THE CHILDREN'S RHYME "GIGALO" - EXAMPLES & PROBABLE SOURCES

playing gigalo at cheer camp

Uploaded by bby209angl on Aug 3, 2010

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This post provides text & video examples and comments about the children's playground rhyme "Gigalo" ("Jigalow").

The earliest example of "Gigalo" that I've found is the example that I collected from my daughter & her friends in the mid to late 1980s (see text example #1 below). Of course, earlier examples of that cheer may exist in other persons' memories or in written form.

Given its textual structure and performance activity, I believe that the Gigalo rhyme is of African American origin. However, it's clear from reading online examples of "Gigalo" that this /rhyme is also known and performed by non-African Americans (mostly girls). I'm curious to know whether this rhyme is known outside of the United States, and, if so, how it is performed.

Although "Gigalo" rhyme appears to be quite widely known in the United States, it usually isn't included in any off-line publications of children's rhymes. Before the internet, it was rare for most African American children's recreational rhymes, singing games, and cheers to be included in books, records, and other publications of children's rhymes. Instead, those rhymes were passed on by word of mouth.

I believe that most publications of children's rhymes only include the adult approved version of playground rhymes and not the multiple versions of rhymes that children really say. The failure to publish examples of African American playground rhymes is just one aspect of this point, but it is a critical aspect since-in my opinion- so many American children's rhymes come from African Americans.

In part because playground rhymes traditionally weren't written down, many of those rhymes were short lived, lasting only for a short space of time in certain neighborhoods. But, for some reason, other rhymes, such as "Gigalo" were quite tenacious, and could be found in various communities throughout the nation. This remains the case in this post-Internet age regarding other children's rhymes, cheers, and singing games of African American origin and of non-African American origin. However, thanks to the Internet, including the Cocojams.com website and YouTube, a much larger number of playground rhymes from the past and the present can be found in print form

Because it was passed on by word of mouth, there's no definitive spelling of the word "gigalo". Sometimes that word is spelled "jigalo" or "jigalow". I wrote down this rhyme using the spelling "gigalo" and by force of habit still spell that word that way. But "jigalo" or "jigalow" might have been a better choice because those spelling are closer than "gigalo" to the way that children pronounce that word (JIG-ah-low). Furthermore, spelling that word "jigalo" or "jigalow" wouldn't lead to any misapprehension that this children's playground rhyme is connected in any way with the sexualized referent "gigalo". To be clear, there is NO connection between the children's rhyme "Gigalo" and the playboy/pimp "gigalo".

Unfortunately, the spelling "gigalo" is the one that I started using and have grown accustomed to using. I'm not sure if the examples using the spelling "gigalo" that are featured on my Cocojams website and on the thread that I started for that rhyme on the Internet forum Mudcat http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=100807 [hereafter given as "Mudcat: Gigalo"] adopted my way of spelling that word or if that was the spelling that the people sending in examples would have used anyway. It's possible that the spelling "gigalo" is used most often for that rhyme (if indeed it is) because the word "gigalo" is widely known in the USA. That said, one problem with transferring examples from oral tradition to written form via the internet or any other form is a copy cat effect in which people may write the words as they recall seeing them in written form.

GIGALO RHYME PERFORMANCE STYLES
In an earlier version of this post, and on that above mentioned Mudcat thread, I wrote that I recalled my daughter and her friends performing "Gigalo" as a foot stomping cheer. After further consultation with her, I retract that description and amend it by indicating that what she recalls performing is the same circle or semi-circle game movement activity that is found in the camp videos published here.

My apologies for that mistatement.

That said, it should be noted that even if the performance activity for Gigalo wasn't the alternating steppin' and individual handclap or body pat that is done for foot stomping cheers, the textual structure of the rhyme (the way the words are structured) fits my definition for "foot stomping cheers".

