And we get on your case.
If you have something to say
Say it in our face.
Say it in our face.
Say it
in
our
face.
HAWHHHHH!
-Winston-Salem State University WSSU Cheer Phi Cheerleaders, 2007; as posted by SAC010 in that video's discussion thread by secalong, February 2011 (along with some transcription by Azizi Powell)

Featured video: WSSU Cheerleaders Getting’ Crunk



ORIGINALCHEERPHI,Published on Feb 22, 2008

WSSU CHEERLEADERS SHOWING U HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE AT THE ULTIMATE CHEER & DANCE EXPERIENCE TRIAD HIGH SCHOOL CHEERLEADING COMPETITION 2007
-snip-
The title for this cheer might be "Fight The Power". It is the second cheer that is performed in that video.

"CheerPhi" used to be the name of Winton-Salem State University (WSSU)'s cheerleading squad. I believe that university now uses the names "Red team" and "White team" for its cheerleading squads. That university's mascot is the ram.

The word "original" denotes the video publisher's belief that WSSU was the originator of stomp & shake cheerleading. From my online research, I agree that WSSU was the originator of their style of stomp & shake cheerleading (movements), a style that many stomp & shake cheerleaders try to imitate, but a style that is somewhat different from Virginia State University's Woo woos, another Historically Black College & University (HBCU) cheerleading squad that my research suggests is also a stomp & shake cheerleading originator.

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SET IT OFF [WSSU Band Chant]
Pancocojams Editor's note: The verse below isn't a stomp & shake cheer, but is instead something that the band (and that university's fans) chant while the cheerleaders and majorette dancers perform. Nevertheless, I found two videos of Winston-Salem State University's (WSSU) cheerleaders performing to this instrumental composition, and decided to add that chant and also add a video and a video link as examples of how stomp & shake cheerleaders don't always cheer, but sometimes just move (dance, or tumble, or do stunts) to instrumental music.

Hannah Jones, 2015
"what is their chant that they say for this song"

**
Reply
jasmine harris, 2015
@hannah jones the words are "we're the red sea and we gonna punish you... You don't want it with this band when we're in front of you we set this thing off!" I learned it last month when I played with them!
-snip-
"We" in this chant is Winston-Salem State University's band and not their cheerleaders.

Here's one video of WSSU's band, their majorette dancers, their fans, and their cheerleaders performing to "Set It Off" and at the end of their dancing, the cheerleaders doing their signature "eeeyup!" yelp:

2013 WSSU Set it off



Artistry Photography, Published on Nov 4, 2013

-snip-
Here's a link to another WSSU "Set It Off"video:

2014 WSSU Cheerleaders, Set It OFF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJE2QXaneB4

Artistry Photography, Published on Sep 21, 2014

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SET IT OFF [WSSU Basketball cheer]
Pancocojams Editor's note: Unfortunately, I've haven't found the words to WSSU's "Set It Off" basketball cheer, and only learned of its existence when I found this comment about it in the discussion thread of the St. Augustine University cheer "It's About To Go Down":

However, I found a comment that asserts that a cheer that chant was ts that WSSU's "Set It Off" was composed earlier than a St. Augustine University stomp & shake cheer entitled "It's About To Go Down"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Fszc4_seI Saint Augustine's University 2009 Bluechips Cheerleaders- "Its About too Go Down"
[summary statement: "Saint Augustine's University 2009 Bluechips Cheerleaders performs opening cheer "Its About too Go Down""

Regretfully, I can't understand the words to St. Augustine's "It's About To Go Down" cheer, and I can't the words online. If you know the words to this cheer, please add it to this compilation for the folkloric record. Thanks!
-snip-
*Here's the comment that I referred to earlier in this section about WSSU's "Set It Off" and St. Augustine University (in Raleigh, North Carolina)'s "It's About To Go Down" cheer:

CheerPhi93, 2013 [in the discussion thread for the St. Augustine cheer whose link is given above]
"Can you say that is nothing but WSSU "Set it up lets Go SU" basketball chant...Yes it is original for it was made up in 1994..I was there when it was made up! THE END! #dooces!

-snip-
Here are two definitions of "set it off" from https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=set%20it%20off
Set it off
to do something major, either something that can cause a huge disturbance or significance.

Manager: You ready for the audience?
Rapper: Yea, bout' to set it off mang.

or

(before attempting to rob a bank)
Criminal A: Let's do this.
Criminal B: Yea, lets set it off.
#put it down #tear the roof off #go out of control #bring the place down #lay it down
by IamUrban August 15, 2009


"set it off
"To do something with intensity or hurricane like force."
Boy 1: Did you see that fight between Kyle and David?

Boy 2: Yea dude, David really set it off!
#sett if off #intense #tear the roof off #lay it down #get into it
by Anthony UNLV April 17, 2010

****
SHAKE IT UP
shake it up
really get tough
u cant get enough
of that
what
eagle stuff
-snip-
Performed by Sassy (Prince George County High School, Virginia), words posted by Dom H, 2009 (reformatted from sentence to line form for this post.)

SASSY (Shake It Up)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHdDoTcZF3U

woowooworkit Published on Aug 31, 2007

****
SHOOT FOR TWO (version #1)
Shoot shoot!
Shoot shoot for 2,
shoot shoot!
Shoot shoot for 2.
Shoot 2 ! Take it to the hoop and shoot for two
- posted by Teya J, 2013 in the discussion thread for the video " WHS Cheerleaders...We got the Juice" which is given below. Rather than a transcription of the way that the WHS cheerleaders' chanted this cheer, I think that this is the version of the cheer that Teya J knows.

There are other YouTube videos of this apparently rather widely known basketball cheer. The stomp & shake feature for this cheer is in the way that the cheerleaders perform this cheer, and not in the cheer's words.

****
SHOOT FOR TWO (version #2)
Shoot 2 (aye) shoot shoot for 2
Shoot 2 (aye) shoot shoot for 2

Shoot 2 ( aye, aye)
Take it to the hoop and shoot for 2"
-snip-
performed by WHS cheerleaders (I think that this is Westover High School, Fayetteville, North Carolina), words posted by Tamera coleman, 2015 [This commenter wrote 2x after the first line. For this post I repeated that line instead of writing those instructions.]

Featured video - WHS Cheerleaders...We got the Juice



jalin94, Uploaded on Oct 23, 2011

This video was uploaded from an Android phone.
-snip-
The title of this basketball video is a folk processed version (a misunderstanding) of what the cheerleader were chanting.

****
SIT BACK DOWN
(One cheerleader):
Come to us
You betta
sit
back
down.

(Entire squad)
Some of ya'll think
that HU aint got no style
But when it comes to us,
you better sit back down.
So sit back, and relax,
cause we came to show you that [rival's name]
ain't got nothin on HU.
You shake like this,
You move like this.
But in the end
your squad aint SHHHHH"
-Howard University [Washington D.C.] Bison Cheerleaders' Battle Cheer

[This is my transcription from the video given below:

Featured video: Howard University Battle Cheer "Sit Back Down"



CoachSpence, Published on Oct 19, 2006
-snip-
I believe that the African American Vernacular English (AAVE) pronunciation and spelling that is used in this (and many other) stomp & shake cheers is an example of code switching on purpose from standard American English to AAVE to evoke and reinforce toughness, self-confidence, and "for realness" -all of which nowadays might be called "street cred".

