Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Go Upstairs

DESCRIPTION: "Teddy bear, teddy bear, go upstairs, Teddy bear, teddy bear, say your prayers, Teddy bear, teddy bear, say goodnight, Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn out the light." "Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around, Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground." Etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1949 (McIntosh-FolkSongsAndSingingGamesofIllinoisOzarks)
KEYWORDS: nonballad jumprope | teddy bear
FOUND IN: US(All) New Zealand Ireland
REFERENCES (15 citations):
Sutton-Smith-NZ-GamesOfNewZealandChilden/FolkgamesOfChildren, p. 110 ("I had a teddy bear dressed in green)," "(Teddy bear, teddy bear. look at the sky)" (2 texts); p. 111, "(Ladybird, ladybird, drop your purse)" (1 text)
Brady-AllInAllIn, p. 84, "(Teddy bear, teddy bear, Tip the ground)" (1 text)
Kane-SongsAndSayingsOfAnUlsterChildhood, p. 81, "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around" (1 text)
Peirce-KeepTheKettleBoiling, p. 25, "(Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear)" (2 short texts)
McIntosh-FolkSongsAndSingingGamesofIllinoisOzarks, p. 104, "(Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around)" (1 text)
Sackett/Koch-KansasFolklore, p. 225, "Teddy Bear" (1 text)
Byington/Goldstein-TwoPennyBallads, p. 116, "(no title, filed under Rope Jumping)" (1 text)
Solomon-ZickaryZan, pp. 44-45, "(Teddy-bear, Teddy-bear, turn around)"; p. 51, "Teddy Bear"; p. 52, "Butterfly" (3 texts, filed under Jump-Rope Rhymes); p. 63, "The Thread Was Thin" (1 text, a combination of "Choo'n Gum (Chewing Gum; Chew, Chew, Chew; Bubblegum)" and of "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Go Upstairs")
Ainsworth-JumpRopeVerses, #10, "(Teddy bear, Teddy ber, Turn around)"; #27, "(Ladybug, ladybug, turn around)"; #50, "Teddy bear, Teddy bear, turn around)"; #66, "(Teddy bear, Teddy bear, turn around)"; #93, "(Teddy bear, Teddy bear, go upstairs, go upstairs)"; #125, "(Teddy bear, Teddy bear, turn around)"; #150, "(Teddy bear, Teddy bear, turn around)" (7 texts)
Delamar-ChildrensCountingOutRhymes, p. 59, "Teddy Bear"; p. 138, "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around" (2 texts)
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #545, "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around" (1 text); also #402, "Old lady, old lady, Lived in a shoe" (1 text, which Abrahams implies is "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Go Upstairs" mixed with "There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe")
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, (Joan McCaskill, collector), "Rope-Skipping Games", Vol. 1, No. 1 (Jun 1948), pp. 10-11, "(Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear)" (1 text)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Teri John, "A Collection of Jump Rope Rhymes," Vol. XXI, No. 1 (Apr 1973), p. 16, "" (Teddy Bear, teddy bear, Come in the door)" (1 text)
MidwestFolklore, Vance Randolph, "Jump Rope Rhymes From Arkansas" Volume 3, Number 2 (Summer 1953), p. 80, "(I went downtown, I met Miss Brown): (1 text, the second one opening with "I Went Downtown" but ending with a version of "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Go Upstairs"); "(Betty, Betty, turn around)" (1 text, which opens with a version of "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Go Upstairs" but ends with "Spanish Dancer"); p. 83, "(Teddy bear, teddy bear, go upstairs)" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Gwenda Beed Davey and Graham Seal, _A Guide to Australian Folklore_, Kangaroo Press, 2003, p. 235, "(no title)" (1 short text, in the entry on "Skipping")
Roud #19238 and 19264
NOTES [55 words]: This is one of the few traditional games I seem to remember, very vaguely, from my own youth.
The "Butterfly" variant on p. 52 of Solomon-ZickaryZan is interesting; it's much rarer than the Teddy Bear or Ladybird texts -- but teddy bears, e.g., are a relatively recent invention. Might the "butterfly" text be an older survival?- RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: RWTdBrTd

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