Down, Down Baby, I Know Karate
Category: Handclap rhyme
Source: Azizi Powell Collection {Pittsburgh, PA 1999; Alafia Children's Ensemble}
Down,
down baby,
I know karate.
Down, down baby,
I can shake my body.
Down, down baby,
I can call my mommy.
Oops! I’m so sorry
Down, down baby,
to the front,
to the back,
to the side, side, side.
Watch me do the butterfly.
There
are many different African American handclap chants that start with the
words “Down, Down Baby”. The
one that most people know starts with “Down, down baby; down by the
roller coaster”. I
collected
“Down, Down Baby, I Know Karate” in 1999 from the Garfield (Pittsburgh) chapter
of Alafia Children’s Ensemble. Alafia
Children’s Ensemble is a predominately African American performing arts
group of girls and boys, ages 5-12 years.
The tune used for
“Down,
Down Baby, I Know Karate” is
the same as the tune used for the more widely known version of “Down,
Down Baby”. Like its more
widely known version,
“Down,
Down Baby, I Know Karate” is a unison chant that is performed by
both
girls and boys.
When only two children are performing the rhyme, they stand facing
each other and do intricate handclap routines that include dance motions
such as “the butterfly”. When
more than two children perform this chant, they stand in a circle. Each child holds one hand palm up and one hand palm down and
rhythmically claps the hand of the person standing on either side.
On the words “oops, I’m so sorry”, the partners (or each
person forming the circle) lightly slaps each other’s (or a child
standing to their right)'s forehead.
(This is an expected part of the game and no one is supposed to get
mad). After the forehead
slap, players jump one time to the front, one time to the back and then
slide to the right, left and right. Players
end the handclap chant by doing the social dance called the
“butterfly”. See “I
Went To The Chinese Restaurant” in this collection for rhyme that also
contains the “slapping your partner” action.
The practice of lightly slapping someone on the
forehead or another part of their body may be a way of teaching children
that they have to be strong in order to “make it” in the world.
A lot of lyrics to modern day children’s rhymes and chants talk
about being “tough”. When
unfortunate or bad things happen, African American children and African
American adults are taught to act like they are tough and that what
happened really didn’t matter. In
current slang, you are supposed to “suck it up”. This means to quickly take what happened inside you, and not show
any anger or pain. “Sucking
it up” is closely related to being “cool.”
When people tell someone to “cool it” or “cool out”, they
are trying to get the person to keep their anger “in check” (in
control). “Sucking it up” and “keeping your cool” sometimes
helps to keep people out of trouble.
However, a person should know what her or she is feeling.
And, when it is safe to do so, a person should be able to express
his or her emotions in a way that doesn’t hurt the person or others.
Anger can only say inside for a while before it builds up and explodes
like a volcano. And that's not good for
anybody.
If you know any other rhymes like this, share them with CocoJams!
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