I Had a Little Sister
Elizabeth sent me this song with the note: "There are a couple that I used to do hand claps to with my girlfriends growing up in the early 1970's out in California..."
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Emily Grace Shank wrote:
"I was reading through your entry on the 'I Had A Little Sister' clapping game, and I wanted to share with you some of the clapping and jump rope games I learned on the playground in the late 1990s, near St. Louis, Missouri. The first is a variation of 'I Had a Little Sister':
I had a little sister
Her name was Suzy Q*
I put her in the bathtub
To see what she would do do do!
She drank up all the water
She ate up all the soap
She tried to eat the bathtub
But it wouldn't go down her throat throat throat!
My mother called the doctor
My father called the nurse
My grandma called the lady
With the alligator purse purse purse!
They all came to the nursery
and examined Suzy Q
I snuck in behind them
To see what they would do do do!
It's Influenza said the doctor
It's infection said the nurse
It's appetite said the lady
With the alligator purse purse purse!
She got shots from the doctor
She got band-aids from the nurse
She got lollypops from the lady
with the alligator purse purse purse!
She screamed at the doctor
She cried at the nurse
She smiled at the lady
with the alligator purse purse purse!
My father paid the doctor
My mother thanked the nurse
Then they hired the lady
With the alligator purse purse purse!
*Sometimes we switched these first two lines with "My mother had a baby/She named her Suzy Q."
I Had a Little Sister
Hand Clapping Song
I had a little sister
Her name was Suzy Q
I put her in the bathtub
To see what she would do do do!
She drank up all the water
She ate the bar of soap
She tried to eat the bathtub
But it wouldn't go down her throat throat throat!
My mother called the doctor
My mother called the nurse
My mother called the lady
With the alligator purse purse purse!
My sister ate the doctor
My sister ate the nurse
My sister ate the lady
With the alligator purse purse purse!
Notes
Hillary E. wrote:
"I Had a Little Sister" is nearly identical to what we sang as "Miss Lucy Had a Baby" (Bronx, early 80s), except that our first verse was:
Miss Lucy Had a Baby
Miss Lucy had a baby
She named him Tiny Tim
She put him in a bathtub
To see if he could swim.
Thanks and Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Elizabeth Brillhart Belcher for contributing this hand clapping rhyme. Thank to Hillary E. for sharing "Miss Lucy Had a Baby". Thanks to Emily Grace Shank for sharing her version of this rhyme.
