School-yard Rhymes.

mud

I was chatting with my Mam (she's a teacher) about the rhymes that we used to use at break-time in school. Usually for skipping but sometimes for other games such as hand clapping as well.

Can remember a few, would love if other boardsies would share any rhymes they remember from school!

Orange Girls

Miss Mary Mack

Under the brown bush

Poutbutton

I remember elaborately synchronised hand clapping with up to 4 girls to the tune of:
Under the Bram Bush
Under the bram bush,
Under the sea, boom, boom, boom
True love forever, darling
True love for me.
When we get married,
We’ll have a family,
A boy for you, a girl for me,
Um tiddley um dum, cha-cha!

and I remember playing "Elastics" at home on the street as they were banned in school, you tied a hundred elastic bands together and 2 girls looped the ends of the rectangle of elastic around their ankles, players did a series of jumps and tricks to the tune of "England Ireland Scotland Wales, inside outside ON the rails", no idea where it came from but here's a link to some school yard songs. http://www.townlaneinfants.co.uk/playground_games.htm

Ann22

We sang 'under the 'palm' bush'....and 'England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, inside outside inside 'scales'':DNear enough.
I remember loads, 'who stole the bread from the baker's shop'-another clapping one and the 'A sailor went to sea sea sea'. There were loads of skipping ones. 'Jelly on the plate, jelly on the plate, wibbly wobbly wibbly wobbly, jelly on the plate' for single skippers and 'Under, over, in, out' for a few together.
Then the ball games, 'plainy Irish rhubarb, oversy Irish rhubarb, bouncy etc.(dickedy, pipey, droopy, leggy, left leggy:D)

3hn2givr7mx1sc

knick knack paddy whack give a dog a bone, why dont u go off home

Ann22

And the 'Popeye' I knew was slightly different:o
'I'm Popeye the sailor man
I live in a pot of jam
The jam was so sticky
it stuck to my mickey
I'm Popeye the sailor man...Toot! Toot!

rainbowtrout

Poutbutton wrote: »

I remember elaborately synchronised hand clapping with up to 4 girls to the tune of:
Under the Bram Bush
Under the bram bush,
Under the sea, boom, boom, boom
True love forever, darling
True love for me.
When we get married,
We’ll have a family,
A boy for you, a girl for me,
Um tiddley um dum, cha-cha!

and I remember playing "Elastics" at home on the street as they were banned in school, you tied a hundred elastic bands together and 2 girls looped the ends of the rectangle of elastic around their ankles, players did a series of jumps and tricks to the tune of "England Ireland Scotland Wales, inside outside ON the rails", no idea where it came from but here's a link to some school yard songs. http://www.townlaneinfants.co.uk/playground_games.htm

Yep did both of them but played elastics with a skipping rope tied in a loop, it got higher for each person i think


Also remember a clapping game along the lines of

'I went to a Chinese restaurant to buy a loaf of bread, bread, bread
He wrapped it up in a ten pound note and this is what he said, said, said....'


I don't remember the rest


Also another skipping game popular on my road was 'Miss a skip'

Miss a skip, take the rope,
lead before your leader
rasher, sausage, pudding and egg :pac:
high house, low house, pigsty, palace
boots, shoes slippers and clogs
solo lousy pepper

whoever had their skip when the rhyme got to pepper had to try and skip for as long as they could while the rope was turned really fast, if they didn't get past the first two lines of the rhyme, they had to turn the rope.

the words to that one were a bit mad really... had to be Irish or English with a mention of a pudding

deadhead13

Frere Jacques, frere Jacques,
dormez vous, dormez vous?
Sonnez les matines, Sonnez les matines
Ding ding dong, ding ding dong.


How we all knew this, I really don't know.

itsallaboutme!!

We had "london bridge" cant remember exactly how it goes starts off with "london bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down,London bridge is falling down,falling down,falling down my fair lady". two made a bridge with their hands in the air and everyone passed under it and when the bridge "fell" one would get trapped and pushed back and forth!!!!

