ID: 750
Date: 1990s - 2003
Title: Down baby down
Gender: Female 
Classification: Clapping 
Rhyme: 

Down, baby down, roller coaster.
Sweet, sweet baby I'm never gonna let you go.
Shimmey, shimmey coco pops, 
Shimmey, shimmey POW!
Call the doctor quick, quick, quick,
Cos I'm feeling sick,sick,sick.
Doctor, doctor, will I die?
Count to 5 and you're alive.
1,2,3,4,5
Doctor, doctor am I dead?
No, because you did what I said.

(Rotorua, 2002)

--

Down, baby down, roller coaster.
Sweet, sweet baby, don't let me go.
Shimmy, shimmy cocoa pops,
Shimmy shimmy ra.
Shimmy, shimmy, cocoa pops,
Shimmy, shimmy ra.
I got a boyfriend, a biscuit.
He's got a spunky biscuit.
Ice cream soda with a cherry on the top,
Ice cream soda with a cherry on the top,
Incy wincy lollipop,
Incy wincy woo,
Incy wincy lollipop, the boys love you,
And that's not true.
Ladies and gentlemen, children too.
This old lady's gonna boogie for you.
She's gonna turn around,
She's gonna touch the ground.
She's gonna boogie, boogie, boogie,
Till her pants fall down.

(Whakatane, 1990s)

--

Down, down, baby, down the rollercoaster,
Sweet, sweet baby, no place to go.
Jumped out the window, crazy, crazy.
Didn't do the dishes, lazy, lazy.
Ate a lot of junk food, yummy, yummy.
Didn't clean up, naughty, naughty.
(Fucked my boyfriend, yummy, yummy.
Tried on a condom, naughty, naughty)
Eeny meeny disapeeny, 
Ooh wah sha walla, walla,
Education, operation, 
Cool, no school.

(Masterton, 2000)

--

Down, baby down, roller coaster.
Sleep, sleep,  baby, I don't want to let you go.
Mamma, Mamma, I feel sick,
Called the doctor, the doctor said,
Let's get the rhythm of the head, ding, dong, x 2
Let's get the rhythm of the hands, feet, hot dog,
Put it all together and what do you get? Ding, dong, clap, clap, stamp, stamp, hot dog, hot dog.
Put it all backwards and what do you get? 
Dog, hot, stamp, stamp, clap, clap, dong, ding, dong, ding.

(Auckland, 2001)

--

Oh shoo shoo,
Walla, walla, biscuits
I've got a boyfriend, maybe,
He's so spunky,
Like a monkey.
Ice cream soda with a cherry on the top,
Ice cream soda with a cherry in the middle,
Ice cream soda with a cherry on the bottom.
Let's get the rhyme of the ding, dong,
Let's get the rhythm of the hands, clap, clap.. (continues on as above)

(Rotorua, 2002)

--

Down, baby, down, roller coaster.
Sweet, sweet baby, I'm never gonna let you go.
Shimmey, shimmey coco pop,
Shimmey, shimmey ra.
Shimmey, shimmey coco pop,
Shimmey, shimmey ra.
I met a boyfriend, a biscuit.
He was a sweet one, a biscuit.
Apples on the table,
Peaches on the floor.
Step out baby.
I don't love you any more.
To the front, to the back, to the side.
To the front, to the back, to the side.

(Timaru, 2003)

--

Ice cream soda with a cherry on the top,
Ice cream soda with a cherry on the bottom,
Down, down, baby, down by the road,
Sweet, sweet baby, never let me go.
Shimmer, shimmer, cocoa pop, (x 2)
Shimmer, shimmer pow! (x 2)

(Northland, 2000)

--
 
Background Info: Details from Marsh, 2001:91-93.
Popular African-American singing game, especially in early 1990s. Appeared on "Sesame Street" at that time in Australia (ABC), NZ and around the world. Also reported in Ghana. Media influence can account for the spread of this rhyme. 
The Sesame Street version is:

Down baby down, 
Down, down the roller coaster,
Sweet, sweet baby, I never let you go.
Chimmy chimmy coco pop
Chimmy chimmy pow
Chimmy chimmy coco pop
Chimmy chimmy pow.
Granma, Granma, sick in bed,
She called the doctor and the doctor said,
Let's get the rhythm of the head, ding, dong..

The Dutch version begins:

Daun daun lady, down daun ole ole..

The French version begins:

Dam dam bebe, dam dam dolika...

==

Similar version in Turner, 1978:41.

==

See also rhyme beginning  "Grandma, Grandma, stuck in bed" and "Ronald McDonald".

==

Opie, 2000:70 records a version as a skipping rhyme and predictor of the number of carriages in a funeral procession:

Mother, Mother, I am ill!
Send for the doctor! Yes I will.
Doctor, Doctor, shall I die?
Yes, my child, and so shall I.
When I die pray tell to me, 
How many coaches will there be?
1,2,3,4..
Then we're respectable.

==
 
Keywords: media influence, death, funerals 
Location: Various NZ 
Group size: 4 
Incidence: 7