What playground songs did you used to sing?

[Slubberdegullion]

My mind has gone blank. What did we used to sing in the playground? I'm pretty sure I sang something.

I'm doing a 100 yesr of memories thing/badge with Rainbows (to tie in with the centenary obv) and one of the activities is teaching them playground songs of yore.

So I have all the old ones (oranges and lemons, london bridge etc) which I NEVER sang and would like to teach them something from my era 1970-80s.

Anything with actions would be superb.

tvm

Oh, I LOVED Please Mr. Crocodile!

clap hand song - can't remember in full

under the barn bushes under the trees
bum bum bum
tue love for you my darling true love for me
and we;ll get married
and raise a family
so under the barn bushes under the trees
bum bum bum

i think i could have got some of that wrong

aww Kurri, that one started out promisingly and then all went swear words at the end.

OMG, Choopy! I remember that one too!

Although if it's for a Rainbows group, do they still sing the Thunder Thunder song?

Thunder thunder, thunderation,
We're in the Girl Guides Association
When we sing with determination
We create a sensation

Then repeat louder and quicker until everyone falls into a heap of giggles and breathlessness. Or so I remember it....!

Just come to me - England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales. Outside, inside, on. French Elastic one

apologies if someone has got there before me

See see my darling (clap clap)
I cannot marry you (clap clap)
My sister's got the flu
She died in '72

(god that dates me unduly, I wasn't even born in 72!)

or

Mary had a little lamb, she thought it rather silly
She threw it up into the air and caught it by its
Willy was a watchdog sitting on the grass
Along came a bumblebee and stung him on the
Ask no questions, tell no lies
I saw a policeman zipping up his
Flies are a nuisance, wasps are worse
And this is the end of my silly little verse

or

Shine your buttons with Brasso*
It's only three ha'pennies* a tin
You can buy it or nick it from Woolies*
But I doubt if they've got any in

(* Good grief, three redundant items in three lines!)

Skipping to the chant:

Mother's in the kitchen
Doin' a bit of stitchin'
How many stitches did she do?

then keep skipping whilst counting 'stiches'.

Ah - just realised Rainbows very unlikely to want the last two!

Sorry, choppy

Sorry, more pants and violence, I'm afraid.

My boyfriend gave me an apple,
My boyfriend gave me a pear,
My boyfriend gave me a kick up the bum
And he threw me down the stairs.

I gave him back his apple,
I gave him back his pear,
I gave him back his kick up the bum
And kicked him down the stairs.

I kicked him over England,
I kicked him over France
I kicked him over the chimney pot
And he lost his underpants.

A sailor went to sea, sea, sea (make aye-aye sailor salute thing)...
...chop, chop, chop (hand chopping arm motion)
.... knee, knee, knee (pat knee)
... toe, toe, toe (pat toe)
... sea, chop, knee, toe (do one each of the above really fast)

Dear, dear what can the matter be?
Two old ladies locked in the lavatory
They've been there from Monday to Saturday
Nobody knew they were there

There were more verses, but I can't remember them. Something about bonny blue ribbons....

Oh you lot are great. Thanks so much. I have to go to swimming now but will be rehearsing the chinese restaurant one in the viewing area (by myself with my invisible clapping partner).

CakeBuddy - thunderation is very much still in use

This was a skipping song...

The rippo, the rappo
The sailor on the sea
The IRA are after me
Not because i'm dirty
Not because i'm clean
Because my mammy told them
I'm the fairy queen.

Probably best not sung in Dublin suburbs in the late 70's, as we did...

Oh yes we had Susie the sluuty teenager too.

Also:

Under a bramble bush
Under a tree
Johnny broke a window
And blamed it all on me
I told my mama
My mama told my papa
And johnny got a spanking
with an ooh ah cha cha cha
Left my knickers
in my boyfriend's car

Lots of knicker losing going on...

We used to play a game where you juggled two tennis balls against a wall and chanted:
Drink a pint of milk a day
M - I - L - K

It's my pleasure Slubberdegullion. This is our rich oral tradition - did loads on it when at teacher training college. You need Iona Opie.

Wiki on Iona and Peter Opie.

Depressingly, singing rounds of:
A pizza hut, a pizza hut
Kentucky fried chicken and a pizza hut
McDonalds, McDonalds.....

Not painting a great picture of my home town - full of little girls singing about booze, sex, violence and fast food.

Okay, back to the 70s...

We used to do a skipping chant which went

Shirley Temple is a star
S - T - A - R
She can do the hoola
She can do the splits
She can pull her dress right up to her hips!

There was also a clapping game which went

Say, say, oh playmate,
Come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three
Climb up my apple tree

Slide down my rainbow
Into my cellar door
And we'll be jolly friends
Forever more, 1-2-3-4

And then I learnt, at my DD's rainbow troup a little ditty as follows:

Baa baa black sheep have you any wool?
Knit me some knickers to wear to my school
One for my grandma and one for my mum
And one for me to cover up my bum

None of the songs I used to sing at Primary school are at all appropriate I'm afraid! It's all knickers and boyfriends. We had a spectacularly rude version of Teddy Bear's Picnic....

If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise,
If you go down to the woods today, you'd better do up your flies,
'Cos mum and dad are having a shag
And uncle Frank is having a wank
And Auntie Flo is having a go with Grandad

I remember singing this when I was about 8

good grief muminthecity. I will probably not be using that one if you don't mind.

I'm mildly taken aback by your Rainbow sheep/wool/bum song ShellingPeas.

I think even bum would get the raised eyebrows of disapproval from some. Mind you I do appear to be living in Cranford.

No the Susie one would be ok to include, it had loads of verses.

When susie was a baby she went
Waaaaaa waaaaa waaaaa

When Susie was a toddler she went

Waaa waaaa

When Susie was a little girl she went

Waaa waaa

Knickers verse (could change or remove?)

When Suzie was a grown up etc

When Suzie was an old lady etc

Sorry I can't remember them all Also the Suzie as a teenager always had a Northern accent even though I went to school in the Midlands!

The skipping one with the french skipping rope was England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, inside, outside, jump on the rails.

We used to sing one while skipping which had a little rhyme at the beginning (does anyone know this?) and then said "What is the name of my true love?" And then you'd go through the alphabet until the skipper missed a step, that would be the name of your future husband (ie a boy's name beginning with that letter)

Oh yes I remember the true love skipping one, and everyone would titter if you ended up having the really weird boy who picked his nose through his jumper as your future husband.

The Susie song is a work in progress there isn't it Bertie