****
U, V

****
W, X
WE ARE THE TROJANS
We are the trojans and we are h-o-t- hot
we keep it goin and we just dont stop.
We are so fresh, So Smooth,
You can't catch these moves.
Cause were just to hot.
Cause were bad,
and watch us as we "ROCK"!
(rock, rock, rock, rock) "ROCK"!
Trojans Stay Hot. So Hot!"
- transcription by Charlottefashionicon; July 2011 from the video whose link is given below:

Olympic High cheerleaders 09-10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSjZrMqrtDQ

Uploaded by batay1978 on Feb 17, 2010

Olympic high cheerleaders (Charlotte, North Carolina); 9-2010

****
WHO SHAKES THE BEST [version #1]
Shake it to the east.
Shake it to the west.
It really doesn't matter who shakes the best.

Shake it to the east.
Shake it to the west.
It really doesn't matter who shakes the best.

Shake it to the east.
Shake it to the west.
Cause everybody knows that we shake the best
- Virginia State University Woo Woos (as performed in 2008)

Featured video: VSU Woo Woo's 2008 "Who Shakes The Best"



BlaWaiian2008, Published on Mar 17, 2013

VSU Cheerleaders (Virginia State University)

****
Featured video of that same cheer version: SASSY (We Shake The Best)



FIERCED_2006 Uploaded on Feb 17, 2007

JV And Varsity SASSY cheerleaders cheer at the last game against bluestone

****
WHO SHAKES DA BEST [version #2)
Shake it to the east.
Shake it to the west.
It really doesn't matter who shakes the best.

Shake it to the east.
Shake it to the west.
It really doesn't matter who shakes the best.

Ah hey!
'Cause we shake the best
Everybody knows that we shake the best
To the East.
To the West.
Shake it!
-from VSU Woo Woo (Who shakes Da Best video, Mar 31, 2011,
This is my transcription of that cheer from that video


VSU Woo Woo (Who shakes Da Best video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIKS5JRSXhI

TrueVSU1882, Uploaded on Mar 31, 2011

****
WORK IT
V-S-U let's work it
ayeee yee yee
work it
ayyeee yee yee
trojans you know how we do
get out ya seats and work big blue
ahhhhh work it
ayeeee yee yee
(repeat)
-Virginia State University Cheerleaders (Woo Woos)

*transcription by Azizi Powell from this video.

Featured video: Virgina State University Woo Woos - "Work It"



Uploaded by GoTrojans on Sep 11, 2008

VSU vs. NSU Labor Day Classic August 30, 2008

****
Y, Z
YOU ARE DISMISSED
Baldenburg mustangs you've got to go,
you try to step to us,
we know you think we tuff,
jaguars now run the show
bladenburg mustangs you've got to go
you watch our cheers and all our moves
you know our steps what can we do,
we marked you off our check list,
bladenburg mustangs you are dismissed
-snip-
performed by the jaguars in the video which is given below, words posted by Earl Quirino, 2017 (reformatted from sentence form to line form)

Blade vs. Flowers Battle Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye8WmgyWuCI&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye8WmgyWuCI&feature=youtu.be

Dimples1luv Published on Sep 19, 2016

****
YOU GETS NO RESPECT
You gets no respect in here.
Hey Hey Hey Hey
We see our moves in all your cheers.
We know you think you are the best.
S.U. will put you to the test.

Dont start no stuff wont be no stuff.
Dont start no stuff wont be no stuff.
When ya messin with Rams
Ya bound to get-
ahhhhh-"Say what"
Crushed!
-Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) Cheer Phi Cheerleaders; 2007 (Cheer #3)
transcribed by Azizi Powell

WSSU Cheerleaders Gettin Crunk



Uploaded by ORIGINALCHEERPHI on Feb 22, 2008
-snip-
"Crunk" is an African American slang term which may have been derived from the two words "crazy and drunk". In some contexts, "getting crunk" may just mean to be very energetic, to be "pumped up", " to be hyped". However, I believe that in the context of this stomp & shake cheer, "get crunk" also means "to be 'hard"; "gangsta"; "street" - meaning to use African American stances, gestures, and words to emphasize the confrontational nature of that particular cheer routine.

"Don't start no stuff/ won't be no stuff" is a familiar saying among certain populations of African Americans. It serves as a warning that people shouldn't try to start trouble unless they are prepared to deal with the consequences of their words and actions.

****
YOU NEED TO BE A MIGHTY BULLDOG
One cheerleader: Let's go! Hey!
Entire squad: Alright! Hey! Hey!
You need to be a mighty Bulldog
'Cause we
Work
It
Like
This.
Let's go!
Hey! Hey! Hey!
Alright!
Hey! Hey!

You need to be a mighty Bulldog
[tempo gets faster] 'Cause we
Work
It
Like
This.
Let's go!
-Bowie State University (Bowie, Maryland)
-snip-
[This is my transcription of this cheer from the video whose link is given below.]

Bowie State U Cheerleaders 9 October 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83dMR9JyXIo

NexMillenia, Uploaded on Oct 12, 2010

Bowie State University Cheerleaders

****
This concludes Part III of this three part series.

Additional examples may be added to this post.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post points out the very close similarities between certain historically Black sorority calls and certain stomp & shake cheerleading yelps.

This post also asks interested persons to consider whether historically Black fraternity & sorority calls, and stomp & shake cheerleading yelps might be remnants of 29th century and earlier African American field hollers (arhoolie) and/or remnants of or examples of the African (and elsewhere) vocalization custom of ululation.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, historical, and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to all those who are featured in the YouTube videos that are embedded in this post and thanks to the publishers of those videos.

*****
INFORMATION ABOUT THE TYPES OF VOCALIZATIONS THAT ARE REFERRED TO IN THIS POST
FIELD HOLLERS (ARHOOLIES)
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_holler
"The field holler or field call is a mostly historical type of vocal music sung by southern labourers to accompany their work, to communicate usefully or to vent feelings.[1] It differs from the collective work song in that it was sung solo, though early observers noted that a holler, or ‘cry’, might be echoed by other workers. Though commonly associated with cotton cultivation, the field holler was also sung by levee workers, and field hands in rice and sugar plantations. Field hollers are also known as corn-field hollers, water calls, and whoops. An early description is from 1853 and the first recordings are from the 1930s. The holler is closely related to the call and response of work songs, and arhoolies, to Afro-American and ultimately influenced strands of African American music, such as the blues, rhythm and blues, and spirituals.[2]

It had prevalence among whites in the southern United States too."...

****
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=99525
Subject: Etymology: ARHOOLIE
From: Vixen
Date: 02 Mar 07

"I did a search of the Forum, and all the references to "arhoolie" refer to the record label or the non-profit organization. I'm looking for an etymology and a definition.

What follows is the only definition I found, by googling "arhoolies", at
The Bluehighway Website

Field Hollers And Arhoolies

I'll tell you where the blues began. Back there working on them cotton farms, working hard and the man won't pay 'em, so the started singin', "Ohhh, I'm leavin' he one of these days and it won't be long." See, what's happenin' is givin' them the blues. "You gonna look for me one of these mornings and I'll be gone, ohhh yeah!" -- Sonny Terry (3, p. 18)

Field hollers and arhoolies began in the fields as musical exclamations that expressed the mood of the singer, and they eventually grew into longer phrases and verse. Few recordings of these exist, so we have to accept the testimony of the old bluesmen, such as Sonny Terry and Son House, as to their nature:

All I can say is that when I was boy we was always singing in the fields. Not real singing, you know, just hollering. But we made up our songs about things that were happening to us at the time, and I think that's where the blues started. -- Son House (3, p. 18)

The vocal techniques of these were very unique and they formed the basis for early blues vocals."...