Ann22

I remember one where we used to stand around in a circle holding hands up in the air. Someone used to go in and out between us while we sang.....
in and out goes jackie bluebells, in and out goes jackie bluebells,
in and out goes jackie bluebells, na nana nana na (dunno what that bit was)..then the person stopped behind someone and tapped them on the shoulders to this bit...
tappa rappa rappa rappa ar an gunai,
tappa rappa rappa rappa ar an gunai,
tappa rappa rappa rappa ar an gunai, na nana nana na:o.
The person whose shoulders were tapped joined on behind the first person to start going in and out and so forth.

grind gremlin

Miss Sue, Miss Sue,
Miss Sue from Alabama.
She's sittin in the kitchen, doin a bit of knitting,
watching the clock going
tic, toc, tic, toc bananarama
tic, toc, tic, toc bananarama
ABCDEFG, wash those cobwebs off my knee,
Awooshka, Awooshka, turn around and freeze.

C C my playmate,
Come back and play with me,
My dolly has the flu
And German Measles too.
Fly over the rainbow,
into my Alley-o
Forever more
1, 2, 3, 4.

Corruptedmorals

It was under the balm bushes!

I went into a bakers shop to buy a loaf of bread bread bread
He wrapped it up in a 5 pund note and this is what he said said said
My...name..is Andy Pandy sugar and candy tipsy toesy roly poly
Sitting in the back seat drinking all the pepsi boys go woo woo girls go wooh!

In and out of the dusty bluebells is the one I know

Cinderella dressed in yellow went upstairs to meet her fellow by mistake she kissed a snake, how many doctors did it take..1..2...3 etc.

Magic8

We had loads of them, I can only remember one - 'My mother and your mother were hanging out the clothes - my mother gave your mother a box in the nose - what. colour. was. the. blood' and whoever you landed on was out of the game or something - anyone remember that one??!

seanybiker

Ann22 wrote: »

'A sailor went to sea sea sea'

To see what he could see see see.
Thats really gay that I know that .

ayapatrick

time up, time up willy willy wanker?

dlofnep

Olly olly olly, put your tits in the trolley
Put your balls in the biscuit tin
When you're sitting in the grass, put your finger up your áss
And you're balls go ding-a-ling-ling.

Or something :O

Ann22

Magic8 wrote: »

We had loads of them, I can only remember one - 'My mother and your mother were hanging out the clothes - my mother gave your mother a box in the nose - what. colour. was. the. blood' and whoever you landed on was out of the game or something - anyone remember that one??!

I remember that one.. we said 'my mother and your mother were washing the clothes. My mother gave your mother a punch on the nose.' Then something like 'what colour was the blood'?

we'llallhavetea_old

seanybiker wrote: »

To see what he could see see see.
Thats really gay that I know that .

a sailor went to sea sea sea
to see what he could see see see
but all that he could see see see
is the bottom of the deep blue sea sea sea

then its like body parts or something and by the end of it you're singing

a sailor went to knee cap, heel, toe (i think....):P

we'llallhavetea_old

oh there was also

hom pom pee valarie
valarascal hom pom pee, valarie,
ocka damey so farry bum bum!!


i also remember bein in school and saying eenie meanie minie mo catch a n***** by the toe, and getting bollocked out of it by the teacher and a group of us were like "whats her problem?" we didnt even know what that word meant! we were fifteen...

bubski

When someones knickers were on show we used to sing

I saw London
I saw France
I saw X's underpants

or

Silence in the court yard
Silence in the street
the biggest pig in ireland is just about to speak

there are more, just cant remember them

Debs82

Just came across this now and had to sign up to post. brought back great memories. The variations of whats already been said that I knew are:

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

and in the following verses sea was replaced with "chop" "knee" and "toe" eventually ending up with the song going: A sailor went to sea, chop, knee toe, to see what he could sea, chop, knee, toe etc.

