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Secret World Of Children's Chants

This is a great thread! I hadn't had a good laugh this week until now. :)

Some favorites of mine . . .

Tarara boom de ay, we had no class today
Our teacher's gone away, she died of tooth decay
We threw her in the bay, she scared the fish away
She's never coming out, she smells like sauerkraut


(Comet is a cleanser that's still on the market here in the States. I just barely remember the tv commercial that inspired this ditty close to forty years ago.)

Comet, it makes your teeth turn green
Comet, it smells like gasoline
Comet, it makes you vomit,
So get some Comet and vomit today!

This is an old jump-rope rhyme:

3, 6, 9, the goose drank wine
The monkey came to dinner on the streetcar line
The line broke, the monkey got choked
And they all went to heaven in a little rowboat



Fire, fire, false alarm
Baby s**t on Papa's arm
Papa said 'I'll get the switch'
Baby said 'you son of a b***h'

But one of my all-time favorites that got me into trouble at choir rehearsal on several occasions, is this oldie but goodie:

Onward Christian bedbugs, marching up the sheets
Tickle, tickle, tickle, poor old grandma's feet
Grandma got excited, went and got a gun
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM see those bedbugs run
Onward Christian bedbugs, marching up the sheets
Carrying the wounded, and poor grandma's feet

I remember a lot more, but then my brain is weird that way. It tends to store up old camp songs and playground chants while letting important messages slip off into who knows where *chuckle*
 
Little Susie had a nickle and she went to buy a pickle
The pickle was sour so she went to buy a flower
The flower didn't smell so she went to buy a bell
The bell didn't ring so she went to buy some string
The string didn't wind so she tried another kind
It wasn't any better so she went to buy a feather
The feather didn't tickle so she went to buy a pickle
And that was the end of little Susie's nickle
 
more rhymes

primary school in early 80's:

I'm Popeye the sailor man,
I live in a frying pan.
There's a hole in the middle
Where I do my piddle.
I'm Popeye the sailor man.

skipping rhymes

Vote, vote, vote for De Valera
Here comes [new skipper] at the door!
[new skipper] is the one who can have a bit of fun,
so we don't need [last skipper] any more!

and

My mother and your mother were hanging out the clothes,
My mother punched your mother right on the nose?
what colour was the blood?
red,
green
etc (until person misses a skip)

nana nana nana nana
Batman!
Running down the allyway
Car comes the other way
Flatman!

secondary school (convent!)
Auntie Mary had a canary up the leg of her drawers,
While she was sleeping, he was peeping up the leg of her drawers, Oh!

this could be conveniently converted into

Sister Mary had a canary up the leg of her drawers,
While she was sleeping, he was peeping up the leg of her drawers, Oh!
(Sister Mary was a biology teacher)

my grandfather used to sing this about a wicklow town - apparently it was founded as a garrison town, so it had a reputation for unsavoury goings-on.
"Twas in Rathnew, as I passed through,
with neither church nor steeple.
At every door there stood a whore
making fun of dacent people."

note "door" and "whore" both rhyme with "dour"
 
Anonymous said:
"My friend Billy had and 12 inch willy and he showed it to the girl next door. She thought it was a snake and she hit it with a rake and ... " I can't remember the rest.
Click to expand...

My friend Billy had and 12-foot willy and he showed it to the girl next door. She thought it was a snake and (she) hit it with a rake and now it's only six foot four.

Thank you to the anonymous spammer who resurrected this ten-year-old thread.
 
Last edited:
A lot of the ones we used to sing have already been mentioned but we also had:

To the tune of "Seasons in the the Sun".......
We had joy, we had fun,
Flicking bogeys at the sun,
But the sun was too hot,
And the bogeys turned to snot.

And another snot related one:
There was a little bunny,
Whose nose was very runny,
You might think it's funny,
But it's s'not.

What was it with snot???

Lastly:
Little pig
Busy street
Car comes
Mincemeat

I was talking to my 19 year old daughter the other day about these sorts of rhymes and recited a lot of these mentioned upthread. Not only had she never heard any of them but she didn't have any comparable modern day ones :(
She also thought I was mad when I said about the tennis ball in the leg of an old stocking game and has never done a handstand against the wall!
I think the playground must be a very dull, 'elf & safety controlled place these days :dunno:
 
A couple of clapping chants from elementary school -

My mother gave me a nickel
My father gave me a dime
My sister gave me a boyfriend
Who kissed me all the time

My mother took the nickel
My father took the dime
My sister took the boyfriend
And gave me Frankenstein

He made me clean the dishes
He made me clean the floor
He made me clean his underwear
So I kicked him out the door.

...

