Skipping games seem to have their own traditional music and tunes.
From one generation to the next, skipping and playground songs seem to sustain themselves. I imagine if photographers and film-makers were allowed they would find that similar songs are being sung at skipping games nowadays as were being sung 100 years ago.
As a type of tradition music it's overlooked but when analysed gives us a window into class, religion and the concerns and worries of peoples every day lives.
It's widely believed that 'Ring o'Roses' is a song about plague and disease, whilst 'I like an apple and I like a pear' is really a song about the hardships of marriage to a unsuitable husband.
O I like an apple and I like a pear
And I like a sailor with nice curly hair
O gee I love 'im, I can't deny it
I'll be with him wherever he goes
He stands on the corner and whistles me out
He shouts Oo-ey, oo-ey, are you coming out?
O gee I love 'im, I can't deny it
I'll be with him wherever he goes
He bought me a shawl of red, white and blue
And when we got married he tore it in two
O gee I love 'im, I can't deny it
I'll be with him wherever he goes
There are more sinister versions of this song, probably not sung by children but no doubt well known:
Before I got married I wore a black shawl
But now that I'm married I wear bugger-all
Still, I love him, can't deny him
I will be with him where ever he goes
But now that I'm married I wear bugger-all
Still, I love him, can't deny him
I will be with him where ever he goes
Before I got married I'd sport and I'd play
But now, how the cradle stands in my way
Still, I love him, can't deny him
I will be with him where ever he goes
But now, how the cradle stands in my way
Still, I love him, can't deny him
I will be with him where ever he goes
Another one has a casual mixture of contemporary references and ethnic identity.
Micky mouse is dead
He died last night in bed
He cut his throat
With a ten pound note
And this is what he said
Red white and blue
Me mother was a jew
Me father was an Irishman
And out goe's you
There are a certain number of set tunes or variations of tunes that seem well known right across the world. It would be impossible for us to tell where songs originally came from but we can assume that the hundreds of children that passed through the 'Gateway of Empire' that was Liverpool brought their own traditions and songs with them.
These songs are not specific to Liverpool, but they were very common here especially songs involving handsome sailors and beautiful maidens.
It is telling that in a port city where men would often be absent for weeks on end and women were left to fend for themselves and their families the romantic ideal of a nice sailor coming home with the bounty of the world for his girl would have a strong resonance.
It's no surprise that the innocent girls who sang these songs would later become the tough and hardy matriarchs that seemed to rule Liverpools streets and alleys with iron fists.
Do you have any songs that you remember from childhood?
These songs are not specific to Liverpool, but they were very common here especially songs involving handsome sailors and beautiful maidens.
Sometimes life was better in the old songs...
It is telling that in a port city where men would often be absent for weeks on end and women were left to fend for themselves and their families the romantic ideal of a nice sailor coming home with the bounty of the world for his girl would have a strong resonance.
It's no surprise that the innocent girls who sang these songs would later become the tough and hardy matriarchs that seemed to rule Liverpools streets and alleys with iron fists.
Do you have any songs that you remember from childhood?
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