Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)

Subject: Zulu Warrior
From: Becky
Date: 08 Sep 97 - 12:00 AM

Hi Tim,

I have no idea what the Rugby teams sing... and I don't ever remember Monty Phyton singing it, but here are the words:

I ka-ma zim-ba zim-ba za-yo, I ka-ma zim-ba zim-ba zie

repeat

See him there the Zulu warrior, See him there the Zulu chief, chief, chief.

That's it! Sing in rounds, but that's the whole song! The book doesn't even have any chords or I give ya' that too!

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Ralph Butts
Date: 08 Sep 97 - 08:42 AM

Becky......I have this on an old Brothers Four album and will check it out for you. Meanwhile, I can't recall any other words either.......Tiger

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Bert
Date: 08 Sep 97 - 11:51 AM

Hold him down the Swazi Warrior,
Hold him down the Swazi King
Hold him down the Swazi Warrior,
Hold him down the Swazi King.

I come a zeema zeema rinktum
I come a zeema zeema zee
I come a zeema zeema rinktum
I come a zeema zeema zee

Hold him down the Swazi Warrior,
Hold him down the Swazi King.

HOI!

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Susan of DT
Date: 08 Sep 97 - 09:36 PM

Gee, I thought it was "See him DANCE, the Zulu warrior, see him dance, the Zulu chief...' and the first part was garbled to

i giva zumba, zumba, zumba I giva zumba, zumba zay

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From:
Date: 09 Sep 97 - 06:52 PM

The one with "dance" does indeed sound like the rugby song. How many songs can there be titled "Zulu Warrior"?

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Sep 97 - 09:49 PM

Welll, the tune I learned at scout camp works fine with any of the lyrics here. Whether it started as a drinking song, a camp song, or a camp drinking song, is a tale yet to be told. My guess is that Lord Baden-Powell learned it one besotten night after a rugby game during the Boer War, and bestowed a sanitized version upon the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Sharon
Date: 09 Sep 97 - 10:20 PM

We sang it a girl scout camp I zigga zumba zumba zumba I zigga zumba zumba zay. I zigga zumba zumba zumba I zigga zumba zumba zay.

Hold 'em down, you Zulu warriors. Hold 'em down, you Zule Chief, Chief, Chief, Chief.....

The chant of Chief...... was sung by one group as a background drumbeat sound while the others repeated the song.

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Ferrara
Date: 10 Sep 97 - 11:52 AM

I once read (on a Marais and Miranda album liner?) that the original words were sung by Boer soldiers as "Shoot him down, the Swazi warrior, shoot him down, the Swazi chief." Seems to me Marais and Miranda rewrote it because they liked the song but not the sentiment. They changed it to "See him there, the Zulu warrior."

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Squid
Date: 10 Sep 97 - 11:57 AM

There is no question that there is a Rugby version of this song. Traditionally, a new player is forced to perform the dance in the bar after they scored their first try (touchdown) for the team.

The meaning of "Take em down.." is to take down your pants. And like the gentleman from Canada points out, the result is to get completely naked and fall off of the bar into the crowd.

I scored my first try so long ago, I can't remember if I performed this or not. I don't care what the pictures look like.

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: BBJ
Date: 10 Sep 97 - 11:23 PM

I must have been in a school that used Becky's song book. I learned it just like Becky transcribed, but as an ending, a single line monotone chant/shout was done. The line was (phonetically at least): Me come a me go me, WAH!

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: rechal
Date: 11 Sep 97 - 02:16 PM

I learned it at Girl Scout Camp as

I kama zimba, zimba zimba
I kama zimba, zimba zee
I kama zimba, zimba zimba
I kama zimba, zimba zee

Hold him down
(Oh hold him down)
You Zulu Warrior!
Hold him down
(Oh hold him down)
You Zulu Chief - Chief - Chief

Fade chant of "Chief" to dead silence, then scream in unison:
MULLA-GUY!

This last is supposed to be some sort of triumphant war cry, but I am unable to substantiate this, having never actually known any Zulus, warriors or otherwise.

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Penny S.
Date: 26 May 99 - 07:49 AM

My father knew the "Hold him down" version through the Engineers, though not the preceding zimba bit. His version fitted in with some other engineering words about pontoons.

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 26 May 99 - 07:58 AM

...and the "Chief! Chief! Chief!" part is greatly improved by banging a beer tray on your (or somebody else's) head in time. Cetewayo is, no doubt, rotating gracefully in his grave.

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Tom May
Date: 26 May 99 - 09:03 AM

I seem to remember hearing a Royal Engineers version to the same tune as the Rugby song. the only part I can recall runs somethine like

"I saw a Colonel sitting on a raft, "I saw a Colonel looking bloody daft, "Hold him down 'til we get over, "Hold him down you pontooneers, eers, eers, eers,"

then back to the "Ay zumba, zumba..." bit

Just my two penn'orth

regards

Tom

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Penny S.
Date: 26 May 99 - 10:32 AM

Hmm, not the version I knew, which was about making fast the dinghy:

You make fast, I'll make fast
Make fast the dinghy
Make fast the dinghy
Make fast the dinghy
Make fast the dinghy pontoon.

