Miss Susie/Miss Lucy

Title: Miss Susie/Miss Lucy

General Information about Item:

  • Verbal folklore: Taboo Rhyme
  • Language: English
  • Country where Item is from: US
  • Date and Place of Collection: 10/25/16 in Hanover, NH

 Informant Data:

Caroline Filan has lived in Alpharetta, GA since she was six years old. Her mother was born and raised in Connecticut and her father is from Baltimore. She currently attends Dartmouth College and is pursuing a degree in Biomedical Engineering. She told me this song when I interviewed her and asked her if there were any childhood games or songs that she remembered from her youth.

Contextual Data:

There are many variations of the Miss Susie rhyme that most children learn from their peers. This rhyme is typically accompanied by a clapping game done with two people.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

 

Transcript of Associated File:

“Miss Lucy had a steamboat, the steamboat had a bell

Miss Lucy went to heaven, the steamboat went to

Hello operator please give me number nine

and if you disconnect me, I’ll kick you in the behind

the refrigerator there was a piece of glass

Miss Susie felt right on her big old

ask me no more questions, tell me no more lies

Miss Susie got hit with a bucket of shit between the eyes.”

Informant’s Comments:

Caroline said her father taught her this song and she said that it was most likely his time in the Navy which may have influenced the last line of the song. I also noticed that Caroline switched between saying Miss Lucy and Miss Susie which indicates that she may have heard different versions of the song while growing up.

Collector’s Comments:

This rhyme demonstrates both parental influence and multiple variations of folklore. Even though childhood folklore is shared between children, parents can still influence the versions their children learn and remember.

Collector’s Name: Mikey Richards ’18

Tags/Keywords:

Taboo, Rhyme, verbal lore, clapping, game