In and out goes saucy bluebells, in and out goes saucy bluebells, in and out goes saucy bluebells all day long.
Tapperapperapper on her shoulders etc etc.

Also, other ones I remember are:
(someone in the middle of a circle would sing)
As I was going to Kentucky, going to a fair, I met a senorita, with flowers in her hair
She was as shaky, shaky, shaky. Shaky as can be, turn around, tip the ground and that's the end of me.

Chin, chin, chinaman sitting on a fence, tried to make a dolly out of 55 cents, he missed, he missed, he missed like this.

down by the river goes hanky panky, two fat frogs, back to backy, zoom zam zoom zam, down by the river goes old kir.................plonk

gypsy gypsy clemantine, washes her hair in turpentine............cant remember the rest, this one was a tennis ball against the wall song.

skipping songs:

under the moon, and over the starts and thats the way we get to mars....... cant remember the rest

rippo the rappo, sailors on the sea, Elvis Presley's after me, just because, i stole his guitar, he caught me by the knickers and he threw me in his car with an i - must - not - miss - a - loopio...

high, low, medium, slow, jolly, rocky, hockey, pepper

I like coffee, i like tea, i like (name) in with me, to see how old they are to day, one, two, three, etc

whisky_galore

Ip, Dip, Cow Sh*t,

Ip, Dip, Doo,

Ip, Dip, Cow Sh*t,

Out goes you!

(and the now very non-pc one that everyone knows...)

darkdubh

bubski wrote: »

When someones knickers were on show we used to sing

I saw London
I saw France
I saw X's underpants

or

Silence in the court yard
Silence in the street
the biggest pig in ireland is just about to speak

there are more, just cant remember them

In our school that would be followed by "speak pig speak!" though technically speaking that would make the people saying this collectively the biggest pigs.

darkdubh

Popeye The Sailor man lived in a caravan.

He turned on the gas and blew up his ass.

Popeye The Sailor man.

sudzs

We're off, we're off, we're off in our motor car,
Sixty cops are after us and we don't know where we are.

We fell, we fell, we fell in our motor car,
Sixty cops are after us and we don't know where we are.

A cop around the corner, eating apple pie,
I asked him for a skinny bit,
and he kicked me in the eye,
I called for me mother,
me mother wouldn't come...
So I got a red hot poker and I stuck it up her bum!






Does anyone remember that one??

Skid X

My friend Billy had a ten foot willy,
he showed it to the girl next door.

She thought it was a snake,
she cut it with a rake
and now it's only five feet four.



That one stuck in my head. Poor Billy!

Aglomerado

Skid X wrote: »

My friend Billy had a ten foot willy,
he showed it to the girl next door.

She thought it was a snake,
she cut it with a rake
and now it's only five feet four.



That one stuck in my head. Poor Billy!

Ha we had that one as well.
Also:
Tin Chin Chinaman went to milk a cow
Tin Chin Chinaman didn't know how
Tin Chin Chinaman pulled the wrong tit
Tin Chin Chinaman was covered in Shít!


And

Diarrhoea custard, diarrhoea pie
All mixed together with a dead dog's eye
Snots on toast, three feet thick,
All mixed together with a cup of cold sick

(we were gross)

Ralf and Florian

Theres one that all I can remember was someone "made a fart on a dustcart and blew up the USA" or something to that effect.Anyone know the full rhyme?

An Riabhach

"See-saw,marjory daw....????"

"America-Granny's knickers.
Australia-Granny's knickers.
Asia-Granny's knickers.
Africa-Granny's knickers.
Europe-Granny's knickers.
Ha ha!! YOU'RE UP Granny's knickers!!"

"Mary Ann,
Bread n' jam,
Marmalade n' treacle,
A bit for you,
A bit for me,
And a bit for all
The People!!"

