Origins: John Kanaka

Subject: RE: Origins: John Kanaka
From: GUEST,Alan in Hastings UK
Date: 04 Mar 21 - 10:09 AM

John Kanaka

I though I heard the old man say
Chorus. John Kanakanaka too lei ai
Today' today's and 'oliday
Chorus. John Kanakanaka too lei ai
Too lei ai oh too lei ai
Chorus. John Kanakanaka too lei ai

There's work tomorro', but not work today
'cos today, today's an 'oliday

We're outward bound from London town
Where all the Judies they come down

We're outward bound at break of day
We're outward bound for 'Frisco Bay

We're outward bound around cape horn
Where you wish to god you'd not been born

The boatswain says ?gBefore I?fm through
You?fll curse your mother for having you?h

We're a Yankee ship with a Yankee crew
And we're the boys to kick her through

And when we get to 'Frisco Bay
We'll pay off ship and make our pay

So haul oh haul oh haul away
Haul away and make your pay

I thought I heard the old man say
Just one more pull and then belay

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The blower says, “Before I'm done
You'll wish to Christ you was no man's son.”

And the striker says, “Before I'm through
You'll curse your mother for having you.”

There's rotten meat and there's musty bread,
And “Pump or drown!” the Old Man said.

She wouldn't wear and she wouldn't stay,
She was taking water night and day.

When we arrive in the Mobile Bay
We'll tear the sheets and spend our pay.

Just one suck-o and then belay,
Tomorrow, boys, is our payday.

Subject: RE: Origins: John Kanaka
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 30 Oct 23 - 07:07 AM

A bit of additional info here re: the "Jan Kanaganaga" in Minstrelsy of Maine (1927). The authors, Eckstorm and Smyth, say they got it from a Captain James A. Creighton of Thomston, Maine in 1925.

James A. Creighton was indeed on the sea by the 1850s (and, I'd guess, even earlier—he was born in 1821). However, he died in 1898. He could not have given the song to the authors.

There was, however, another captain of Thomaston, Maine named James E. Creighton (different middle name). His dates are July 1861-1948. He went to sea age 15, so circa 1876 or 1877.

I surmise that Eckstorm and Smyth must have gotten the captain's name wrong. If so, we may not place his memory of "Jan Kanaganaga" earlier than the late 1870s.

***
I'm still working on my theory that the song has some relationship to "Old Aunt Jemima." The latter's composition is attributed to minstrel performer Joe Lang, who began his stage career in 1870 and, a publication--which I have not seen--indicates "Aunt Jemima" came out in 1873. I have documentation that shows the song was already popular in 1873, in any case. It went through various adaptations over the years. No smoking gun to connect "Jemima" and "Kanaka" songs though. I suspect only musicologists will feel most compelled by my tentative argument about the melodic correspondence (2020 post, above).
***
Perhaps I haven't mentioned this before: There's a recording of Stan Hugill singing "John Kanaka" at the first Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival in 1980. (Were revival folks singing the song before that, and how?) Anyway, Hugill sang the song with an "odd" rhythm—it was syncopated somehow, and different than the way I've always heard people sing it. What was the exact rhythm? Well... I didn't quite note it down. But I think everyone would be surprised if they heard it.
***
Here are my more-or-less accurate notes of what Hugill said about "John Kanaka" in 1980:

“Now, I have met, of course, many shantymen. Otherwise my book would never have been published. My greatest friend—and if there’s any colored people here, don’t take umbrage at this, because this is what he called himself—he was black as your hat; he was big, powerful man on the fore-hand of any brace or topsail halyard; you would never have had “John Kanaka” (if it weren’t) for this fellow—and me. If he hadn’t given it to me, or I’d have died, there’d be no “John Kanaka”; and lots of other things, but still, that’s one of them. His yelp… [] But we always called it a hitch. You couldn’t sing a shanty without making this horrible noise, somewhere or another—a cross between a yodel and a brown bear in pain or something. […] Mind you, Germans were good at it; so were Scandinavians. Of course, the Negro was best; the West Indian black man was the best. The Englishman was the most anemic—we were really hopeless at it, nothing like as good as them. Now this was Harding “the Barbadian Barbarian”—that’s what he called himself.”

Subject: RE: Origins: John Kanaka
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Oct 23 - 08:07 AM

Great sleuthing, Gibb.

At Mystic in 1988 he sang "Santa Anna" with what I thought was an odd rhythm in the solos:

"We're sailing down the river FROM (slight pause) Liverpool!...
Round Cape Horn TO (slight pause) Frisco Bay!..."

Maybe it was a latter-day affectation, maybe not.

I'm too musically illiterate to say if that's syncopation, but ISTR that in one of his books he mentions rather offhandedly that some chanteymen sometimes syncopated their solos.

Subject: RE: Origins: John Kanaka
From: GUEST,threelegsoman
Date: 30 Oct 23 - 12:26 PM

I have a guiar accompanied version on YouTube which shows the lyrics and chords on screen: Guitar: John Kanaka (Including lyrics and chords)

Subject: RE: Origins: John Kanaka
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 30 Oct 23 - 06:32 PM

Jon,

Foolishly, I neglected to write music notation when I took notes on the recording in the Mystic Seaport archives. Instead, I wrote it in prose in a way that I cannot now understand! That was in 2014, I think. I was there again in 2022 and listened to part of that recording with only minutes to spare before the archives closed. Either the cassette tape or the Walkman they supplied to listen were on their last leg and, sadly, not much of the tape played correctly and there was no time to address the issue and hear Hugill's performance again. That material needs to be digitized!

Syncopation in solos: YES. I (not that I matter) very frequently syncopate when I'm singing solos. The interesting thing in this case was that the *chorus* was syncopated. Most notably, if I'm reading my notes correctly, the downbeat of the start of the chorus was "empty." This is highly unusual for a halyard song since that time-point is where one must pull and, in "99+%" of halyard chanties, so far as I know, one sings and pulls together at that time.

Compare, as illustration, the similar case of these timber stevedores singing "Pay Me My Money Down" (with singing on the downbeat time-point)
https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/southern-us-1959-and-1960/st-simon
versus the Weavers' arrangement (with the voices "resting" on the downbeat)
https://youtu.be/u_kDzNus__o?si=WmQNqcvnel1WNQQo
The Weavers use their instruments to fill the gap, and, I suppose, the melody rhythm (voices) is supposed to sound jazzy, but according to conventional thinking this would not work for halyard hauling unless (as in hammering songs-- which have a different style/method than chanties) the crew is hauling when not singing.

***
With regards to my cockamamie "Jemima" theory, I should have mentioned that the reason I resurfaced it is because "E" Creighton's sea years accord better with the time that "Old Aunt Jemima" was first popular.

Subject: RE: Origins: John Kanaka
From: Anglo
Date: 03 Nov 23 - 12:52 PM

Looking at the Aunt Jemima tune, Gibb, my simple mind would read it as practically impossible that this would not have been the direct antecedent of John Kanaka. I vote for you!

Subject: RE: Origins: John Kanaka
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 06 Nov 23 - 03:54 AM

I suppose we could add to the mix (I don't know why I didn't earlier) the mysterious "Essequibo River" song. I say "mysterious" because, unless I'm blanking, I don't remember ever seeing any record of it other than in Hugill's SfSS. Hugill learned it from Harding, along with "John Kanaka."

The shape of John Kanaka and Essequibo River has some similarity.

Both have (at least as Hugill renders them) the sort of "extra" 4-measure shout appended to the typical 8-measure chanty form.

(I actually don't consider this as something extra; forced to guess, I think this is a variation on the soloist's part that one can intermittently perform. Nevertheless, it stands out in "Kanaka," "Essequibo," "Do Let Me Lone" [A Guyanese song, again from Harding] and the very similar "John, Come Tell Us as We Haul Away.")

Both have a stream of nonsense-y words as their chorus, and the choruses are the same every time (rather than alternating in tune and/or text like "Way hey, Blow the Man down / Give me some time to blow the man down").

The "Essequibo" chorus is,

Buddy tanna na, we are somebody O!