****
ULULATION
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ululation
Ululation... is a long, wavering, high-pitched vocal sound resembling a howl with a trilling quality. It is produced by emitting a high pitched loud voice accompanied with a rapid back and forth movement of the tongue and the uvula.

Around the world

Ululation is practiced either alone or as part of certain styles of singing, on various occasions of communal ritual events (like for example weddings) used to express strong emotion.

Ululation is commonly practised in most of Africa, the Middle East and Central-to-South Asia. It occurs a few places in Europe, like Serbia, Cyprus, Malta and parts of Spain. It likewise takes place among the diaspora community originating from these areas....

In Ethiopia and Eritrea, ululation (called ililta) is part of a religious ritual performed by worshippers as a feature of Sunday or other services in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church[11] and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. And it is also randomly (spontaneously) uttered during secular celebrations such as parties or concerts. Elsewhere in Africa ululation is used as a cheer, mourn or attention seeking sound by women. In Hausa ululation is called guda, , sigalagala and in Zulu lilizela in Tsonga nkulungwani and in Shona kupururudza. Ululation is incorporated into African musical styles such as Shona music, where it is a form of audience participation, along with clapping and call-and-response.

In Tanzania ululation is a celebratory cheer sound when good news has been shared or during weddings, welcoming of a newborn home, graduations and other festivals even in church when sermons are going on. In Swahili it is known as vigelele and in Luo dialect it is known as udhalili. Generally women exuberantly yell lililili in a high-pitched voices. Female children are usually proud of being able to ululate like their mothers and aunts...

Ululation is rooted in the culture of Eastern Africa as well as Southern Africa and is widely practiced in Tanzania, Kenya, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Ethiopia, Somalia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It is used by women to give praises at weddings and all other celebrations. It is a general sound of good cheer and celebration, when good news has been delivered in a place of gathering, even in church. It is also an integral part of most African weddings where women gather around the bride and groom, dancing and ululating exuberantly. During graduation ceremonies ululation shows pride and joy in scholastic achievement. The women ululating usually stand and make their way to the front to dance and ululate around the graduate."...
-snip-
Italics were added by me to highlight these sentences.

****
HISTORICALLY BLACK FRATERNITY AND SORORITY CALLS
From https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/black-fraternity-sorority-calls.html
Fraternity & sorority calls are signature vocalizations that members of a specific organization make to greet another member of that specific organization and/or to "represent" (promote, "big up") their organization during their own chanting and/or celebratory gatherings and during public events. A fraternity and sorority might have more than one signature call. These calls are usually informal (i.e. not recognized as an official part of that organization by that organization's governing body.) Non-members of a specific organization are strictly prohibited from verbally or in writing using that organization's call in public or in private.

Fraternity & Sorority "Roll calls"

When used by historically Black [university based] Fraternity & sororities (BGLOs) - and particularly by those BGLOs that are known as "The Divine Nine"*, "roll calls" refer to the consecutive vocalization of their signature call/s by multiple BGLOs during a public event. A host or moderator of that event formally announces each organization, usually in the order of their founding, beginning with the earliest founded fraternity and then, after the fraternities are recognized, beginning with the earliest founded sorority. Representatives of "sister" or "brother" organizations may respond to a call with their own call. Also, as an expression of admiration and/or unity, a member of a Divine Nine organization might combine their own signature call with part of the signature call of another member "Divine Nine" organization (either fraternity or sorority).* That said, I've read that some BGLO members disagree with that practice.

*Here's an example of combining two sorority calls:
t goodwill, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n4A1mf_fr0
"Even though imma ZETA, i was jamming to SGRho's Roll call..LOL get it ladies!

ZZZZZZ-Yip!!"
-snip-
Refer to the list of calls given below.

****
A STATEMENT ABOUT CALLS & HAND SIGNS BY NATIONAL PAN-HELLENIC COUNCIL
From http://www.afa1976.org/Portals/0/Membership_Intake_Guide_NPHC.pdf NPHC National Membership Intake Guide
Hand Signs & Calls
"Hand signs and calls have evolved into another historical facet of Black fraternal organization life. According to Kimbrough (2003), the concept of calls is embedded in both African and African-American tradition. These sounds were a form of yodeling known as whooping in the Congo and Angola tribes. Additionally, these audible sounds, also known as cries and arhoolies, could he heard being sung by slaves. It is not clear when calls were first used, however, it seems possible that calls used by NPHC organizations became prevalent during the mid-1970’s.

Much like calls, the exact origin of hand signs cannot be pinpointed. According to Kimbrough (2003), pictures from college campuses of Black fraternities and sororities indicate that hand signs became a part of the Black fraternal experience during the 1970’s. Although it is not clear how calls and hand signs evolved, these traditions are long standing.

These universal symbols can be seen as exclusive outward expressions of pride and of strong organizational identification."

****
LIST OF NINE HISTORICALLY BLACK GREEK LETTER ORGANIZATION CALLS THAT ARE REFERRED TO AS "THE DIVINE NINE"
These organizations are given in categories (Fraternities/Sororities) and in chronological order with the earliest founded organizations in that category listed first.

Letters [or numbers] in these calls are often repeated to show enthusiasm and/or to stretch out the call.

Additions and corrections are welcome.
Fraternities:
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. (1906)
call: "O6"

Response [from a member or members of Alpha Phi Alpha] - "You know"

****
Kappa Alpha Psi, Fraternity Inc. (1911)
Yo Yo

****
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. (1911)
Roo or Roo Roo

****
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. (1914)
Blue Phi

****
Iota Phi Theta, Fraternity, Inc. (1963)
Ow Ow

****
Sororities
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. (1908)
Skee Wee

****
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Oo-Oop

****
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority,Inc. (1920)
Z-Phi

****
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. (1922)
Eee-Yip

****
Examples of these calls are given in the videos that are showcased in Part II of this series http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/seven-videos-of-black-greek-fraternity.html

****
STOMP AND SHAKE CHEERLEADER YELPS
"Stomp & Shake" cheerleading is a referent for a relatively new form of African American originated style of cheerleading.

Stomp & shake cheerleading focuses on the group performance of choreographed percussive, rhythmic foot stomping, (individual) hand clapping, leg lifts, and African American/Caribbean originated dance moves. These body movements are often but not always accompanied by the cheer squad's performance of self-bragging and/or competitor insulting unison chanting. Although most stomp & shake cheerleaders are female, a few males also are members of certain (usually university) stomp & shake squads. This particularly appears to be the case among university cheerleading squads that perform stomp & shake cheerleading and mainstream ("traditional") cheerleading.

Like mainstream cheerleading, the purpose of the cheer squad is to increase the enthusiasm of event attendees. However, the focus of stomp and shake cheer squads' performances and their textual (word) cheers are on the cheer squad itself, and not nearly as much as mainstream cheerleading on the football (or basketball) athletic team. Stomp & Shake is a relatively new form of cheerleading.

The earliest documentation that I've found for stomp & shake cheerleading is the early to mid 1970s at Virginia State University's cheerleading squad (the "Woo Woos) and in the late 1970s at Winston-Salem State University cheerleading squads (known as "Cheer Phi" and later as "the Red Team" and the "White Team").