"Chinese men are very fun-ny,
This is how they count their mon-ey,
Oocha,oocha,turn around and boot-ya!!"

"We won the war in 1954!!!"
(we used to march around the schoolyard shoutin out that line i dunno how many times)

An Riabhach

"Concentration..clap clap
Are you Ready?..clap clap
If so..clap clap
Lets go 1-2,2-1, etc.etc.etc."

"2 little sausages
Frying in a pan,
One got burnt,
The other said....Scram!!"

"Two little dickiebirds
Sittin on a wall,
One named Peter,one named Paul,
Fly away Peter,fly away Paul,
Come back Peter,come back Paul."

"Hey (name) you're so fine
You're so fine,you blow my mind
Hey (name) clap clap...hey (name) clap clap..."
(what some of the girls used to shout at us while they watched us playin soccer,hurling,rugby etc.)

Professey Chin

And people wonder why half the country is insane. We never had a chance growing up :pac:

An Riabhach

We went to a mixed primary school,so if we saw any of the boys and girls being friendly with each other or spending a lot of time together,this is what we'd say-for example:

"David and Laura sittin in a tree!
K-I-S-S-I-N-G!
First comes love,then comes marriage
And then comes the babies in the carriage!"

Emily88

mud wrote: »

I was chatting with my Mam (she's a teacher) about the rhymes that we used to use at break-time in school. Usually for skipping but sometimes for other games such as hand clapping as well.

Can remember a few, would love if other boardsies would share any rhymes they remember from school!

Orange Girls

Miss Mary Mack

Under the brown bush

Instead of 'orange girls' our version (learnt in a primary school in Clondalkin, Dublin) was 'orange balls':

Orange Balls, Orange Balls,
Here we go again,
Last one to touch the ground
Has a boyfriend.

You would hold hands and walk around in a circle. The last one to touch the ground had to stand in the middle of the circle for the next game.


My auntie taught me Under the Bram Bush (as a clapping game)

Under the bram bush
Under the tree, boom boom boom
True love for you my darling
True love for me
And when we marry
We'll have a family
A boy for you and a girl for me
Doo doodlie doo doo, doo doo

Emily88

Poutbutton wrote: »

and I remember playing "Elastics" at home on the street as they were banned in school, you tied a hundred elastic bands together and 2 girls looped the ends of the rectangle of elastic around their ankles, players did a series of jumps and tricks to the tune of "England Ireland Scotland Wales, inside outside ON the rails", no idea where it came from but here's a link to some school yard songs.

Ours was

"England, Ireland, Scotland, Whales,
Inside, Outside, Inside, Scales"

'Scales' was when you jumped and tried to land with both feet on top of the piece of elastic, one on each side.
I suppose 'rails' would have made more sense!
I grew up in Clondalkin, Dublin. Every area has their own versions of games and rhymes

Emily88

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Yep did both of them but played elastics with a skipping rope tied in a loop, it got higher for each person i think


Also remember a clapping game along the lines of

'I went to a Chinese restaurant to buy a loaf of bread, bread, bread
He wrapped it up in a ten pound note and this is what he said, said, said....'


I don't remember the rest

Our version (from a primary school in Clondalkin, Dublin, around 1994) was:

I went into a baker's shop to buy a loaf of bread bread bread
He wrapped it up in a five pound note and this is what he said said said,
My name is Andy Pandy, sugar and candy, roley poley, tipsy toesy,
Sitting in the backseat, drinking all the pepsi,
All the boys go mwah mwah mwah (kissing sound)
All the girls go woo (the girls would lift up their skirts at this bit!)

Emily88

Ann22 wrote: »

I remember one where we used to stand around in a circle holding hands up in the air. Someone used to go in and out between us while we sang.....
in and out goes jackie bluebells, in and out goes jackie bluebells,
in and out goes jackie bluebells, na nana nana na (dunno what that bit was)..then the person stopped behind someone and tapped them on the shoulders to this bit...
tappa rappa rappa rappa ar an gunai,
tappa rappa rappa rappa ar an gunai,
tappa rappa rappa rappa ar an gunai, na nana nana na:o.
The person whose shoulders were tapped joined on behind the first person to start going in and out and so forth.

