Origins: Ten Little Indians

Subject: RE: req/add: 10 Little Indians
From: GUEST,shot synapses
Date: 18 Feb 07 - 07:35 PM

O.K., so what kind of Indians are we talking about here, those from India or those from the Americas? I've known a variation of that song all my life and assumed it was about so-called American Indians, but if Agatha Christy's book was the origin of the song then, being British, was she perhaps not referring to natives of India?

Frankly, given the problems associated with the use of the term "Indian" to refer to Native American peoples, I'm surprised that in all the P.C. talk so far no one has seen fit to mention it, especially since it was the topic of the thread (if indeed the song is about [sic] American "injuns" to begin with).

I realize that centuries of habit are hard to break, but American Indian is an obvious misnomer that ought to have been done away with long ago, since all the cultures referred to are natives of what was later called America and obviously have nothing to do with the sub-continent of India other than the geographical ignorance of White Europeans. Furthermore, now that there is a fairly large population of Indians from India in the U.S. we are faced with the absurdity of having two totally different cultural groups being called by the same name. I suppose that to be more semantically correct, Native Americans would have to be referred to as American Indians and Americans from India as Indian-Americans (along the lines of other hypenated immigrant groups). However, this seems so prone to confusion and so absurdly ridiculous a solution, that we all should just start referring to Native Americans by that name and drop the incorrect term Indian once and for all.

Subject: RE: req/add: 10 Little Indians
From: GUEST,gretasmom
Date: 19 Feb 07 - 07:47 AM

Yes, this was in the United States, in Illinois. We were in a tiny town (population 850) where there is virtually no diversity. I say virtually because the kicker of the story is that my father himself was 1/4 Cherokee. At the age of 5, I don't think I ever made the connection - it was just a song to me. Now I look back in disbelief. How many times did I sing that in front of my parents??

Subject: RE: req/add: 10 Little Indians
From: Ferrara
Date: 19 Feb 07 - 10:13 AM

GUEST, shot synapses, there is a farily complex history of this song, starting in the US and moving to Great Britain where it became East Indians. It's all laid out in detail in this thread ... but piecemeal, which is how threads work.

Quick comment about Septimus Winner. He must have been incredibly prolific. There is at least one adaptation of a spiritual by Winner in "Heart Songs. He wrote "Listen to the Mockingbird," or at least the lyrics; apparently it was so successful that he tossed off a third verse that appears in later editions. And under the name of Alice Hawthorne, Winner was the author of "Whispering Hope." I have seen his name fairly frequently on other songs of the period.

Subject: RE: req/add: 10 Little Indians
From: LukeKellylives (Chris)
Date: 19 Feb 07 - 12:26 PM

If you know how to play Drunken Sailor, you have Ten Little Injuns.

(Capo accordingly)
[Am]What shall we do with a drunken sailor?
[G] What shall we do with a drunken sailor?
[Am] What shall we do with a drunken sailor
[G] Earl-eye in the [Am]mornin'.

Also works with Oro 'Se do Bheatha 'Bhaile.

Subject: RE: Lyr. Add: Nine Little Acorn Girls
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Feb 07 - 02:38 PM

This song has been sung variously since at least Roman times.

Lyr. Add: Nine Little Acorn Girls
Novem glandulae sorores

Novem glandulae sorores,
Octo glandulae sorores,
Septem glandulae sorores,
Sex glandulae sorores
Quinque glandulae sorores,
Quatuor glandulae sorores,
Tres glandulae sorores,
Duae glandulae sorores,
Una glandula soror!

Novem fiunt glandulae,
Octo fiunt glandulae,
Septem fiunt glandulae,
Sex fiunt glandulae,
Quinque fiunt glandulae,
Quatuor fiunt glandulae,
Tres fiunt glandulae,
Duae fiunt glandulae,
Una fit glandula,
Nulla fit glandula!

Marcellus Burdigalensis, a Gallo-Roman, Fifth century, offered this as a charm (Ueber Marcellus Burdigalensis, Jacob Grimm, Berlin, 1849). The incantation is described as a wonderful, magical song for curing pains or disorders of the throat (glandulae = tonsils).

Glandulae also means 'acorns'; in which case the song becomes "Nine Little Acorn Girls."

Jour. American Folk-Lore, vol. 2, No. 5, 1889, pp. 113-114, Charles G. Leland.

Subject: RE: req/add: 10 Little Indians
From: GUEST
Date: 17 May 07 - 06:57 PM

INTERESTING....the one I know includes verses "built him a TeePee out in the forest..." and jumped in the boat and the boat tipped over" and "swam to shore and got there safely"....THATS the version I was looking for!

---

Please remember to use a consistent user name when you post.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: req/add: 10 Little Indians
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 May 07 - 08:10 PM

Sherman Alexie, well-known writer (and Spokane-Coeur d'Alene Indian) published (2003, Grove Press)) a book of short stories, "Ten Little Indians," which is worth reading.

One of his ealier books of short stories is titled "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven."

Subject: RE: req/add: 10 Little Indians
From: GUEST,chrissy
Date: 03 Jun 07 - 07:48 PM

This is a fariation we sing in Australia
Ten little Indians
1 little, 2 little 3 little Indians,
4 little, 5 little, 6 little Indians,
7 little, 8 little 9 little Indians,
10 little Indian boys and girls.

They jumped in a boat and the boat flipped over,
They jumped in a boat and the boat flipped over,
They jumped in a boat and the boat flipped over,
10 little Indian boys and girls.

They swam and they swam and they swam to their mother,
They swam and they swam and they swam to their mother,
They swam and they swam and they swam to their mother,
10 little Indian boys and girls.

She hugged them, kissed them, and sent them to bed,
She hugged them, kissed them, and sent them to bed,
She hugged them, kissed them, and sent them to bed,
10 little Indian boys and girls.

Subject: RE: req/add: 10 Little Indians
From: GUEST,D
Date: 16 Mar 08 - 06:01 PM

Do you (or anyone else) have ANY idea where I can get the sheet music for this song? I have spent a huge amount of time trying to find the sheet music and have not had any luck.

Can you or anyone else help me -- PLEASE!

Thank you.

D

Subject: RE: Lyr Req/Add: Ten Little Indians
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Feb 23 - 06:04 PM

I found an old version of Ten Little Injuns it was in an old Complete Mother Goose Book that is old tattered and torn. The page is torn but i can read most of the words and its very racist
The