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26 May 18 - 06:50 PM (#3927275) Subject: Origins: Hello Hooray - Kempe, Collins, Cooper From: Helen Hi all, Some decades ago, in a shared student house one of the other students owned a vinyl record by Meg Christian called I Know You Know AND a record player (WooHoo!), There are two stories relating to that statement. I'll explain later. Anyhow, back to the topic: One of the songs on the record was Hello, Hooray, written by Rolf Kempe I just heard my hubby's Alice Cooper CD and the track was Hello Hooray, which I always thought was a bit odd. Rough, tough Alice Cooper singing a song sung by a lesbian-feminist? The lyrics aren't all the same, either. So, I did a Google and found the information linked to above. All is now explained. Rolfe Kempe wrote the song, Judy Collins heard it from him in 1968 and started performing it, Alice Cooper started using it but added extra lyrics which Kempe apparently was cool with, and Meg Christian also recorded it and added some lyrics to suit her purposes, which Kempe was cool with as well. So the song has some history and evolution attached to it. Now for one aside, and two unrelated stories. The aside is that one track on Meg C's album is called Freest Fancy/Kemp's Jig and I wonder whether she put the Kemp's Jig on there as a nod to Rolfe Kempe for the Hello Hooray song.(Kemp's Jig was also on the 1973 Gryphon record - which I didn't hear until some years later. It's a favourite tune of mine.) Thread creep #1: In the Gipsy Kings thread I posted this: "Buying a recording without the means to play it seems to be a repeat habit of mine. When I was an extremely poor student, I heard a piece of music on my tinny little transistor radio and I had to buy the vinyl record even though I had no record player. It was a couple of years before I moved in with some other students who owned a record player and that's when I finally heard the record. It was a classical piece called Erbarme Dich from 'ST Matthew Passion' BWV 244 played on the flute by Thijs van Leer (of the Focus band) and Letty DeJong on vocals. I upgraded to a CD a few years ago because my record player is packed away so I can hear it again." The house where I finally heard that record was the same house where I heard the Meg Christian record. I bought my own copy of the Meg C record because I loved her musical style so much. Thread creep #2: That house was an old weatherboard house in a lovely old suburb. It came up for sale when I lived there but as a poor student it was way out of my universe to buy it. I even asked my parents if they wanted to invest in it but they were children of the depression era, and very careful with their hard earned money. About 20 years later I did buy it, but it was so run down that it made more sense to knock it down and rebuild on the land, than throw lots and lots of money away on trying to shore it up. So now, I live in the same place where I first heard Meg Christian sing Hello Hooray, and where I finally heard that record that I had bought a couple of years earlier. Sometimes I have time-flips and I see myself in the old house listening to those records or playing my flute, and sometimes the time-flip takes me to the 10 years I lived in the old house before knocking it down. It's a bit trippy, sometimes. I suppose it was Hello Hooray to my old house, and to the new house, Hello! Hooray! (Hooray can mean goodbye, or it can mean WooHoo!) Helen |
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26 May 18 - 06:58 PM (#3927277) Subject: RE: Origins: Hello Hooray - Kempe, Collins, Cooper From: Helen Hello Hurray - Rolf Kempf (original version) |
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27 May 18 - 07:49 AM (#3927344) Subject: RE: Origins: Hello Hooray - Kempe, Collins, Cooper From: gillymor Interesting stuff, Helen. I remember the Alice Cooper version and Judy Collins' that kicked off her great "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" LP but never heard the original. |
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27 May 18 - 08:12 AM (#3927348) Subject: RE: Origins: Hello Hooray - Kempe, Collins, Cooper From: Jack Campin I'd never heard of it, but my immediate guess was that it had to be a New Zealand song meaning "hello and goodbye" - "hooray" is Kiwi for goodbye, from the Maori "haere ra". |
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27 May 18 - 04:49 PM (#3927459) Subject: RE: Origins: Hello Hooray - Kempe, Collins, Cooper From: Helen Jack, the info I linked to at the top says that Rolf Kempe was (is?) a folk singer/songwriter from Ontario. Do you know if the term "hooray" (or "hurray" as it is spelled on the Rolf K video) commonly used in Canada as a term for "goodbye" as it is in Oz? Here in Oz, it is also used to mean "yippee" or "WooHoo" type sentiments, so it can be used in joking terms when saying goodbye to someone, as in "yippee, you're leaving!". I learn something new here all the time. I didn't realise that "hooray" originated as a Maori expression. gillymor, I hadn't heard either the original or the Judy Collins version. Helen |
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27 May 18 - 05:00 PM (#3927465) Subject: RE: Origins: Hello Hooray - Kempe, Collins, Cooper From: Jack Campin I think "hooray" meaning "goodbye" is purely NZ - not known in Australia except to Kiwi expats (of whom there are far fewer than there used to be). |
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27 May 18 - 05:26 PM (#3927470) Subject: RE: Origins: Hello Hooray - Kempe, Collins, Cooper From: Helen Hi Jack, Nope. In my local area it is - or was when I was growing up - very common. Australian Word Map Scroll to the middle of the page and enter the word "Hooray" in the search box. the page also has links to the variations, Hooroo, and Oo-roo "The word 'hooray' is used to mean 'goodbye' in the Newcastle area of NSW." "[Sydney informant] As children we always pronounced it "Huh'-ray" when we meant "good-bye" (the accent on the first syllable), but "hoo-ray'", when expressing delight over a win, say, at footie." "I grew up in Newcastle and we always used Hooray when leaving. My Sydney friend always thought that I was happy to go until she moved to Newcastle. She then realised that everyone used the term." "I've heard this word used both by my grandmother in Tully North Queensland and in Pyrmont where I grew up. I heard its use had died out but the working class of Pyrmont still use it. Like other contributors the accent is on the first syllable when used to mean goodbye or au revoir." BTW, I was born and raised in the Hunter Region and have lived in Newcastle since mid 70's. Helen |
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30 May 18 - 03:05 PM (#3928037) Subject: RE: Origins: Hello Hooray - Kempe, Collins, Cooper From: Helen Well, I thought it was an interesting idea for a thread, but ... (distant sounds of originator of thread quietly sobbing in a corner.) In my opinion, a song doesn't often evolve lyrically - and so dramatically - according to who chooses to sing it, well not as dramatically as this one, and usually not with the blessing of the songwriter. I think that the folk traditional evolution of a song and/or tune is a much slower process and may owe part of the lyrical evolution or even the melodic evolution to the oral tradition and individual memory, or even personal interpretations of the song's or tune's style. (E.g. think about Billie Holiday for creating her own unique, personal style on songs.) But I may be wrong. |