Do You Know - Popular Children's Rhyme

Eeny, meeny, miney, moe,

catch a tiger by his toe.

If he hollers let him go,

eeny, meeny, miney, mo 

Children have often used this nursery rhyme to make “important” playground decisions, such as selecting team captains, choosing who goes first, or deciding which toy to share with which friend. The rhyme allows children to make choices in a way that frees them from any obvious bias. It is an interesting phenomenon that many children seem to somehow learn this rhyme without explicitly being taught the words. 

Though seemingly benign, the song has more sinister roots. In its original composition, the second line reads, “catch a n***** by his toe.” The prevailing thought is that the song was initially sung as a taunt by white slave catchers on the hunt for runaways. Another version changes the last three lines to “catch a negro by his toe/if he hollers make him pay/twenty dollars every day.” 

Eeny, meeny, miney, moe, is one of several children’s rhymes with dark origins: Oh! Susanna, Camptown Races, Jack and Jill, and Old Mother Hubbard are a few others, just to name a few. 

• Why is this information relevant to the work of DEI? 

• Are we making too much of this?

• Is the evolution of the song lyrics absolution?  

• Should we stop children from singing this song, or do we allow them to sing while sharing the hurtful history? 

• What is the value/harm of sharing such history?

• What is the value/harm of moving forward and not sharing such history? 

Sharing this history is a perfect segue to introducing children to the practice of questioning—meaning not to accept things at face value—and challenging dominant narratives. Perhaps, this is an opportunity to teach intentionality about words and actions. 

One could argue that we should not be alarmed because “no one uses the original lyrics” and “it’s all just gibberish anyway.”  One could also argue that if we are unwilling to grapple with a seemingly “harmless song” and confront its dark origins, we will not be inclined to deal with more complex and harmful situations.