Our version was

In and out goes Poppy Bluebells
In and out goes Poppy Bluebells
In and out goes Poppy Bluebells
Early in the Morning

Follow her to Londonderry
Follow her to Londonderry
Follow her to Londonderry
Early in the morning

Tappa rappa rappa on her shoulders
Tappa rappa rappa on her shoulders
Tappa rappa rappa on her shoulders
Early in the morning


Or it may have been "the London dairy", and not "Londonderry", I'm not sure!

Did you go to an Irish school? (I'm just asking as your version is bilingual)
Are you sure it wasn't 'ar an guaillí'? Guaillí is Irish for shoulders.
Or was it gúnaí as in 'dresses'?

Emily88

grind gremlin wrote: »

Miss Sue, Miss Sue,
Miss Sue from Alabama.
She's sittin in the kitchen, doin a bit of knitting,
watching the clock going
tic, toc, tic, toc bananarama
tic, toc, tic, toc bananarama
ABCDEFG, wash those cobwebs off my knee,
Awooshka, Awooshka, turn around and freeze.

C C my playmate,
Come back and play with me,
My dolly has the flu
And German Measles too.
Fly over the rainbow,
into my Alley-o
Forever more
1, 2, 3, 4.

We had versions of these two as well. They seem to have come from the U.S.

Ours went something like this:

Mayzoo, Mayzoo,
Mayzoo from Alabama,
Sittin' in her rockin' chair
Doin' a bit of knittin'
Watchin' the clock go
Tick tock, tick tock shawala wala,
Tick tock, tick tock shawala wala,
ABCDEFG,
wipe those cobwebs of my knee,
With a woochacha, woochacha
woochachacha,
A woochacha, woochacha
woochachacha,
Turn around, tip the ground and freeze!


Sisi my playmate,
Come back and play with me,
Under the apple tree,
where we'll be friends,

Sisi I'm sorry,
I cannot play with you,
My dolly has the flu,
Chicken pox and measles too,

Slide down my rainbow,
Into my cellar door,
where we'll be friends forever more.

I looked it up and in the U.S. it's "Say Say oh Playmate" and there are a lot more verses that I didn't know.

We would have played these games around 1993 - 1999.

Emily88

Magic8 wrote: »

We had loads of them, I can only remember one - 'My mother and your mother were hanging out the clothes - my mother gave your mother a box in the nose - what. colour. was. the. blood' and whoever you landed on was out of the game or something - anyone remember that one??!

We had this one too. Exactly the same words

It was a counting out game to see which child would be 'on' for a game. Every child would put one foot in the circle and on every word of the rhyme a child's foot would be touched by the speaker. The last child had to answer the question 'What colour was the blood'?
If they said green, for example, the speaker would spell out G-R-E-E-N while continuing to touch each child's foot and the last foot they landed on was the child who would be on for the game.

Or if you wanted to spend really long at this the last child's foot that was touched would be out of the counting and so on and so on, until there were only two children left and then one of them would be 'on' for whatever game you wanted to play.

Emily88

Debs82 wrote: »

Just came across this now and had to sign up to post. brought back great memories. The variations of whats already been said that I knew are:


Also, other ones I remember are:
(someone in the middle of a circle would sing)
As I was going to Kentucky, going to a fair, I met a senorita, with flowers in her hair
She was as shaky, shaky, shaky. Shaky as can be, turn around, tip the ground and that's the end of me.

