A, B, C, Doubled Down D
There's an old English nursery rhyme called Great A, little a, Bouncing B that this is most likely based on. The earliest version in print of that rhyme goes back to 1744…
A, B, C, Doubled Down D
A, B, C, Doubled Down D
Nursery Rhyme
Nursery Rhyme
(Historical Black American English)
(English)
A, B, C,
Doubled down D;
I'se so lazy you cain't see me.
A, B, C,
Doubled down D
Lazy Chilluns gits hick'ry tea.
A, B, C,
Doubled down D,
Dat "cat's"** in de cupboard an' hid.
You see?
A, B, C,
Doubled down D,
You'd better come out an' wuk lak me.
A, B, C,
Doubled down D;
I'm so lazy you can't see me.
A, B, C,
Doubled down D
Lazy children get hickory tea*.
A, B, C,
Doubled down D,
That guy's** in the cupboard and hid.
You see?
A, B, C,
Doubled down D,
You'd better come out and work like me.
Notes
*That means a spanking – originally it was with a branch from a hickory tree.
**An early definition of "cat" in US slang was "itinerant worker" – before it came to mean just "guy".
The closest British version of this rhyme is:
A, B, C, tumble down D,
The cat's in the cupboard, and can't see me.
*****
Thanks and Acknowledgements
This rhyme can be found in Negro Folk Rhymes, Wise and Otherwise, with a Study by Thomas W. Talley of Fisk University (1922).
Standard English version by Lisa Yannucci.
