Lyrics
(Jamaican folk song)
1. There’s a brown girl* in the ring, Tra-la-la-la-la.
There’s a brown girl in the ring, Tra-la-la-la-la-la,
Brown girl in the ring, Tra-la-la-la-la,
And she/he looks like the sugar in a plum, plum, plum.
(Option: “For she likes sugar, and I like plums!”)
2. Now show us your motion…
3. Now let’s skip across the ocean…
*Substitute “student” or a student’s name
See also
- Country: Jamaica
- Subject: names
- Activities: circle singing games
- Harmony: chords I V
- Rhythm: steady beat / dotted eighth note & sixteenth note
YouTube
- Song with chords, Adapted version, Lesson ideas for Rhythm (Steady Beat) (PDF)
- MIDI file
- Listen to the song
1 thought on “There’s a Brown Girl in the Ring”
Although the Boney M version tends to be the one many people have heard, this recording by Jamaican folk historian Louise Bennett-Coverley offers words which make more sense and are more suitable for kids today. Instead of “she looks like a sugar in a plum”, the words are “for she likes sugar, and I like plums”. These lyrics are printed in the Mango Spice anthology of songs from the Caribbean. Additionally Miss Lou sings a verse for a “brown boy in the ring”.
https://youtu.be/Y97RLpgdxyw
Her recordings, and those by the Jamaican Folk Singers under the direction of Dr. Olive Lewin, are good sources to consult for Jamaican folk songs.