Afro-American Songs

spoken
  • Elephant fair (Jones & Hawes 1974: 61-62)
  • Ranky tank (call and response)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 129-130)
  • Tom, Tom, greedy-gut (clapping song)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 129-130)
  • One-ry, two-ry (clapping song)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 27-28)
  • One saw, two saw (clapping song)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 29-30)
  • Skip to the barbershop (Jones & Hawes 1974: 129-130)
  • Peas an' the rice (Landeck 1969; Parrish 1942: 231-232)
mi so la

Step Back, Baby, Step Back


The children form a tight circle. The caller sings each line, and the group responds "Step back, baby, step back." In the rest on the fourth beat of the response, the circle jumps backward. At the end of the song, the children in the circle will have jumped back eight times, and the circle will be quite large.

American Folk Songs for Teaching

do re mi
  • Dry Bones (Chambers 1963: 26-30)
Have You Ever, Ever, Ever



children of the Julia Ward Howe School, Roxbury, Mass., an all-Black school, 1972, recorded in American folk songs for teaching: f7.

Closet Key

Help me find the closet key, etc.

I have found the closet key, etc.

The chidlren form a circle. One child walks around the circle with a key and places it in someone's hand while the first and second stanzas are sung.

The child who now has the key then walks around the circle while the third stanza is sung.

Scarborough 1925: 139, Johnston 1984: 9; Gagne 1997, vol. 1: 23

Hop, Old Squirrel


Jump, old squirrel, etc.

Skip, old squirrel, etc.

Run, old squirrel, etc.

One "squirrel" chases the other, following instructions.

Scarborough 1925: 134-135, Choksy 1974: 155; Johnston 1984: 10; Gagne 1997, vol. 2: 3

do re mi so
  • We're goin' around the mountain (circle game)
    (American Folk Songs for Teaching)
  • Congo tay (call and response song from the Caribbean)
    (Landeck & Crook 1969: 83)
  • That's a mighty pretty motion (circle game)
    (Trent-Johns 1944: 22-23
We're Goin' Around the Mountain


2. Let me see you make a motion two by two, etc.

3. That's a mighty po' motion, etc.

4. Let me see you make a better one, etc.

5. That's a mighty pretty motion, etc.

Game: Children form a circle; child is chosen to be in the center and crouches down, being the "mountain." On the worlds "Rise..." he or she rises, and for verse two, makes grotesque and silly steps and motions.
Verse three . . . accepts the scolding of the group.
On verse four, he/she makes as graceful and satisfying a dance step, arm motion or other as possible.
On verse five, he/she accepts the praise of the group with courtesy.

Folk Music of the US, Negro Game Songs, AAFS L9 B/S
recorded in American folk songs for teaching: g22

do re mi so la
  • Green, green, the crab apple tree (circle game)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 69-70)
  • Knock Jim Crow (dance steps)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 69-70)
  • Black snake, black snake, where are you hidin'? (singing game)
    (Trent-Johns 1944: 28-29)
so la do
  • Tisket, a tasket (Erdei & Komlos 1974: 6)
do re mi so la do
  • I lost my mistress' dairy key (circle game)
    (Porter 1914; American Folk Songs for Teaching)
  • Do remember (call and response with foot stamping)
    (Parrish 1942)
so do re mi
  • Charlie over the ocean (circle game)
    (American Folk Songs for Teaching; Erdei & Komlos 1974: 14)
  • The swallow (Erdei & Komlos 1974: 16)
so do re mi so
  • That's a mighty pretty motion (circle game)
    (Edet 1978a: 16)
so la do
  • Little Sally Ann (circle game)
    (variant of Little Sally Walker under so la do re mi)
    (Skean 1939: 48)
so la do mi
  • Won't you let the birdie out? (call and response song)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 176-177)
  • Shoo, turkey (call and response song with actions)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 53-54)
so la do mi so
  • Horse and the buggy (call and response song)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 174-175)
  • Anatomical song (Landeck & White 1950: 118-119)
    (variant of Dry Bones under do re mi)
  • Little Sally Walker (Courlander 1960: 107; Erdei & Komlos 1974: 34)
la do mi
  • Way down yonder, sometimes (call and response with dance steps)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 100-101)
  • Rise, Sally, rise (American Folk Songs for Teaching)
  • Hambone (Jones and Hawes 1972: 36)
Gwan' 'Roun' Rabbit

