The rhyme — which became the song’s lyrics — have been around a lot longer than the music itself. The tune we know as “Playmate” is actually from a song called “Iola,” composed and published by Charles Leslie Johnson sometime between 1904 and 1906.
A singer/songwriter/musician named Saxie Dowell has been credited with writing the song, but from what we were able to discover, he is most likely the one who first paired the old Victorian-era rhyme with the Johnson ditty.
Since then, “Playmates” has been recorded dozens of times by a wide variety of musical artists… and also sung thousands of times by kids on the playground.
Here is a collection of insights into the song from the past century, along with several variations on the theme — including the popular pre-WWII radio version and renditions of the song from other creative artists… plus a cover version by a celebrity that might surprise you.
Say, Say, Oh Playmate: The clapping game, demonstrated
See some sheet music for Say Say Oh Playmate here, plus directions for the clapping game.
No cellar door to slide down — and the rain barrel, also, died with the song that told of it (1910)
The Kansas City Times via The Washington Post (July 17, 1910)
I don’t want to play in your yard,
I don’t like you any more.
You’ll be sorry when you see me
Sliding down our cellar door;
You can’t holler down our rain barrel.
You can’t climb our apple tree;
I don’t want to play in your yard
If you won’t be good to me.
The song is dead. it was laid to rest a dozen years ago. Did the song cause the cellar door and rain barrel to die also, or did the passing of the door and barrel cause the death of the song? No one knows. At any rate, all three are dead.
Have you ever in 1910 heard a disgruntled Miss threatening her playmate, next door, by telling him that he couldn’t slide down the cellar door or holler down the rain barrel at her house? it wouldn’t have any effect on the offender now, you know, for the slanting cellar doors and the old oaken barrel under the spout at the corner of the house are things of the past.
Perhaps you hadn’t missed the two things that were the delights of your playmate and yourself, years ago. Many people do not know that the cellar door and the rain barrel are antiquities.
“Every day we tell people who want them put on their houses that they are out-of-date,” said an architect yesterday afternoon. “Now, when we put outside steps into the cellar at all, we put an open ‘ramp’ of concrete around the opening with steps of solid concrete.
“A good drain in the bottom of the hole carries off all water… The slanting doors were bound to go. They were hard to handle, often being heavy, and frequently it was inconvenient for the woman of the house to go outside to gain access to the basement.”
“The old rain barrel is replaced by a concrete cistern, equipped with a charcoal filter, in which the water from the roof is purified before it passes into the cistern.”
With the cellar door and the rain barrel gone, and now that the children are amusing themselves with other things, it is plain to be seen that the age is in need of another song, similar to the one quoted above. Why not something like this:
I don’t want to play on your lawn.
I will like you ne’er again;
I’ll tell papa not to take you
Out in our new aeroplane;
You can’t ride my Teddy wagon.
You can’t hear my dog say “Please”
I’ll not let you use my rollers
in the evening’s gentle breeze.
Willie Nelson sings “Playmate”
The tune was covered in this century by none other than Willie Nelson.
“Playmate” lyrics in the Willie Nelson version
Playmate, come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three
Climb up my apple tree
Look down my rain barrel
Slide down my cellar door
And we’ll be jolly friends forever more
But she couldn’t come out and play
It was a rainy day
With tearful eye, she breathed a sigh
And I could hear her say
I’m sorry, playmate, I cannot play with you
My dolly’s got the flu, boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo
Hasn’t got no rain barrel, hasn’t got no cellar door
But we’ll be jolly friends forever more
Playmate, come out and play with me (1967)
The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) – October 18, 1967
Evidence is at hand of an old song, as well as an old recitation, about the two little neighbor girls who slid down the cellar door, climbed the apple tree, hollered down the rain barrel, etc.
