Skip to My Lou
traditional song; Roud Index #3433
"Skip to My (The) Lou" (Roud 3433 and 3593) is a popular American folk song and partner-stealing dance from the 1840s.
Carl Sandburg, poet and biographer of President Abraham Lincoln, writes that "Skip-to-my-Lou" was a popular party game in Lincoln's youth in southern Indiana, with verses such as "Hurry up slow poke, do oh do", "I'll get her back in spite of you", "Gone again, what shall I do", and "I'll get another girl sweeter than you".
John A. and Alan Lomax wrote that "Skip to My Lou" was a simple game of stealing partners (or swapping partners as in square dancing). It begins with any number of couples skipping hand in hand around in a ring. A lone boy in the center of the moving circle of couples sings, "Lost my partner, what'll I do?" as the girls whirl past him. The young man in the center hesitates while he decides which girl to choose, singing, "I'll get another one just like you." When he grasps the hand of his chosen one, the latter's partner moves to the center of the ring. It is an ice-breaker, providing an opportunity for the participants to get acquainted with one another and to get into a good mood. "Skip to My Lou" is number 3433 and 3593 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
S. Frederick Starr suggests that the song may be derived from the Creole folksong "Lolotte Pov'piti Lolotte", to which it has a strong resemblance. See also "La Savane", a composition by Louis Moreau Gottschalk which is based on the Creole song.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7535763. VIAF identifies the subject as 2162844747273240002. The Library of Congress control number is n2021041977. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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