2. Gonna milk my cow, gonna catch her by the tail,
Gonna milk her in the coffee pot, pour it in the pail.
REFRAIN

3. Repeat first verse
REFRAIN

4. Gonna catch that critter sittin' on that log (2x)
REFRAIN

5. My rabbit's gittin' my turnip top (2x)
REFRAIN

Folk Music of the US, AAFS L9 B/11, Negro Game Songs, Washington, DC: Library of Congress
transcribed by K. Komlos, American Folk Songs for Teaching

la do re mi
  • Gwan' roun' rabbit (call and response songs)
    (American Folk Songs for Teaching)
  • Charlie over the ocean (circle game)
    (variant of Charlie over the ocean under so do re mi)
    (Courlander 1960: 104)
  • Hambone (call and response song)
    (Freedman 1962: 36; Schmidt 1963: Edet 1978a: 41)
  • Rosie, darling Rosie (Erdei & Komlos 1974: 10)
la do re mi so
  • Bob-a-needle (Courlander 1960: 110: Jones & Hawes: 163-164)
  • Daniel (Jones & Hawes: 143-146)
so la do re mi
  • East Coast Line (call and response with clapping)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 95-97)
  • East Coast Line (call and response with dance steps)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 58-60)
  • Head and shoulders, baby (call and response with actions)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 31-33)
  • London Bridge (regional version)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 179-181)
  • Just from the kitchen (call and response with clapping)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 51-52)
  • Little Sally Walker (circle game)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 108-111)
  • Kye kye kole (action song from Ghana)
    (Miller 1972: 23)
  • Miss Lucy (sung while jumping as far as possible from the top step)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 171)
  • Seben times (call and response)
    (Work, J. A. 1940: 250)
  • Madame Celine (song from Haiti)
    (Edet 1978: 34)
  • Johnnie bought a ham (clapping song)
    (Lomax & Lomax 1941: 72-73)
  • Loop de loo (Courlander 1960: 96)
  • Loop de loo (Tartt 1953)
    (transcribed by Katalin Komlos, American Folk Songs for Teaching)
  • Hammer ring (Jackson, B. 1972: 194)
  • C-line woman (Erdei & Komlos 1974: 27)
Rise, Sally, Rise


sung by Negro girls, Eatonville, FL, 1936; recorded by John and Alan Lomax for AFS (1 286 Tape 349 A 1), Washington, DC; American Folk Songs for Teaching

la do re mi so la
  • Whose bag is my gold ring? (circle game)
    (Jones & Hawes 1974: 80)
so la do re mi so
  • Rise, sugar, rise (or Little Sallie Ann) (circle game)
    (variant of Little Sally Walker under so la do re mi)
    (Trent-Johns 1944: 24-25)
so la do re mi so la
  • Draw me a bucket of water (Jones & Hawes 1974: 80)
  • Don't let your watch run down (drum ostinato)
    (Hinton c1962: 14)
  • Hold my mule (Erdei & Komlos 1974: 52)


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Chambers, H. A. 1963. The treasury of Negro spirituals. New York: Emerson Books.

Courlander, H. 1960. Negro songs from Alabama. New York: Oak Publications,

Edet, E. S. 1978. The Griot sings. New York: Publishing Center for Cultural Resources.

Hinton, T. E. c1962. Music time. Johnson City, TN: East Tennessee State College. Jones, B. & Hawes, B. L. 1972. Step it down! New York: Harper & Row.

Landeck, B. & Crook, E. 1969. Wake up and sing! Folk songs from America's grass roots. New York: Edward B. Marks.

_____ & White, F. 1950. Songs to grow on: A collection of American folk songs for children. New York: E.B. Marks Music Corp.

Lomax, J. A. & Lomax, A. 1941. Our singing country. New York: Macmillan.

Miller, C. S. 1972. Sing, children, sing : Songs, dances, and singing games of many lands and peoples. New York: Chappell.

Parrish, L. 1942. Slave songs of the Georgia Sea Islands. New York: Creative Age Press.

Porter, G. C. 1914. Negro folk singing games. London: J. Curwen & Sons, Ltd.

Skean, M. H. 1939. Circle left! : folk-play of the Kentucky Mountains. Ary, KY: Homeplace.

Trent-Johns, A. 1944. Play songs of the deep South. Washington, DC: Associated Publishers.

Work, J. W. 1940. American Negro songs: 230 folk songs and spirituals, religious and secular. New York: Crown Publishers.

Home page
Bibliography page
If you have any comments, questions,
or suggested additions to the collection,
send me a message,