We’ve already had a fragment of the recitation, now for a sampling of the song. “I believe,” writes Mrs Robert H Singletary, Louisville, “that this song was introduced (it certainly was plugged!) between 1939 and 1945 by Kay Kyser on his radio show, Kay Kyser’s Kollege of Musical Knowledge.
I may not have every word just right, but I am sure this was the main message:
Playmate, come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three.
We’ll climb my apple tree,
Climb in my rain barrel,
Slide down my cellar door
And be jolly friends forever more.
Now she couldn’t come out to play,
It was a rainy day.
With tears and sighs
I heard her cry,
And this is what she said:
I’m sorry, playmate, I cannot play with you.
My dolly’s got the flu,
Boo-hoo-hoo, boo-hoo-hoo.
Can’t climb your rain barrel,
Slide down your cellar door,
But we’ll be friends forevermore.
MORE: Free to Be…You and Me: A one-of-a-kind, star-studded message to kids (1973)
An old version: “Playmates,” by Kay Keyser and his orchestra (1940)
- Look down my rain barrel
- Shout down my rain barrel
- Holler down our rain barrel
- Cry down my rain barrel
- Call down my rain barrel
- Climb in my rain barrel
- Slide down my rainbow
Getting ’50s retro: The Fontaine Sisters’ version of “Playmates” from 1955
“Say Say, Oh Playmate” – Ambre McLean
Here’s an interpretation of “Say, Say, Oh Playmate” by singer Ambre McLean, who has created a gorgeous multi-layered of the schoolyard classic by live looping each verse. (If you don’t know what that means, watch the video and you’ll see.)
Say, say, oh playmate: Basic lyrics
Say, say, oh playmate,
Come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three
Climb up my apple tree
Shout down my rain barrel
Slide down my cellar door
And we’ll be jolly friends
For ever more, more, shut the door
MORE: See popular board games of the 1950s or of the 1960s
34 Responses
We grew up saying, “slide down my rainbow into my cellar door”. I never realized it was wrong but I don’t remember ever seeing the actual words until now. I also had no idea it was an actual song.
Us too in the 70s-80s!
I said the same thing. I’ve been looking for the lyrics off and on for a while.
That’s the way I sang it too. I grew up in the San Francisco area in the early 60s.
That’s exactly how I remember singing it too.
Me too! It was “rainbow” that I learned. And “my” playmate.
We always sang: (1970’s)
Oh jolly playmate
Come out and play with me
And bring your dollies 3
Climb up my apple tree
Slide down my rainbow
Into your cellar door
And we’ll be jolly friends
Forever more…..1234
Then we had another:
Oh jolly playmate
I cannot play with you
My dolly has the flu
Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo
Can’t slide down your rainbow
Into my cellar door
But we’ll be jolly friends
Forever more 1234
Something like that lol
For some reason we always sang “Cici my playmate” thinking it was her friend’s name.
Same here…
Same, in the ’80s. And I remember a girl at camp changed the “boo-hoo” line to “and threw up in his shoe.”
My girlfriend and I viewed it as a sexual song. That the dollies three was talking about a man’s genitalia or a woman’s two breasts and vagina. Think about it. “Slide down my rain barrel and into my cellar door.” We thought it was kinda a creepy song.
A comment:
I learned the song Playmate when I was just a little girl in rural Iowa when we kids were busy playing outside, hollering down rain barrels (some nice echos) and sliding down cellar doors (sit on something sturdy to avoid splinters!) for fun! I’m 68 now. I think the song has to do with the effects of the 1918-1919 Spanish flu from a child’s perspective. Here are the lyrics I learned:
“Playmate, come out and play with me, and bring your dollies three, climb up my apple tree. Holler down my rain barrel, slide down my cellar door, and we’ll be jolly friends for evermore.
Well, she couldn’t come out and play, tho it was a sunny day. With a tearful eye, she breathed a sigh, and I could hear her say: “I’m sorry playmate, I cannot play with you. My dolly has the flu, boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo. Ain’t got no rain barrel, ain’t got no cellar door, but we’ll be jolly friends forevermore.“”
Good memories! We loved shouting “Ain’t!” which was never OK with our elders which made it all the better! Thanks!
