Four Examples Of "Grandma Grandma Sick In Bed" (Also known as "Down Down Baby" & "The Grandma Rap")

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides information about and four examples of the children's rhyme that is known as "Grandma Grandma Sick In Bed".

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to all those who published these videos on YouTube.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/05/get-up-grandma-you-aint-sick-all-you.html for a related pancocojams post: "Get up Grandma you Ain't Sick, All You Need Is A Hickory Stick" Lines In Children's Rhymes.

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: Sesame Street: Handclapping Chants

Sesame Street Uploaded on Mar 27, 2009

If you're watching videos with your preschooler and would like to do so in a safe, child-friendly environment, please join us at http://www.sesamestreet.org
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This version of "Down Down Baby" (also known as "Shimmy Shimmy Cocoa Puff" and similar sounding words) combines that rhyme with the "Grandma Grandma Sick In Bed" rhyme. Both of these rhymes are of African American origin and and both could be recited by themselves, but (I believe) either or both of them are more often combined with certain other rhymes (such as "I Love Coffee I Love Tea").

Here are the words to this now iconic 1986 Sesame Street video (given without mimed (pantomined) actions)

Down down baby
Down by the roller coaster
Sweet sweet baby
I'll never let you go.

Shimmy Shimmy Coco Puff
Shimmy shimmy pow!
Shimmy Shimmy Coco Puff
Shimmy shimmy pow!

Grandma Grandma sick in bed
She called the doctor and the doctor said
Let's get the rhythm of the head
ding dong
Let's get the rhythm of the head
ding dong
Let’s get the rhythm of the hands
clap, clap
Let’s get the rhythm of the hands
clap, clap
Let’s get the rhythm of the feet
stomp, stomp
Let’s get the rhythm of the feet
(stomp, stomp)
Let’s get the rhythm of the
ha-ot dog
let’s get the rhythm of the
ha-ot dog
Put it all together and what do you get
ding dong
(clap, clap)
(stomp, stomp)
hot dog!
put it all together and what do you get
ding dong
(clap, clap)
(stomp, stomp)
Ha-ot dog!
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Note that the Rock & Roll record "Shimmy Shimmy Ko-Ko-Bop" by Little Anthony and the Imperials (1959) and Nelly's 2000 Hip Hop record "Country Grammar" (This Hip Hop record, in my opinion, isn't suitable for children) both contain elements of this "Down Down Baby"/"Shimmy Shimmy Coco Pa" rhyme. [I keep using the words "Shimmy Shimmy Coco Pa" instead of "Cocoa Puff" because those are the words that I remember chanting during my childhood in Atlantic City, New Jersey (1950s) although I can't recall doing any actions while chanting it).

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That "Down Down Baby" ("Shimmy Shimmy Cocoa Pa") is of African American origin is documented by the racial demographics for the performers of the earliest collected examples. The African American origin of this rhyme is also reflected in the structure, vernacular English language, word pronunciation, some of the topical references, and some other content of those examples as well as in the rhymes' performance activities.

I recall reading [source unknown] that the earliest versions of this rhyme documented the lack of doctors for enslaved Black people in the USA. Instead of having access to medical care, when any person "grandma or not" was sick in bed, the doctor said "grandma, grandma, you're not sick/ all you need is a hickory stick". (A "hickory stick" is a a thick branch from a hickory tree that was used to give beatings.)
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ADDED: May 5, 2017:
I now believe that I read an example of a rhyme/song in "all you need is a hickory stick" in Dorothy Scarborough's 1925 book On The Trail Of Negro Folk Songs. I've included that example in the pancocojams post "pancocojams post: "Get up Grandma you Ain't Sick, All You Need Is A Hickory Stick" Lines In Children's Rhymes" whose link is given above. However, that source doesn't confirm my belief about the meaning of that song/rhyme which is titled "Old Aunt Dinah".
-end of Update-
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According to commenter "minor muppetz, in Jan 13, 2010 on http://www.muppetcentral.com/forum/threads/question-about-down-down-baby-rhyme-clapping-game.40490/ this particular clip was "from the 1980s [and] was nominated in the sites [Sesame Street's] 40th anniversary "greatest clip of all-time" voting section."

ADDED May 5, 2017
Here's an example of the "grandma sick in bed/"all you need is a hickory stick" form of this rhyme that documents its age:
From https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=26718450
"Diannah Hillsman Farrar Pruitt Whaley
Birth: May 19, 1806
Carnesville
Franklin County
Georgia, USA
Death: Jan. 16, 1894
Fox
Carter County
Oklahoma, USA

[...]

"ONE OF GRANDMA WHALEY'S POEMS / SONGS:

An old poem handed down in the Pruitt family:

"Old Aunt Dinnah, sick in the bed
Sent for the Doctor
And the Doctor said,

Old Aunt Dinnah, you ain't sick
All you need is
A Hickory stick." "
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I found this online this morning. This isn't the source that I've forgotten for the "hickory stick" line that I remember coming across some time ago.

