Category Archives: Musical

Nursery Rhyme – American

Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Austin, TX
Performance Date: April 22, 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

“Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere. Clean up, clean up, everybody do your

share.”

My informant learned this nursery rhyme in preschool in Midland, Texas around the age of four or five.  His teacher would sing this song every day when it was time for the children to clean up their toys and games and get ready for lunch time.  He and his classmates would sing along and begin to pick up their toys and put them away in the proper places.  After everyone put away their toys and the room was clean, his teacher would say, “Give yourselves a round of applause,” and the whole class would clap for themselves.

My informant believes this nursery rhyme motivates children to clean up because they sing while they put their toys away.  It is very hard to get children to clean up anything and put away their toys, and singing a song makes them enjoy it because they forget they are doing a chore.  Also, having the children clap for themselves after all the toys have been put away rewards them for cleaning up and encourages them to continue doing it.

My informant thinks this song is used primarily by parents, babysitters or pre-school teachers because they deal with young children every day.  Children are the ones who mainly sing this song, although often times it is at the prompting of an adult.

Nursery Rhyme – Armenian

Nationality: Armenian-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Company President
Residence: Stevenson Ranch, CA
Performance Date: April 25, 2007
Primary Language: Armenian
Language: English

???? ???? ?????
?????, ?????:
????????? ????? ?????? ?????
????????? ????? ?????? ?? ?????
????????? ????? ?? ?????, ?? ??? ??,
???? ???????:
??????? ????? ??????? ??,
??????? ??,
?????? ??????,
????? ??????,
??????? ??????…

???? ???? ????????? ???? ??????
??????? ??? ???? ????????
???-???? ????,
??????? ???????,
??????? ????? ??? ?? ?????

Thumb said: “Coming, coming they are coming,”

Forefinger said: “Who is coming?”

Middle finger said: “Wolves are coming.”

Ring finger said: “Let’s run away, hurry, hurry.”

Little finger said: “I’m so small,

I’m so tiny,

I’ve got no feet,

Nor have I wings,

How can I walk or run away!”

And so Thumb said: “We won’t run away,

We won’t retreat from wolves in dismay,

We will stand shoulder to shoulder,

We’ll become one fist

And get the power!”

My informant learned this nursery rhyme from her mother around the age of three.  She and her mother would sing this song sometimes before bedtime or if she could not sleep.  My informant’s mother learned this from her mother who is full-blooded Armenian and passed it down to my informant.

This nursery rhyme is also a finger game. Whenever a finger talks you move it like it is speaking and then put it down.  By the end of the song, all the fingers are down and a fist is made.

My informant says this nursery rhyme is mainly sung by children since it is also a finger game.  She says many children sing this in groups together at school or even when playing together.

My informant plans to teach this game to her children because it was a part of her Armenian childhood that she remembers.

Song – India

Age: 40
Occupation: Preschool Teacher
Residence: Redmond, WA
Performance Date: March 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Sourashtra, Tamil

Family Cooking Song

Onte gammum ontay samial kari odia

Tenna onta moorgnokai kali cut karia

Tech chadu howkam kali tarya

Koli kouli techam keri

Ovadu chadu tellate seidi

Aski ya chockate foiyai tora mora karya

In a city there was a cook

The cook took an onion and cut it

She put the onions into the pot

And she mixed it really well

She waited for a while and see if it was done

After that she took it and served for all to eat.

My informant is one of 6 children in her family and as she was growing up she had many chores to do around the house. One of them included helping her older sisters cook on weekends. She told me that her oldest sister told her this song when she was 10 years old. She said that most probably she made it up on the spot but she remembers it really well. She said sometimes when she cooks she unconsciously sings it because it stuck onto her that well.

I feel that when my informant was growing up in India, she did not have many things to do while cooking. For example these days one could watch TV or listen to radio and things like that. Even though my informant had those facilities they didn’t have them in their kitchen, which was separate from their family room. So they instead resorted to singing songs about cooking and enjoying themselves together.

Today while my informant cooks she rarely sings songs. She jut usually just watches TV or doesn’t do anything at all. As for my other relatives that live in India, they still sometimes sing songs. When I went to India last summer, my cousin still sang songs when she cooked. She learnt most of them from her mom (my aunt).