And then the Zulu, or was it Swazi, warrior,

And something about marching on to Laffensplain.

What do I know? I'm not a sapper. (British version - certainly not USA version, whatever that insulting term means).

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Tom May
Date: 26 May 99 - 10:50 AM

> I'm not a sapper. (British version - certainly not USA >version, whatever that insulting term means).

Sapper isn't an insult in any way shape or form (well, except to the gunners). A sapper is mearly a private in the RE. It all goes back to the when the REs were divided into the Royal Engineers (officers only) and the Royal Sappers and Miners (non-commissioned ranks only).

Regards

Tom

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Penny S.
Date: 26 May 99 - 11:35 AM

Thanks Tom - I was actually referring to another, can't remember it's name, thankfully, thread, in which there was a little heat generated, and part of it seemed to be due to a misunderstanding of the term. This was dissipated by an explanation of how it was used in the RE, but there remained in my mind a puzzle about an alternative.

Anyway, I only remember a little of my father's Engineers version, from WW2, when the make up of the group may have affected the way it was sung. It was certainly repeatable to daughters.

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Ewan McVicar
Date: 26 May 99 - 12:30 PM

I sang my version (below, learned from my father but also sung in the Scouts - invented by Baden Powell) to Prince Mposi Mamba of the Swazi people, and asked if the first lines were in any way rude. He said, "No, it just says that a warrior should be brave".

I ziga zumba zumba zumba
I ziga zumba zumba zay

Hold im down, you Swazi warrior
Hold im down, you Zulu chief CHIEF CHIEF

For we're marching on to Laffamsmere
To Laffamsmere, to Laffamsmere
For we're marching on to Laffamsmere
Where they can't tell sugar from - tissue paper, tissue paper, marmalade or jam.

I saw a little boy sitting by the fire

I saw a little boy playing with his wire

[Plus I think the dinghy bit above - which I had forgot!]

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Susan of DT
Date: 26 May 99 - 07:43 PM

Tom et al - Isn't a "sapper" one who dug under the wall of a castle or fort? The name "Royal Sappers and Miners" would sem to substatiate this.

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: AndyG
Date: 27 May 99 - 09:39 AM

A "sap" technically is part of an entrenchment. It's a short spur running off a trench. It may of may not have head cover. A sapper is the bloke with the spade who dug it. Mining is the act of digging a tunnel under a fortification in order to bring about its collapse. Hence "Sappers & Miners".

AndyG

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 27 May 99 - 10:47 AM

Joe, I can't believe that BP ever got inebriated!

The Ian Campbell band used to do a number called "Cho-cho-losa", which they learned parrot fashion from a Zulu dance group in the sixties. (Zulus wear wellies decorated with beer-bottle caps on string, and hard hats, and work down mines; or they did then.) "Zulu warrior" sounds like it's derived from a real original. Any native southern Africans out there care to comment? It'd make this thread a bit more pc!

Steve

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: MMario
Date: 27 May 99 - 11:04 AM

took me a while to contact the music person I learned this from at camp....from her notes when SHE learned it....[this is urban myth...no documentation ever seen]

"sung by defending whites to keep spirits up while under attack by Zulu tribesmen"

the words as she had them

"See him dance, the Zulu warrior.. "See him dance, the Zulu chief... then.. "hold him back, the Zulu warrior.... "Hold him back, the Zulu chief....

we learned the chorus phonetically - she didn't forward that part to me...

MMario

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Penny S.
Date: 27 May 99 - 05:13 PM

Is this anything to do with Isandlwana(?) and Rourke's Drift?

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: GUEST,Margi List
Date: 08 Mar 00 - 07:26 PM

I'm new to this, but it looks like you folks don't have words to "Zulu Warrier", and I do!

It's an old camp song, and it goes like this:

I come a-zimba, zimba, zaya(first a pronounced like long i), I come a-zimba, zimba, zee. I come a-zimba, zimba, zaya, I come a-zimba, zimba, zee.

Here he comes, the Zulu warrier. Here he comes, the Zulu chief (chief, chief, chief)

Terribly complicated! It's done as a round, with both parts going at the same time. When you get to the chief, chief, chief part, you can continue to sing that ad nauseum, while everybody does the words. I guess you can have three things going at the same time, come to think of it!

I don't have a piano here, but I think the tune is:

D,D,R,M,R,M,R,M,S. (I come a, etc.) D,D,R,M,D,R,R,D. (REPEAT)

D',L,S,M,F,R,M,S. (Here he comes, etc.) D',L,S,M,F,R,D.