Chin, chin, chinaman sitting on a fence, tried to make a dolly out of 55 cents, he missed, he missed, he missed like this.

down by the river goes hanky panky, two fat frogs, back to backy, zoom zam zoom zam, down by the river goes old kir.................plonk

gypsy gypsy clemantine, washes her hair in turpentine............cant remember the rest, this one was a tennis ball against the wall song.

skipping songs:

under the moon, and over the starts and thats the way we get to mars....... cant remember the rest

rippo the rappo, sailors on the sea, Elvis Presley's after me, just because, i stole his guitar, he caught me by the knickers and he threw me in his car with an i - must - not - miss - a - loopio...

high, low, medium, slow, jolly, rocky, hockey, pepper

I like coffee, i like tea, i like (name) in with me, to see how old they are to day, one, two, three, etc

We had a lot of these as all. Where did you grow up and in what decade?

Ours were:

As I was going to Kentucky, going to a fair,
I met a Senorita with flowers in her hair,
She was a bumbalina, bumbalina, bumbalina, yeah olé X2
Swing her to the left, swing her to the right,
throw her in the middle and let her do the rest.

Down by the river goes Hanky Panky
Two fat frogs go back to back,
Singing A-E-I-O-U,
Your mother stinks and so do you,
Ding dong, ding dong,
Your father looks like King Kong,
1, 2, 3, 4, let's begin a civil war.

And I also remember 'Over the moon, under the stars'.

And 'I like coffee, I like tea, I like (child's name) in with me.'

Emily88

Professey Chin wrote: »

And people wonder why half the country is insane. We never had a chance growing up :pac:

Actually playing games and singing rhymes like this is completely natural and happens all over the world. It is the folklore of children, and is very important for social, emotional, cognitive and physical development. Not to mention language development!

Emily88

Does anyone remember the circle game with a song about meeting in a dancing hall?

Something like

I'll meet you in the dancing hall, dancing hall, dancing hall,
I'll meet you in the dancing hall I-O-U.

Then you had to pick a partner to dance with.
It was one of my favourites and I can't remember the words!

mud

Emily88 wrote: »

Ours was

"England, Ireland, Scotland, Whales,
Inside, Outside, Inside, Scales"

'Scales' was when you jumped and tried to land with both feet on top of the piece of elastic, one on each side.
I suppose 'rails' would have made more sense!
I grew up in Clondalkin, Dublin. Every area has their own versions of games and rhymes

We played the same game with elastic but the verse was:

Jingle, jangle, centre, spangle, jingle, jangle, tread on it!

Jingle, (one foot in centre, one on the outer right)
Jangle, (one foot in the centre, one on the outer left)
Centre, (both feet inside the loop)
Spangle,(both feet outside the loop)
Jingle, (as above)
Jangle, (as above)
Tread on it! (had to land both feet on the loop)

It took three people to play. Two had the elastic around them and the third was in the middle facing one of the others.

The loop began on the floor, then ankles, knees, thighs, hips and so on. It rarely went farther than hip height as it got too difficult to tread on it!

Dark Phoenix

ha ha ah the memories from reading this

we had loads of ones for elastics like England, Ireland, Scotland , Wales. We also were of the 'inside, outside, inside, scales' variety - rails would have made more sense - scales never did! Also Jelly on the plate.

Chin chin chinaman
Sitting on the fence
Trying to make a dollar
Outta fifty five cents
he missed
He missed
he missed like this.

also had a song we used to sing in where you would substitute the name and number of kids in the rhyme below for whoever you were trying to wind up, often while annoying one of the adults.

Dont let Jonny walk you home
When your tired and you want to go to bed
Last time Jonny took Mary home
They went to the fields instead
Oh they were all alone
When Mary started to moan
Now Jonny is the father or triplets
So dont let Jonny walk you home

Its quite funny now as quite dodgy for us to have been singing at 11/12 years old but sure im not quite sure we knew what we were actually singing!

we also used to have loads of 'diarrohea' songs. Theres was loads of varieties and people would compete to make them up

Diarrohea cha cha cha
Diarrohea cha cha cha
When its running through your pants
and you have no chance
Diarrohea
Diarrohea