Some, but not all university based stomp & shake cheerleaders include vocalizations of yelps (also informally referred to as "calls", "cries", and yells as part of their cheers. The vocalization of yelps (cries, yells) while cheering particularly appears to be a characteristic of Winston-Salem State University's (WSSU's) cheerleading style. WSSU's yelp is usually written as "Eeee-yiiip!" or similar spellings. Rightly or wrongly, fans of WSSU indicate that other cheerleading squads from other Historically Black Colleges and Universities' cheerleading squads that use this yelp "stole it" from WSSU.

because Winston-Salem State University's cheerleading squad continues to greatly influence American high school and younger stomp & shake cheerleading squads, their "yelp" vocalization is also found among those squads.

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VIDEO OF BLACK FRATERNITY AND SORORITY CALLS
Greek Speak Roll Call



UABStudentLife, Published on Sep 19, 2008

Check out the eight organizations of UAB's NPHC.
-snip-
Selected comments:
1. ninjapoodle22, 2009
"I see my soRHOrs! EEEEE-YIP!"
-snip-
soRHOrs = Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.

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2. t goodwill, 2011
Even though imma ZETA, i was jamming to SGRho's Roll call..LOL get it ladies!

ZZZZZZ-Yip!!
-snip-
"Zeta" - a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority,Inc.

Notice that "ZZZZZZ-Yip"!! is a combination of the Zeta's signature call and Sigma Gamma Rho's signature call.

**
3. BUTLERU, 2011
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEE-YIP SIGMA SORORS!"

**
4. MonaJalisa90, 2013
"I agree 100%! Luckily, Sigma Gamma Rho doesn't have to deal with such drama lol
EEE-YIP!"
-snip-
That video and three other videos of historically Black fraternity and sorority calls are embedded in the pancocojams post whose link is given above as http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/seven-videos-of-black-greek-fraternity.html.

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EXAMPLE OF A WSSU STOMP & SHAKE CHEER THAT INCLUDES A YELP (CALL)
SAY IT IN OUR FACE
Eeeyep!
Fight fight the power,
Hey go head go head.
Hey fight fight he power.
Go head go head.
Hey fight the power.
We are the Rams
And we stay on your case.
If you have something to say
Say it to our face. Haw!
Hey fight the power
Hey fight the power,
Say what
Say what
We are the Rams
And we get on your case.
If you have something to say
Say it in our face.
Say it in our face.
Say it
in
our
face.
HAWHHHHH!
-Winston-Salem State University WSSU Cheer Phi Cheerleaders,
transcription posted by SAC010 in that video's discussion thread by secalong, February 2011 (along with some transcription by Azizi Powell)

*This is the second cheer in that video. I previously (erroneously?) gave the title for that cheer as "Fight The Power".

Here's that video:

WSSU CHEERLEADERS GETTIN' CRUNK



ORIGINALCHEERPHI, Published on Feb 22, 2008

WSSU CHEERLEADERS SHOWING U HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE AT THE ULTIMATE CHEER & DANCE EXPERIENCE TRIAD HIGH SCHOOL CHEERLEADING COMPETITION 2007

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TWO ADDITIONAL VIDEOS AND SELECTED COMMENTS FROM TWO ADDITIONAL YOUTUBE DISCUSSION THREADS ABOUT STOMP AND SHAKE CHEERLEADER YELPS
WSSU CHEERLEADERS FOR MTV



Flow Child Entertainment Published on Sep 24, 2008

WSSU Cheerleaders tryout for MTV Show
-snip-
Selected comments:
1. Tez Parker, 2011
"Ayyyy dey betta do it!! Eeeoooppp!"

**
3.Asha Broo, 2012
"is that that guy going '' yyyyeepp'' lmaoo"

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3. AORaines, 2013
"Love the originality, the loudness, and the enthusiasm but cheerleaders don't woo nor eyyyupp....not sorority cheerleaders
-snip-
This comment indicates that stomp & shake cheerleading isn't really cheerleading because of the way that they perform. The commenter is also disparages WSSU's squad by referring to them as "sorority cheerleaders".

"Woo" here probably refers to Virginia State University's cheerleading squad that is known as "the Woo Woos". Unlike WSSU, it doesn't appear that the squad vocalizes "woo woo". Instead, "woo woo" is a vocalization of admiration and support is vocalized by that squad's fans. Click ____ for a video example of that vocalization.

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4. pdga9205,2013
"Y'all remind me of FSU (Fayetteville state) cheerleaders especially with the eeeyyyooppp thing!"
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Reply
5. RJRDEMONS, 2013
"WSSU its there original song they made in 2002"

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6. dstgirl9of9, 2014
"FSU got thier eeyyooppp from WSSU! "
-snip-
"FSU" here refers to Fayette State University (North Carolina)

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NC A&T Cheerleaders (Aggie Cheer) / Powerhouse National Competition (Stomp and Shake)



Kevin Crawford Published on Mar 17, 2017
-SNIP-
Selected comments:
1. Midget Catfish, 2017
"Why are they making the sghro call?"

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2. Ashley Monique Styles, 2017
"They killed it! How come the make the same noise that WSSU cheerleaders make? (Eee-yup) or it just sounds similar?"

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Reply
3. nevano, 2017
"Ashley Monique Styles If I'm not mistaken, I believe that's the call for Cheerleaders that are apart of the cheer world. I won't say too much cause I don't wanna stomp on any toes."

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Reply
4. Ashley Monique Styles, 2017
"nevano hmm I wonder if it's certain Colleges. When I cheered, we had our own call."

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5. Lilly, 2017
"They sound like cheering AKA's"
-snip-
"AKA's" = members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
The signature AKA call is a high pitched, usually extended "Skeeeee- weeee!"

**
6. Takiya Eiland, 2017
"I know they are not eee-yip in"
-snip-
This comment probably is a put-down of North Carolina's A&T cheerleaders for doing the yelp (call, cry) that is associated with WSSU's cheerleaders.

**
7. OrbiT BabE, 2017
"The squeak gave me life"

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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube video of a rendition of the African American Spiritual "Go Down Moses". That video is a clip from the 1941 American movie "Sullivan's Travels". Information about that movie is also included in this post along with selected comments from that video's discussion thread.

The content of this post is presented for religious, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

All copy rights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown composer/s of "Go Down Moses". Thanks also to all those featured in this movie clip, and all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE MOVIE "SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS"
From http://www.filmsite.org/sull.html
"Sullivan's Travels (1941) is generally considered one of celebrated writer/director Preston Sturges' greatest dramatic comedies - and a satirical statement of his own director's creed. One of his more interesting and intelligent films from a repertoire of about twelve films in his entire career, Sturges' Sullivan's Travels satirizes Hollywood pretension and excesses with his particular brand of sophisticated verbal wit and dialogue, satire and fast-paced slapstick...

This witty journey film from Paramount Studios skillfully mixes every conceivable cinematic genre type and tone of film possible - tragic melodrama, farce, prison film, serious drama, social documentary, slapstick, romance, comedy, action, and even musical, in about a dozen sequences.... The film's title is a vague reference to Gulliver's Travels (Jonathan Swift's satirical 1726 tale of Lemuel Gulliver's fanciful journey into strange, unknown worlds of Lilliputians, Brobdingnags, Houyhnhnms, and Laputians). In addition, the main character John L. (Lloyd) Sullivan was also the name of a well-known cultural figure of the time, deceased sports hero-boxer John L. (Lawrence) Sullivan, the first heavyweight champion of gloved-boxing in the late 19th century.

