Category Archives: Musical

Forehead, Elbows, Thighs And Feet

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Marin County, California
Performance Date: April 4, 2018
Primary Language: English

The following is transcribed from a conversation between the performer (MS) and I (ZM).

ZM: Do you remember when you first learned the head, shoulders…

MS: (interrupts) Middle school.

ZM: Middle school?

MS: Mhmm.

ZM: When did you make this version?

MS: Middle school. Wait what? We made up the middle school thing. We made up the new one in middle school.

ZM: Do you know when you learned the like…

MS: (interrupts) Learned “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes?”

ZM: Yeah.

MS: (long pause) Preschool.

ZM: Okay and…

MS: We did it as a joke.

Main Piece:

The following is a transcription of the performance given by MS.

Foreheead, elbows, thighs, and feet. Thighs and feet. Foreheead, elbows, thighs, and feet. Thighs and feet. Pupils, and nostrils, and (pauses to remember the rest) lobes, and teeth. Foreheead, elbows, thighs, and feet. Thighs and feet.

Context: For my short paper topic, I chose an authored song that utilized the common children’s folk song of “Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes.” When researching the song, I found many variants that differed from the way I learned the song. A little frustrated and confused as to how no one had recorded the version I was familiar with, I went into the common area of my apartment and asked if my roommate knew the song. I then asked her to perform it for me and she was not able to complete the full song in what she called the “normal” way that she learned in preschool. What she was able to perform, however, was a rendition she made with her friend in middle school to mock the standard song. Although her version had the same general format and melody of “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” she sang different body parts then typically featured. While singing a particular body part she would touch it just like in the popularized version, with the exception of her pupils.

Background: The performer is a sophomore studying at the University of Southern California. She grew up in Marin County, California and attended preschool and a private middle school there.

Analysis: I thought this was interesting because while we often discuss natural variation from trying to remember the words, this was a conscious alteration of the song. At a young age, MS and her female friend made a parody to mock the song and express their individuality.

For another version of this folk song see…

“The Children – Head, Shoulders, Knees And Toes.” Genius, 2018 Genius Media Group Inc., genius.com/The-children-head-shoulders-knees-and-toes-lyrics.

 

 

Protest Chats at March Against Trump LA

Nationality: American, various
Age: various
Occupation: various
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: November 12, 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

On a sunny Los Angeles morning, 8,000 people marched in protest of president-elect Donald Trump. The course of the November 1st march was from McArthur Park, through the 3rd street tunnel, ending on the steps of a downtown federal building. The march was led by a collation diverse Los Angeles organizations including Union del Barrio, Black Lives Matter Pasadena, Black Lesbians United, the Freedom Socialist Party, and the Palestine Youth Movement. Along with regular members of the headlining organizations, the protest included many novice protestors who were compelled to march by for the first time.

As one can imagine, this massive group of people did not have one single message or platform. Rather they were a coalition of many interest and values, brought together by their shared disapproval of Donald Trump’s impending term. As a result, the chants heard at the march were varied. We’ll examine these chats in particular, and the behavior of people at protests generally as folklore.

Here are the chats I heard:

Rhythmic chants:

“The people united will never be divided”
(The peo-ple — / u-ni-ted — / will ne-ver be / di-vi-ded)

“Hey hey! Ho ho! Donald Trump has got to go!”
(Hey hey — — / Ho ho — — / Don — -ald Trump / has got to go)

“We reject the president elect”
(We — — re /ject — —  the /pres-i-dent e-/lect — — –)

“Love trumps hate!”

Call and response chants:

A:  Not my president
B:  Not my president

A: Black lives matter
B: Black lives matter

A: Sí se puede
B: Sí se puede

A: Say it loud, say it clear
B: Immigrants are welcome here

A: Say it loud, say it clear
B: Refugees are welcome here

A: My body my choice
B: Her body her choice

As a member of the crowd affiliated with no organization, my experience was that almost all of these chants were new to me. I learned them as I walked. The chants came sometimes from the people in front of me and sometimes from the people behind. Sometimes two chats would come at the same time or the same chant would be audible from two directions, out of synch with itself. The people in the middle were in the position to make a choice between the two chants.

The chants were brought to the protest, mainly, by leaders who had used them before, they are folklore because they are performed, learned from other people and they evolve over time. And in the march itself, you can expect the more popular chats to be repeated more often.

Since the march, I attempted to find the origin of some of these chants. Here are some of the most interesting finds.

 

 

“The people united will never be divided” is an adaptation of the 1973 Chilean song “¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!” (The people united will never be defeated). Since its creation in 1973 as an anthem for the Popular Unity political alliance, the song has been adapted for dozens of other causes around the world. The chant at the LA protest still had the distinctive rhythm of the line “The people united will never be defeated,” although the chant is spoken, not melodious.

