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What's Behind Jennie Jenkins
by
Tiffany Alfonso
The "peanuts and cracker jack" mentioned in the popular song "Take Me Out to
the Ball Game" was actually a snack with a prize inside each package, but what
about the "fol-dy-rol-dy, til-de-tol-dy, seek-a-double, use-a-cause-a,
roll-a-find-me-roll ," in the lesser-known song "Jennie Jenkins?" Does it
mention a carpet, a dress, or a Sunday hat? No one knows what those goofy words
mean, but the song has some interesting features.
"Jennie Jenkins" was a dialogue song written by an anonymous writer for the
young at heart, with one protagonist inquiring the title protagonist what color
shoal she wear, but she refuses and explains why in a rhyme. For example, I
asked her if she would wear green, but she retorted that she won't wear green
because either it's the color of a bean or it's a shame to be seen and she'll
buy herself a "fol-dy-rol-dy, til-de-tol-dy, seek-a-double, use-a-cause-a,
roll-a-find-me-roll ."
Ever since my childhood, I used to not know the song title, but the melody was
catchy. When I was two, I was jumping on my mother's bed to that song, to the
video of children's tunes which nowadays I couldn't remember its name. Few years
later, I watched another title of the Wee Sing series, "Wee Sing Train ." The
section that featured "Jennie Jenkins" was when the train stopped at a castle
which was inhabited by the song's main protagonist, as a typical fairy-tale
princess. But this version has more bite than the other childhood video and it's
the most exciting version I've ever heard overall.
So why do people do away with this song? I would be in a faction of the judges
of children's tunes, who states that it teaches the youth colors and how things
are described by them. For myself, I'll compose variations of it after my other
arrangement ("Come, Thou Almighty King") for a college symphonic band. But what
about the "fol-dy-rol-dy, til-de-tol-dy, seek-a-double, use-a-cause-a,
roll-a-find-me-roll" kind of object? The droll name of it mentioned in the
refrain of "Jennie Jenkins" was a mystery...
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