D,D,D,D,D,D,D,ETC. (Chief, chief, etc.)

In case you have this already, disregard this message!

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Bud Savoie
Date: 08 Mar 00 - 07:54 PM

I don't know why he was so called, but in 'Nam a sapper was a VC who had the training, ability, and courage to snake through the concertina wire surrounding the post. He was, of course, armed with plastic explosives, and I don't believe he had a long life expectancy.

About this Zulu thing: this is the first I have heard about British origins. We used to sing it as kids, and I just supposed it was invented by kids in some schoolyard.

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: GUEST,Jim I
Date: 08 Mar 00 - 08:24 PM

Showing my age a bit here.

Back in the 1960's the female members of the Royal Observer Corps used to sing this in the pub and on occasional coach trips. Their version (after the pseudo Zulu chanting) was

Pull them down my Zulu warrior Pull them down my Zulu Chief, Chief, Chief

Their gestures and actions made it quite obvious which item of male clothing they were singing about!

Subject: Girl Scout Songs
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Mar 00 - 08:34 PM

Hi, Margi - Welcome to the Mudcat Cafe! I'm often amazed how a visitor will come across a thread somebody started way back in our early days in 1997, and then bring the thread back to life and add new information. Can you tell us how you came across the thread? I'm guessing you found it while you were doing a Web search for "Zulu Warrior," and maybe the page you got didn't include the entire thread (which includes at least two complete sets of lyrics for versions of the song.

I used to think that Girl Scout songs were horribly obnoxious, since I heard them over and over from my younger sister, who brought them home from Girl Scout camp. Of course, the Boy Scout songs I learned and sang over and over were terribly cool. I guess I've softened in my old age. I broke down and bought $25 worth of Girl Scout songbooks Monday, and I have to say they're terrific - far better than the U.S. Boy Scout songbooks. Their Sangam Git / Sangam Songbook is a very nice collection of songs from various countries - and it includes lyrics for "Zulu Warrior" that are almost exactly the same as those that Good Old Rechal posted above, many long years ago.

-Joe Offer-
(Gee, I sometimes hope my sister never takes me up on my invitation to visit Mudcat - I've said some things about her here and there that could be used as serious ammunition....)

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Dave (the ancient mariner)
Date: 08 Mar 00 - 09:42 PM

Chanted while drinking down a yard of ale in some pubs in England the idea being to be finished before the chant or go again... Just my tuppence worth. Aye. Dave

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: GMT
Date: 09 Mar 00 - 06:50 AM

I seem to remember a verse going something like (excuse the spelling phonetic atempt only)

Incumta sereena fooee
Incumta sereena foo
Incumta sereena fooee
Incumta sereena foo
Massa billy billy billy billy

Or do I have the wrong song altogether :)

Gary

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: bobby's girl
Date: 09 Mar 00 - 05:08 PM

We had a slight problem with this song at a birthday party when I was stationed at RAF Cosford in 1976. There were several visiting airmen on courses from all over the world who had come to the party, and when the Zulu Warrior chant began, aimed at the guy whose birthday it was, we had a heck of a job persuading one of our African friends not to go forward - but as he said, he was a Zulu warrior!

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Bugsy
Date: 09 Mar 00 - 05:48 PM

In the British Forces, at least until the early late 60's when I was demobbed. The song was sung as:

Haul 'em down you Zulu Warrior.

whilst an inebriated Squaddie/Matelot/Airman who stood on a table and stripped to the buff. Then all the assembled crown threw their beer over him. Kind of like "This Old Hat Of Mine".

Ah, those halcien days of service to Queen and Country.

CHeers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Penny S.
Date: 19 Jun 01 - 02:42 PM

Back again - I've been down to Rochester today, and the video presentation in the visitor centre included reference to Upnor Hard, where, I believe, training in making fast dinghy pontoons took place. Does anyone have the version which mentions Upnor?

Penny

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Sorcha
Date: 19 Jun 01 - 06:23 PM

(I believe the DT still needs the tune to this one, if so, MMario will be along shortly to confirm.........grin)

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Amos
Date: 19 Jun 01 - 08:51 PM

I believe that in the 17th century sappers were those who specialized iun digging under, and/or blowing up, enemy revetments, and were not the normal infantry business who marched around shooting at other bipeds from whom they had carefully distanced themselves psycho;ogically....

The Zulu Warrior was recorded by Josef Marais and Mirandas, the South African songsters, back in the Fifities, I think. I am sure the tune found lots of opportunities for variant words, being a basic four-four beat with a simple tune.

A

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: GUEST,D
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 04:17 PM

...Laffan's Plain, where they don't know sugar from tissue paper,marching orders, marmalade and(or?) jam.

There must be a whole generation of the sons & daughters of WW2 vets who were sung to sleep with such songs. It's strange to find this out in one's fifties. To me this song served as a slightly humorous lullaby, although we always knew it was part of Dad's army heritage.

