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Cheerleader, Version 2
Category:
(introduction
style) Street Cheer
Source: Azizi Powell Collection, 1985 {Braddock, PA,
1985; elementary/middle school after-school group}
Group
Cheer.
Leader.
Roll.
Call.
Are you ready?
Soloist #1 Shayla.
They call me Rosa.
Soloist #2 Shana.
They call me Poo.
Soloist #3 Shana.
They call me Shay.
Soloist #4 Jamie.
They call me Jay Jay.
Soloist #5 Jackie.
They call me HaJack (HighJack?).
Group Cheer.
Leader .
Zodiac signs.
Are you ready?
Soloist #1 Aquarius.
That’s a dog.
Soloist #2 Cancer.
That’s a crab.
Soloist #3 Leo.
That’s a lion.
Soloist #4 Scorpio.
That’s a spider.
Soloist #5 Scorpio.
That’s a spider.
Group Cheer.
Leader.
Phone numbers.
Are you ready?
Soloist #1 348-5110.
Group Always busy.
Soloist #2 561-4554.
Group Always busy.
Soloist #3 662-5128.
Group Always busy.
Soloist #4 348-7910.
Group Always busy.
Soloist #5 662-0142
Group Always busy.
(The group can add other
verses if they want to)
“Street cheers" the term that I use to describe an informal recreational
activity that involves performing rhythmical foot stomping routines while
chanting call & response phrases.
The majority of street cheers are performed by African American
girls ages 7-12 years. However,
children and teens of other ages and racial & ethnic groups also
perform also perform these chants.
“Cheerleader”
appears to have been a well-known introduction style street cheer in the
mid 1980s in African American neighborhoods of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
and its surrounding communities. This
chant appears to have been also performed in other cites throughout the
United States. A 1978 record
I came across features African American pre-teens from Washington, D.C.
chanting “Cheering Is My Game”. Although
the words to “Cheering Is My Game” are different than the
“Cheerleader” chants that I have collected, they are similar enough to
connect the two. Here is an
excerpt from “Cheering Is My Game”
Group-“Dn, Dn, Dn, Dn”
(a
sound effect that is repeated 2x); Soloist: “Barbara, Barbara is my name”;
Group: “Dn, Dn, Dn, Dn”; Soloist: “Cheering,
cheering is my game”, Group: “Dn, Dn, Dn, Dn”; Soloist.
“Freddie, Freddie was my man.” Group: “Dn, Dn, Dn, Dn”; Soloist
“But Ken is my main man”; Group: “Dn, Dn, Dn, Dn” (repeat
2x)” (“Cheering is My Game” included in Old
Mother Hippletoe, Rural and Urban Children’s Songs,
New World Records, Library of Congress No. 78-750524, Washington,
D.C., 1978).
Like all of the other street
cheers that I have
collected, “Cheerleader” has an alternating
group, soloist format. This format lets all
of the members of the group take turns being the soloist. I collected this version of “Cheerleader in 1985 from a group of
pre-teenage African American girls who lived in Braddock, Pennsylvania, a
city that is approximately 10 miles from Pittsburgh.
Although the words of this version are different from a version
that my daughter performed in Pittsburgh in the mid 1980s, both versions
use the same beat pattern. The
beat that goes with the “Cheerleader” chant is “stomp clap, stomp
stomp clap.” This beat is
used with most street cheers. All
street cheer routines start with your right foot.
Here you make a stomp with your right foot, clap, then do two
stomps with your left foot, clap and then start all over again.
Astrological (or zodiac signs, as they are
called in this example) are often mentioned in sidewalk chants.
The girls call out their sun sign and its symbol.
In this example, the girls gave the incorrect symbols for the
following signs: Aquarius is the water bearer and not a dog.
And Scorpio is a scorpion or an eagle and not a spider.
The phone numbers listed in this example
aren’t the girls’ real phone numbers. Of course, with the call
waiting feature that most telephones have nowadays, you hardly ever hear a
busy signal anymore. However, the girls reference to "Always busy"
was a creative comment on how popular they are.
Do you know any other versions of
“Cheerleader”? Share them
with other CocoJams visitors!
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