Maggie, Maggie, Where Is Jiggs?

DESCRIPTION: Jump-rope rhyme "Maggie, Maggie, where is Jiggs? Down in the cellar, eating pigs. How many pigs will he eat? One, two, three...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (Keysyone Folklore Quarterly)
KEYWORDS: jumprope food | pigs counting Maggie and Jiggs
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Delamar-ChildrensCountingOutRhymes, p. 125, "Maggie, Maggie, where is Jiggs?" (1 text)
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, "Maggie, Maggie, where is Jiggs?" (1 text)
Roud #19938
NOTES [98 words]: Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes believes this is a reference to the comic strip "Bringing Up Father," later known as "Maggie and Jiggs," which ran from 1913 to 2000 according to Wikipedia. This makes sense; according to that same Wikipedia article, Maggie and Jiggs were an Irish-American couple who had suddenly become rich, with Maggie aspiring to the social standing implied by her new wealth while Jiggs just wanted to keep living the way he was used to. Thus this rhyme, which implies that Jiggs is once again eating food that Maggie would not approve, is a good fit for the comic strip. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: DCCR125G

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