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 04:42 PM

I learned this, as a teacher, from a schools' broadcast in the 1970s. Probably 'Time and Tune', Thursdays I think. The first line was ttranscribed as 'Hikama zimba...'

Subject: Lyr Add: ZULU WARRIOR (from Marais and Miranda)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 05:08 PM

Gee, this whole long thread and no Marais & Miranda lyrics.

THE ZULU WARRIOR
Marais and Miranda

March tempo
I-kama zimba zimba zayo
I-kama zimba zimba zee,
I-kama zimba zimba zayo,
I-kama zimba, zimba,
See him there, the Zulu warrior,
See him there, the Zulu chief, chief, chief
See him there, the Zulu warrior,
See him there, the Zulu chief, chief, chief, chief
I-kama zimba, I-kama zimba
Zikama zimba layo zee,...
Wah! chief, chief, chief, chief!
Wah!

Optional second voice:
I-kamazimba zimba zayo
I-kama zimba zimba zee
I-kama zimba zimba zayo
I-kama zimba zimba zee,
and etc.
With score. Marais and Miranda, Folk Song Jamboree, pp. 62-64, Ballantine Books pb.

Note- "AFRIKAANS ORIGIN. During the so-called Kafir War, the British soldiers sang "Hold him down the Swazi warrior." I substituted Zulu as being a more familiar name, and brighter "nonsense" words than I used to hear as a child. This is NOT a native chant, but rather an imitation of the type of chanting heard by the settlers. I would call it a pickniekliedjie, a picnic song. During World War II, American GI's sang it in conjunction with South African troops in North Africa." Marais.
Bert, way up above, seems to have some of the older words Marais is talking about.

Words and music by Josef Marais, copyright 1946 and 1952 by Dartmouth Music, Inc.

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Leadfingers
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 09:44 PM

The Make Fast The Dinghy bit has nothing to do with Zulu warrior , but is part of a different song , and sung to the tune of The CRE March (Thats Corps of Royal Engineers)

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 10:08 PM

The Marais and Miranda score has chords. If anyone is interested, I will post them.

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Fred Maslan
Date: 26 Jan 07 - 10:12 PM

As a kid I'm sure I misheard the words as

Ah-chicka zumba zumba zumba
Ah-chicka zumba zumba zay

Hold him down you zulu warrior
Hold him down you zulu chiefs

I also seem to recall a kind of call and response after "hold him down" but that might have been a reaction to hearing it sung as a round.

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: sapper82
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 09:29 AM

Taken from "Hurrah for the CRE" the marching song of the Royal Engineers.

From memory:-
Good Morning Mr. Stevens, it's a windy notchy night,
Hurrah for the CRE,
We've been working very hard, down at Upnor Hard,
Hurrah for the CRE,
You make fast, we make fast,
Make fast the dingey,
Make fast the dingey,
Make fast the dingey,
You make fast, we make fast,
Make fast the dingey,
Make fast the dingey pontoon.
For we're marching on to Laffan's Plain,
to Laffan's Plain,
to Laffan's Plain,
For we're marching on to Laffan's Plain,
Where they don't know mud from clay.
AH, AHHH AHHH AH AH AH AH AH
oshta oshta oshta oshta,
Hey Lumdana, Picaninny scoff,
Man-ninga sabinza, here's another off
Oolumda cried Matabelle
Oolumda away we go
Ah,Ah.............
Shhhhhhhh
{Loud Cheer}

CRE; Chief Royal Engineer;
Upnor Hard; Bridging hard at Upnor, on the Medway near Chatham in Kent where Watermanship training was carried out.
Laffan's Plain; RE Training ground near Farnborough in Hampshire, now part of the Royal Aircraft Establishment.

Slightly different words and a portion of the tune are found here:-
Scroll down for "Hurrah for the CRE"

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Scrump
Date: 27 Jan 07 - 12:24 PM

My limited experience of this song/chant is something like:

Get 'em down, you Zulu warrior
Get 'em down, you Zulu chief, chief, chief, chief
Zumba, zumba, zumba, zay
(etc.)

and was sung in the rugby club bar after a game, with one of the players being coerced into removing his lower garments (don't ask, it's what rugby players do, or used to anyway, for relaxation) :-)

Is there a rugby player in the house who can confirm this? It's ages since I heard it or even went into a rugby club, so it may not be done any more. Anyone know?

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: GUEST,Dakota
Date: 13 Feb 07 - 10:38 AM

We sing this song regularly at Scout campfires, the "official" scout lyrics are:
I zicka zimba, zimba, zimba
I zicka zimba, zimba, hey
I zicka zimba, zimba, zimba
I zicka zimba, zimba, hey

Hold him down, you Zulu warrior!
Hold him down, you Zulu chief,
Chief chief chief...

from the South African Scout Association site (www.scouting.org.za)

Could somebody please post chords for it? Been looking for them for ages.

