Children’s Folklore Recent Titles in Greenwood Folklore Handbooks Myth: a handbook

Miss Sue, Miss Sue
Miss Sue, Miss Sue, Miss Sue from Alabama,
Sitting in a rocking chair, eating Betty Crocker,
Watching the clock go,
Tick-tock, tick-tock, banana rock,
Tick-tock, tick-tock, banana rock,
A-B-C-D-E-F-G, wash those spots right off of me.
Moonshine, moonshine. FREEZE!
This handclapping rhyme came from an informant in Fort Bragg, California, 
in 1994 (Folklore Archives, University of California at Berkeley). The word 
“FREEZE” signals that movement must suddenly stop. Irene Chagall notes that 
John and Alan Lomax collected versions of this rhyme in Alabama and Louisiana 
in 1934; she also discusses film and video documentation, which enables field-
workers to preserve handclapping games’ melodies and movements (52).

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58 Children’s 
Folklore
Miss Suzy
Miss Suzy was a baby, a baby, a baby, Miss Suzy was a baby, and this is 
what she said! “ooh, aah, ooh aah aah!” (pretend to suck your thumbs, once each 
word)
Miss Suzy was a schoolgirl, a schoolgirl, a schoolgirl! Miss Suzy was a 
schoolgirl, and this is what she said! “ooh, aah, ooh aah aah!” (flip your hair 
back over your shoulders once each word)
Miss Suzy was a teenager, a teenager, a teenager, Miss Suzy was a teenager, 
and this is what she said! “ooh, aah, I lost my bra! I left it in my boyfriend’s 
car!”
Miss Suzy was a teacher, a teacher, a teacher,
Miss Suzy was a teacher, and this is what she said! “ooh, aah, ooh aah aah!” 
(shake your finger once each word)
Miss Suzy was a mother, a mother, a mother,
Miss Suzy was a mother, and this is what she said! “ooh, aah, ooh aah aah!” 
(rock a pretend baby in your arms)
Miss Suzy was a grandmother, a grandmother, a grandmother, Miss Suzy 
was a grandmother, and this is what she said! “ooh, aah, ooh aah aah!” (rock 
in a pretend rocking chair)
Miss Suzy went to heaven, to heaven, to heaven, Miss Suzy went to heaven, 
and this is what she said! “ooh, aah, ooh aah aah!” (flap your “wings”) 
Miss Suzy went to he-ell, to he-ell, to he-ell, Miss Suzy went to he-ell, and 
this is what she said! “ooh, aah, ooh aah aah!” (pretend to be poked by a 
pitchfork at each word)
Eighteen-year-old Lizzi (screenname) posted this handclapping rhyme on the dis-
cussion board at http://www.streetplay.com on May 1, 2000. In an earlier post-
ing, she had explained that she had learned handclapping rhymes in the 1980s.
Andy Arleo’s essay “The Saga of Susie” (2001) analyzes versions of this rhyme 
collected from around the world. Documented in the Opies’ 1985 study 
Th
 e 
Singing Game
(458), the rhyme delights children with its risqué humor and repeti-
tion. For more details on Arleo’s study, see chapter 4.
Xena
Xena (clap) Warrior (clap) Princess,
Came here last year.
Xena Warrior Princess came here last year.
Over, over, over.
This handclapping rhyme was published in Janice Ackerley’s collection of New 
Zealand children’s folklore in the newsletter 
Play and Folklore
in September 2002. 
The American television series 
Xena, Warrior Princess,
filmed in New Zealand, 
was on television from 1995 to 2001; clearly the children were proud that a 
popular series had been filmed in their homeland. Ackerley notes that this hand-
clap served as a “starter” for the game of Paper, Scissors, Rock.

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Examples and Texts 59