I’ve been researching this song all pm. Yours is the way I always heard it. Plus some sheet music renditions. Guess my mom just put them all together but good to know someone else heard it the way I did. By the way I’m older than u.
S, Yuck!…I’m gonna pretend I never read your version…otherwise it will destroy one of my best memories of my mom singing as we kids drifted into pleasants dreams.
My father passed away at the early age of 40 n it became difficult for my mom to make ends meet. Although we were blessed to have our family home it was a struggle for my mom to make sure taxes were paid tv n cable were a luxury we could not afford. As kids my mom used to tell us stories n sing songs to us. One of my favorites was playmate…with th verse ending with…slide down my rain barrel n through my cellar door but we’ll be jolly friends forever more. I am now 64 yrs. old n 7 yrs since mom passed on, my desire is to keep this song n all of the nursery rhymes n songs that I can remember alive. My children n grandchildren know all of these and have promised to continue passing them along. For my son n grandsons I changed the words from “dollies three” to “your little doggie” which in turn they would say “my little doggies got the flu, boo hoo, boo hoo, boo hoo”. Thanks for letting me share.
Thank you so much for sharing your memories! Love that you’re teaching your grandchildren – and very cute to change it to doggie instead of dolly.
I was talking about ‘ring around the rosie’ being about the pox epidemic, and he remembered his mother singing this song, but he could only remember a few phrases – ‘sliding down the cellar door’ and ‘singing down the rain barrel’. She remembered the song as being related to an epidemic from when she was a child. She died in 1989 at 94 yrs old, so this epidemic was a long time ago.
This conversation was with my dad, who is in his 80s now.
Another verion of this ditty was sung by Diane Keaton
in the movie ‘Reds’.
I have looked and looked for the version my mother (born 1926) sang for us. It was adapted for the Tuberculosis crisis during her childhood.
The changes were:
SUNSHINE come out and play with me
I don’t want old TB to fool around with me
He brings the sniffles and makes me stay indoors
Da da da da da forevermore
Response:
I will come out and play
I’ll make a sunny day
But I can’t do it all alone
I need your help this way
Da da da da da
Da da da da da da da
And we’ll be jolly friends forevermore
I wish the American Lung Society could help.
I’m 51 and we used to sing it:
Say say my playmate
Come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three
Climb up my Apple tree
Slide down my rainbow
Onto my cellar door
And we’ll be jolly friends
Forever more more more more more
.My mother sang this song growing up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada in the early 1900’s. She taught it to me about 70 years ago. The tune and lyrics are very similar to these later versions. I’ve never heard it performed, but it has always been in the back of my mind.
I learned two versions of this at camp back in the late ‘80s:
Cee-Cee oh playmate
Come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three
Climb up my apple tree
Slide down my rainbow
Into my cellar door
And we’ll be jolly friends
For ever-more, more, shut the door
One two three four SHUT THE DOOR!
And then the dark version:
Cee-Cee oh enemy
Come out and fight with me
And bring your soldiers three
Climb up my poison tree
Slide down my razor blade
Into the dungeon door
And we’ll be jolly enemies
For ever-more, more, shut the door
One two three four SHUT THE DOOR!
thx. thats the part i was looking for. we sang it a lil different but that was gist. and we also had the threw up in my shoe part (instead of boo hoo….)We had 3 sections: playmate, sick, and enemy :) Jolly-Enemy
Looking for lyrics for a version called say say o monsters, come play with me and bring your monsters 3….