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Feb 07 - 03:52 PM

Chords by Josef Marais and Miranda, for their song, posted above.

THE ZULU WARRIOR
March tempo

(C)I-kamazimba (G7)zimba (C)zayo,
I kamazimba (G7)zimba (C)zee,
I kamazimba (G7)zimba (C)zayo,
I kamazimba (G7)zimba,
(C)See him there, (G7)the Zulu (C)warrior,
(F) See him (C)there,
(G7)the Zulu (C)chief, chief (F)chief.
See him (C)there, (G7)the Zulu (C)warrior,-
(F) See him (C)there, (G7)the Zulu (C)chief,
chief, (F)chief, chief.
I kamazimba, (F)I kamazimba,
(Shout!) Zikama layo zee, (C)Wah!

Hope sense can be made of that.

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: GUEST,dakota
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 05:18 AM

brilliant.
Thanks so much!

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: oggie
Date: 15 Feb 07 - 05:07 PM

At Uni the Rugby Club (and others) used Scrump's version as timing for a Boatrace. The team that needed fewest repititions won. As the evening wore on more verses tended to be required.

All the best

Steve

Subject: RE: Zulu Warrior
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Aug 07 - 02:51 PM

I was thinking about this last night and Googled 'swazi warrior' - I wanted to check out what retrospectively seemed such a racially offensive lyric - especially when sung by white adolescent males in pseudo-military uniforms.

The other often heard contemporaneous lyric in this genre was:

Ging gang gooley gooley gooley gooley
watch-a
ging gang goo
ging gang goo
(REPEAT)

Hey-lah hey-la shey-la
hey-lah shey-lah shey-la Hey-ey

Steve
(REPEAT AND BACK TO VERSE)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Zulu Warrior
From: GUEST,jo
Date: 31 Aug 07 - 03:45 AM

I have to find a recording of this song,it is driving me nuts!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Zulu Warrior
From: Joe Offer
Date: 31 Aug 07 - 04:37 AM

Hi, Jo -
Can't find a recording, but here's a MIDI of the Josef Marais version (click) that Q posted above.
-Joe Offer-

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior
From: GUEST,Ewan McVicar
Date: 31 Aug 07 - 05:38 AM

Great to see this thread re-emerging, and to see I've already added my tuppence worth. See above that I consulted a Swazi storytyeller about it, I now suspect his response was more polite than knowledgable. I recall the Hurrah for the CRE part lyric above, but I do not think it was attached to my I Ziga Zumba version - which I hav taught to hundreds of Scots schoolkids now.

Ewan

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST,Elizabeth
Date: 01 Nov 07 - 01:32 PM

My father, who is an ex-pat, was born in Arusha, Kenya-under Mt.
Kilimanjaro, and sings this loud and clear-still to this day;

I ziga zumba zumba zumba
I ziga zumba zumba zayayay (held out for a few beats)
Hold em' down you Zulu warriors,
Hold em' down you Zulu

Chief Chief Chief Chief... (said in a wicked whispering chant)

(he probably picked it up at his boarding school in England but he also picked it up again in Rugby with the lads at U of T

Used to scare the scocks of my brother and I as he belted this tune out barreling down the stairs to breakfast...

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST,Peter V
Date: 01 Nov 08 - 01:39 AM

I learned this song (same words as shown in posting by Becky in 1997) at the Rustic Lands Day Camp, a part of the San Jose California Rec and Park Dept, in 1955.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: Bernard
Date: 01 Nov 08 - 08:49 AM

Here in Bolton, Lancashire, UK, I learned it in the Cub Scouts (late 1950s) as:


D D  D  R  M  M   R  R   M  M
Ally-gally-zimba, zimba, zimba

D D  D  R  M  M   R  R   D
Ally-gally-zimba, zimba, zee

D D  D  R  M  M   R  R   M  M
Ally-gally-zimba, zimba, zimba

D D  D  R  M  M   R  R   D
Ally-gally-zimba, zimba, zee

d     L  S        M   F R  M   S
Hold 'em down.... you Zulu warriors

d     L  S        M   F R  D       D       D       D
Hold 'em down.... you Zulu chiefs, chiefs, chiefs, chiefs...


...and 'chiefs' would be repeated (on Doh) by one group as another group sang the song, then they would continue repeating 'chiefs'... and it carried on until everyone was fed up of it!!

The spellings are merely to indicate how we pronounced the words.

Here's the nearest I could get to the tune in my head with ABC:

X: 1

T:Alley Galley Zimba
M:2/4
L:1/8
Q:120
K:D
D/2D/2D/2E/2FF| EEFF|
D/2D/2D/2E/2FF| |1 ! EE D2:||
2 M:3/4 E/2E/2 D /2d/2B/2||M:4/4 (A2 A/2)F/2G/2E/2|F/2 (A3/2 A)
d/2B/2|(A2 A/2)F/2G/2E/2| D D D D||

Copy and paste into a text document and save as zulu.abc to open it in ABC...

