Category Archives: Musical

Miss Mary Mack Hand Game

Nationality: American
Age: 53
Occupation: Respiratory Therapist
Residence: Chico, CA
Performance Date: April 20, 2020
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

Here is a transcription of my (CB) interview with my informant (PB).

CB: So what was it?

PB: It was a hand clapping song. There were specific hand claps that went with it, and it was for two persons, or three persons. And it was called Miss Mary Mack”

CB: “How did it go?”

PB: “Old Mary Mack Mack Mack

All dressed in black black black

With silver buttons buttons buttons

All down her back back back 

She asked her mother mother mother

For fifty cents cents cents

To the animals animal animals

Jump over the fence fence fence

They jumped so high high high 

They touched the sky sky sky

And they never came back back back

To Mary Mack Mack Mack”

CB: “So what do you think is the meaning of the song?”

PB: “The meaning of the song? I just… I think it was mostly nonsense to be honest. I think it was just rhymy, and she had to ask her mother for the money to go to the zoo basically, and then she fantasizes about the animals who can fly over the fence.”

CB: “Why do you think its important and people do it?”

PB: “I think it connects them with all the people in the group that they’re doing it with. And it can help improve their skill and memory”

CB: “Where and in what context would people do it?”

PB: “Um, gosh you know sometimes, if you’re at like a sporting a event for one of your relatives. Like your sister plays softball and you don’t, or if your brother plays football and you’re bored, then like a bunch of the younger kids would get together to pass the time. They would kind see how fast they could do it, and do it faster and faster each time or in line at school the kids would do it.”

Background:

Miss Mary Mack is just one of many hand games that children grow up playing. My informant actually taught me this game and many others like it. Because the games are so popular and widespread, they are able to connect kids who might have very different experiences.

Context:

I interviewed my informant in person. We were in my bedroom on my bed, and the conversation was very comfortable and casual. I had heard and played the hand game many times beforehand.


Thoughts:

I grew up with hand games being a very gendered activity. Only girls would play the games at school, and as my informant described, girls would often use them as entertainment while boys played the more stereotypically masculine games such as sports. I learned Miss Mary Mack from my mother, but learned other hand games from siblings, cousins, aunts, and my grandma. It often followed the pattern where older women would teach young girls the games. Like Miss Mary Mack, the songs often had no clear meaning but were repeated for amusement. The songs did often have connections to common aspects of childhood, as is seen when Mary asks her mother for permission and money to go to the zoo. I think that these games represent the way that gender roles are passed down through society. While it was never explicitly stated, the older generation’s involvement in sharing these games clearly state that they approve of them. The girls who learn them then learn that these are more acceptable methods of entertainment than other forms of play.

For another version of the Miss Mary Mack hand game see YouTube video “Miss Mary Mack hand clap” uploaded by Tom Cecil. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP9V0S51GVo

Children’s Song: “A Sailor Went to Sea”

Nationality: African American
Age: 60
Performance Date: April 21, 2020
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

The following was transcribed from an interview between the informant and the interviewer.

“A sailor went to sea, sea, sea

To see what he could see, see, see

But all that he could see, see, see

Was the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea

A sailor went to chop, chop, chop

To see what he could chop, chop, chop

But all that he could chop, chop, chop

Was the bottom of the deep, blue chop, chop, chop

A sailor went to knee, knee, knee

To see what he could knee, knee, knee

But all that he could knee, knee, knee

Was the bottom of the deep, blue knee, knee, knee

A sailor went China

To see what he could China

But all that he could China

Was the bottom of the deep, blue China

A sailor went to Ooh-Wah-Chi-Kah

To see what he could Ooh-Wah-Chi-Kah

But all that he could Ooh-Wah-Chi-Kah

Was the bottom of the deep, blue Ooh-Wah-Chi-Kah

Context:

I collected this piece of folklore during an interview while at the informant’s house. The informant, my mother, used to sing this song along with her other friends when she was around the ages of 6-9. She is an African American, and she grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. There are also hand motions that go with this song when ever the word “see” or “sea” is used then you would put your hand to your forehead as if saluting, and you would tap your forehead in time with the words. So, when it says “see, see, see,” you would tap your forehead three times along with the words. This applies to all of the other words if it’s said three times. For “chop,” you would make a “knife” with one hand and “chop” your other arm in time with the music. For “knee,” you would hit your knee. Then, for “China,” you would pull at the corner of your eyes to create narrower eyes. And, lastly, for “Ooh-Wah-Chi-Kah” (I just made up the spelling by the way), you would shimmy. My informant also told me that the “original” song was simply just the first verse, and then she learned other verses of the song through different friends.

My Thoughts:

The first stanza could have been popular among children simply because it deals with word play. Since young kids would be exploring the English language more as they grow up, word play, homophones, may be words that are especially interesting to young kids. All the other stanzas are different though because they have nothing to do with word play or seem to make that much sense at all. The other stanzas could just show how kids had fun with words. The other stanzas could be more regional, while the first stanza could be more widespread. All the other stanzas besides the first, have words that may be interesting to young kid learning more about the language. Both “chop” and “China” have the “ch” sound which is a special grammar rule in the English language. Also, the word “knee” is an interesting exception to the common rules of English grammar by having a silent k. These words could be forms of exploring the complexity of the English language. The last stanza is the oddest because it does not have to do with the English language, but kids do get to explore different sounds that may just be fun to say. It is also important to note that my informant said only girls would play this rhyme which is common in our culture.

The Crooked Man- Nursery Rhyme

Nationality: American
Age: 17
Occupation: High School Student
Residence: Charleston, South Carolina
Performance Date: 3/20/20
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

Subject: (Singing) There was a crooked man, who walked a crooked mile. He found a crooked six pence against a crooked stile. He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse. And they all lived together in a little crooked house.