My boyfriend's name is Paddy
He lives in Cincinnati
with a (something something - can't remember)
Paddy thinks it's funny
Now count to twenty, honey.
(commence counting)

And a jump rope rhyme -

Cinderella
Dressed in yella
Went upstairs
to kiss her fella
Made a mistake
And kissed a snake
How many doctors did it take?
(commence counting)

There were lots more, but those come immediately to mind.
 
Mummy, mummy, mummy
There's something in my nappy.
It's big and brown
I can't sit down.
'Cos if I do I'll squash it
and then you'll have to wash it.
The washer's broke
and that's no joke.


Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep.
The butcher knows where to find them.
In his shop
next to the chops.
With sausages all around them.
 
Just idly wondering if football chants are a grown up extension of the genre? Will have to ask my kids to tell me some.
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
"Ma, ma
I lost my bra
I left my knickers in my boyfriend's car."
Click to expand...
We had a much longer version of this. It went:-

"When Susie was a baby, a baby Susie was
She went a "goo gaa a goo goo gaa"

When Susie was a schoolgirl, a schoolgirl Susie was
She went a "miss miss, I can't do this, I've got my knickers in an awful twist"

When Susie was a teenager, a teenager she was
She went a "ooh, ahh, I lost my bra, I left my knickers in my boyfriends car"

(there must have been one as an adult but I can't recall)

When Susie was a skeleton, a skeleton she was
She went a "(whoosing noise supposed to denote bones rustling)""

heisenbear said:
Mummy, mummy, mummy
There's something in my nappy.
It's big and brown
I can't sit down.
'Cos if I do I'll squash it
and then you'll have to wash it.
The washer's broke
and that's no joke.
Click to expand...

We had that with the first two lines slightly different "There's something in my nappy and I'm not very happy" but we also had a rather less politically correct one to the same tune that went;-

"Elasticated nappies
You get them from the (ethnically run corner shop)
You switch them on BANG
The baby's gone"

Sorry, we didn't know any better!
 
I love this topic!
Mary had a steamboat
the steamboat had a bell. . .[unknown steamboat disaster verse was lost by the time I was a kid?]
Mary went to heaven
the steamboat went to
Hello operator
give me number nine
if it doesn't answer
I'll kick your fat
Behind the 'fridgerator
there was some broken glass
Little Mary sat on it
and cut her little
Ask me no more questions
I'll tell you no more lies
The cows are in the pastures
They're making chocolate pies
So much mystery and anachronism here--steamboats and calling an operator to complete a phone call, where the number is a single digit? We sang this in the early 60's. Yet " 'fridgerator" seems a fairly modern reference (and as a place with dangerous broken glass, seems a non-sequitur). Of course the reference to poo in the final verse conforms with most kid folklore content.
 
GerdaWordyer said:
I love this topic!
Mary had a steamboat
the steamboat had a bell. . .[unknown steamboat disaster verse was lost by the time I was a kid?]
Mary went to heaven
the steamboat went to
Hello operator
give me number nine
if it doesn't answer
I'll kick your fat
Behind the 'fridgerator
there was some broken glass
Little Mary sat on it
and cut her little
Ask me no more questions
I'll tell you no more lies
The cows are in the pastures
They're making chocolate pies
So much mystery and anachronism here--steamboats and calling an operator to complete a phone call, where the number is a single digit? We sang this in the early 60's. Yet " 'fridgerator" seems a fairly modern reference (and as a place with dangerous broken glass, seems a non-sequitur). Of course the reference to poo in the final verse conforms with most kid folklore content.
Click to expand...

when we sang this song in the 60s, we said 'behind the yellow curtain'
 
"there must have been one as an adult but I can't recall"

I had to look it up after you so kindly filled in the other Susie verses!
Amazed to see so many variations, and sometimes it was Lucy or Sally, instead of Suzy/Susie.
After losing her bra and knickers, the following seems a credible consequence;

"When Susie had a baby
She called him Tiny Tim.
She threw him in the river
To see if he could swim."

You girls seemed to have all the fun. All we had were marbles and conkers!
 
Coal said:
Mary had a little lamb,
Her daddy shot it dead,
Now it goes to school with her,
Between two bits of bread.
Click to expand...
I've heard that one before. :D
 
Brighid45 said:
This is a great thread! I hadn't had a good laugh this week until now. :)

Some favorites of mine . . .

Tarara boom de ay, we had no class today
Our teacher's gone away, she died of tooth decay
We threw her in the bay, she scared the fish away
She's never coming out, she smells like sauerkraut
Click to expand...

We had something similar..

Tarara boom de ay
My knickers flew away
They went on holiday
They came back yesterday.
 
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