"Miss Susie", also known as "Hello Operator",Mayfield, Josh.

at ''Inky's Linkies''. 3 Apr 2004. Accessed 13 Jan 2014. "Miss Suzy", "Miss Lucy", and many other names, is the name of an American schoolyard rhyme in which each verse leads up to a rude word or

profanity Profanity, also known as swearing, cursing, or cussing, is the usage of notionally word taboo, offensive words for a variety of purposes, including to demonstrate disrespect or negativity, to relieve pain, to express a strong emotion (such a ...

which is revealed in the next verse as part of an innocuous word or phrase. Originally used as a jump-rope rhyme, it is now more often sung alone or as part of a clapping game.Powell, Azizi.
Similarities & Differences between 'Bang Bang Lulu' & 'Miss Lucy Had a Steamboat'
at ''Pancocojams''. 16 Oct 2013. Accessed 13 Jan 2014. Hand signs sometimes accompany the song, such as pulling on the bell in the first verse or making a phone gesture in the second. This song is sometimes combined or confused with " Miss Lucy had a baby", which is sung to the same tune and also served as a jump-rope song. That song developed from verses of much older (and cruder) songs which were most commonly known as " Bang Bang Rosie" in Britain, " Bang Away Lulu" in

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

, and " My Lula Gal" in the

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

. The variants including a woman with an

alligator An alligator, or colloquially gator, is a large reptile in the genus ''Alligator'' of the Family (biology), family Alligatoridae in the Order (biology), order Crocodilia. The two Extant taxon, extant species are the American alligator (''A. mis ...

purse urging the baby's mother to vote have been seen as a reference to Susan B. Anthony, an American

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

and wife, and may be responsible for the steamboat owner's most common name today.

Structure

The rhyme is arranged in

quatrain A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four Line (poetry), lines. Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India ...

s, with an ABCB

rhyme scheme A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other. An example of the ABAB rh ...

. The rhyme is organized by its meter, a sprung rhythm in

trimeter In poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addi ...

.Henninger, Jessie.
Miss Susie Had a Steamboat: I. Structure
at ''The Raveled Sleeve''. 29 Nov 2008. Accessed 13 Jan 2014. Accentual verse (including sprung rhythm) is a common form in English folk verse, including

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. Fr ...

s and jump-rope rhymes. The rhyme approaches

taboo A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

words, only to cut them off and modify them with an

enjambment In poetry, enjambment (; from the French ''enjamber'') is incomplete syntax at the end of a line; the meaning 'runs over' or 'steps over' from one poetic line to the next, without punctuation. Lines without enjambment are end-stopped. The origin ...

. It shares much of the same melody as the 1937 " The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down" used by

Warner Bros Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American film studio, filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and th ...

. as the theme to their ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

'' cartoons.

History

The song has developed many variations over an extended period, as is common for such rhymes.Henninger, Jessie.
Miss Susie Had a Steamboat: II. Evolution
at ''The Raveled Sleeve''. 29 Nov 2008. Accessed 13 Jan 2014. Even 21st-century versions, however, typically preserve long-outdated references to the dangerousness of 19th-century steamers and to the need for a

switchboard operator In the early days of telephony, companies used manual telephone switchboards, and switchboard operators connected calls by inserting a pair of phone plugs into the appropriate jacks. They were gradually phased out and replaced by automated syste ...

to manually connect a telephone call. The earliest recorded version—about a girl named Mary—appears among the

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

jokes collected by Ed Lowry during his career in the 1910s, '20s, and '30s,Levitt, Paul. ''Vaudeville Humor: The Collected Jokes, Routines, and Skits of Ed Lowry''
p. 125
SIU Press ( Carbondale), 2002. Accessed 12 Jan 2014. although versions about

Robert Fulton Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the (also known as ''Clermont''). In 1807, that steamboat ...

, inventor of the

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...

) and Lulu (the star of " Bang Bang Lulu") may record older traditions. The Lulu tradition—including " Miss Lucy had a baby"—already record enjambed

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...

s during the World Wars, but the first version of this song known to have done so—versions about Fulton and a girl named Helen—date to the 1950s.Henninger, Jessie.
Miss Susie Had a Steamboat: V. Versions of the Rhyme Used in This Essay
at ''The Raveled Sleeve''. 29 Nov 2008. Accessed 12 Jan 2014. Later versions developed by embellishment: adding, removing, and adjusting stanzas involving kissing, boys in bathrooms, a little black boy, bras,

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

, questions and lies,''The Mudcat Cafe''.
Origins: Ask Me No Questions rhymes
" often where the lyrics cut to the same word, only in a different context. Apr 2006. Accessed 13 Jan 2014. German spies,Bohren, Django.
Lulu had a steamboat
" at ''Milk Milk Lemonade''. 27 Sept 2010. Accessed 13 Jan 2014. raving aunts, and so forth. While the initial stanzas were fairly stable by the late 20th century, the folklorist Josepha Sherman noted that two unrelated children in 1990s New York took the change from "Miss Lucy" to "

Ms. Ms. (American English) or Ms (British English; normally , but also , or when unstressed)''Oxford English Dictionary'' online, Ms, ''n.2''. Etymology: "An orthographic and phonetic blend of Mrs ''n.1'' and miss ''n.2'' Compare mizz ''n.'' The pr ...

Lucy" for granted. An adaptation—"Miss Lucy had some leeches"—has been recorded by Emilie Autumn and another—"Mrs. Landers was a health nut"—featured in the ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

'' episode "

Something You Can Do with Your Finger The fourth season of ''South Park'', an American List of animated television series, animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, began airing on April 5, 2000. The fourth season concluded after airing 17 episodes on Decembe ...

".''South Park''. "

" at Wikiquote. 2010. Accessed 14 Jan 2014.

References

{{Hand games Children's street culture Clapping games Playground songs Vaudeville songs American folk songs Songs about fictional female characters Traditional children's songs Songs with unknown songwriters Year of song unknown American children's songs Skipping-rope rhymes

Structure

History

See also

References