Gigalo has a group/consecutive soloists structure. By "group/consecutive soloists" which is the signature structure for foot stomping cheers. By "group/consecutive soloist" I mean that the group's voice is heard first, and then a soloist's voice. This continues until the end of the cheer which is usually a slightly longer "soloist" portion. At the "end" of that rendition of the cheer, it immediately starts again from the beginning with a new soloist. (The order of soloist having been selected before the cheer activity begins.) That pattern of consecutive soloists continues until everyone in the group has had one turn as the soloist. For example, here's a version of Gigalo:

GIGALO
All: Gig ah lo-o
Gig gig a lo-o
Gig ah lo-o
Gig gig a lo-o
Group: Hey, Kayla
Kayla: What?
Group: Are you ready to gig?
Kayla: Gig what?
Group: Gigalo
Kayla : My hands up high
My feet down low
And this is the way
I gig a lo
Group: Her hands up high
Her feet down low
And this is the way she gigalos
-T.M.P.; memories of Pittsburgh, PA; mid to late 1980s, collected by Azizi Powell in the 1980s and transcribed in the 1990s from an audio tape; posted on http://www.cocojams.com/content/foot-stomping-cheers-0 [hereafter given as Cocojams:FSC]

-snip-

Perhaps Gigalo is a movement rhyme that marks the earliest form of foot stomping cheers - a playground movement rhyme that is performed without the consistent stepping routine of later foot stomping cheers

Foot stomping cheers and the movement rhymes shown in the videos of Gigalo on this page can be considered as updated versions of "show me your motion" circle games (ring games). In "show me your motion" circle games, one person standing in the center (the middle) of the circle does an arbitrary motion when commanded to do so by the rest of the game participants. After the middle person demonstrates her or his chosen motion, the remainder of the players perform the exact same movement along with the middle person. After this, traditionally the middle person purposely or arbitrarily (by spinning around in the middle with her or his eyes closed, and pointing)choses a new middle person, and then rejoins the rest of the group.

"Gigalo" is performed as a non-competitive game by campers or other groups of children, teens, or young adults. The tune used for this camp game is the same as the tune used for the foot stomping cheer. Depending on the composition of the camp or group, the performers of this game may be female or coed. However, it appears to be rare for this game or any other camp style singing/hand clapping games to be played by only males.

These games are always performed in a circle formation with one or two person in the middle. Persons forming the circle (ring) chant the lyrics while clapping their hands. In different renditions of this game, all or some group members may also stamp their feet to the rhyme's beat.* Group members stop clapping (and stamping their feet) while they sing and perform the "hands up high/feet down low" movements and while they imitate the middle person's movements. Usually, the soloist performs a currently popular dance movement or acrobatic movements such as jumping up and clapping one's hands as her or his chosen movements. In camp style circle games, the new middle person may be chosen arbitrarily by the previous middle person or may have been chosen prior to the beginning of the game in the same manner use in foot stomping cheers.

*In camp style circle games such as "Gigalo" the clap/stamp movements appears to be much less percussive, much less syncopated, and much less uniformly executed than then in foot stomping cheers. That's why I use the word "stamp" for that sound instead of the more bass sounding word "stomp" that I use for "foot stomping cheers".

It's also important to note that in camp style performances of "Gigalo" the individual handclaps and foot stomping motions are accompaniment to the chant. In contrast, in foot stomping cheers, the foot stomping/individual hand clapping routine is the core feature of the performance, so much so that if one person goes off beat (fails to do the foot stomp/handclap routine), the entire chant has to be started all over again from the beginning.

Click http://cocojams.com/content/foot-stomping-cheers-0 for more information and examples of foot stomping cheers.

Note: I have kept examples of Gigalo on Cocojam's Foot Stomping Cheers page with the editorial comment that these examples may not have been performed with foot stomping routines, but that their textual structure is the same as the structure of foot stomping cheers. I also have posted the same comment and an excerpt of this post describing the performance of this cheer on that "Mudcat: Gigalo" thread whose link is given above.

VIDEOS OF GIGALO
Here are three video examples of performances of Gigalo by campers or other groups:

Video Example #1: playing gigalo at cheer camp
This example is placed at the top of this page.

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Video Example #2: jigalo

Uploaded by meljohnvideoshare on Jul 14, 2008
...mmm...some of hte games we play...

Editor:
Note that African Americans in this video aren't doing foot stomping steps, but like the other persons in the groups are clapping and perhaps stamping their foot to the beat.

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Video Example #3: shows us how you gigolo!

Uploaded by yfcsharmel on Sep 9, 2008

Yfc camp september 5-7 2008.