Note that Diannah Hillsman Farrar Pruitt Whaley was White (as surmised from that genealogy report.)

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Example #2: Grandma Rap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqH9LbmlFyc
Published on Sep 11, 2015

Embedding disabled and comments disabled by request

Vocal Strategy, Grandma Rap
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Suitable for KS2 (small group, whole class, encouraging boys' vocal work)
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My guess from these children's accents is that they are from the United Kingdom.
Instead of doing group hand claps while chanting (as performed in the video given as Example #1), these children mime actions that fit key words that they say.

Read the captions that are given in the video presented as Example #3 below for the words to this version of this rhyme.

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Example #3: Grandma rap

Sing Up, Published on Nov 28, 2012

A rap can be one of the hardest things to sign but this example is not too hard once you have established the pulse and exactly where the signs fit the music. It is a song of two halves: the first is signed and most of the second is actions. The last line is fast so get your fingers working!
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I think that this is the United Kingdom's version of sign language. That version differs somewhat from American Sign Language (ASL).

The words that are given as captions in this video:
Grandma, Grandma sick in bed.
Called the doctor and the doctor said
Grandma, Grandma, you ain't sick
All you need is a walking stick!
And an up, shake, shake, shake, shakerdy shake,
And a down, shake, shake, shake, shakerdy shake,
And an up, shake, shake, shake, shakerdy shake,
And a down, shake, shake, shake, shakerdy shake,
To the back to the front to the s-s side,
To the back to the front to the s-s side,
She never went to college, she never went to school
But I bet your bottom dollar she can wiggle like a fool!

(repeat the entire "rap" from the beginning)
-snip-
In this version, Grandma Grandma Sick In Bed" is combined with the African American children's rhyme "She Never Went To College".

Note that "walking stick" is a more recent "socially correct" substitution for the earlier term "hickory stick". Or perhaps "walking stick was substituted for "hickory stick" because that type of stick was/is unknown to more contemporary (and perhaps also more urban children - and children who may have not ever been beaten with any stick-which I believe is a good thing.

"Peppermint stick" is another (I believe even more recent) substitution for "hickory stick" or "walking stick".
-Correction May 5, 2017
When I published this post, I wrote that "peppermint stick" referred to a stick of peppermint flavored chewing gum. But it occurs to me that "peppermint stick" probably refers to a stick of peppermint candy- what we in the United States call "candy canes", but without the curved cane shape. "Peppermint sticks" are still being sold in the USA throughout the year, but "candy canes" are mostly only sold around Christmas time. Of the two, candy canes are much more popular than peppermint sticks, which may be the reason why I didn't think of them when I initially published this post.
-end of correction-

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"Hands up, hands down/shake it, shake it, shake it" and "Front, back, side to side" are the directional words that are combined with a number of 20th century (or earlier) African American children's hand clap/movement rhymes. The words "And an up, shake, shake, shake, shakerdy shake,/ And a down, shake, shake, shake, shakerdy shake" and "To the back to the front to the s-s side" can be considered "corrupted" or folk etymology forms of those earlier words. This doesn't mean that these words are wrong. But it does mean that the words are different than the text of the documented forms of these rhymes that were sung "early on".

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"Wiggle like a fool" means to dance very good (to dance without concerns about any social prohibitions).
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A TEXT VERSION OF "GRANDMA GRANDMA SICK IN BED"
"Grandma Moses sick in bed
Called for the doctor
And the doctor said
Grandma Moses, you're not sick
All you need is a peppermint stick.
Clap your hands, turn around (* Jumper mimes actions *)
touch the ground.

Old man Moses sick in bed
Called for the doctor
And this is what he said
Take two steps forward (* Jumper mimes actions *)
Turn around
Do the bugaloo
And get out of town. (* Jumper exits *)"


From http://mudcat.org/jumprope/jumprope_display.cfm?rhyme_number=94

Source [given on that page]: Hastings (1990)
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"Do the bugaloo" = do a certain type of R&B/Latin dance.

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SOME PANCOCOJAMS POSTS OF RELATED CHILDREN'S RHYMES
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/05/examples-of-ive-never-been-to-college.html Examples of "I've Never Been To College" & "I've Never Been To Frisco" Verses in Children's Rhymes

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https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/12/sources-of-big-movie-rap-shimmy-shimmy.html Sources Of The Movie Big's Rap Shimmy Shimmy Cocoa Pop

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https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/front-back-side-to-side-in-childrens.html
Front, Back, Side To Side In Children's Rhymes

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http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/05/ladies-and-gentlemen-children-to Ladies And Gentlemen, Children Too

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http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/aunt-jenny-died-childrens-playground Aunt Jenny Died- Children's Playground Rhymes

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