Interviewer: That is so spooky… where did you hear this?

Subject: My mother would sing it to me before I went to sleep when I was younger and I never forgot it.

Interviewer: Did that make you scared?

Subject: Um… no not really. I didn’t notice any, uh, I guess, sinister tones in the lyrics or the purpose of the song until I got older. Then I sung it again and I was like wait. That’s pretty creepy.

Interviewer: Yeah like the same thing happened to me. Something about it is just weird.

Subject: Yeah it’s amazing what we don’t pick up on when we’re kids right?

Context: The subject is my 17-year-old younger brother in his senior year of high school. We have been quarantined together due to the Coronavirus pandemic and staying at our home in Charleston, South Carolina. After dinner, we were sitting in the dark in the living room and I asked him to tell me any folklore he learned when he was a child. He proceeded to sing this nursery rhyme.

Interpretation: I am familiar with this particular nursery rhyme in the same way my brother is. My mother used to sing it around the house. When I got older and recounted it with my siblings, we all had the same realization that it was quite an unsettling tune. We clearly are not the only one to pick up on its creepiness, because the nursery rhyme was featured in the horror film “The Conjuring 2” in 2016. And later in the same year, the nursery rhyme actually got a movie solely inspired from it, titled “The Crooked Man”, about a nursery rhyme that awakens a demonic figure. So I was curious about the origins of the nursery rhyme, what the lyrics are really about, and if they intended to be creepy. Upon research, I discovered the rhyme is actually about Scotland gaining political and religious freedom England. The “crooked man” is about the general who signed the agreement and the “crooked stile” supposedly refers to the border between England and Scotland. I found it super fascinating that a nursery rhyme about a historical event could be interpreted and appropriated so differently as a horrifying tune.

Lizzie Borden – Nursery Rhyme

Nationality: American
Age: 54
Occupation: Real Estate Investment Management
Residence: Charleston, South Carolina
Performance Date: 3/19/20
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

Subject: I grew up in the town next to Lizzie Borden… where Lizzie Borden was. Lizzie Borden was from Fall River and I was from Tiverton, the town over. And I can remember I took pottery classes right near Lizzie Borden’s house. We all knew the story of Lizzie Borden. That she took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks. She didn’t really like her mother apparently. But when she saw how sad it made her dad, she gave her father forty-one. 

*Singing* Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, gave her father forty-one. 

It was a nursery rhyme! As kids you know… because it happened so close to where we all lived and grew up… that was sort of scary. Somebody would smack their parent with an axe forty times… and then do it again forty-one times! Lizzie Borden!

Context: The subject is a white middle-aged male of Ashkenazi and Eastern-European descent. He was born and raised in Tiverton, Rhode Island with his parents and two siblings. He also happens to be my father, and we are currently quarantined together at our home in Charleston, South Carolina. After dinner one night, I was sitting with him in my dimly lit living room, and I asked if he would share with me any folk beliefs he had heard through his family.

Interpretation: I first discovered the Lizzie Borden nursery rhyme when I watched the biographical film Lizzie starring Kristen Stewart and Chloe Sevigny. It was a sort of feminist approach to the Lizzie Borden story. Lizzie falls in love with a woman and her parents are depicted as emotionally abusive and controlling. Though I’m not certain of the historical accuracy of the film, because it was my introduction to Lizzie Borden, whenever I heard the nursery rhyme, I always felt a bit defensive over her. The nursery rhyme obviously does not leave much room for nuance. Lizzie is a horrifying figure in it. Hearing my father’s account of how afraid he was of Lizzie, and how villainous she was to him as a child made me think about what other nursery rhymes have a more complicated background than how they are interpreted.

I Love A Lassie

Nationality: Scottish
Age: 95
Occupation: Unemployed
Residence: Aberdeen, Scotland
Performance Date: April 11, 2020
Primary Language: English

MAIN PIECE

I Love A Lassie

“I love a lassie, a bonnie bonnie lassie, 

She’s as pure as a lily in the dell, 

She’s sweet as the heather, the bonnie bloomin’ heather,

Mary, my Scots bluebell.”

“[I Love A] Lassie is a lullaby that a lot of Scottish girls heard growing up.  We’d sing it to the boys too, but for some reason it was more of a girl’s song.  It’s very romantic and uplifting, which I believe a lot of our lullabies are.  We’d  sing it to girls when we wanted them to go to sleep.  I had no daughters, but I’d sing it to my granddaughters when I rocked them in my arms.”

BACKGROUND

This informant, MS, comes from Aberdeen, Scotland and has lived there for all of her life, except for a few years she spent in London.   She’s from the silent generation and has grown up with children around her for a lot of her life.  She also knows this song from when her mother would sing it to her, as well, she remembers it from hearing it in the schoolyard and local playdate-like meetings with her friends growing up.

CONTEXT

I invited MS, my great grandmother, to talk with me after a family reunion zoom call.  A few days later, we got together and we live streamed a rerun of Strictly Come Dancing over zoom and during the commercial breaks, we talked over some  folklore from her life in Scotland, specifically from her childhood in Aberdeen.

THOUGHTS

It’s strange to think a romantic song could be a lullaby because it’s not meant for people in romances, but instead, children.  I think this song represents a Scottish romanticism we don’t see portrayed in the media all the time.  It stands for this idealized woman, so it’s interesting that it is sung to girls instead of boys.  Boys may relate to the desire of the image more, but I believe there might be a sense of describing what a woman should be like to little girls so that they can grow up to be “Mary, my Scot’s bluebell”.