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 01 Nov 08 - 09:28 AM

Sharon wrote in September '97:

"We sang it a girl scout camp I zigga zumba zumba zumba I zigga zumba zumba zay. I zigga zumba zumba zumba I zigga zumba zumba zay.
Hold 'em down, you Zulu warriors. Hold 'em down, you Zule Chief, Chief, Chief, Chief....."

This is almost identical to what we sang in the then all-male Union Bar at Imperial College in the late '60s/very early '70s, the only difference being that it was "Get 'em down..." and not "Hold."   There was usually a bloke standing on a table being encouraged to "get 'em down" and I seem to recall that it was tied in to a ritual involving a yard of ale.   I can hardly bear to think now that I actually enjoyed such shenanigans. Onwards and upwards...

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST,Baz
Date: 03 Mar 09 - 04:28 AM

Greetings all readers

AN OLD NAVAL FAVOURITE

Oh boy where there is a good song, so everybody wants to own it. well there is a lot more music in it yet so help yourselves

originally sung by the troops as a marching song in the 1st and second Boer War and very much during the zulu war where it was very much the property of the Royal Naval Brigades made up of sailors from HMS Active and Boadicea etc. - (There is no direct assosiation to Rorkes Drift or Issllwanda except they occured in the war during 1879, it is more to do with the march to Ulindi, - but all the Briutish reds and blues would have heard it.

Then taken back aboard ships where it continued in usage - JUST ( very little docuentation)- until it met a strong revival in the third Boer War of 1900 - 1902 when again the RN naval Brigades used the song as a marching piece - The hold em down Zulu warrior now asks the Zulus (Generic term for native africans- irrespective of tribe or race) to occupy the boers until the sailors could get the bayonet 'up-em' Hence the verse about the dinghy

Of course it was such a good song that the the Royal Engineers tightened their spanners about it and borrowed it, claiming ownership since perpetuity, but then they would being Engineers, didn't they also copy their original blue coats from the RN still that's another story

Of course Baden Powell also gets into the act about this same time coming away from the same battle field and a few years later he encourages his forehead knuckling toggle wearers to claim the sung as well, despite the sea cadets having more vocal abilities.

As I said any good song worth its weight, is good enough to go around and around - so lasses and laddies fill your boots, jus remember you borrowed it from the senior service.

However the story does n't end there, as the RN gets into the act once again in WW2. IN 1943 a group of Devonport sailors, adds this old chorus into the Oggie Song medley - now the Zulu Warrior dit is forever attached to it as THE esential penultimate element of the medley, where it is usually preceded by 'Alladin' and the 'Three Crows' etc and of course (LADIES COVER YOUR EYES) Scouts line up in file - there's the 'This Old Hat Of Mine' and the 'dance of the flamers' which are now now usually seen as the finishing part of the 'oggie medley'.

Thats where the Devonport Field Gun Team brings in the Oggie chant - The Devonport Services Rugby Team uses it and adopts as its mascot the OGGie Oggie cry and the whole world of rugby sport, and everybody who has ever mounted a bycycle or picked stones out of horse hooves now try to pretend they thought of it first.

But I will leave you to discover more about that on your own. Further reading   at www.navysong.co.uk follow the links to the Oggie Song

Wherever you come from to read this I hope you enjoy this rattling good sing - P.S A tip I learned from 'Crocodile Dundee' use a gas lighter or a box of matches instead of rubbing two sticks to light your gas fire or barbi
bottoms up

BAZ

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST,Simon
Date: 21 Apr 09 - 06:15 AM

We sing it at Uni to encourage someone to down their drink when they break a drinking rule.

Goes something like this...

I zicka zimba zimba zimba
I zicka zimba zimba zay
I zicka zimba zimba zimba
I zicka zimba zimba zay

Get it down, you Zulu warrior
Get it down, you Zulu Chief, Chief, Chief........

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: Penny S.
Date: 21 Apr 09 - 02:38 PM

I wish I'd spotted this was back in 07, Dad would have been interested. I suspect we heard the dinghy together with the Zulu because they were linked in his mind, as we would also have had Boys Brigade songs linked. Too late now.

Isn't it odd the way people keep posting the same things as if they haven't seen the whole thread.

Penny

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST,Taffy jones canada
Date: 11 Feb 10 - 09:16 PM

I ka a zumba zumba zumba.
etc was a popular rugby drinking activity, origins lost in time Once upon a long time ago I scored a few tries & was often the Zulu warrior hauling them down (trousers); great memories of Cardiff on match day, When Zulu warrior was performed in many pubs in the center.

