FTX-201 - ONE TWO THREE A-LOOPA - CHILDREN'S GAMES FROM DEVON AND THE HOME COUNTIES

12 traditional playground Singing Games, together with skipping and Ball- bouncing rhymes and some talk from the kids. Wyn Humphries, headmaster of the village school at Sidbury, near Sidmouth, Devon, gives some important background to the local tradition, on leadership and the way the games are passed on followed by actuality recordings of 25 games from 3 playgrounds featuring Ring & Line Song-Games, Skipping and Ball-bouncing, with children giving their own spoken commentary, as well as saying the words of the rhymes. Recorded by Peter Kennedy: (1) Titchmarsh School, Northamptonshire, Oct 1952, (2) Kentish Town, London, Jan 1953 and (3) Guilden Mordern, Cambridgeshire, July 1956.

1. THE BIG SHIP SAILS - 0'56"

2. BOBBY BINGO - 0'22"

3. DUSTY BLUEBELLS - 0'39"

4. GREEN GRAVELS - 1'54"

5. I SENT A LETTER TO MY LOVE - 0'40"

6. LOOBY LOO - 1'37"

7. OATS AND BEANS AND BARLEY GROW - 0'35"

8. O THIS PRETTY LITTLE GIRL OF MINE - 0'37"

9. POOR JENNY SAT A-WEEPING - 1'03"

10. ROMAN SOLDIERS - 3'18"

11. DUKES A-RIDING - 2'12"

12. LONDON BRIDGE (talk before) - 2'50"

13. OVER THE GARDEN WALL (talk bef) - 1'17"

14. ONE-TWO-THREE-A-LOOPA - 2'13"

15. HAVE A CIGARETTE, SIR? (talk bef) - 0'48"

16. Talk about Skipping - 0'16"

17. TWO LITTLE DICKIE BIRDS - 0'14"

18. MOTHER BOUGHT A CHICKEN - 0'24"

19. PLAY UP, SIDBURY (Football Rhyme) - 0'15"

20. THE MORE WE ARE TOGETHER, POM-POM - 0'26"

The preceding games recorded by Peter Kennedy 1951.

The following recordings, from a video soundtrack, were made

by Peter twenty years later, in the school playground, in 1971

21. GREEN GRAVELS - 3'18"

22. ONE-TWO-THREE-A-LOOPA (with talk) - 1'19"

23. HAVE A CIGARETTE, SIR ? (with talk) - 0'43"

TITCHMARSH SCHOOL, Northamptonshire Oct 1952 (Skipping & Ball)

25. MY NAME IS ADDY-ADDY - 0'16"

26. ORDINARY CLAPSI (Ball game with descr aft) - 0'59"

GUILDEN MORDERN SCHOOL, Cambridgeshire rec by PK July 1956 (Skipping)

27. EVENING CHRONICLE, EMPIRE NEWS - 0'37"

28. PIGGY ON THE RAILWAY - 0'14"

29. TEDDY BEAR - 0'29"

30. UP IN THE LOFT - 0'37"

31. DOWN IN THE MEADOW (sound of airplane bef) - 2'03"

32. THE SHIP GOES THROUGH THE ILLEY-ALLEY-O - 0'47"

33. I SENT A LETTER - 1'20"

34. IN AND OUT THE WINDOWS - 1'13"

KENTISH TOWN, LONDON rec by PK January 1953 (Circular Singing Games)

35. IN AND OUT THE DUSTY BLUEBELLS (talk bef) - 1'32"

36. THERE WAS A LOVELY PRINCESS (or THE SLEEPING BEAUTY) - 2'25"

37. WHO GOES THERE, PUNCHINELLA ? - 1'04"

KENTISH TOWN, LONDON (Skipping & Ball):

38. ON A MOUNTAIN (Skipping: descr bef) - 1'48"

39. GREEN GRAVEL (Skipping: words & descr bef) - 1'48"

40. WHEN I WAS ONE (Ball: words & descr bef) - 2'36"

41. THERE CAME A GIRL FROM ITALY (Skipping: descr before) - 1'15"

42. SOMEBODY UNDER THE BED (Skipping: descr before) - 0'59"

43. OLIVER (Skipping: descr aft) - 1'16"

44. I WISH TO-NIGHT WAS SATURDAY NIGHT (Skipping: words & descr bef) - 1'23"

45. TOY TOWN MAJOR (Skipping) - 0'23"

46. Mrs. ONE GOES IN (Skipping) - 0'28"

47. OVER THE GARDEN WALL (Ball) - 0'54"

48. ONE-TWO-THREE-A-LEARY (Ball: descr aft) - 0'52"

Recorded & edited by Peter Kennedy and first published on Folktrax cassettes 1975.

The way these games are played provides a clue as to how we probably ought to be organising our scholastic and social education curricula. This is what Sidbury headmaster, WYN HUMPRIES, says about them:-

The games at Sidbury belong to the early teens age, that's to say, the leaders and dominating groups would be children aged about 13 years old, but, since we made the recordings (1951), the older children have left to go into a Secondary School at the nearby seaside town of Sidmouth, and the age has dropped to 10 or 11. Although the older children still join in, they have lost their authority over the others.

The leaders of the games always seem to be girls. Girls play together, or the girls and boys play together, but the girls object to boys playing together on their own, and will break up their games with violence.

Infants are not allowed to join in. From 6 onwards, they begin to imitate their elders by practising in small groups, but they will not be allowed to join the main group until the games are properly known. Only then are they invited into the ring.

Occasionally a child will force its way into the group and such a child nearly always becomes a future leader. Leaders are seldom chucked out of the group, they abdicate gracefully when their time comes, continuing to join in the games. They retain prestige, but without authority and consequently they may be called on to settle a dispute.

The tunes undergo a constant change, or are lost for a while, or they may turn into chants for a period, particularly if a new leader lacks perfect pitch.

Many other games are popular in our playground including: A-TISKET A-TASKET, THE FARMER'S IN HIS DEN, THERE STANDS A LADY ON A MOUNTAIN, ROGER IS DEAD, A-HUNTING WE WILL GO, THE MUFFIN MAN, SALLY WATERS, THREE JOLLY SAILOR LADS, THE MULBERRY BUSH, NUTS IN MAY, ORANGES AND LEMONS, RING-A-RING-A-ROSES, IN AND OUT THE WINDOW.