I Went Downtown

DESCRIPTION: "I went downtown To meet Miss Brown. She gave me a nickel, I bought me a pickle. The pickle was sour; I bought me a flower. The flower was red, I bought some thread." And so on, though various swaps, perhaps with a special act to be done at the end
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1949 (McIntosh-FolkSongsAndSingingGamesofIllinoisOzarks)
KEYWORDS: playparty nonballad commerce gift food
FOUND IN: US(MW) New Zealand
REFERENCES (4 citations):
McIntosh-FolkSongsAndSingingGamesofIllinoisOzarks, pp. 103-104, "(I went up town)" (1 text)
Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren, p. 112, "(Mother Brown went to town)" (1 text)
MidwestFolklore, Vance Randolph, "Jump Rope Rhymes From Arkansas" Volume 3, Number 2 (Summer 1953), p. 80, "(Went downtown to see Miss Brown)"; "(I went downtown, I met Miss Brown): (2 texts, the second one opening with "I Went Downtown" but ending with a version of "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Go Upstairs")
ADDITIONAL: Peter and Iona Opie, _I Saw Esau: Traditional Rhymes of Youth_, #58, "(I went downtown)" (1 fragment)
Roud #19420
File: McIn103A

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