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Hi Julia

 

My seven-year-old grandaughter recorded the following for me in June 2009. It was current as a clapping game at her school playground in Harpenden, Herts.

 

Eeeny, meeny, destineeny,
You are the one and only
Educator, liberator 
I like you.
B C C baby, no place to go.
Sit with your boyfriend, naughty, naughty,
Scrub the dishes, lazy, lazy,
Jump off the rooftop, flipping crazy,
That’s why they call me,
Eeeny, meeny, destineeny,
You are the one and only
Educator, liberator
I like you.

I hope this is of use. I can provide more detail if required. I look forward to your paper.

 

Best wishes

 

Peter


Peter Barnes 

21 Hanmer Rd, Simpson 
Milton Keynes MK6 3AY 

Tel. 01908 670570


 

> Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2010 14:39:54 +0000
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Eeny meeny dessameeny
> To: [log in to unmask]
> 
> **Please note that if you press the Reply button to respond to this mailing, it will be distributed to everyone on the Childlore List. If you want to make a personal reply, you will need to modify the Reply-To line of your message.**
> 
> Dear All,
> 
> For the interim conference of the Children's Games and Rhymes in the New Media Age project, recently advertised on the list, I'm doing a case study of a rhyme which begins:
> 
> Eeny meeny dessameeny (or any 4-syllable word ending in -eeny)
> 
> It is usually found as a clapping rhyme, at least since the 1970s. There's a version in Kyra Gaunt's book, The Games Black Girls Play, which begins
> 
> Eeny meeny pepsadeeny / oo-pop-pop-sa-deeny
> 
> Atchi-catchi liberatchi / I love you, tu-tu, shampoo
> 
> 
> 
> And one in Ewan McVicar's book, Doh Ray Me When Ah Wis Wee:
> 
> 
> 
> Eenie meanie destaneenie
> 
> You are the one and only
> 
> Education, liberation
> 
> I like you
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> From this opening, it often links to the opening of Down Down Baby, and may also link to other rhymes such as 'Apples on a stick', 'Flea Fly Flo' and others.
> 
> 
> 
> It isn't in the Opies' Singing Game except with reference to a US version from 1964 which makes me thinkf it didn't get to the UK till later. The earliest version from the UK which I have come across so far is the early 1990s.
> 
> 
> 
> The US versions go back earlier, and include 
> 
> 
> 
> Eeny meeny, tipsy teeny
> 
> Applejack and Johnny Sweeney
> 
> Hokey-pokey, dominoky.
> 
> Hom, pom, tusk.
> 
> Tusk in, tusk out,
> 
> All around the waterspout.
> 
> Have a peach, have a plum,
> 
> Have a stick of chewing gum.
> 
> 
> 
> collected in 1949, as published in a Pennsylvania newpaper, in and quoted by Abrahams in his Jump-Rope Rhymes Dictionary where it also states 'usually a counting out rhyme'.
> 
> 
> 
> Moving then to Abrahams' Counting Out rhymes dictionary, there are, of course, numerous rhymes which begin 'eeny meeny'. The closest antecedent would appear to be his no. 140 'Eeny meeny tipsy tee/teeny/toe/taily. These are much shorter rhymes, of course, as they are for counting out. Examples from this complex date back to the mid-19th century.
> 
> 
> 
> Judy McKinty and others have kindly supplied examples of the rhyme, used for clapping, from Australia. These were documented in the mid-1980s and early 1990s period.
> 
> 
> 
> So - I'd be interested in further examples as I'm fascinated by the chameleonic changes undergone by this rhyme. Also its changes in function and how these relate to textual changes. Likewise, the clapping patterns, if documented, that go with the rhyme. Again, I suspect there are connections between these and the textual variation. And places and dates of collection.
> 
> 
> 
> If anyone can help, I'd love to know more. All comments and variant texts welcome and will be fully acknowledged in the paper!
> 
> 
> 
> Meanwhile, you may be interested to know that there is a selection of films of this clapping game on YouTube, for example, see 
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiwn2MXoYOY&feature=related
> 
> 
> 
> and the same girls' 'instructional video'
> 
> 
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAD8HLd_1Mk&feature=related
> 
> 
> 
> With all good wishes, Julia
 		 	   		  
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