Mary Mack



"Mary Mack" ("Miss Mary Mack") is a clapping game of unknown origin. It is first attested in the book The Counting Out Rhymes of Children by Henry Carrington Bolton (1888), whose version was collected in West Chester, Pennsylvania. It is well known in various parts of the United States, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and in New Zealand and has been called "the most common hand-clapping game in the English-speaking world".

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

The same song is also used as a skipping rope rhyme, although rarely so according to one source.

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 (or "butt'ns, butt'ns, butt'ns")
 * All down her back, back, back (or "Up and down her back, back, back")


 * She asked her mother, mother, mother
 * For 15 cents, cents, cents
 * To see the elephants, elephants, elephants (or "hippos, hippos, hippos")
 * Jump over the fence, fence, fence


 * They jumped so high, high, high
 * They reached the sky, sky, sky
 * And didn't (or never) come back, back, back (or come down, down, down)
 * Till the 4th of July ly ly

Alternate versions use "15 cents", "never came down" and end with repeating "July, July, July".

An alternate version, sung in Canada and England, includes the words:


 * She could not read, read, read
 * She could not write, write, write
 * But she could smoke, smoke, smoke
 * Her father’s pipe, pipe, pipe

An alternate version, sung in the American South:


 * Mary Mack,
 * Dressed in black,
 * Silver buttons all down her back.
 * She combed her hair
 * And broke the comb
 * She's gonna get a whoopin' when her Momma comes home
 * Gonna get a whoopin' when her Momma comes home

Clap
A common version of the accompanying clap is as follows: Another version: Another Version: Another Version: repeat
 * pat arms across chest: Arms across chest
 * pat thighs: Pat thighs
 * clap hands: Clap hands
 * clap right hands together: Clap right palms with partner
 * clap left hands together: Clap left palms with partner
 * clap both hand together
 * clap both palms with partner
 * &: One palm up, one palm down
 * 4: Clap both partners hands
 * &: Clap own hands
 * 1: Cross arms to chest
 * 2: Slap thighs
 * 3: Clap own hands
 * 4: Pat thighs
 * &: Clap hands
 * 1: Clap partners right hand
 * &: Clap hands
 * &: Clap partners left hand
 * &: Clap hands
 * 2: Clap both partners hands
 * &: Clap hands
 * &: One palm up, one palm down
 * 1: Clap both partners hands
 * &: Reverse hands
 * 2: Clap both partners hands
 * &: Clap own hands
 * 4: clap partners right hand
 * &: clap hands
 * 5: clap partners left hand
 * &: clap hands
 * 6: clap partners right hand
 * &: clap hands

Possible origins
The song originated in Virginia. Miss Mary Mack was a performer in Ephraim Williams’ circus in the 1880s; the song may be reference to her and the elephants in the show.

The first verse, the repetition, is also a riddle with the answer "coffin".

Early mentions of the part about the elephant do not include the part about Mary Mack.