Found something interesting/surprising at this youtube link: https://youtu.be/AnVJQBES28Y on the channel VEK (Russian for “century”), posting contemporary performances of Russian folk culture. In this clip, the next-to-last song played follows the same chord progression as “Oh Jolly Playmate.” It’s easy to imagine if a Russian immigrant brought these tunes to the US around the turn of the century, someone with a musical ear could have heard this one often enough to come up with a melody for it by simply arpeggiating out the chords. If the rhyme already existed, the melody and rhyme would have eventually met. Just an interesting coincidence plus my cultural imagination. :)
Rhythm & clapping or clicking songs have been around for all time, because keeping/marking time rhythmically is useful to survival.
Rhyming also helps important lyrics or messages be remembered most accurately over time.
But songs can lose meaning over time, when songs like these are passed along for more than 100 years.
The songs had colloquialism phrases & words of the time it was invented, but because things like meanings of words change over time, or people mishear the words & insert words that make sense to them, not the original song.
Safe to say, my G’ma, born 1903, knew that clapping song, & the playmate songs…so, it was already a relic by the time a modern singer recorded it again in the 1950’s or so.
I think it was Dinah Shore? recorded Playmate in the early 1950’s, it played on the radio, & mom sang it to me all the time. It was a nostalgic, sweet, friendship song. Most generations can relate to it…people still have water barrels & cellar doors that can be played with very like kids played with them more than 120 years ago.
Surprisingly, the words have not changed too much on either of these 2 songs.
But what has seemed to disappear from history of the Clapping song, is that there was some hinted-at, or double-meaning, of some words with sleazy/back-alley/naughty meanings, making it unsuitable for polite children to repeat…per G’ma. (Probably double entendres about the rubber dolly, allusions to sex, or coming of age, etc.- G’ma was very good at hinting at “unspeakables”—but not answering clarifying questions).
i’m 85, Song words said HOLLER down the rain barrel ( for the echo) and SLIDE down the wooden cellar door that covered the steps to the cellar to keep rain and animals out..Try my updated words:
verse 1
“ Ohhhhplaymate , come out and play with me, bring ukelele please, climb up my apple tree, jump on my trampoline and count to 24 , and we’ll be jolly friends for evermore.
verse 2
oh playmate I can’t come play with you,
I might get Covid flu, boohoo boohoo boo hoo…
we’ve got oour I-phones, and school on ZOOM
we can be jolly friends on Facebook too!
When we were kids in the 50s and 60s, my Dad built a door over the cellar entrance and painted it so that we kids could slide down it. It surprises me to see how many people don’t know that cellar doors were for sliding down, like a cheap substitute for a playground sliding board. There’s no double-entendre at all!
I used to hear the line ‘nails in your cellar door. How anyone else ever heard that line?
My mother used to sing sixty odd years ago
I don’t wanna play in your yard, I don’t like you any more. You’ll be sorry when you see me climbing down the garret wall, you can’t whistle down my rain barrel, you can’t climb my apple tree, I don’t wanna play in your yard if you can’t be true to me.
It was a very sweet, cutesy song and I loved her singing it. Fond memories Lynn Williams
My Aunt taught me this version ‘ I don’t want to play in your yard’ in the 1940s .I am 82 now. Maxine Bracher, 2023
Playmate, come out and play with me
Beneath the apple tree
where on one else can see
Playmate, open up your cellar door
and we’ll be jolly friends
for ever more
I’m 77 now. I remember this song and love the melody and words. I know it as:
Oh, Little Playmate, Come Out and Play With Me
Bring your Dollies Three, Climb up my Apple Tree
Look Down my Rain Barrell, Slide Down My Cellar Door
and We’ll be Jolly Friends Forever More.
I heard it on (I believe) the Hit Parade on TV. Many Programs in
those days had Singing. Very Pleasant. I still sing this to my
grandkids, and, explain what a Rain Barrell and a Cellar Door is,
and the uses of each. Great fun while driving to/from places.
We also play a game: I ask them to name “anything” and I can
probably sing a song about it. Example: Dog: How much is that
Doggie in the Window., etc., etc.