Miss
Mary Mack, Mack, Mack all dressed in black, black, black. Silver buttons, buttons, buttons
down her back, back, back
She asked her mother, mother, mother
for fifty cents, cents, cents
to see the elephant, elephant, elephant
jumped the fence, fence, fence.
He jumped so high, high, high
he touched the sky, sky, sky.
And he never came back, back, back
till the fourth of July.
“Miss
Mary Mack” (also known as “Old Mary Mack”) is probably the most
popular handclap rhyme among African American children today.I recited it when I was growing up in New Jersey in the 1950s, but
can’t remember doing any handclap rhymes to it.From 1997-2001, when I conducted cultural programs with African
American children in Pittsburgh, PA and surrounding communities. At
the conclusion of the formal program, I would ask the children to share
some rhymes and chants that they knew with my associates and me.
Invariably, "Miss Mary Mack" would be the rhyme that they would recite
first.In 2001, when I asked my elementary school age cousins from
Philadelphia what handclap rhymes they knew, they also recited the same
“Miss Mary Mack” rhyme as featured above.Most of the time that African American children chant this rhyme,
they do partner handclap routines or intricate four or more in a group handclap routines to
it.Sometimes the
handclapping routines go faster and faster until the ones who miss are
out.
The
beginning four lines of “Miss Mary Mack” come from an old English
riddle for a coffin.The
remaining two line verses come from an old African American slave rhyme
called “The Elephant”.This
verse is found in Thomas W. Talley’s Negro Folk Rhymes, (Kennikat Press,
Port Washington, N.Y, p 116, originally published by The Macmillan
Company, 1922).Additional
two line rhyming floating verses may be added to “Miss Mary Mack”.In 2000, a eight year old girl in one community of Pittsburgh
recited this verse: “She went upstairs to make her bed, and bumped her
head on a piece of cornbread”.This
verse is a popular floating rhyme that comes from slavery dance songs.Another popular slavery dance verse that is sometimes added to
“Miss Mary Mack” is: “She went to the river and she couldn’t get
across, so she paid five dollars for a old gray horse.”
Do you know other verses to "Miss Mary Mack"?Share
them with CocoJams!
