Keep the Kettle Boiling

DESCRIPTION: Jump-rope rhyme. "Keep the kettle boiling, (be on time/don't be late, pour it out/On the glimmer), (If you don't, you won't get your dinner), (Cadbury's chocolates are the best), (one, two, three, four.....)" The lyrics vary extremely
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Ainsworth-JumpRopeVerses)
KEYWORDS: food jumprope | kettle
FOUND IN: US(NE) Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Ainsworth-JumpRopeVerses, #16, "(Keep the kettle boiling)" (1 text)
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #295, "Keep the kettle boiling" (1 text)
Brady-AllInAllIn, p. 76, "(Keep it boiling)" (2 texts); p. 79, "(Keep the kettle boiling)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peirce-KeepTheKettleBoiling, p. 22, "(Keep the kettle boiling)" (1 text)
Roud #19427
NOTES [60 words]: Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes suggests this is a variant of "Molly Put the Kettle On (Polly Put the Kettle On)," and seems to lump it, but I'd consider it separate although perhaps inspired by, or broken off from, that song.
The variation is extreme. I'm far from sure these are all the same song, but Roud lumps them and it seems pointless to split infinitely. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: AJRV016

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography