Pop music has been influenced by clapping games directly as demonstrated in The Clapping Song, recorded by Shirley Ellis in 1965 which began with “3, 6, 9, the goose drank wine, the monkey chewed tobacco on the streetcar line.” Clapping games have exploded in popularity since the 1960s and can be traced all the way back to 1698 when Pat a Cake was first documented.
Nonsense, fun to say, rhyming words are frequently used in the songs and present the challenge of performing the chanting or singing while executing difficult synchronized movements with a partner, as quickly as you possibly can. Some clapping routines are easier to master than others and some have beginner and advanced modifications, depending on your region or when you were taught. Recent games seem to have simpler patterns than the games from just 3 decades ago.
These games are a link with the past, with the cultures of their parents and grandparents, though if you ask the kids playing them today, they may claim to have just made them up.