The film tells of the 'mission' of 'Sully' (Joel McCrea), a big-shot Hollywood director of lightweight comedies to experience suffering in the world before producing his next socially-conscious film of hard times - an epic titled 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' about the common man. [Film-makers Joel and Ethan Coen paid homage to Sturges and his admirable film by naming their own 21st century film O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000)] After some failed attempts dressed as a hobo and companionship on the road with an aspiring blonde actress simply called The Girl ... and wearing boy's clothes, he succeeds in losing his freedom, identity and name, health, pride and money. Incarcerated in a prison work camp as the end result of his misadventures, and as part of an audience of chain-gang convicts watching a screening in a Southern black church of a Walt Disney cartoon (starring Mickey Mouse and Pluto), he retains one final ability - - to laugh. He succeeds in understanding that his attitude toward the poor had bordered on patronization. He finally realizes the uplifting power of laughter, and decides to return to his true calling - the making of entertaining comedies to entertain rather than to edify.

...[this] superb film lacked even a single Academy Award Oscar nomination.”...

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: Go Down Moses - Sullivan's Travels (1941)



Jorge Curioso, Uploaded on Apr 16, 2008

Jess Lee Brooks performing the classic spiritual. From the 1941 Preston Sturges movie "Sullivan's Travels", starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake.
-snip-
The song starts at 1:16 in this video clip.

Here are some selected comments from this video's discussion thread. These comments are numbered for referencing purposes only.

2009
NoirFemme
"This scene is so ironic! Not only are the black people showing compassion towards criminals the white majority treats as scum, but the criminals are entering a black church in chains."

**
shavaris houston
"this is the best version I've ever heard...it takes me back to the choir in chicago when i was 6..they sang it exactly like this...thank you for bringing back a great memory in my life.."

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prfit
"this scene is incredible, it's placement in the film is powerful as well. the shot starting at 3:14 is absolutely perfect."

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2010
Nellie K. Adaba
"I recently saw this movie on TCM. I love this part of the movie. I couldn't believe it was a comedy when it had some violence in it and the death of a tramp."

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Xirbtt
"You didn't appreciate the paralel with the song and the situation the prisoners were in? The shots are all wonderfull and very dramatic. A powerfull scene if comprehended.

That's the problem now-a-days, people just don't think about movies anymore, because alot of movies are just. . . nothing. It's there to entertain you in just the most shallow ways possible.
Anyway, sorry about the rant.
But yes! This part of the movie gave me chills too.

**
Xirbtt
"I remember America wouldn't (at first) let the movie be sent to other countries because of the scenes with the homeless casting a "bad" light on america."

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NECHO II
"WOW !!! Isn't the speaking voice and the singing voice of Jesse Lee Brooks JUST HEAVENLY to listen to ? Jesse makes the PERFECT Minister for BOTH Black and White folk. And I'm male white. I think it absolutely outrageous that he is not even credited in the film !!! And to think that just three years after acting in this film, Jesse Lee Brooks died : only 54 years old. Far too young ! A film or at least a A&E Biography on this wonderful actor IS LONG OVERDUE !"

**
Reply
sandorsbox
"@NECHOII Ya Man! Very much like James Earl Jones, such a commanding presence! Sounds like a man who could lead people with that voice alone. And what a minister he would make."

**
Elvuz
'I love this scene. And the actor playing the minister is outstanding. His voice is amazing... But it seems to me that the deep voice s a common feature of black people - i.e. Paul Robeson..."

**
FrieleG
"CALL AND RESPONSE!"
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2011
Olive Inajar
"@dollsartforever
I agree. This is some of the best film making I've ever seen. When the prisoners part to go into the pews, it's like Moses parted the Red Sea."

**
Lorenzo Furioso6
"@kotorfan8039 Black spirituals are more closely linked or descended from the native music of various African peoples. There is a degree of overlap or influence of European vocal music as far as harmonies and structure, but for the most part the roles of the individual voices as they work together are based on traditional African musics."

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2012

****
2013

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2014
Max Liberatori
"An incredible scene from a fantastic movie made during the golden age of hollywood.."

**
LoverofGOD Always
"Definitely from the time of segregation. The white convicts sat right up front."

**
Tim Steinhoff
"Look at the film again; not all the prisoners were white. Listen to the minister "our guests are less fortunate than us" and that's why he asked them to clear the first 3 rows. He was showing them true Christian fellowship. I thought it was a very touching scene, showing blacks with dignity."

**
Daniel Guthrie
"One black convict entered the church and. presumably, sat with the rest of the convicts. I think guests sat in front but that all misses the point of the clip. This is the strongest plea for racial equality I've ever seen. It must have hit bigots like a thunderclap when they realized - too late - what they were seeing.
I cry every single time I see it."

**
LoverofGOD Always
"Definitely from the time of segregation. The white convicts sat right up front."

**
Xirbtt
"Hollywood didn't know what to lable this movie at all. Eventually they stuck it with a "comedy" sticker, but it can be that but it's so much more.
Having hints of action, comedy, drama, prision film, documentary, ect all these things into one film truly defies description.
An experience like no other."

**
Taiette Miller
"that was a beautiful and amazing show of solidarity. Not to mention musically stunning."

**
AJNorth
"This absolute gem of a scene is yet another stunning example of the extraordinary and discerning talent that was writer-director-producer Preston Sturgess.

A bright comet that shown all too briefly in the sky, he nevertheless bequeathed us enduring cinematic gifts, with "Sullivan's Travels" being perhaps the pinnacle amongst many tall peaks.

(The book Sullivan wanted to make into a picture, "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou," inspired the Coen brothers' 2000 film.)

Thank you for posting."

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2015

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2016
Someone Else
"One of the few positive depictions of black people and racial harmony in an Old Hollywood movie."

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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitors comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides commentary and the text to the African American song "Possum Was An Evil Thing". That song includes a "call" -vocalizations that, among other things, were sung to express sorrow, loneliness, joy, or another emotion.

The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the unknown composer of this song, and to the singer Henry Truvillion who sung this song. Thanks also to John A. and Ruby T. Lomax for recording this song and B.A. Botkin for publishing this book of African American folk songs.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/07/are-black-fraternity-sorority-calls.html for a pancocojams post that includes some information about field hollers:

This post is also part of a continuing pancocojams series that showcases American folk songs, rhymes, and minstrel songs that feature the name "Dinah" and/or "Old Aunt Dinah." Click the "Dinah and Old Aunt Dinah songs and rhymes" tag below for other posts in this series.

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FEATURED SONG
From https://www.loc.gov/folklife/LP/NegroWorkSongsAFS_L8.pdfFolk Music Of The United States: Negro Work Songs And Calls
Music Division. Recording Laboratory AFS L8
From the Archive of Folk Song Edited by B. A. Botkin

[From the preface to a track laying song "Unloading Rails" that is given as song #1 in that book]

"Henry Truvillion (now Rev. Henry Truvillion, pastor of a small country church near Newton, Texas) grew up on a farm in Mississippi and has at various times been railroad section hand, boss of a construction gang on southern railways, driver of a "two-horse wheeler" on Mississippi River levee-building jobs, and roustabout on Mississippi River steamboats. For nearly twenty years he was head tracklayer for the Wiergate Lumber Company, where, according to John A. Lomax, "track-laying goes on the year round."

[...]

