 |
 |
The first poems I experienced weren't in books. They were the children's rhymes, most of them jump-rope chants, I heard in earliest childhood. These poems are also among the ones I have the strongest memories of. I suspect many people could say the same, but it's a somewhat neglected part of our heritage. There is, of course, a significant literature on these rhymes, but they're hardly ever included in anthologies, an omission which I hope any of you reading this who ever gets an assignment to edit an anthology will set right. I wonder how many people today still grow up with these rhymes -- the venue of their transmission seems to be the group of neighborhood kids, and are there any neighborhood kids anymore? They're probably all being driven to soccer practice. Anyway, as an invitation to discussion, I offer some from various sources. How many of these have also haunted your memory? 1) Vote, vote, vote for (Suzy) Here comes (Molly) at the door (Molly) is the lady With the bald-headed baby and we don't need (Suzy) any more. Few people I've talked with know this one, though it's one of the ones I remember best, perhaps because unlike most jump-rope rhymes it was sung to a melody rather than rhythmically chanted. It was an "exchange" song: in the sample given, Suzy would be skipping in a rope swung by two other girls, and Molly would take her place, etc. I remember being puzzled as to why this should be a political contest. Intriguingly, a variant is recorded by Norman Douglas in his London Street Games (1931), a fine and important book which is shamefully out of print. 2) Johnny over the ocean Johnny over the sea Johnny broke a milk bottle and blamed it on me I told ma and ma told pa and Johnny got a lickin ha ha ha How young they start. Very commonly reported in the literature in remarkably consistent versions, and very common in my Midwestern childhood. I remember being quite impressed by this trenchant summary of the war between the sexes, perhaps out of some intuitive premonition of how often I was to see it enacted in the course of life. 3) Salt mustard vinegar pepper one two three four five .... One of the most common skip rope rhymes both in my childhood and in the literature. The point was that after the first line, the rope swingers would spin the rope as fast as possible (though sometimes it would be done solo) and the count would be kept up until a misstep ended it. One source gives this as the last lines of Johnny over the ocean, above, and I seem to remember that indeed they were often combined. 4) Mother, mother I feel ill Send for the doctor over the hill Mother mother I feel worse Send for the lady with the alligator purse I don't remember this interesting rhyme from my own childhood, and in fact I first heard it in Alfred Hitchcock's film Marnie, but other Americans I've talked to remember it from their childhoods. It's fairly often recorded in the literature. Iona and Peter Opie in The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren give several versions from Britain and the US, as well as a French-Canadian version. Some authorities remark that the rather sinister lady with the alligator purse seems to appear only in American versions. 5) Standing on the corner Chewing bubble gum Along came a beggar And asked me for some Go on you dirty beggar Go on you dirty bum Ain't you ashamed To ask me for my gum? I'd forgotten this until I recently came across a version in B. A. Botkin's A Treasury of American Folklore, but now I remember it was quite common. Childhood in its innocence accepts the blithe cruelty of capitalism with unashamed zest. 6) Virginia had a baby His name was Tiny Tim She put him in the bathtub To teach him how to swim He drank up all the water He ate up all the soap Last night he died With a bubble in his throat. When I was about five years old, I found this story unutterably tragic. Reported in various versions in the literature and from acquaintances, though no other version I've seen exactly matches the one I remember, above, which is grimmer than most. I interpret it as one of those evidences that sometimes breaks through from the unconscious of children's fear that their parents will kill them. 7) There come six Jews from Juda Spain In order for your daughter Jane -- My daughter Jane is far too young To marry you, you Spanish Jew -- Farewell, farewell, I'll walk away, And come again some another day -- Come back, come back, you Spanish Jew, And choose the fairest one of us -- The fairest one that I can see Is (Dolly Hayes), so come to me -- This for me is the loveliest of all children's rhymes, though it didn't grace my own childhood. I only encountered it after I grew up (I think that's happened by now) in Douglas. I have a vague, possibly mistaken memory of seeing variants in some book in which the suitors were knights or an earl. Could the first line be an echo of the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492? Whatever its source, it passes the Housman test. These are sacred texts. -- =============================================== Jon Corelis http://jcorelis.googlepages.com/joncorelis ===============================================