|
Two
Way Pass Away
Category: (confrontation style)
Street Cheer
Source: Azizi Powell Collection {Braddock, PA, 1985.
after school group}
Group
Two way pass away
Two way pass away
Soloist #1 Well,
my name is Tawanda
Group
Two way pass away
Soloist #1 And if you
don’t like it
Group Two
way pass away
Soloist #1 You can kiss
what I twist
Group
Two way pass away
Soloist #1 And I
don’t mean my wrist.
(The group repeats the entire chant with the next
soloist)
“To Way Pass Away” is a confrontation style
street cheer that I collected in 1985 from a group of pre-teen
African American girls living in Braddock, PA (about 10 miles from
Pittsburgh, PA). When girls
perform confrontation style cheers, they are trying to show other people
that they're not afraid of anything.
Keeping the beat is the most important part of these chants, but the
lyrics are also important. Don't ya just love these lyrics: "You can kiss
what I twist and I don't mean my wrist". I bet you know what they
mean!
Few street cheers are written down or otherwise
recorded. Most of them have a short life
span. As
time passes, the chants are significantly changed or are completely forgotten.
Unfortunately, I haven’t met anyone else in Braddock, or in its
surrounding communities who knows this “To Way Pass Away” chant.
In 1999, I learned about the “Wild Indian”
groups of African Americans living in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Since the late 1880s, these groups have honored their Native
American ancestry and remembered the help that Native Americans gave to African
Americans fleeing slavery by making colorful feather costumes and parading
down the streets during Mardi Gras and other holidays.
The main chant that is associated with the Wild Indian groups is “Tu Way Packaway”.
I believe that “Tu Way Packaway” is the origin of the “Two
Way Pass Away” chant. Of course that means that the "two" in the
title should have been written "tu". But it's fine the way it is,
since there are more than two ways to write "tu".
Share other Black rhymes and chants with CocoJams!!
|