The melodic contours of the choruses of "Kanaka," "Essequibo," and "Old Aunt Jemima" are also very similar.

Subject: RE: Origins: John Kanaka
From: GUEST,threelegsoman
Date: 30 Oct 23 - 12:26 PM

I have a guiar accompanied version on YouTube which shows the lyrics and chords on screen: Guitar: John Kanaka (Including lyrics and chords)

Subject: RE: Origins: John Kanaka
From: Anglo
Date: 03 Nov 23 - 12:52 PM

Looking at the Aunt Jemima tune, Gibb, my simple mind would read it as practically impossible that this would not have been the direct antecedent of John Kanaka. I vote for you!

Subject: RE: Origins: John Kanaka
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Oct 23 - 08:07 AM

Great sleuthing, Gibb.

At Mystic in 1988 he sang "Santa Anna" with what I thought was an odd rhythm in the solos:

"We're sailing down the river FROM (slight pause) Liverpool!...
Round Cape Horn TO (slight pause) Frisco Bay!..."

Maybe it was a latter-day affectation, maybe not.

I'm too musically illiterate to say if that's syncopation, but ISTR that in one of his books he mentions rather offhandedly that some chanteymen sometimes syncopated their solos.

Subject: RE: Origins: John Kanaka
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 30 Oct 23 - 07:07 AM

A bit of additional info here re: the "Jan Kanaganaga" in Minstrelsy of Maine (1927). The authors, Eckstorm and Smyth, say they got it from a Captain James A. Creighton of Thomston, Maine in 1925.

James A. Creighton was indeed on the sea by the 1850s (and, I'd guess, even earlier—he was born in 1821). However, he died in 1898. He could not have given the song to the authors.

There was, however, another captain of Thomaston, Maine named James E. Creighton (different middle name). His dates are July 1861-1948. He went to sea age 15, so circa 1876 or 1877.

I surmise that Eckstorm and Smyth must have gotten the captain's name wrong. If so, we may not place his memory of "Jan Kanaganaga" earlier than the late 1870s.

***
I'm still working on my theory that the song has some relationship to "Old Aunt Jemima." The latter's composition is attributed to minstrel performer Joe Lang, who began his stage career in 1870 and, a publication--which I have not seen--indicates "Aunt Jemima" came out in 1873. I have documentation that shows the song was already popular in 1873, in any case. It went through various adaptations over the years. No smoking gun to connect "Jemima" and "Kanaka" songs though. I suspect only musicologists will feel most compelled by my tentative argument about the melodic correspondence (2020 post, above).
***
Perhaps I haven't mentioned this before: There's a recording of Stan Hugill singing "John Kanaka" at the first Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival in 1980. (Were revival folks singing the song before that, and how?) Anyway, Hugill sang the song with an "odd" rhythm—it was syncopated somehow, and different than the way I've always heard people sing it. What was the exact rhythm? Well... I didn't quite note it down. But I think everyone would be surprised if they heard it.
***
Here are my more-or-less accurate notes of what Hugill said about "John Kanaka" in 1980:

“Now, I have met, of course, many shantymen. Otherwise my book would never have been published. My greatest friend—and if there’s any colored people here, don’t take umbrage at this, because this is what he called himself—he was black as your hat; he was big, powerful man on the fore-hand of any brace or topsail halyard; you would never have had “John Kanaka” (if it weren’t) for this fellow—and me. If he hadn’t given it to me, or I’d have died, there’d be no “John Kanaka”; and lots of other things, but still, that’s one of them. His yelp… [] But we always called it a hitch. You couldn’t sing a shanty without making this horrible noise, somewhere or another—a cross between a yodel and a brown bear in pain or something. […] Mind you, Germans were good at it; so were Scandinavians. Of course, the Negro was best; the West Indian black man was the best. The Englishman was the most anemic—we were really hopeless at it, nothing like as good as them. Now this was Harding “the Barbadian Barbarian”—that’s what he called himself.”

Subject: RE: Origins: John Kanaka
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 30 Oct 23 - 06:32 PM

Jon,

Foolishly, I neglected to write music notation when I took notes on the recording in the Mystic Seaport archives. Instead, I wrote it in prose in a way that I cannot now understand! That was in 2014, I think. I was there again in 2022 and listened to part of that recording with only minutes to spare before the archives closed. Either the cassette tape or the Walkman they supplied to listen were on their last leg and, sadly, not much of the tape played correctly and there was no time to address the issue and hear Hugill's performance again. That material needs to be digitized!

Syncopation in solos: YES. I (not that I matter) very frequently syncopate when I'm singing solos. The interesting thing in this case was that the *chorus* was syncopated. Most notably, if I'm reading my notes correctly, the downbeat of the start of the chorus was "empty." This is highly unusual for a halyard song since that time-point is where one must pull and, in "99+%" of halyard chanties, so far as I know, one sings and pulls together at that time.

Compare, as illustration, the similar case of these timber stevedores singing "Pay Me My Money Down" (with singing on the downbeat time-point)
https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/southern-us-1959-and-1960/st-simon
versus the Weavers' arrangement (with the voices "resting" on the downbeat)
https://youtu.be/u_kDzNus__o?si=WmQNqcvnel1WNQQo
The Weavers use their instruments to fill the gap, and, I suppose, the melody rhythm (voices) is supposed to sound jazzy, but according to conventional thinking this would not work for halyard hauling unless (as in hammering songs-- which have a different style/method than chanties) the crew is hauling when not singing.

***
With regards to my cockamamie "Jemima" theory, I should have mentioned that the reason I resurfaced it is because "E" Creighton's sea years accord better with the time that "Old Aunt Jemima" was first popular.

Subject: RE: Origins: John Kanaka
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 06 Nov 23 - 03:54 AM

I suppose we could add to the mix (I don't know why I didn't earlier) the mysterious "Essequibo River" song. I say "mysterious" because, unless I'm blanking, I don't remember ever seeing any record of it other than in Hugill's SfSS. Hugill learned it from Harding, along with "John Kanaka."

The shape of John Kanaka and Essequibo River has some similarity.

Both have (at least as Hugill renders them) the sort of "extra" 4-measure shout appended to the typical 8-measure chanty form.

(I actually don't consider this as something extra; forced to guess, I think this is a variation on the soloist's part that one can intermittently perform. Nevertheless, it stands out in "Kanaka," "Essequibo," "Do Let Me Lone" [A Guyanese song, again from Harding] and the very similar "John, Come Tell Us as We Haul Away.")

Both have a stream of nonsense-y words as their chorus, and the choruses are the same every time (rather than alternating in tune and/or text like "Way hey, Blow the Man down / Give me some time to blow the man down").

The "Essequibo" chorus is,

Buddy tanna na, we are somebody O!

The melodic contours of the choruses of "Kanaka," "Essequibo," and "Old Aunt Jemima" are also very similar.

Subject: RE: Origins: John Kanaka
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 08 Dec 23 - 06:06 AM

Here's another candidate for a John Kanaka cousin or ancestor, from Guyana (Guiana Sings, 1959).

"Col’ A-ready" is reported to be a kwe-kwe song.

Text:
Naba, Naba, len mi yo mata
Mi planten get col’ a-ready
Naba, Naba, len mi yo mata
Mi planten get col’ a-ready

Col’ a-ready, col’ a-ready
Mi planten get col’ a-ready
Col’ a-ready, col’ a-ready
Mi planten get col’ a-ready

i.e.,
Neighbor, neighbor, lend me your mortar
My plantains [for mashing into fufu] have gone cold already

Melody - SCORE

I feel that the tune has some strong correspondences to "John Kanaka" as mediated by Hugill. More so if we consider how Hugill sang with a syncopation (empty first beat) on the choruses, in a performance at Mystic in 1980 or '81.

Pushing it further, I could imagine "co-la-read(y)" getting changed to "too-la-ye." It would certainly be hard to hear the correct words by an English English speaker.

And if "co-la-read(y)" does correspond to "too-la-ye," notice how it comes in as the solo in the second stanza, in a high register, corresponding to John Kanaka's "too la ye oh, too la ye!"