SELECTED TEXT EXAMPLES OF GIGALO
Here are a few additional text examples of "Gigalo"
(Examples in this post are consecutively numbered but aren't in any chronological order.)

Example #1: This example is provided earlier in this post.

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Example #2 & #3

GIGALO
This is a handclap/foot stomping cheer called Gigolo.
Gig-olo-o
Gig-Gig-olo-o
Gig-olo-o
Gig-gig-olo-o
Group: Hey [girls name]
Girl: Yeah!
Group: Hey [girls name]
Girl: Yeah
Group: show us how yuh get down.!
Girl: what.?!
Group: show us how yuh get down.!
Girl: Well, my hands up high, my feet down low and thats the way I gigolo (does dance/motion of her own)
Group: Well, her hands up high, her feet down low and thats the way she gigolos (group repeats the unique dance/motion)
Repeat with a new girl and new dance/motion.)

OOOORRR:

Gig-olo-o
Gig-Gig-olo-o
Gig-olo-o
Gig-gig-olo-o
Group: Hey [girls name]
Girl: Yeah!
Group: Hey [girls name]
Girl: Yeah
Group: show us how yuh get down.!
Girl: what.?!
Group: show us how yuh get down.!
Girl: Well my back aint right my bra too tight my hips keep shakin from left to right and THATS the way I gigolo (does dance/motion of her own)
Group: Well my back aint right my bra too tight my hips keep shakin from left to right and THATS the wa she gigolos(group repeats the unique dance/motion)

(Repeat with a new girl and new dance/motion.)
-Guest, 17yr old kid at heart:); http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=4300&messages=171 "Children's Street Songs"; July 20, 2010

Editor: Note that the informant indicates that "this is a handclap/foot stomping cheer." It's possible, and perhaps likely, that she (or he) could have used the phrase "foot stomping cheer" in imitation of my use of that phrase in earlier posts on that discussion thread.

The "show us how you get down" line is found in in mid 1980s foot stomping cheer "Get Down". Versions of "Get Down" are found in Cocojams: Foot Stomping Cheer. The lines "my back is aching/my bra's too tight" are commonly found in the very popular handclap rhyme "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train".

Examples of "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train" are found on http://www.cocojams.com/content/schoolyard-taunts

-snip-

Most examples of "Gigalo" are posted online without any information about their performance activity. Here are two such examples:

Example #4 Gigalo: performance activity unknown

JIGALO
here is the real version ppl.

HEY(Girls name)
Girl:what?
ME: are you ready to jigalo?
girl:yeah!
Both: my hands up high!
My feet down low!
This is the way I jigalo!
jig-a-low
jig-jig-a-looow
jig-a-low
jig-jig-a-looow
(you keep repeating until you get bored. You also do a little dance :) hoped this helped
-Guest, meesha ; "Mudcat: Gigalo" ; May 17, 2010

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Example #5 performance activity unknown

JIGALOW
my friend taught me this.

my hands up high
my knees down low
but this the way i jigalow
the sky is blue
the grass is green
and this the way I do my thing
your daddy cook
your momma bake
but this the way my booty shake
-No name; 2/15/2007 ; Cocojams:FSC

-snip-

it appears that recreational camp groups may be where children and youth most often learn the rhyme "Gigalo". In my experience, and judging from some of the videos and viewer comments that I have read for those videos, it appears that males of any age beyond six years old are unlikely to initiate this game, and males are unlikely to play this game or other camp group handclap games such as "Gigalo" or (the very widely known) "Down By The Banks Of an Hanky Panky" when there is no female participation in those games. In other words, these games are still considered to be a female activity that males may sometimes join in.

PROBABLE SOURCES FOR THE "GIGALO" RHYME
I believe that the core words* to the American children's rhyme/cheer "Gigalo" ("Jigalo") came from the United Kingdom children's handclap rhyme "High Low Jack A Low" (also known as "High Low Piccalo"). The lines "my hands up high/my feet down low / and this is the way I jigalo" are consistently found in both the United Kingdom & American examples of this playground rhyme.

*I wrote "core words" because it's likely that there are some versions of these rhymes that include other words. That said, the rhyme "High Low Jack-A-low" appears to be remarkably consistent.

