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GAME SONGS
SEVEN ELEVEN
Category Children’s Action Song
Source Group
of African American girls & boys, about 8-12 years, from Ammon Recreational
Center (in the predominately African American Hill District section of
Pittsburgh, PA); Collected by Azizi Powell, 1999
Directions
Chant in a sing song voice
rhythmically in unison and
perform the indicated
motions
7 11 and ah 42.
How many pop-ups
can you do?
Wiiith
ah 1- 2- 3- 4 (The word “with” is
spoken with emphasis
and drawn out)
5-6-7-8.
7 11 and ah 42.
711 and ah 42.
How many bongos
can you do?
Wiiith
ah 1, 2, 3, 4.
5, 6,7, 8.
7 11 and ah 42.
7 11 and ah 42.
How many jumping jacks
can you do?
Wiith
ah 1, 2, 3, 4.
5, 6,7, 8.
7 11 and ah 42.
Repeat
the rhyme as many times as you wish, each time substituting a new movement and
doing the movements starting from “1” to the count of “8”.
This
rhyme, like a number of other rhymes and cheers featured in this collection, was
collected as a result of cultural presentations my associates and I conducted in
1999 for groups of children who reside in Allegheny County {Pittsburgh area}
public housing developments. As part of our presentation on African American
children’s recreational music, we asked the children to sing and perform any
game songs, handclap rhymes and cheers that they knew. The children liked the
fact that we audio taped their performances and played it back to them.
This
text version of “Seven Eleven” can’t possible capture its catchy tune and the
energy that the girls and boys put into its performance. You need a videotape
to do it justice.
“Pop-ups” was the children’s term for the exercise commonly called “sit-ups”.
“Bongos”
was the children’s term for a rhythmical side-to-side hip shaking motion.
“Jumping Jacks” is commonly used term for an exercise that combines clapping
your hands above your head while you jump with your feet apart and then
together.
What
does "7 11 and ah 42 mean? I failed to ask the children this question.
“7-11” is the name of an all-night convenience store in Pittsburgh. I guess the
store’s name means that it is open from 7 o’ clock in the morning to 11 o’clock
at night. But I don’t really think that this has anything to do with this
rhyme. Maybe the words don’t mean anything but just sound good together.
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Going Round The Mountain, Two By Two
Category: Ring
{Circle} Game
Source: Multiple music books
Going round the mountain,
two by two.
Going
round the mountain, two by two.
Going
round the mountain, two by two.
Tell
me who loves sugar and candy.
Let me see your motion, two by two.
Let
me see your motion, two by two.
Let
me see your motion, two by two.
We can do you motion. two by two.
We can
do you motion. two by two.
We can
do you motion. two by two.
Tell me
who loves sugar and candy.
“Going Round The
Mountain, Two by Two”
is a traditional African American
“show me your motion” ring game (circle game).
Boys and girls of different ages (and, traditionally, sometimes
adults) form a circle without holding hands.
One person stands in the middle of the circle.
The group chants in unison, claps their hands and moves to the
song’s rhythm. On the words
“let me see your motion”, the person in the middle performs a dance step or
some other movement. The
group then tries to exactly imitate that movement.
The song usually continues with the group saying “Who do you
choose?” Traditionally, the
middle player would purposefully choose another player (usually if the
middle player was a boy, he would choose a girl or vice versa).
Nowadays, the middle player covers his or her eyes with one hand,
and turns around pointing at random to the other players.
The person the middle player is pointing to at the end of the song
is the new middle person. The
former middle person then re-joins the other players in the “ring” of
the circle.
When the middle player is chosen at
random, players never know when they will be picked to go into the middle
of the ring. Therefore, every
player has to be ready to quickly go into the middle of the ring.
The middle person is also expected to perform a different
“motion” or perform the same motion slightly differently than anyone
else has done before him or her. Traditionally,
these types of games don’t end until everyone has had a turn in the
middle of the ring.
These types of games may be played
for their recreational value. But
on a deeper level, they teach people to develop and live in a state of
“expectant readiness”. In
other words, all people, and particularly people in oppressive societies,
must be mentally and physically alert.
They must always be prepared to move when they have to move.
Given the difficult times we live in it may be
almost as important to develop this state of readiness now in
African American children as
it was during the oppressive years of slavery.
Do you know any other traditional African American circle games? Share
them with CocoJams!
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