Lyr/Tune Add: Zulu Warrior (Josef Marais)

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?