 

A: My body my choice
B: Her body her choice

The group who began this chant phrased it as it is above. It was designed to be a call and response in which women call out, “My body my choice” and men respond, “Her body her choice.” That chat is an affirmation of a woman’s right to her own method of birth control, including abortion.

However, several people in the crowd switched the response to, “Their body their choice.” The change from the singular “her” to the singular “their” removes gender from the chant, thereby acknowledging that not all people with a uterus identify as female, and that some transgender men and other people who are not “hers” have the same right to choose.

At the protest, most people continued saying “her body her choice” while others said, “their body their choice.” The change is subtle enough that a participant not familiar with the transgender rights movement might not notice or not understand the meaning of the alternative wording. To me, the original chant embodies the point of view of mainstream feminism or “white feminism” which focuses on sexism but pays little attention to the distinct forms of oppression faced by women of color, trans women, and others. While the second chant seeks to champion a more inclusive kind of feminism.

External links:
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-macarthur-park-trump-protest-20161112-story.html

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Ferias Monucipilanas

Nationality: Colombia
Age: 27
Occupation: IT Project Specialist
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4/1/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Every city, every town, has a yearly party, feria monucipilanas, and each have their own saint in which they cherish and praise during the festival. The people of the city make a big tower that you light at the bottom of the tower so then the fireworks make really colorful designs upon explosion. Alex is a Colombian native who immigrated here when he was just a little boy. His family left Columbia in response to all the violence that was emitting from Pablo Escobar’s reign of terror. In order to keep his family traditions alive, his parents constantly told him about the vast events and beauty of his homeland and people. These fairs seem like the walks that Catholics due in Los Angeles during Easter to acknowledge a saint.

De Tin Marin –Mexican Sorting Song

Nationality: United States/Mexico
Age: 19
Occupation: Resident Assistant/Student Worker
Residence: Los Angeles/Bell Gardens USA
Performance Date: 4/1/2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Main Piece:

“De tin marin, de don pingue

Cucara marcara, titere fue

Yo no fui, you tete

Que ese merito fue”

It can be translated* as follows:

“From Tin Marin, from two big ones,

Cockroach, mockroach, it was a puppet,

It wasn’t me, it was Teté,

the one who did it”

*edited from mamalisa.com–see citation below

Background:

This was performed by a student at the University of Southern California who comes from a Mexican/Catholic household. She went on to describe this as song “sort of like the ‘inny, miny, moe, except in Spanish.”  Her dad had taught it to her when she was a kid and remembers using it before she would play Freeze tag or other games with her family and friends.

Context:

This was performed when talking about childhood. There was a discussion happening about how growing up as first generation Mexican/Mexican American was different in California as compared to Arkansas. The song was brought up at this moment, but recorded at a later date.

Analysis:

This sorting song is very interesting. I had only ever heard it from my own parents, so hearing the differences caught my attention. The student says “que ese merito fue” as the last line of the song. However, other versions, including my own, end with “pegale, pegale, que ese merito fue.” The difference between these two is the “pegale, pegale” which translates to “hit (him/her), hit (him/her).” This difference might have to do with the student’s parents being highly religious, as noted through my interactions with her. Encouraging to harm another person would not have fit within her household.

The song itself has little actual meaning. The words rhythmically go together well and are structured so that it is easy to point at people on each syllable (like other sorting songs). It is also interesting that towards the end, it sounds like someone is accusing someone else of whatever action got the song started. For example, the “pegale, pegale, que ese merito fue” can alternatively be translated to “hit him, hit him, because he did it.” The blame ends up falling on whoever was pointed at last.

Website:

Songs and Rhymes from Mexico “Tin marin de does pingue.” Retrieved from Mama Lisa’s World “International Music and Culture.” website. mamalisa.com

Parody of Happy Birthday song

Nationality: American
Age: 8
Occupation: Student
Residence: San Jose, CA
Performance Date: 3/19/17
Primary Language: English

Happy birthday to me

I’m a hundred and three

I still go to pre-school

And miss my mommy.

My mommy’s at work

She thinks I’m a jerk

And I told the teacher

The dog ate my work

 

She heard it from multiple friends at school, during another classmate’s birthday party and after they sang the traditional Happy Birthday song. She likes it because she thought it was funny, and it was fun to try adding on new lines with her friends.

I have never heard of this song before, though I remember hearing lots of parodies and variations of the Happy Birthday song while growing up. It’s such a prominent song in kids’ lives, with the childhood importance of growing older, so it makes sense that new variations are still happening today.