Here's a chant I learned in around fourth grade - a marching cadence that seems to be fairly little known, though it does come up on google once or twice:
Left, left, left right left
Sergeant's face is turning green
Left, left, left right left
somebody peed in his canteen
Left, left, left right left
Sergeant's face is turning black
Left, left, left right left
Somebody pooped in his backpack
Left, left, left right left
Sergeant's face is turning blue
Left, left, left right left
He's getting really pissed at you
Where did this come from? Was it originally an actual army marching cadence (plenty of the songs and rhymes that go around probably have roots in soldier songs). How widespread was it?
Sgt. Potter's face is blue.
ReplyDeleteSomebody must have done doo-doo.
Sgt Potter's face is red.
Somebody must have shot him dead.
Had a girlfriend from the west,
ReplyDeletehad some mountains on her chest
(left, left, left-right-left)
left, left, left right left
ReplyDeleteI left my wife and 49 kids
alone in the kitchen in starving condition
did I do
right right
to the right of my left with a kick-ma-jig
Fayetteville, NC 1970's
Similar to above, in Australia in the 90s, we'd chant
ReplyDeleteLeft, left, left my wife in Eurydeens with 45 cents and a can of beans,
Thought I was right, right, right from country whoopsiedoo"
And on 'whoopsiedoo' you would give a skip, so that when you started the chant over, you'd be putting the left foot down on 'left' again.
NJ mid-late 80's
ReplyDeleteWe often substituted G.I. Joe into the song.
turning green/ peed in his canteen
turning red/ put a rattlesnake in his bed
turning blue/ stuck his helmet with Krazy Glue
This was a popular marching song for our Scout Troop. When I was in Boy Scouts, during the late 80s in Michigan. It was not popular with our Scout Leaders though.
ReplyDelete