Mary Mack

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Mary Mack is a clapping game played by children in English language countries.

In the game, two children stand or sit opposite to each other, and clap hands in tune to rhyming song.

The same song is also used as a jumprope rhyme.

Various versions of the song exist; a common version goes:

Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack

All dressed in black, black, black

With silver buttons, buttons, buttons

All down her back, back, back.

She asked her mother, mother, mother

For 50 cents, cents, cents

To see the elephants, elephants, elephants

Jump over the fence, fence, fence.

They jumped so high, high, high

They reached the sky, sky, sky

And they didn't come back, back, back

'Til the 4th of July, ly, ly!

July can't walk, walk, walk

July can't talk, talk, talk

July can't eat, eat, eat

With a knife and fork, fork, fork!

She went up stairs, stairs, stairs

To say her prayers, prayers, prayers

And bumped her head, head, head

And now she's dead, dead, dead!

The origin of the name Mary Mack is obscure, and various theories have been proposed. According to one theory Mary Mack originally was Merrimack (an early ironclad that would have been black, with silver rivets) suggesting that the first verse refers to the Battle of Hampton Roads during the American Civil War. In America, slave children would sometimes sing the hand-clapping song while they worked.

In some variations, she asks her mother for "15 cents" rather than 50. These variations may represent an earlier version of the song, which later changed because of the speed of the rhyme and the similarity of the spoken words "fifteen" and "fifty", and because there were few things one could buy with 15 cents in the later part of the 20th century.

Another theory of the origin is an actual tale behind the story. It is Mary Mack like the initials of Mary Magdalene from the Gospels. The reason she is wearing black is because of the mourning she is doing for Jesus Christ's death. Obviously, at the actual death she would not have worn black but it was out of modernization that it was changed. Then, the phenomena of the elephants jumping over the fence is Christ rising from the dead. He, Jesus Christ, ascended to heaven and is not coming back until the rapture. This is the reason why the song goes "and didn't come back... until the 4th of July." The rest of the song is just her death and how she stayed faithful to Christ and continued her prayers because she loved the Lord.^{[citation needed]}

The American R&B classic "Walking The Dog" by Rufus Thomas uses a variation of this rhyme in the verses of the song. The song has been covered numerous times, notably by American rock band Aerosmith on their debut album. American R&B singer, Babyface also had a minor hit with the song in the 1980s.

American [1] Riot Grrrl band, [2] Bikini Kill, recites Miss Mary Mack in the intro to their song "Demirep."