Clap Hands, Clap Hands

X's new skill (clapping hands!) reminds me of a rhyme that my mother used to sing/chant with all of us (well, I imagine with all of us -- I am the youngest, so what do I know?), and now chants with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren whenever they would come to visit at around X's age:

Clap hands, clap hands
'Til Daddy comes home
Daddy has money
And baby has none!

Nobody to whom I have ever repeated this rhyme has heard it before! Is it a Brooklyn thing? Of course, with a quick Google search, I find lots of variants on the rhyme.

Speaking of Brooklyn, there is a song that my father taught us all when we were little, Dunderbeck's Machine. It's probably a song that he learned from the Brooklyn firemen who were a big part of his childhood, or maybe from a neighbor. It is the story of a man who has created a sausage grinder and his terrible demise at the end! Again, none of my friends had ever heard it. The internet, being a wonderful thing, has revealed many variations of this grisly song. There are even videos now on Youtube! This is the closest to the song as my father taught it to us, but there are differences in melody and lyrics, as in all folk songs. Perhaps a bit more research will unearth the origins of this song, but I will teach my version to X, so he can gross out all of his friends when he's older!

Enjoy!