Perhaps the best known of all jump rope rhymes:
Cinderella, dressed in yella
went upstairs to kiss her fella
made a mistake, kissed a snake
how many stitches did it take?
1, 2, 3,…
This turns up in most collections of this sort of thing, almost invariably with a note saying that Freudians have a regular field day with this one.
Of course, it’s just one of many versions that have gone around since at least the 1950s.
Another common version is:
Cinderella, dressed in yella
went upstairs to kiss her fella
on the way her girdle busted
boy oh boy was she disgusted
Others have her dressed in different colors.
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Another chant we jumped rope to in 1980s Cleveland:
Teddy bear, teddy bear turn around.
Teddy bear, teddy bear touch the ground.
Teddy bear, teddy bear go upstairs.
Teddy bear, teddy bear say your prayers.
Teddy bear, teddy bear turn out the light.
Teddy bear, teddy bear good night!
After each line, the jumper would do some action to represent the direction.
we said it with "how many doctors did it take"
Along with soccernik's version, I also knew:
Cinderella, dressed in yella
Went downtown to kiss a fella
On the way her girdle busted
How many people were disgusted?
10, 20, 30…
In Overland Park, Kansas, in the early 60's, we said:
Cinderella, dressed in yellow,
Went downstairs to kiss her fellow.
How many kisses did she get?
1, 2, 3, …
In Overland Park, Kansas, in the early 60's, we said:
Cinderella, dressed in yellow,
Went downstairs to kiss her fellow.
How many kisses did she get?
1, 2, 3, …
Cinderella, dressed in yellow,
Went downstairs to kiss her fellow.
How many doctors did she get?
Newport News VA 1990s
i know 2:
1. Cinderella dressed in blue,
Went upstairs to tie her shoe,
Made a mistake and tied a knot,
How many knots will she make?
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, etc.
Cinderella dressed in green,
Went downtown to buy a ring,
Made a mistake and bought a fake,
How many days before it breaks?
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, etc
Cinderella dressed in yella
Went upstairs to kiss her fella
Made a mistake
Kissed a snake
How man doctors did it take
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
She's dead
Get out the rope
Cinderella, dressed in yella
Went upstairs to kiss her fella
By mistake, she kissed a snake
How many kisses did it take?
(1, 2, 3 … etc)
I also remember some kids saying "How many doctors..?"
Both made sense to me back then as
— how many kisses with the snake before she noticed it was not her fella??
— how many doctors to fix her after being bitten/getting pregnant?
Victoria BC, around 1979/1980
In Goldendale, Washington (near Columbia River), we used to count how many times the jumper could go until they made a mistake. We also used this rhyme with that hand slapping game where two girls sat crossed legged facing each other. When we got to the counting part, each girl would slap her hands against the other girl's hands as hard as she could until somebody stopped from the pain. Don't ever think girls can't be tough.
Cinderella dressed in yella went upstairs to kiss her fella
And she kissed Solid Snake
Yaaaaaaay!
(NYC, 1988)
Cinderella dressed in yellow, went upstairs to kiss her fellow
She made a mistake, she kissed a snake
So how many doctors did it take?
At this point we’d count either from one to five or from ichi to go.
That’s how many doctors it did take
To cure her wounds from the snake
Then she kissed the right fellow this time
I guess that’s the end of our rhyme
(Japan, 2001)
Ours was a little different:
Cinderella, dressed in gella (Seems to be a misheard word, but that’s what we sung)
Went upstairs to kiss a fella
By mistake, she kissed a snake
And ended up with a tummy ache! (on tummy ache we would tickle the other person)
Growing up in Harlem in the 1990s, we not only had the snake variant, we also had:
Sonic the Hedgehog, spiky and blue
Who’s going to the ball with you?
S-A-L…
until we spelled Sally. It was kinda embarrassing; but hey! WE WERE KIDS! Cut us some slack!
I have heard only this version –
Cinderella dressed in yella went to the ball and met a fella went upstairs before the ball was done and had a little fun!