Song – California

Nationality: Swedish-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 27, 2008
Primary Language: English

“B-î-G ma-cks—FI-lay-A Fish

Quarter Pounder—FRENCH Fries

I-cy Cola—thi-ck sha-kes

SUn-daay-s—AND

Apple pie

Big Macs— Fillet-a-fish,

Quarter-Pounder—French fries

Icy Cola—Thick shakes,

SUNDAYS and

Apple pies”

Big macs, Fillet-a-fish = hands together; slap each other on right and left side twice

Quarter-Pounder—French fries= Outside hand goes up and hits each other, hand goes back down to tap own hand, then goes below hand to hit each other again

Icy-cola= slaps right hand on waist, drops left hand

Thick shakes= Index finger of right hand goes up in the air and is twirled

Sundays and apple pies= grab corresponding right hand; grab corresponding left hand; (forms X) and bounce together

Analysis:

Angela has lived in California all her life, and now attends the University of Southern California, majoring in English. Her beliefs are .She first learned this game in third grade during recess from her classmates. At the time she did not realize she was reciting the McDonalds Menu. It was one of the many songs she sang and played. Looking back on it now, she thinks the song may have come from the 70’s because “that’s when McDonalds was in and popular.”

We know that McDonald first opened in 1955, Thus the terminus post quem for this pieced of folklore must be at least after that date. TV dinners and fast food enterprises gained popularity during the 1960’s and 70’s. To be more specific the Big mac made its daybue in 1968. Thus, we can move the terminus post quem up until that point. Moreover, this is a prime example of a possible commercial advertisement becoming folklore. When a commercial advertisement becomes engrained in a culture, that when you know its going to last a while. However, usually advertisers take a piece of folklore already existing in society and interweave it into a commercial or advertisement. This is one of those rare cases, where the opposite has occurred. And it has occurred targeting kids. Children are great, ideal sources for spreading folklore, for they absorb information fast and then want to tell everyone they know what they had just learned. This is more exposure and free advertisement for McDonalds not to mention that children tend to have some leeway when it comes to getting what they want. The reputation of the song over and over again, may make McDonalds very appealing once lunch time comes around. Also, it is very hard for a parent to look into their children’s eyes and tell them no. This may be due to the adult’s romantic notions on children’s innocence; children have not yet been corrupted by society, which enables them to get what they want. This could attribute to McDonalds earlier business success.

Song/Game

Nationality: Swedish-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 27, 2008
Primary Language: English

“Down by the banks of the hanky-pankey

Where the bull frogs jump from bank to bankey

Singing Eaps, Ips, Ops, Uops, Tiddly Windly, Bing Bong!”

She stood in a circle with a group of girls. Her right hand was placed facing upwards, on top of the left hand of the girl to her right. Her left hand was placed below the right hand of the girl to her left. One girl started it off by taking her top hand (right hand) and hitting/tapping the girl’s hand to her left, which was on top of her own hand. As the song progressed, each girl would hit/tap the hand of their adjacent person. When the note “bong” was sung, that person who was last slapped was out. She could avoid getting out, if she was quick enough to pull her hand out of the way, so that the last person would wind up slapping her own hand. This continued until it was down to the last two people. The last two people would then grab each others hand as if they were going to thumb wrestle. They would then move their arms, back and forth in one fluid motion, singing the song. When it ended on bong, each person would try to make the other person fall by pulling them. The person most successful at making the other stumble won the game.

Analysis

Angela learned this song in third grade. It was very popular to play during recess. All the girls would gather together and play until it was time to go in. Boys did not partake in the activity. She learned “Down by the Banks” from her classmates.

This popular hand game, although seems innocent enough has sexual connotation to it. The title itself includes the word Hankey Pankey. The definition of this word means adultery or illicit sexual relations. The story goes that a bullfrog, a male, will jump from bank to bankey, or from woman to woman. More specifically, he is jumping from girl to girl around the circle. He’s singing Eaps, Ips, Ops, Uoops. These words are onomatopoetic, giving the impression of wrongdoing. The word bong symbolizes that he gets caught for his inexcusable actions. It is interesting to notice that only girls play the game and they are trying to catch the bullfrog, or in simpler words, women are trying to catch a cheating husband. If they caught him, they will hit the hand of another. If they miss, they hit their own hand. The phrase down by the banks can be traces back to the city of Liverpool, England. There the phrase means to tell someone off, which is very appropriate for this scenario.