Down memory lane with games children play

Excerpt of “There’s A Brown Girl in the Ring” 

 Game Song     (Caribbean)

First verse            There's a brown girl in the ring
                               Tra la la la la
                               There’s a brown girl in the ring
                               Tra la la la la
                               There’s a brown girl in the ring
                               Tra la la la la
                               She likes sugar
                               and I like plum
Second verse          Skip across the ocean
                               Tra la la la la etc.
Third verse             Show me your motion
                               Tra la la la la etc.
Fourth verse          Wheel and turn your partner.   

                              Tra la la la la, etc.

      A “ring game” is a game that is played by children who form a circle (the “ring”).  Most traditional ring games (circle games) start with one player standing inside the center of the circle.  The other children forming the ring are expected to sing and clap their hands at the same time, but the center player is not expected to sing. However, at a certain point in the song, the center person is called upon to perform a dance step or some other “motion”. 

     In traditional versions of ring games, after performing a “motion”, the center player selects a partner and dances in the center of the ring with him or her.  If a girl is the center player, she is expected to select a boy as her partner, and vice versa.  The player who was selected then becomes the new center player and the former center player rejoins the children forming the ring.

     In contemporary versions of circle games in the United States, the center player doesn’t purposely select a partner and doesn’t dance in the center of the ring with him or her.  After the center player performs his or her “motion, the rest of the players sing “we can do your motion” and join the center player in performing the exact same motion while staying on the outside of the ring.  The center players may perform “jumping jacks”, rhythmical leg kicks, or other non-dance movements when asked to “show me your motion”.

     In response to the group singing “Who do you choose?”, the center player covers his or her eyes with one hand, and turns around the middle of the circle while pointing to the other players.  The player who is pointed to at the end of the song becomes the new center player.  The former center player rejoins the rest of the players forming the circle and the game begins again.

     Like other ring games, there are several slightly different verses of “There’s A Brown Girl in the Ring”.

     Some children completely omit the verse “skip across the ocean” which means to skip or dance across to the other side of the ring.  An alternative verse to “hug and kiss your partner” is “wheel and turn your partner”.  The phrase “wheel and turn” generally means to “dance with your partner”.

     In the Caribbean and in other parts of the world, girls and boys up to their pre teenaged years traditionally played ring games.

The words “There is brown girl (or brown boy) in the ring” traditionally refers to the children’s skin color.  Because many people in the world have been prejudiced against “brown” people, one of the traditional purposes of the game could have been to promote self-esteem.  For that reason, since the 1980s, this game has been “adopted” by many Afro-centric African Americans who have taught it to their children. 

     “There’s A Brown Girl in the Ring” can also be used to teach color recognition to pre-school children.  The words of the song could be changed depending on what color outfit the center player is wearing (for example, if a girl is wearing a blue shirt, you could sing “there’s a blue girl in the ring”, and if a boy is wearing a green shirt, you could sing “there’s a green boy in the ring”).

Follow the links below for further information on “Brown Girl in the Ring”.

“Brown Girl in the Ring (game)” is strongly related to:

Minipops    Lord Invader    Dan Zanes    Joe Simpson    Touching the Void (film)    Raffi (musician)    Folkways Records    Calypso    Boney M.    Jurassic 5    The Wiggles   Mountaineering    Smithsonian Institution    Jamaica

 

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