[Song#] A10 -POSSUM WAS AN EVIL THING

[page 2]

Sung by Henry Truvillion at Burkeville, Tex., 1940. Recorded by John A. and Ruby T. Lomax. In order to appreciate these children's songs, one must visualize the setting in the cotton fields, where childrcn have bccn picking cotton and are th[e] inking of a feast of fat possum baked with sweet potatoes. "Along toward sundown," says Henry Truvillion, "we'd all leave and go on home, and you can hear sometimes twenty-five boys and twenty-five girls all going home through the woods and across the fi elds, and they're all
singing the same song back at one another."

POSSUM WAS AN EVIL THING
Possum was an evil thing,

He rambles in the dark.

He didn't know what the trouble was,

Until he hear old Rover bark.

Ooooh, baby, who*-oh-hoo!

Ooooh, baby, who-oo-hoo-hoo!

That's my baby, who-oh-oo-oo-oh'

Ooooh, baby, who-oh-hoo!

Old Aunt Dinah, who-oo-oo-oo!

Old Aunt Dinah, who-ho-oo-oo-ho!

Ooooh, baby, who-oh-hoo!

Ooooh, baby, who-oo-hoo-hoo!

That's me a-talkin ', who-ho-hoo-hoo-oh!

Who-ho-hoo-hoo-oh-who-ho-hoo-hoo-oh!

Oooh, Dinah, who-oh-ee!

Old Aunt Dinah, who-oo-hoo-hoo'

Old Aunt Dinah, who-oh-oo-hoo-oh'

Pronounced "whoa ."

[Page 3]

Ooooh, baby, who-oh-ho!

Possum was an evil thing,

He rambles in the dark.

He didn't know what the trouble was,

Until he hear old Rover bark.

Ooooh, Rover, who-oh-oo!

Who-oh, Rover, who-oo-hoo-hoo!

That's me a-talkin', who-oh-hoo-hoo-oh!

[page 4]

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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides an excerpt from a discussion thread of a YouTube video about a cheer battle between two North Carolina high schools stomp & shake cheerleading squads. This excerpt documents the negative adjectival use of the word "ghetto" as a descriptor of high school stomp & shake cheerleading and/or the cheerleaders themselves.

A video of the cheer battle that prompted this discussion is also included in this post. A commenter identified the e cheerleading squads in this video as 71st High School (Fayetteville, North Carolina) and West Mecklenburg High School -also known as "West Meck"- (Charlotte, North Carolina). I don't know which squad wore which color uniforms.

The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural and linguistic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the two cheerleading squads that are featured in this video and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this YouTube video.

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This post is part of pancocojams' ongoing series on Stomp & Shake cheerleaders and documents perceptions of that performance activity among YouTube commenters* in 2016 (the years that these comments were published).

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/06/examples-of-negative-adjective-use-of.html for a companion pancocojams post that provides selected examples of the almost always negative adjectival use of the word "ghetto" to describe Winston-Salem State University's (WSSU)'s cheerleading squads.

Also, click the stomp and shake cheerleading tag to find additional pancocojams posts about this type of cheerleading.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT STOMP & SHAKE CHEERLEADING
Stomp & shake cheerleading is particularly known among African Americans from middle school through university levels in Virginia and North Carolina. University squads perform these cheers on the sidelines of football or basketball games and during half-time of those games. High school and younger squads perform either standing on the sidelines during football games, or while seated or standing in the bleachers during basketball games. Stomp & shake cheers are performed by two squads who face off prior to the competitive games in a "cheer battle". In addition, stomp & shake cheer are performed during cheer competitions and at non-competitive performance events that aren't associated with any athletic games.

Stomp & Shake cheerleading has vehement supporters who love the creativity, innovation, skill, showmanship, "hardness" and "for realness" (according to Black cultural criteria) of this type of cheerleading. However, stomp & shake cheerleading also has vehement detractors who don't consider it to be "real cheerleading", but a form of fraternity/sorority stepping and/or cheer dancing. Stomp & cheer detractors also routinely negatively label stomp & shake cheerleading and its (almost exclusively) Black female squad members as being "ghetto" - i.e. behaving and/or dressing in ways that are highly inappropriate according to middle class standards, particularly behaving and dressing in sexually provocative ("slutty) ways. "Being ghetto" also may mean to act (or to actually be) "loud" and overly aggressive during the cheer performance and elsewhere.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: Cheer BATTLE



Latoya Siler Published on Apr 5, 2016

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DISCUSSION THREAD EXCERPTS THAT INCLUDE THE WORD "GHETTO" TO DESCRIBE HIGH SCHOOL STOMP & SHAKE CHEERLEADERS
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
This post quotes a sub-set of the discussion thread in its entirety (as of July 5, 1017 at 10:00 PM).

Some commenters have self-photographs that accompany their comments. All of those commenters are Black. My guess is that most of the other commenters who are quoted in these two sub-sets of this video's discussion thread are African Americans. However, only one of the commenters indicated that she is African American.

I've also assigned numbers to these comments for referencing purposes only.

1. Ehlanya Skinner, October 2016
"This isn't cheerleading what kind of cheers are these ,where is the stunting or tumbling maybe it's a ghetto thing"

**
Reply
2. Kristina Sales, November 2016
"what u mean by ghetto dont just assume its ghetto bc its black cheerleaders hun😑"

**
Reply
3. Airyn Able, November 2016
"+Kristina Sales it's not ghetto b.c its black cheerleaders... It's ghetto b.c of what they're doing. This isn't cheerleading, this is stomping and shaking..."

**
Reply
4. Kristina Sales, November 2016
"True but i never said it was ghetto the girl that said it was ghetto i was responding to her but there only where stomping and shaking your right about that lol"

**
Reply
5. Airyn Able, November 2016
"Lol true true"

**
Reply
6. Avery Pierce, November 2016
"There are different types of cheerleading if you didn't know. This is stomp and shake cheerleading and it's not ghetto. Just because you're not familiar with it doesn't mean it's ghetto. And they were at a cheer competition which included stunting and tumbling categories. Some squads are diverse and can do all three, stunt tumble and stomp & shake."

**
Reply
7. Airyn Able, November 2016
"+Avery Pierce Actually... I AM familiar with it. I have friends who do it and i literally tell them the same thing. it's ratchet asf... and f.y.i ANYONE can stomp and shake. Everyone CAN'T stunt and tumble👀"

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Reply
8. Niya Simmer, November 2016
"I bet ur ass voting for Trump"

**
Reply
9. Airyn Able, November 2016
"+Niya Simmer lmao. Actually I'm not. And FYI... I'm an African American."

**
Reply
10. Jonna Roberson, November 2016
"haaa"

**
Reply
11. Destiny Harris, December 2016
"Ehlanya Skinner thats so rude🤔"

**
Reply
12. Samflower, December 2016
"It is totally ratchet! I don't get why they call themselves cheerleaders...AT ALL! There is no uniform (ratchet reason #1), all I see are girls flinging weave around (ratchet reason #2) and stomping and clapping! Where is the cheer part? I'm not saying they have to do all-star cheerleading type of stunting and tumbling like Smoed or Cheer Extreme but seriously? What is so special about this? What they are shouting doesn't even sound audible, just grunts and slapping (ratchet reason #3)! They need to create their own genre for this mess and NOT calling it cheerleading!"

**
Reply
13. Airyn Able, December 2017
"+Samflower exactly!!"

**
Reply
14. Xavea Crump, December 2017
"It is not easy at all to do stomp and shake 🤔"

**
Reply
15. Airyn Able, December 2017
"Xavea Crump I'm sure it's a lot easier than learning how to stunt and tumble... JS"

**
Reply
16. Xavea Crump, December 2016
"You honestly cant say that one part is harder than the other. It depends on the person for some cheerleaders who are used to traditional cheer it's harder to have the rythm to stomp and shake and vis versa with stunting and tumbling. I consider stunting a skill it takes time to develop and the same goes for stomp and shake. One cheer like the ones they are performing can take weeks to perfect. If you haven't done it then please don't judge how easy or hard it might be."

