Opie collection of children's games & songs
Recording of children demonstrating songs and discussing playground games with Iona Opie (part 1 of 2)
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Type
sound
Duration
00:32:09
Shelf mark
C898/73
Subjects
Children's games; Children's songs
Recording date
1975-05
Is part of (Collection)
Opie collection of children's games and songs
Recording locations
Salford, Greater Manchester and Wythenshawe, Manchester, England
Interviewers
Opie, Iona (speaker, female)
Speakers
unidentified (children)
Abstract
Part 1 of 2.[00:00:00 - 00:32:09] This recording continues on immediately from the C898-72-02 recording. Iona Opie is at North Grecian Junior School in Salford, Manchester, on the 14th May, 1975. A group of schoolgirls begin by performing the singing game 'I Met a Girl from Italy' [00:00:00 - 00:00:37]. They then go on to sing 'The Hoky Koky' [00:01:01 - 00:03:51]; 'I Say Stop, Stop', a game based on one of the children pretending to be a policeman and 'booking' the other children [00:05:13 - 00:06:51]; 'Ring a Ring o'Roses' [00:08:58 - 00:09:36]; 'The Grand Old Duke of York' [00:09:37 - 00:10:21]; 'Oats, Peas and Barley Grow' [00:11:51 - 00:12:18] and [00:12:54 - 00:14:39]; 'Skip to m'Lou' [00:12:19 - 00:12:53]; a song the children call 'Down in Dancer-Loo Lane' [00:16:44 - 00:18:55]; 'Down by the River' [00:18:57 - 00:20:46]; 'Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush' [00:20:57 - 00:22:00]; 'I'm Shirley Temple' [00:26:35 - 00:27:02] and 'On a Mountain Stands a Lady' [00:27:37 - 00:28:19]. A number of skipping songs are performed by the children. They sing 'I'm a Little Bumper Car' [00:00:38 - 00:00:48], 'I Like Coffee, I Like Tea' [00:04:16 - 00:04:49] and 'I'm a Little Dutch Girl'. After singing this song the children become distracted and describe to Iona a new school that has been built that has 'fitted carpets' and 'colour televisions' [00:11:08 - 00:16:38]. The clapping game 'When Susie Was a Baby' is also performed [00:23:50 - 00:25:23]. The children sing a number of topical rhymes to Iona. They begin by singing 'B-A-Y, B-A-Y, B-A-Y-C-I-T-Y' and one girl tells Iona that the Bay City Rollers are 'gorgeous'. They also emphasise that they made this song up themselves [00:08:00 - 00:08:52]. The children also perform the 1973 release 'Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree', originally sung by 'Dawn' and featuring Tony Orlando. The children tell Iona that they learnt this song from the radio [00:06:53 - 00:07:57]. The rhymes 'Wee Willy Winkle' [00:26:16 - 00:26:35]; 'Solomon Grundy' [00:25:48 - 00:26:15]; 'Tarzan in the Jungle' [00:22:26 - 00:22:38] and 'My Friend Billy' [00:27:26 - 00:27:36] are sung. One girl then tells Iona that she won't say the rest of the rhyme and the children laugh [00:22:39 - 00:23:13]. Another girl then asks to tell a rhyme that her grandfather taught her. She recites the following: 'Chin, chin, Chinaman, brought a penny dolly, he washed it and dusted it and called it pretty Polly, he sent for the doctor but he wouldn't come, because it had a pimple on its bum, bum, bum' [00:23:20 - 00:23:48].
Description
Item notes: Recording of children demonstrating songs and discussing playground games with Iona Opie. Speakers' notes: Group of Salford and Wythenshawe schoolchildren. Recording notes: Slight L/R imbalance, variable throughout. Otherwise, good throughout.
Metadata record: