Johnny Johnny Yes Papa facts for kids

"Johnny Johnny Yes Papa" is a super popular nursery rhyme in English. It's a fun song about a boy named Johnny and his dad. His dad catches Johnny eating sugar when he shouldn't be! Most versions of the song continue with more funny situations like this.

History of the Song

This nursery rhyme has been around for a long time! A book from 1989 by an American professor named Francelia Butler mentioned that people were singing it in Kenya way back in 1980.

Someone named Vinoth Chandar, who is the CEO of ChuChu TV, said in 2018 that the song was already very old in India. He remembered hearing it when he was a kid. This means it was old enough to be in the public domain there, which usually means it's at least 60 years old.

Song Lyrics

The words to "Johnny Johnny Yes Papa" are sung in a "call and response" way. This means one person sings a line, and another person or group sings the next line. The song is usually sung to the same tune as "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".

The most famous version of the song goes like this:

Johnny, Johnny.
Yes, Papa?
Eating sugar?
No, Papa.
Telling lies?
No, Papa.
Open your mouth
Ha! Ha! Ha!

Johnny Johnny on YouTube

The song first appeared on YouTube in 2007. It was used in an Indian TV ad for a chocolate bar called 5 Star.

In 2009, the YouTube channel Shemrock Nursery Rhymes also featured the song. Many other YouTube channels that make educational entertainment for young children have also made their own versions of "Johnny Johnny Yes Papa".

Popular Videos

One video of the song, uploaded by Loo Loo Kids in 2016, became incredibly popular. Even though it's spelled "Johny" in the video, it has billions of views! As of August 2020, it was one of the most-watched videos on YouTube. It was also the most-viewed nursery rhyme video and one of the most-disliked videos on the site.

Other popular versions include:

• A video by ChuChu TV from 2014 with over 1.7 billion views.
• A video by CVS 3D Rhymes from 2017 with over 1.2 billion views.
• A Spanish version by FAMA JAMA with over a billion views.

In 2015, a website called The Daily Dot listed one "Johnny Johnny Yes Papa" video as one of eleven YouTube videos for kids that were "unintentionally disturbing." This means some people found them a bit strange or silly, even if they weren't meant to be.

Parody Videos

A funny parody of the nursery rhyme was uploaded by a user called EdukayFUN in 2014. A parody is a funny imitation of something. This video used computer animation that some people found a bit odd. The original channel was closed in 2018, but the videos are still uploaded by "EdukayFUN 2.0." The original parody video was put back online in 2020 in super clear quality.

Johnny Johnny as an Internet Meme

In August 2018, the song became a huge internet meme. An internet meme is something that spreads very quickly online, often with funny changes.

Viral Dance Videos

One version by an Indian channel called Billion Surprise Toys became very popular on Twitter. This video showed Johnny and his father doing famous dance moves, like the "Gangnam Style" dance. It also mixed the original song with a repeated "doo-doo-doo-da-doo" from the "Baby Shark" song.

Some people described these videos from edutainment channels as "terrifying," "disturbing," or "nonsensical." This popularity was sometimes linked to something called Elsagate. This is when YouTube's system might show strange or absurd videos to children through the YouTube website and the YouTube Kids app.

Magazines like The Verge and New York Magazine found some of the "remixes" by Billion Surprise Toys to be especially silly. For example, one video featured a refrigerator that was lying! The Verge explained that in these videos, "Each video features a child and their family lying to one another as a form of affection."

Copyright Issues

After the song went viral, Billion Surprise Toys started sending out many DMCA requests. These requests ask social media sites to take down videos or images that use their content. This caused some arguments.

One reason was that it's not totally clear who owns the copyright to the "Johnny Johnny Yes Papa" song itself, since it's so old. Also, in places like the United States, making parodies is often allowed as a form of fair use. Fair use means you can use copyrighted material in certain ways without permission, like for criticism or comedy.

See also

In Spanish: Johny Johny Yes Papa para niños

• Elsagate