**
Reply
17. Airyn Able, December 2017
"Xavea Crump that's exactly why I am commenting... I'm someone speaking from experience of both styles. People can learn choreography in a day, even if it isn't perfect. However, No one can learn a standing full, or a running double, or double up in a day..."

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Reply
18. Dwayneca Baldwin, December 2017
"Ehlanya Skinner it's stomp and shake style cheers made popular by hbcu don't let the stomps fool ya we can tumble me stunt as well as any all star squad it's just that our cheers are way more exciting with more movement and gets the crowd hype verses more traditional styles"
-snip-
"hbcu" = Historically Black Colleges & Universities

**
Reply
19. Kendall Bedford, February 2017
"High stepping is what i believe they call it. Correct me if im wrong"

**
Reply
10. Hannah Kemp, March 2017
"It's not ghetto is called stomp and shake cheering stupid."

**
Reply
11. Hannah Kemp, March 2017
"And it's a fu&&in* cheer battle retard theyre supposed to be in each other face"
-snip-
*This word was fully spelled out in this comment.

**
Reply
12. 3dasia patterson, April 2017
"first there was a tumbling portion this is just a battle portion. And and don't dare talk about my squad check yourself if you want to see our stunts and tumbles check out stunt and tamble portion. understand that this is not a white school poor funding not everyone can afford mats like white school. So so they have this portion so that all schools are able to participate. there are different division if you know all-star like me understand there is multiple levels. in all-star competition level 1there is no tumbling and no stunts so shut it down. best believe we know how to stunt. don't speak on something that you know little about. good day. o and no one called it cheerleading we said stomp n shake. And what are we doing stomping and shaking dumb asses."

**
Reply
13. 4dasia patterson, April 2017
"I and we actually have multiple uniforms this is just our battle uniform. follow us Instagram West meck cheerleaders. k bye"

**
Reply
14. Hannah Kemp, May 2017
"its stomp and shake cheer because i do that type of cheer thank you"

**
Reply
15. BëllëNome7xChanson, May 2017
"Samflower its not what you call ratchet just cuz you so used to 1) uniform 2) just cuz they black dont Mean all them got WEAVE tf do be a insular jackass 3) it is a different style of cheering hun , you aint used to all this , dont call it ratchet.

Do your research on cheering everybody do cheering completely different. It aint Easy being strong and fierce and all together. dont be closed minded. there are diff. types of cheerleading just like there are diff. types of dances"

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16. Flower Child, June 2017
"Samflower Actually some of them do have cheer uniforms. Check out Dudley High School, POB (Phillip O Bryant) cheerleaders, or NC A&T Aggie cheerleaders. Its called using your diaphragm while cheering. I've been a cheerleader for 4 years. Although we don't cheer nor sound like them, our coach tell us to use our "manly" or "deep" voices it helps make a louder sound. When other cheerleaders cheer, they sound like squeaky rats, and it's hard to tell what they're saying."

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Reply
17. Flower Child, June 1017
"Samflower and by the way honey, I can tell you're a preppy little white cheerleader who doesn't know anything about rhythm but listen, everyone does things differently. I bet your team can't even hold a beat. Some of those things you've said shouldn't have been announced. It's very rude and disrespectful."

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Visitor comments are welcome.

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancoocjams post was originally published on May 20, 2013. An additional example was added on June 6, 2013 and three additional examples were added on July 6, 2017.

This post is Part II of a two part series on the American R&B songs & children's cheerleader cheers that have the title "Rock Steady".

Part II of this series features videos & transcriptions of a number of examples of the children's cheerleader cheer with the name "Rock Steady". Part II also includes my comments about the probable military cadence "source" for these "Rock Steady" cheers, and my comments about the meaning of the term "rock steady".

Part I features videos of Aretha Franklin's 1971 dance song "Rock Steady" and The Whispers' 1987 dance song "Rock Steady". Part I also includes my comments about the inspiration for the title of those two songs, the meaning of the term "rock steady" in those two songs, and information about a dance movement that was usually performed for those two songs.

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/examples-of-comments-about-aretha.html for Part I of this series.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to those cheerleaders who are featured in this post. Thanks also to the YouTube publishers of these videos.

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THE MILITARY CADENCE SOURCE FOR "ROCK STEADY" CHEERS
I believe that the cheerleader cheer "Rock Steady" comes from the military cadence with the same title. Here's one version of that cheer from
DS2000, http://community.armystudyguide.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/9651093521/m/2181065521, posted 22 January 2005 22:06
Rock, (reply) ROCK!
steady, (reply) STEADY!
Roll, (reply) ROLL!
Ready (reply) READY! - sometimes I use EASY here instead of READY. Or sometimes after they say ROLL, I will scream, "I can't here you!" then go back to the "Rock" at the beginning.

You've got the right, the right to rock steady, ( reply is the same )

You've got the right to ROLL when you're ready, ( reply is the same )


(then you say the top part again twice)


Rock, Rock, Steady, Steady Charlie Rock is always ready! ( reply is same)
Rock, Rock Steady, Steady 1st Platoon is always ready! ( reply is same)

That's about all I can recall right now. If I think of anymore I'll add it. Feel free to insert your own words as well. I do it all the time! LOL

Hope this helps!

Location: Baumholder, Germany....
-snip-
Compare the line "Charlie Rock is always ready" with theses lines from some versions of the children's cheer"s "cause our team is always ready" and "cause your team ain't even ready".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/rock-steady-military-cadences-with.html for examples of Rock Steady military cadences.

The 1987 "Rock Steady" song by The Whispers and the 1971 "Rock Steady" song by Aretha Franklin may have influenced the popularity of the "Rock Steady" cheer. However, I don't think that those R&B songs were the actual source for the children's cheer.

I also don't believe that the Jamaican Rocksteady music genre wasn't a source for these cheers because Americans are still unfamiliar with Rocksteady music.

*By "children's cheerleader cheers", I mean cheerleader cheers & chants that are performed by children and teens in community cheerleader squads and/or in school cheerleader squads prior to colleges or universities.

Click this pancocojams post for information about Rocksteady music: http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/classic-jamaican-rocksteady-songs-sound.html.

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THE MEANING OF THE TERM "ROCK STEADY" IN CHEERLEADING CHEERS
In children's cheerleader cheers, "rock steady" means "to consistently do something very well: i.e. "to consistently excel on the athletic field." In these cheers "rock steady" is either given as a compliment "The [name of the athletic team] rocks steady", of as a diss (insult) "Your team don't rock steady"/ Your team "ain't even ready" (isn't prepared to best our team). In its complimentary form, "rock steady" is related to the American colloquial expression "You rock!" (meaning "You're great.".)

At the same time, "rock steady: in those cheers refers to steadily rhythmically moving your hips from side to side to the beat.

Aside from societal imposed gender expectations (that males would swing their hips much less than females), whether any hip swinging is done while performing the "rock steady" cheer or how much hip swinging is done while performing that cheer depends on the type of cheerleading squad. If the cheerleading squad adheres to mainstream cheerleading, that squad is much less likely to perform this cheer or others like it which are either of African American origin or have been influenced by African American songs. Furthermore, even if that squad were to perform a "Rock Steady" cheer, because of the admonition in mainstream cheerleading against cheerleaders swinging their hips, very little to no hip swinging would be done.

