Guest Music-Hunter, although you and your students might still be interested in this post that I published on my cultural blog:

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/03/united-states-play-party-songs-other.html "United States Play Party Songs & Other Singing Games"

That post provides some information about play-party songs and other singing games and also provides the lyrics, performance instructions, comments, and a video of one version of the following songs:

Draw Me A Bucket Of Water (Also known as "Frog In The Bucket")

Tideo

Little Johnny Brown

Paw Paw Patch.

-snip-

Additional versions and videos of those versions can be found on this page of my cultural website: http://cocojams.com/content/childrens-game-songs-and-movement-rhymes

-snip-

I think all of those featured songs were collected from the South. For what it's worth, the only one of those songs that I remember learning in my childhood was "Way Down Yonder In The Paw Paw Patch".

I believe this was during summer Vacation Bible Schoolin the 1950s, Atlantic City, New Jersey (African American children). I believe that the "students" in that church summer program leaned that game and the singing game (play-party?) "Zudio" from an African American parent/teacher who was from the South (I think Georgia, but I'm not sure). Versions of "Zudio" can also be found on that Cocojams page and is also featured in this Pancocojams post: http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/five-traditional-african-american-game.html "Five Traditional African American Game Songs"

In addition to "Zudio" ("Zoodio"), the featured games in that post are (all collected from the South, though performed elsewhere in the USA and otherwise) are "Green Sally Up", "Little Sally Walker", "Johnny Cuckoo", and "Bob-A-Needle".


Btw, Music-Hunter, it would be great if you would post the words and performance instructions to the two play-party songs that you mentioned "Goin' Down to Cairo," and "Nana, Thread Needle". I'm not familiar with either of those games, and I believe that other people reading this discussion thread would also be interested in learning more about those games.

Best wishes,

Azizi Powell