Here are two examples of that British hand clap rhyme with comments & performance directions:

Example #6: High Low Jackalo
Very interesting how these rhymes etc. are spread across continents.

Version of the above, called "Jackalo", as a handclapping song, played by middle-class white British girls in private school, Essex, just outside Greater London, end 20th/beginning 21st century:

My name is [each partner holds hands together, palm to palm, as if "praying", then each pair of hands brushes the other]

Hands now parted. Partners face each other. [Whilst the rest of the song is sung, left hand is held straight out, as if waiting to shake hands. Right hands meet, high and low, to match the rhythm of the song]:

Hi, low, Jackalo, Jackalo, Jackalo,
Hi, low, Jackalo, Jackalo and HIGH !
- jeanie; "Mudcat: Gigalo"; 4/15/2007

-snip-

Example #7: High Low Jigga-low
We have a different version of "high low peccalow" here (Herts, England). Instead of peccalow it reads:

My names is ....
High Low Jigga-low
Jigga-low high Low

High Low Jigga-low
Jigga-low high

You hold onto your friend's right hand with yours and your left hands make contact.

When the song says high, you clap above the joined hands, when the song says low you clap below and when the song says Jigga you clap on the joined hands.
The aim is to run through the song as fast as possible without mucking up the clapping.
We're 17 now, but we still sometimes play it if we've nothing better to.

Usually the most muck ups happen on the second line where it goes low high.
-Guest ,Amon; http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63097 "Folklore: Do kids still do clapping rhymes?"; 11/25/2007

VIDEO EXAMPLE OF HIGH LOW JACKALOW
"(My Name Is) High Low Jackalow":

Uploaded by hanyakebanya on Nov 19, 2009

Click http://www.cocojams.com/content/handclap-jump-rope-and-elastics-rhymes for additional examples of "High Low Jackalo" and related titles.

SOURCES FOR THE "GIGALO" & "HIGH LOW JACKALOW" RHYMES
I believe that the title "Gigalo" ("Jigalow") and the lines 'my name is high low jack a low" and the similar lines "my name is high low peccalo" have their origin in the "High Low Jack" card game.

From http://www.woodburystrings.com/bands-for-hire/high-low-jack/

"HIGH-LOW-JACK is one of several names for an old-time card game that originated in the 1600s in England and is still very popular there. Known as All-Fours in England, it was the most popular gambling game in America until after the Civil War when Draw Poker began to overshadow it. It continued to be popular throughout the 19th century, and was most commonly known as Seven Up or Old Sledge. It is still popular today in various forms including Pitch or Auction Pitch.

Old Sledge is also the name of a West Virginia fiddle tune"...

-snip-

Additional information about that game can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_(card_game)

-snip-

As somewhat of an aside, it's interesting to note that a line in the old African American folk song "Old Joe Clark" contains a reference to that card game.
Old Joe Clark, the preacher's son,
Preached all over the plain,
The only text he ever knew
Was "high low jack and the game".

-snip-

Click http://www.cocojams.com/content/american-banjo-fiddle-songs for a video and examples of the folk song "Old Joe Clark".

While this information about sources for these rhymes may be of interest to folklorists, I very much doubt that many children from the United States or from United Kingdom children know that "Old Joe Clark" song. I also doubt that many children in those nations know about the "high low jack" card game.

However, I definitely believe that the United Kingdom hand clap rhyme "(My Name Is) High Low Jackalow" is the direct source for the basic (most commonly found) text examples of "Gigalo". Although I'm not certain about when that rhyme was first documented in the United Kingdom, what I've read online assures me that that rhyme predates the mid 1980s (the earliest date that I've found for "Gigalo").

Yet it's important to note (no pun intended) that the tune for the United Kingdom handclap rhyme appears to be different from the tune used for "Gigalo. Also, the tempo for "High Low Jackalow" appears to be faster than the tempos used for the American playground rhyme (including the foot stomping cheer). The tune for "Gigalo" seems to me to be more like a syncopated version of the old American folk song "Mama's Little Baby Loves Shortnin Bread" (a song that is much more familiar to most American children than "Old Joe Clark").

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Thanks for reading this post.

Visitor comments are welcome here at cocojams17@yahoo.com or at http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/12/childrens-rhyme-gigalo-examples.... where it was first published.