How much more enjoyable than the current craze for ZUMBA exercise. (Columbian) A kind of poofy "dancercise" I was made to partake in on a recent holiday in Mexico. Stone cold sober at 0730 am. Baden Powell must be rotating in his grave, hopefully not to a Zumba beat!
yaki-da

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: Dead Horse
Date: 12 Feb 10 - 06:37 PM

We used to sing both songs (Zulu Chief & Make Fast the Dinghy) at the two pubs in Lower Upnor almost every week when I was serving there with 12 RSME.
How the hell those songs ever got to USA is a mystery.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST,frogprof
Date: 30 Apr 10 - 01:11 PM

I did read through the whole thread, Penny, just to be sure that I couldn't, in fact, find the tune to click on ... and I was right, I couldn't [although maybe it's a difference between European and Texan computer applications?].
I learned this one from my dad, who'd been a Rhodes Scholar in the early '50s; he sang it for my high school [oh, the mortification] along with a lot of other "international" songs at some "international" function we had. Small high school, and my dad was VP of the University that comprised an undergraduate college, a theological seminary, and a college-prep high school -- so he got dragooned [like he didn't LOVE it] into performing around the town quite often.
ANYway, the lyrics we were treated to, on top of a mountain in Tennessee, were:

Here he come, the Zulu warrior
Here he come, the Zulu chief
[Chief, chief, chief]

Hi, chicka zumba, zumba, zumba,
Hi, chicka zumba, zumba, zay.
[Repeat]

We never heard another verse -- probably because Daddy couldn't remember any others! But he also sang whatever else he could think of that either had a country or city name in it ["Managua, Nicaragua is a beautiful place ...", "I love Paris in the springtime..." -- he did manage to get through that entire song -- etc.], although for the most part he had to vamp a lot! We had a not-inconsiderable "international student" contingent out of the 150 enrollment, so he had to be creative. I'm not certain how much pleasure the foreign -- or even local -- students derived from his performance, but the faculty members certainly sucked it up ... or at least sucked up to him! (He was their second-in-command boss, after all ...)
So that's how I found y'all ... pity I STILL haven't found the tune to see if Daddy's memory for the music was any better than it was for lyrics!

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: LadyJean
Date: 30 Apr 10 - 11:52 PM

I still have a couple of my mother's Marais and Miranda 78s. We sang it zooma zooma zaya zooma zooma zee, and it had a second verse. "See him there, beside the fire. "She him there beside the flame/flame/flame."

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST,ZULU Warrior, defintely the version i rememb
Date: 02 Jun 10 - 01:28 AM

from elementary school in Los Angeles late 60's. Music was my favorite thang and i, still, hum this and other folk songs taught to us then!

I-kama zimba zimba zayo
I-kama zimba zimba zee,
I-kama zimba zimba zayo,
I-kama zimba, zimba,
See him there, the Zulu warrior,
See him there, the Zulu chief, chief, chief
See him there, the Zulu warrior,
See him there, the Zulu chief, chief, chief, chief
I-kama zimba, I-kama zimba
Zikama zimba layo zee,...
Wah! chief, chief, chief, chief!
Wah!

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 02 Jun 10 - 11:57 AM

Early 1950s, on Long Island outside of NYC: group of kids I hung out with sang:
"Aye kama zimba zimba zeye uh
Aye kame zimba zimba zee (repeat)

See him there, the Zulu warrior?
See him there, the Zulu chief(chief, chief, chief)
Tall & bare, the Zulu warrior.
Very bare, the Zulu chief(chief, chief, chief)

Aye kama zimba zimba..."

Yes, as a round it repeats ad inf... Tw

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: greg stephens
Date: 02 Jun 10 - 12:19 PM

Certainly "Haul'em down" were the words in my day (50's/60's). And not infrequently accompanied by the total removal of garments, sometimes by the owner, sometimes by his colleagues.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: Penny S.
Date: 02 Jun 10 - 03:31 PM

I have now remembered the climax of Dad's version of the Zulu song, a cry of Yakamalayo! Yah!

Penny

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST,GUEST Rugby player
Date: 21 Jun 10 - 07:32 AM

Hi all,

There seems to be much discussion over this, so I thought I'd pipe up!
I have been a rugby player for many years and the version we sing is below. This is usually sung when the man of the match is handed his drink to "down" in the bar after the game:

A la zumba zumba zumba yay,
A la zumba zumba zum,
A la zumba zumba zumba yay,
A la zumba zumba zum.
Get it down, you zulu warrior,
Get it down you zulu chief chief chief chief chief.
Whhhyyyy was he born so beautiful,
why was he born at all?
He's no fcuking use to ayone,
He's no fcuking use at all!
He ought to be publicly shat on,
He ought to be publicly shot!

By this point the relevant person has usually finished their drink!

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Aug 10 - 05:59 PM

As its a drinking song, I'm off for a drink. Cheers!