In contrast, in a stomp & shake cheerleading squad, hip swinging is an integral feature of cheerleading routines, and hip swinging would be performed while chanting the Rock Steady cheer and other cheers like it.

It appears from YouTube videos that a significant number of American children's cheerleading squads have adopted some degree of hip shaking into their cheer routines. That is particularly the case with chants such as "Rock Steady" which are inspired by if not originated from African American culture.

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FEATURED VIDEOS & TEXT TRANSCRIPTIONS
(These examples are presented in chronological order based on the date of their YouTube posting, with the oldest dated example posted first. The transcriptions are done by me from the videos. Additions & corrections are very welcome.)

Example #1: "Rock Steady" cheer



Sydney Calloway, Uploaded on Jan 16, 2010

Jv cheerleaders preforming rock steady at an away game during a quater at the boys basketball game.

CHEER LYRICS (Example #1)
Rock, rock steady
Cause your team
Ain't even ready
To rock rock rock rock
Steady eddy eddy eddy rock
Rock steady

[repeat several times]
-posted by Sydney Calloway, Uploaded on Jan 16, 2010
-snip-
The words "Steady eddy eddy" are included in many but not all of the "Rock Steady" cheerleading cheers. That phrase isn't found in either Aretha Franklin 1971 "Rock Steady" song or The Whispers' 1987 "Rock Steady" song. My guess is that the phrase "steady eddy eddy eddy" is based on the military cadence line "ready, ready, ready" line in some "Rock Steady" military cadences.

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Example #2: Rock Steady
Pancocojams Editor's note:
This video that was uploaded by markus gray on Jun 8, 2010 is no longer available, as of at least July 6, 2017. Here are the words to that version of this cheer which were posted by markus gray: owever, I'm

"Rock Steady"....you know!!!!

CHEER LYRICS (Example #2)
Squad: Rock (clap clap clap) steady (clap clap clap)
YES we rock, we rock, we rock steady
One person: So what's up girl?
Squad: Rock, (clap clap clap) steady (clap clap clap)
YES we rock, we rock, we rock steady
I said we like to rock.
We like to rock steady.
I said we like to rock.
We like to rock steady.
Hit it. Steddy eddy eddy eddy
Rock.
-posted by markus gray, Uploaded on Jun 8, 2010

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Example #3: PHS CHEERLEADERS Rock Steady



PHSExtraordinary, Uploaded on Nov 14, 2010

ROCK....STEADY......CAUSE YOUR TEAM......AINT EVEN READY!!!!! Lets go Rockets!!!!!! Varsity Cheerleaders

CHEER LYRICS (Example #3)
Rock, rock steady
Cause your team
Ain't even ready
To rock rock rock rock
Rock rock steady
Your team ain’t even ready
To rock rock rock rock
Rock rock steady
Cause our team is always ready
To rock rock rock rock.
-posted by PHSExtraordinary, Uploaded on Nov 14, 2010

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Example #4: Rocksteady cheer



Babydoll5432, Published on Jul 7, 2012
Na na looks crazy

CHEER LYRICS (Example #4)
Rock rock steady
The angels are ready
To rock rock rock rock
Steady eddy eddy eddy
Rock
[repeat multiple times]
-posted by Babydoll5432, Published on Jul 7, 2012

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Example #5: Dailey Tigers "Rock Steady"

.

daileytigers, Published on Nov 17, 2012

CHEER LYRICS (Example #5)
Lead girl- Hey Tigers are you ready
Entire squad: Well get down and rock steady
Well Tigers are ready.
Well get down and rock steady.
Well Tigers are ready.
Well get down and rock steady.
[Do a body patting and foot stomping routine with a sideways body wave movement]

[Same Lead girl] –Rock steady! Ready. Okay.
[Entire squad]
We,
we
are
ready
To
rock rock rock rock
Steady eddy eddy

Rock, rock steady
Your team ain't even ready
To rock rock rock rock
Steady eddy eddy eddy
Rock steady
Your team ain't even ready
To rock rock rock rock
Steady eddy eddy eddy
Rock.
-posted by dailytigers, Published on Nov 17, 2012
-snip-
This transcription doesn't include a description of the squad's entire routine.

This cheerleading squad includes a great deal of foot stomping & body patting in its cheerleading routines.

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Example #6: BEN L. SMITH AND EASTERN GUILFORD CHEER OFF [Added June 6, 2013]



ORIGINALCHEERPHI, Uploaded on Feb 21, 2008

THE EAGLES LETTIN' THE WILDCASTS KNOW THEY AINT READY TO ROCK WITH THEM AT THE ULTIMATE CHEER & DANCE EXPERIENCE TRIAD HIGH SCHOOL CHEERLEADING COMPETITION 2007
-snip-
“Wildcasts” is probably a typo for “Wildcats”.
-snip-
Second cheer “rock steady” [.042-1:16]

CHEER LYRICS (Example #6)
Say what, what, what, what*
Your team ain't even ready.
We rock
Steady.
'Cause your team
Ain't even ready
To rock, rock, rock, rock
To rock
steady
'Cause your team
Ain't even ready
To rock, rock, rock, rock.
Your team ain't even ready
To ROCK.
-snip-
*I'm unsure of this transcription. The squad might be saying "We rock, rock, rock, rock."
O(

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ADDITIONAL EXAMPLES ADDED; July 6, 2017
Pancocojams Editor's Note: There are LOTS of examples of children (pre-teens and teens) performing "Rock Steady" cheers. Here are three other examples of these cheers. I've assigned numbers according to the order that I happened upon those examples on YouTube.

Example #7: ROCK STEADY CHEER by Newark Varsity Squad



Audrey Schaener, Published on Jan 24, 2017
-snip-
This high school cheerleading squad is performing "Rock Steady" in a stomp & shake style.

CHEER LYRICS (Example #7)
Rock
Steady
'Cause your team ain't even ready to
Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock Steady.
-Newark Varsity Squad cheer, transcribed from the video by Azizi Powell

I'm not sure where this high school is located.

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Example #8: Rock Steady Cheer


MCE Cheer Published on Apr 12, 2013

Candid practice videos from the beginning of the year.

McEvans Cheer
-snip-
This cheer beat reminds me of a slow down version of foot stomping cheers.

There is a McEvans High School in Shaw, Mississippi. I don't know if that is where the students featured in this video are from.

CHEER LYRICS (Example #8)
Rock
Whoo!
Rock Steady
Alright Alright
Rock Rock Rock
Whoo!
Rock steady

[add more foot stomping]

Rock
Rock steady
Rock Rock Rock
Rock steady
-McEvans High School cheerleaders, transcription by Azizi Powell from the video (additions and corrections are welcome)

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Example #9: NHS Rock Steady Cheer 10 4 13



Nottingham High School Video, Published on Oct 8, 2013
-snip-
I'm not sure where this school is located. Google search lists a Nottingham High School in Syracuse, New York and a Nottingham, High School in Hamilton Township, New Jersey.

CHEER LYRICS (Example #9)
Rock
Rock steady
Oh yeah!

[repeat this entire portion multiple times]

Rock, rock, rock, rock
Steady steady, steady, steady
'cause he's not even ready
Rock
[repeat entire cheer]
-Nottingham High School cheerleaders, transcription by Azizi Powell from the video (additions and corrections are welcome)

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