Oliver Twist You Can't Do This

DESCRIPTION: Jump-rope rhyme. "Oliver Twist, he can't do this, So what's the use of trying?" "Number one, touch your tongue." "Number two, touch your shoe," etc., ending "Goodbye Oliver Twist."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Bluebells My Cockle Shells)
KEYWORDS: jumprope nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #411, "Oliver Twist, He Can't Do This" (1 text)
MidwestFolklore, Dorothy Howard, "Ball Bouncing Customs and Rhymes in Australia," Volume 9, Number 2 (Summer 1959) pp. 84-85, "Oliver Twist" (3 texts)
Roud #19229
NOTES [50 words]: Roud lumps the two pieces that I am calling "Oliver Twist" and "Oliver Twist You Can't Do This," but the forms imply otherwise. This looks like it might derive from "Policeman, Policeman, Do Your Duty" or "Spanish Dancer" or "Lady in the Tight Skirt" or one of the other "XXX can't do this" songs. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: AJRR411

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