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: Charley Noble
Date: 14 Aug 10 - 09:16 PM

We enjoyed the recordings and I agree with what some guest posted above:

I-kama zimba zimba zayo
I-kama zimba zimba zee,
I-kama zimba zimba zayo,
I-kama zimba, zimba,
See him there, the Zulu warrior,
See him there, the Zulu chief, chief, chief
See him there, the Zulu warrior,
See him there, the Zulu chief, chief, chief, chief
I-kama zimba, I-kama zimba
Zikama zimba layo zee,...
Wah! chief, chief, chief, chief!
Wah!

No doubt there are many variants, inspired or misremembered from the recording but that's a good transcription of the recording, for what it's worth.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST,John Roberts
Date: 14 Jan 11 - 10:28 PM

This song was in the 7th grade songbook I had in music class in Kalamazoo, MI in '59-60. The version Bert posted way up there at the beginning of this thread years ago is the version we sang: "Hold him down, the Swazi warrior---"
On Youtube (which didn't exist when this thread began) there's a clip from a movie with Claude Rains in which you can see Marais and Miranda singing a few bars of this song apparently in a South African nightclub.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 18 Jan 11 - 07:55 PM

Here's a link to the YouTube video John Roberts was referring to. It's a scene from the film "Rope of Sand" (1949).

YouTube has several other songs by Mirais and Miranda.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Mar 11 - 12:12 PM

definitely a SAPPER song and is sung whenever Sappers have a reunion

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST
Date: 12 Sep 11 - 10:06 PM

My sister used to sing this at Intermediate school in the 1960's here in New zealand. Also another Sth African one, can't remember the name but the words are' take me back to the old transvaal, that's where I long to be'...then some thing like 'the green thorny tree, there where she's waiting for me....'

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST,GuestH
Date: 20 May 12 - 05:29 PM

I lost count how many times I chanted this with my contemporaries (Zulu Warrior) in the Imperial College Union bar whilst some worse for wear Miner, Scientist or Engineer was staggering around on a table downing a pint.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST,Mark O
Date: 24 Sep 13 - 05:59 AM

I was bounced on my father's knee to the song in Kenya and I've done it to all my children who now do it to there's - with "Roll me down, you Zulu Warrior, Roll me down, you Zulu Chief, Chief, Chief" with action

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Feb 14 - 09:02 AM

does anyone have all the words to this song

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 20 Feb 14 - 12:32 PM

Guest, the Marais lyrics were posted in 26 Jan 07 (above).

There are many variants to the song, several are posted above. Marais called it a "picnic" song, in imitation only of what whites thought they heard when Zulus sang.

"....all the words...." is meaningless, unless one wishes to post all of the variant words and verses, which would fill several pages.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST,AmyB
Date: 23 Mar 16 - 02:19 PM

Well, I have read through the entire thread and I learned it in 7th grade in Chorus class in North Carolina, US. It was 1972 and this song was in our music textbook/songbook. As it was explained to us it was a song that the white men used in encouraging each other to capture more Africans/Zulus so that they could be shipped overseas to become slaves. I was always very uncomfortable singing this one, as it seemed terribly inappropriate to sing at all, and even worse to be taught to adolescents in a public school in the US in 1972. Slavery was abolished in 1865. And to top it off, the teacher was Black. And there we sat- singing "Hold him down, the Swazi warrior, hold him down, the Swazi King!"
And the time period: our schools were only just in the process of integrating. There was a good deal of violence associated with that in our school the following year.
I was thinking about this song and Googled and stumbled upon this thread. I don't believe I read that any other poster here was from the US. I was really surprised that no one else knew it to be a song associated with slavery.
I hope to get some feedback on this post.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: Penny S.
Date: 23 Mar 16 - 06:21 PM

Actually, in the British Empire, from which the song emanates, the slave trade was abolished in 1807. It also involved West Africa, not South Africa, where capturing Zulus to make them slaves would have been rather tricky, as they beat the British. So it isn't surprising no one knew the song to be associated with slavery, because it wasn't. (Teaching that it was, on the other hand, could have been useful in certain circumstances, such as those you describe.)
In fact, there was a certain amount of admiration for the Zulus in Britain. In Lewes, Sussex, one of the Bonfire Societies has a group (Pioneers) which makes a point of dressing as Zulus, and go to some lengths to make the costumes respectful, because, they say, of this admiration. (I am not 100% happy about this, but they don't seem to dress in a way which intends to mock the originals.)(I have no idea what real Zulus feel about it.)(I have now seen two references to a real Zulu having seen Bonfire and enjoyed it. But not a proper citation.)
Anyway, the song was not anything to do with capturing slaves.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)
From: GUEST,Rooikat
Date: 10 Oct 17 - 03:51 PM

It has many different meanings in Zulu
Ikona?