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Father Abraham
Category:
Game Song
Source: Azizi Powell Collection {Pittsburgh, PA mid 1980s;
Lillian Taylor Camp/Kinsley Association}
Father Abraham
had seven sons.
Seven sons had Father
Abraham.
And they never laughed.
And they never cried.
All they did was do like this.”
With the right foot…
(return to
beginning and add another action; see
comments for
additional actions)
I collected this version of “Father Abraham” in
1993 from my daughter, Tazi Powell. Tazi
(TAH-zee) and her brothers Ayinde and Aki
learned this song when they went to Lillian Taylor summer camp (Pittsburgh, PA
area) in the mid 1980s. This
is different from the version of “Father Abraham” that I learned in
Vacation Bible school when
I was a child in Atlantic City, New Jersey (in the 1950s).
Here's the version that I learned:
Father
Abraham had seven sons.
Seven
sons had Father Abraham,
and they never laughed and never cried
all they did was praise the Lord.
I remember that we sang this song marching around the room.
The first time we sang all the words.
The second time we sang it, we would hummed the first word. The next time we sang it, we would hum the first and second
word and so on until we hummed the entire song.
Lillian Taylor Camp counselors didn’t teach
“Father Abraham” as a “hum a word” song”.
They taught it as a “cumulative rhyme”.
A “cumulative rhyme” is when you add an action or words to each
verse and, in backwards order, repeat what came before it until you reach
the first action or word. For
example, after saying “with a right foot”, the next verse will say
“with a left foot, and a right foot”.
Players do every motion for each part of the body that is
mentioned. For example, point
your feet when saying “with the right foot”. You are supposed to keep doing every preceding movement while
singing each new verse. So
you are adding on words and movements.
The motions that my children remember are in this order: right foot, left
foot, (point your right foot out in front of you; point your left foot out
in front of you); right arm, left arm {stiffly hold your right arm out to
the side; do the same with your left arm), hip (move your hip to the right
side or the left side), head {nod your head up and down}, and tongue
{stick your tongue out and try to keep singing}.
This song teaches memory skills and is a lot of fun to do!
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