# Mama had a baby and its head popped off **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2001, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-had-a-baby-and-its-head-popped-off/64783 "2001-05-08T17:38:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2001, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-had-a-baby-and-its-head-popped-off/64783/41 "2001-05-12T04:19:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by malaka \* > There was also a type of flower in my childhood backyard (honeysuckle?) that had very sweet nectar. We would pick a single one and pull the stamen (or pistol? spelling and flower pieces/parts are probably way off) through the back end of the flower which would produce a single drop to eat. I strongly suspect that it _was_ [honeysuckle](http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Caprifoliaceae/Lonicera_japonica.html), since that’s exactly what we did when I was a child in Louisiana (KG in '78). You can check that link for a pic of Japanese honeysuckle to confirm it. We didn’t do anything with dandelions but blow the seeds away. ---
**Author:** ![Sparteye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Sparteye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparteye)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2001, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-had-a-baby-and-its-head-popped-off/64783/42 "2001-05-12T19:15:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Kinsey, we did the handclaps incessantly, too. Now you’ve got “say say my playmate” going through my head. Thanks a lot. I never understood it, though: > > Say, say my playmate, come out and play with me, > and bring your dollies three, climb up my apple tree, > slide down my rainbow, into my cellar door, > and we’ll be jolly friends, forevermore (one, two, three, four, four, four). Holly, what you’ve got there is an appropriation of lyrics from an old song. I’m not sure the date of the song, but I’m guessing that it dates from around WWI. It goes: ==== Playmate, come out and play with me And bring your dollies three Climb up my apple tree Hide in my rain barrel Slide down my cellar door And we’ll be jolly friends forever more. She couldn’t come out and play It wasn’t a rainy day With tears in her eyes She heaved a sigh And I could hear her say I’m sorry playmate, I cannot play with you My dolly’s got the flu Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo Can’t hide in your rain barrel Or slide down your cellar door But we’ll be jolly friends forever more === It also has a nice melody; nice enough that I have a music box which plays it. ---
**Author:** ![malaka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@malaka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malaka)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-had-a-baby-and-its-head-popped-off/64783/43 "2001-05-14T13:13:15Z")
> [@](#): > > I strongly suspect that it _was_ [honeysuckle](http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Caprifoliaceae/Lonicera_japonica.html), > \*\* Bingo! That’s the stuff… ---
**Author:** ![Gravity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gravity/32/14322_2.png) [@Gravity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gravity)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-had-a-baby-and-its-head-popped-off/64783/44 "2001-05-14T13:59:10Z")
**Sparteye** , good detective work! [Words and music](http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/playmate.htm) by Saxie Dowell, Copyright 1940 by Santly-Joy-Select Inc. I had completely forgotten about it until it until **Kinsey** and **Holly** brought it up! Our version, Central Vermont, about 1979: Oh, Mr. playmate, Come out and play with me climb up my apple tree Slide down my rainbow Into my cellar door, and we’ll be jolly friends forever more Oh, little playmate, I cannot play with you my doggie has the flu Oh boo hoo hoo so climb your apple tree out by your cellar door 'cause we’ll be jolly friends forever more! Oddly creepy, now that I remember it 🙂 We also used to play a lot of handclap games on the playground. It was always just the girls, though. Anything that was a jumprope rhyme was used as a handclap game, or was modified so that it could be. The Cinderella ones, in particular, Miss Marry Mack, Miss Susie, and ‘Categories’. We used the Cinderella/snake rhyme, and also the Cinderella/girdle rhyme: Cinderella dressed in yella went downtown to see her fella on the way her girdle busted how many people were disgusted 1,2,3… We, also used to do the ‘mama had a baby’ thing. Everyone knew it, we would play at it for a while as a fun contest to see who could shoot the ‘head’ the farthest before we settled down to making sticky dandelion flower chains to wear. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-had-a-baby-and-its-head-popped-off/64783/45 "2001-05-14T15:25:31Z")
I strongly suspect the “Playmate” song is well over a century old. I first heard a version of [this](http://www.melodylane.net/yard.htm) from the Warren Beatty film _Reds_. Tune’s different, of course, but the chorus is strikingly familiar. Just a bit of folklore to throw into the thread. **bughunter** , you gotta show me how to do the knotted stem-gun thing. I could never get any distance from just flicking it with my thumb. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-had-a-baby-and-its-head-popped-off/64783/46 "2001-05-14T22:43:38Z")
I’ve had that damn “Say, say, oh playmate” song stuck in my head for days now. I find myself singing it at all hours of the day and night. I’m going to go starking raving mad! Help!!! [sub]Say, say, oh playate, come out and play with me, and bring your dollies three…[/sub] Aaagggghhhhhhhh! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mama-had-a-baby-and-its-head-popped-off/64783.md?page=2)