Wednesday Trivia: Skip to My Lou

[Zuiderelle]

Skip to my Lou was a popular partner stealing dance from America's frontier period. Since instruments were frowned upon, particularly the fiddle, the dancers had to create their own music by clapping and singing.

Couples would dance around a lone male who sang "lost my partner, what'll I do." At the appropriate point in the lyrics, he would "steal" the partner of a dancing man as he sang "I'll find another one prettier than you." The displaced man would take his place in the circle.

"Lou" is apparently a corruption of "loo," the Scottish word for love.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skip_To_My_Lou

skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

Fly's in the buttermilk,
Shoo, fly, shoo,
Fly's in the buttermilk,
Shoo, fly, shoo,
Fly's in the buttermilk,
Shoo, fly, shoo,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

Cows in the cornfield,
What'll I do?
Cows in the cornfield,
What'll I do?
Cows in the cornfield,
What'll I do?
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

There's a little red wagon, Paint it blue
There’s a little red wagon, Paint it blue
There’s a little red wagon, Paint it blue
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'.

Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip, skip, skip to my Lou,
Skip to my Lou, my darlin'

[Zuiderelle]

1. Skip to My Lou

In early America, respectable folk in Protestant communities have always regarded the fiddle as the devil’s instrument and dancing as downright sinful. Faced with such a religious prejudice for socializing, young people of the frontier developed the “play-party,” in which all the objectionable features of a square dance were removed or masked so that their grave elders could approve.

No instruments were permitted - the dancers sang and clapped their own music. In time, the play-party acquired a life of its own. It became an ideal amusement for teenagers and young married couples. In many a frontier community, the bear hunters, Indian fighters, the rough keelboat men and the wild cowboys could be seen dancing innocently with their gals, like so many children at a Sunday school picnic.

“Skip to My Lou” is a simple game of stealing partners. It begins with any number of couples hand in hand, skipping around in a ring. A lone boy in the center of the moving circle of couple sings, “Lost my partner what’ll I do?” as the girls whirl past him. The young man in the center hesitates while he decides which girl to choose, singing, “I'll get another one prettier than you.” When he grasps the hand of his chosen one, her partner then takes his place in the center of the ring and the game continues. It's an ice-breaker, a good dance to get a group acquainted to one another and to get everyone in the mood for swinging around.

It's interesting to note that “loo” is the Scottish word for “love.” The spelling change from “loo” to “lou” probably happened as our Anglo ancestors, and the song, became Americanized.

Source: The Folk Songs of North America, by Alan Lomax, Doubleday.
Recordings on file by: Carter Family, Lead Belly, Mike & Peggy Seeger, Pete Seeger.

https://www.oldtownschool.org/resources/songnotes/songnotes_S.html

[Zuiderelle]

2. Skip to My Lou

Skip to My Lou

This was one of the most popular play-party songs in days gone by, and was known throughout the country. Such songs had a special use in frontier communities where revivalist influences were strong, and dancing was unacceptable and the fiddle was considered the "devil's instrument."

In "Skip to My Lou," all couples join hands, skip left or right singing the chorus; a lone person (male or female) in the center of the ring sings "Lost my partner, what'll I do?" as the group circles, then he or she picks a partner; the person left without a partner goes to the center of the ring as the group sings the chorus, etc.

- from Russell Ames, The Story of American Folk Song

http://www.angelfire.com/tx2/ecc/handouts.html#skip

[Zuiderelle]

3. Pete Seeger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9EZ9RlyOr4

Yeah

[Zuiderelle]

4. University of Connecticut

Some choice excerpts:

Mary Ellen Junda's general education class is rambunctious. She planned it that way.

"Sing and Shout! The History of America in Song," a three-credit course offered for the first time this semester, features folk songs from a variety of cultures - Anglo American, African American, Native American, Irish American, and Hispanic American.

"They may not be aware of music that has strong cultural ties and defines people."

"They really teach you something from that era."

Another group wrote a song about sex on campus, and the risks of pregnancy and STDs. The groups then had to perform their compositions.

"Jingle at the Window" and "Skip to my Lou" were among the games young people used to play at parties.

http://advance.uconn.edu/2006/061009/06100909.htm

[Zuiderelle]

5. Rafer Alston

Rafer Alston plays for the Miami Heat. His team is in the second round of the playoffs. Rafer Alston runs the point and puts up decent numbers as a backup point guard But his alter ego Skip to My Lou is one of the most fascinating players ever. A playground legend who was the inspiration for the And-1 Street team and his sick handle, wicked one-on-one moves, and vicious break their ankles crossover spawned the streetball market that has grown to include numerous blacktop summer tours, ESPN2 and MTV programs, a tidal wave of straight to video b-ball tapes, Nike and other shoe commercials, shoe contracts for streetball stars, and Playstation 2 plus Xbox video games. All this off of one mans dribbling technique.

http://www.insidehoops.com/skip-to-my-lou-070104.shtml

[Zuiderelle]

6. Child-Friendly Format

http://www.zelo.com/FAMILY/NURSERY/skiplou.asp

Seems a bit sparse.

[Zuiderelle]

7. Apologies in Advance

http://www.hendersonville-pd.org/nurseryskip.html

[Zuiderelle]

8. Kick, kick, kick to my Lou

[Zuiderelle]

9. ...

[Wetzelbill]

10. That's Rafer Alston's nickname

[Zuiderelle]

11. Ergo, post #5

Thanks for joining my little thread. :hi:

[Wetzelbill]

16. wow how the hell did I miss that

Must be the crack. :)

[Zuiderelle]

17. Too much skipping to the loo

to smoke that pipe ;)

[slj0101]

12. I thought loo was British for toilet.

[Zuiderelle]

13. Your mama is a loo

:P

[Debi]

14. Thank you for the freakin ear worm n/t

[Zuiderelle]

15. You are most welcome.

:bow: :)

[Zuiderelle]

18. Pap Brewer

Songs include: Old Rueben, Walking in the Parlor, Carter Family Story, Wildwood Flower, Ida Red, Black-Eyed Susie, Get Along Cindy, Whoa Mule, Poor Ellen Smith, Alabama Girls, Darling Corey, Cluck Old Hen, Uncle John Birchfield Story, Sourwood Mountain, Ground Hog, Skip to My Lou, John Henry, Shortenin' Bread, Unseen Eye Watching You, Brown's Dream, Willow Garden, Bonnie Blue Eyes, Gold Rush, Old Unlucky Devil, Arkansas Traveler, Old Joe Clark, Lost Indian and Cumberland Gap.

[Zuiderelle]

19. I recommend Skipping today.