Girl Scout Rhyme
My momma
She gave me a dollar
She told me to buy a collar
But I didn’t buy no collar
Instead I bought some bubblegum
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA bubble gum (x2)
My momma
She gave me a quarter
She told me to tip the porter
But I didn’t tip no porter
Instead I bought some bubblegum
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA bubble gum (x2)
My momma
She gave me a dime
She told me to buy a lime
But I didn’t buy no lime
Instead I bought some bubblegum
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA bubble gum (x2)
My momma
She gave me a nickel
She tole me to buy a pickle
But I didn’t buy no pickle
Instead i bought some bubblegum
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA bubble gum (x2)
My momma
She gave me a penny
She told me to buy some bubblegum
But I didn’t buy no bubblegum
Because I’m sick of bubblegum
BAZOOKA, ZOOKA bubble gum (x2)
Kyrsti learned this rhyme when she was in the girl scouts, around when she was eight years old, however, she doesnt remember which retreat with her girl scouts that she learned this particular rhyme on. The basic idea was that every girl in the group sat in a circle with both feet in the middle. Then they started singing this song and whenever one chorus finished, whomever the last word landed on had to take her foot out of the circle. This was continued until there was only one girl left and then she was declared the winner and given a prize of some sort, sometimes-specific badges were given out to the scouts if the game was particularly exciting. She described that this chant was a lot like eenie, meenie, mini, mo and was based off of it but that they changed the words as a part of a bonding experience with all the girls.
Kyrsti believes that the chant itself is not what is important. She believes the process of creating the rhyme and then getting to play it with her friends is what made this so important. She described that all the games in the girl scouts were meant to build friendships, build leadership skills and learn. She also described, when prompted, how girl scouts was all about folklore. This chant was just one example. She pointed out how, every night they would sit around a campfire and tell stories, stories that had been passed down by former girl scouts. She believes that one of the core values of girl scouts is carrying on a tradition, which fits very well into the idea of folklore.
Not having been in the girl scouts myself, hearing all this information made me realize that there is a lot more to girl scouts than I had previously thought. It is clear to me from Kyrsti that the stories passed down through girl scouts include a lot of ancient folklore stories and that the girl scouts are constantly reinventing things in order to create their own new folklore to be passed on to the next generation of girl scouts.
Annotation: This Girl Scout rhyme is also found on Scout Web, a wbesite that provides girl scouts with many Girl Scout songs.
Scouting Web. 2 May 2008 <http://www.scoutingweb.com/scoutingweb/Traditions/
Songs.htm>.