Mary Mack

Mary Mack is a clapping game played by children in English language countries.

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

The same song is also used as a jumprope 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

All down her back, back, back.

She asked her mother, mother, mother

For 50 cents, cents, cents

To see the elephants, elephants, elephants

Jump over the fence, fence, fence.

They jumped so high, high, high

They reached the sky, sky, sky

And they didn't come back, back, back

'Til the 4th of July, ly, ly!

She went up stairs, stairs, stairs

To say her prayers, prayers, prayers

And bumped her head, head, head

And now she's dead, dead, dead!

The origin of the name Mary Mack is obscure, and various theories have been proposed. According to one theory Mary Mack originally was Merrimack, suggesting the song refers to the Battle of Hampton Roads during the American Civil War.

In some variations, she asks her mother for "15 cents" rather than 50. These variations may represent an earlier version of the song, which later became updated with the times, as there were few things one could buy with 15 cents in the later part of the 20th century, although it is more likely the speed of the rhyme and the similarity of the spoken words "fifteen" and "fifty" accounts for the variation.