Two, Four, Six, Eight, Don't Make Love at the Garden Gate

DESCRIPTION: Jump-rope rhyme. "Two, four, six, eight, Don't make love at the garden gate, 'Cause love is blind But the neighbors ain't."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1963 (Keystone Folklore Quarterly, according to Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes)
KEYWORDS: jumprope love humorous derivative | counting garden gate neighbors
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #572, "Two, four, six, eight" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "One Two Three Four, Mary at the Cottage Door" (form)
NOTES [55 words]: I don't think there is much doubt that this is derived from "One Two Three Four, Mary at the Cottage Door," in one or another of its forms such as "Two Four Six Eight, Mary at the Cottage Gate." But this is clearly a rewrite, so I've filed it separately. Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes thinks it was used as an autograph album rhyme. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: AJRR572

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