Origins: 'Hilo'

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Hilo'
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 22 Mar 11 - 04:38 AM

Hi Keith--

One of my interests will be to see where the Peru "thread" started. I can't remember off-hand if it appeared in any of the historical documentations or if, rather, later on, after someone tried to make sense of "hilo" and ascribed it to the Peruvian port, made up that verse.

If the "hilo" in "Tom's Gone" is the same as the one in "Johnny come down," then the Peruvian port idea seems highly unlikely. The question is whether shantymen or folksingers first took up the idea.

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Hilo'
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 22 Mar 11 - 04:25 AM

Some versions of Tom's Gone refer to Hilo in Peru.
There is a port town of Ilo but why it should be so prominent in song is not clear.

Subject: RE: Origins: 'Hilo'
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 22 Mar 11 - 04:25 AM

1850        Bryant, William Cullen. _Letters of a Traveller._ London: Richard Bentley.

It refers to 29 March, 1843, at a corn-shucking in South Carolina. This is one of the references to a song with a phrase related to "Johnny Come Down to/with a Hilo."

The light-wood-fire was made, and the negroes dropped in from the neighboring plantations, singing as they came. The driver of the plantation, a colored man, brought out baskets of corn in the husk, and piled it in a heap; and the negroes began to strip the husks from the ears, singing with great glee as they worked, keeping time to the music, and now and then throwing in a joke and an extravagant burst of laughter. The songs were generally of a comic character; but one of them was set to a singularly wild and plaintive air, which some of our musicians would do well to reduce to notation. These are the words:

Johnny come down de hollow.
             Oh hollow!
Johnny come down de hollow.
             Oh hollow !
De nigger-trader got me.
             Oh hollow!
De speculator bought me.
             Oh hollow !
I'm sold for silver dollars,
             Oh hollow !
Boys, go catch the pony.
             Oh hollow!
Bring him round the corner.
             Oh hollow!
I'm goln' away to Georgia.
             Oh hollow!
Boys, good-by forever!
             Oh hollow!

The song of "Jenny gone away," was also given, ...

Mention of the last song suggests a possible antecedent to "Tommy's Gone Away" or "Tom's Gone to Hilo."

Subject: Origins: 'Hilo'
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 22 Mar 11 - 04:18 AM

There has been scattered discussion of the phrase "HI LO" in the chorus of songs, in chanties in particular. My aim is to compile some of the evidence and ideas here, and see what comes out of it. I am particularly interested, at least in the beginning, to look at the 19th century evidence. That is, to look at that if possible before jumping to the statements of the 20th century song-collectors, many of whom did not have a deep historical perspective when they made their speculations.

My general impression, to begin with, is that "hi-lo" was a common phrase in 19th century African-American songs, perhaps in work-songs in particular. I'll expect to see possibly related forms like "hollow" or "holler." "Shallow" might come into the mix, along with "Ohio" and others. My impression is also that "Hilo" as a place is one of those folklorist speculations that doesn't hold much water. However, all these impressions are from a fairly casual observation. I am only stating them to suggest possible directions.

I'll start it off with Alden's playful introduction to the phrase, which occurs as he is introducing text from the chanty sometimes called "Hilo, Me Ranzo, Way":

In the following song not only is the mysterious Randso mentioned, but a word of fathomless meaning and of very frequent recurrence in sailor songs is introduced. Perhaps Max Müller could attach some meaning to "hilo," but in that case he would do more than any sailor ever did. It will not do to suggest that it is really two words--"high" and "low." It occurs in too many other songs as an active verb to leave us any room to doubt that to "hilo" was to be, to do, or to suffer something. It can not be gathered from the insufficient data at our command whether or not the act of "hiloing" was commendable in a sailor, but from the frequency with which the fair sex was exhorted in song to ''hilo," it is evident that it was held to be a peculiarly graceful act when executed by a young girl. The syllable "yah" which appears in the first chorus of this song is not necessarily the negro "yah." The best nautical pronunciation gave it a long sound, something like "yaw," whereas the negro, who is popularly believed to remark "yah! yah!" whenever he is amused, really says "yoh! yoh!"

I've just come down from the wildgoose nation.
To me way hay E O yah.
I've left my wife on a big plantatlon.
And sing hilo, me Randso, way.

1882        Alden, W.L. 1882. "Sailors' Songs." _Harper's New Monthly Magazine_ (July 1882): 281-6.