A lovely singing game that can be played in pairs or in larger groups in a circle. It is fun to play with your child or with the whole family. Try adding your child's name: Look who's here little Joey Little Joey. Pulcinella is taken from a manuscript from Naples, dating from 1700, containing a number of comedies portraying the traditional character of the popular Neapolitan stage. This libretto was derived from Quatre Polichinelles semblables ("Four similar Pulcinellas").

While commedia dell’arte was beginning to fade away by the end of the 18th century, the character was preserved thanks to the puppeteers. In Naples, he performed in public squares such as the Largo di Castello, and became the star of the San Carlino theatre between 1822 and 1876. In Rome, he appeared primarily as a glove puppet in Piazza Navona before relocating to the Pincio gardens; he also, however, was presented as a string puppet in private puppet theatres and at the Teatro Fiano in Rome, and even as a comic interlude within plays of chivalric tales based on the works of Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533) and Matteo Maria Boiardo (1434/41-1494). The puppet repertoire nonetheless privileged love stories where Pulcinella often appeared in the role of the suitor or the unfortunate lover, condemned to death and then saved by Colombina whom he succeeded in marrying in the end. He could also become much more aggressive and vindictive, taking on the role of avenger or righter of wrongs in violent duels. The singing game "Punchinello"/"Punchinella" is made up of four distinct phases. These phases correspond to the four verses that are sung by the people forming the circle in each rendition of the singing game. The first recorded show to have involved the Punch-style marionette was performed in England in May 1662, outside of London in Covent Garden, by Bologna-born puppeteer Pietro Gimonde, also known as Signor Bologna. [21] This marionette was named Punchinello, later shortened to Punch, and finally becoming wholly British with his transformation into Mr. Punch. The British Punch is far more childlike and violent than Pulcinella but is renowned for being just as funny. [22] Always seen with cudgel in hand, Punch is more menacing than his Italian counterpart. In many performances, he murders his wife and child, as well as the Devil. In 1851, Henry Mayhew wrote of one performer who described the character's enduring appeal: "Like the rest of the world, he has got bad morals, but very few of them." [23] And, btw, it's good to hear from a felllow Pittsburgher, even though you moved away from that city :o)

As these performances were increasingly directed toward an audience made up mostly of children, however, the character lost some part of its complexity. Today, he has become a nearly universal figure, but transformed within each country into a specific national character; Pulcinella is always performed in Italy. I've read for this line - "you" and "zoo". Note that the word "zoo" is used in the version that is performed in the YouTube video #2. For what it's worth, I remember playing "Punchinella" -with an "a" ending - during the early to mid 1950 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (given as Example #2 below). Also, I didn't associate "Punchinella" with a clown.

Many regional variants of Pulcinella were developed as the character diffused across Europe. In Germany, Pulcinella came to be known as Kasper. In the Netherlands he is known as Jan Klaassen. In Denmark he is Mester Jakel. Russian composer Igor Stravinsky composed two different ballets entitled Pulcinella and Petrushka, inspired by him. In Romania, he is Vasilache; in Hungary he is Vitéz László, and in France Polichinelle, while in the United Kingdom he inspired the character of Mister Punch of Punch and Judy."... Verse #4: During the fourth verse, the center person remains in the middle of the circle. She (or he) closes her eyes, puts her right hand over her eyes, and stretching out her left arm, puts at the people forming the circle while slowly turning around in a circle. The center person stops turning around at the end of that rendition of the song. v1: Here's Punchinello, Punchinello, funny fellow / Here's Punchinello, Punchinello, funny you! ("Punchinello" stands silent in the center of the ring while everyone else sings.) v.2 What can you do, Punchinello, funny fellow? / What can you do, Punchinello funny you? (P moves self in some silly way.) v.3 We can do it too, Punchinello, funny fellow / We can do it too, Punchinello, funny you! (Everyone including P does same move.) v.4 Whom do you choose, Punchinello, funny fellow / Whom do you choose, Punchinello funny YOU! (P spins like you describe)

Anyway, in reading this blog, it appears that in Bermuda, "Poinciana" was either mistakenly, or deliberately substituted at some point, at least over 70 years ago. (My mother, who will be 80 yrs-old, confirms that she also grew up singing "Poinciana".)

Pulcinella embodies the Neapolitan plebians, the simplest man who occupies the bottom place on the social scale, the man who, although aware of his problems, always manages to come out of them with a smile. On that basis, many writers have come to refer to Pulcinella, in retrospect, as a model ENFP of sorts (based on the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator 16 personality test). [ citation needed] Pancocojams Editor's Note: I'm added this version because it is undoubtedly a folk processed form of the rhyme "Punchinella."] The quality that best distinguishes Pulcinella is his cunning, with which he manages to solve the disparate problems that arise in front of him—always, however, in favor of the weakest at the expense of the powerful. Typically, the child that suggested playing the game, started as the first one in the middle of the circle of other children. The circle of children would sing first, asking, "What can you do..." The child in the middle would respond, singing, "I can do, this..." while performing an action; the funnier the action, the better. The circle would respond, "We can do it too..." while attempting to imitate the action that had been performed by the child in the middle. Then, the child in the middle would close their eyes, stretch forth one arm, with their index finger pointed, and begin to turn around in place, while the children in the circle would continue on singing, "Shake it to the East. Shake it to the West. Shake it to the very one that you love the best!" The child in the middle would stop turning when the singing stopped. The child in the circle to whom the child in the middle was then pointing, would be the next one to be in the middle of the circle.Polichinelle, [6] ca. 1680 by French artist Nicolas Bonnart. The first of a set of five etching entitled Five Characters from the Commedia dell'arte. Etching with hand coloring on laid paper. I grew up in Jamaica, West Indies, playing this game at school during recess. In the 1950s, the words we sang were: