Quote:
Originally posted by Gail White:
In the way of counting or skipping rhymes, we used:
Mary and Johnny, sitting in a tree,
K-I-S-S-I-N-G.
How many kisses did she get?
One, two...
The "children's culture" is probably indeed dying, as video games take the place of the folk rhymes handed down through the ages.
In the way of racial songs, we had one about "the old bald-headed Chinese", which I no longer remember except for the concluding lines:
We buried him deep and he stuck out his feet,
The old bald-headed Chinese.
And this one:
My name is Solomon Levi
And my store's on Salem Street,
That's where you buy your coats and hats
And everything else that's neat.
I've second handed ulsterets*
And overcoats so fine
For all the boys that trade with me
At a hundred-and-forty-nine.
Oh Solomon Levi! Tra la la la la la la....
*God knows what an ulsteret is, but we sang it.
Also we sang the endless verses of "Found a Peanut", which ends with the hapless peanut eater shelling peanuts in hell.
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"I know that "old bald-headed chinese" song. Here's how it went---
My mother, she told me to open the door for the old bald-headed chinese. So I opened the door and he fell through the floor, the old bald-headed chinese.
My mother, she told me to give me to give him a drink, the old bald-headed chinese. So I gave him a drink and he swallowed the sink, the old bald-headed chinese.
My mother, she told me to give him some cake, the old bald-headed chinese. So I gave him some cake and he ate up the plate, the old bald-headed chinese.
My mother, she told me to give him a bath, the old bald-headed chinese. ?So I gave him a bath and let out some gas, the old bald-headed chinese?.
My mother, she told me to put him to bed, the old bald-headed chinese. So I put him to bed and he chopped off his head, the old bald-headed chinese.
My mother, she told me to bury him deep, the old bald-headed chinese. So I buried him deep and he stuck up his feet, the old bald-headed chinese.
I never met anyone who knew that song.
Megan