Policeman, Policeman, Do Your Duty
DESCRIPTION: Jump-rope rhyme. "Policeman, policeman, do your duty, There's a girl in town, She's an American beauty. She can wibble, she can wobble, She can do the twist, But I bet ten dollars She can't do this."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1980 (Solomon-ZickaryZan)
KEYWORDS: police beauty jumprope | postman duty
FOUND IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Solomon-ZickaryZan, p. 61, "Policeman, Policeman" (1 text)
Ainsworth-JumpRopeVerses, #11, "(Postman, postman, Do your duty)"; #39, "(Policeman, policeman, do your duty)"; #57, "(Policeman, policeman, Do your duty)"; #65, "(Postman, postman, Do your duty)"; #86, "(Postman, postman, do your duty)"; #144, "(Policeman, policeman, do your duty)" (6 texts)
Abrahams-JumpRopeRhymes, #466, "Policeman (postman), policeman, do your duty" (1 text)
MidwestFolklore, Vance Randolph, "Jump Rope Rhymes From Arkansas" Volume 3, Number 2 (Summer 1953), p. 82, "(Postman, postman, do your duty)" (1 text)
Roud #19234 (and 19335)
NOTES [53 words]: Roud lumps the "Policeman, Policeman, Do Your Duty" with "Policeman, Policeman, Don't Catch Me," which he splits from "Postman, Postman, Do Your Duty," but the form says to me that the "do your duty" part is more important than the mention of a policeman. I've also separated "Policeman, Policeman, Don't Take Me." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: ZiZa062C
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
The Ballad Index Copyright 2024 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.