{"id":3689,"date":"2015-07-07T10:42:56","date_gmt":"2015-07-07T14:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/?page_id=3689"},"modified":"2018-02-26T10:21:28","modified_gmt":"2018-02-26T14:21:28","slug":"john-kanaka","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/?page_id=3689","title":{"rendered":"John Kanaka"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the songs Tim sings that tends to bring down the house. \u00a0Stan Hugill seems to have been the first to publish the song and he writes that he had learned it from “Harding of Barbadoes” who “sang it with many falsetto yelps and hitches almost impossible to imitate.” \u00a0He goes on the explain that the chorus is Polynesian. \u00a0A “kanaka” was a word for the Hawaiian crew members of ships who Richard Henry Dana mentions in his “Two Years Before The Mast” as being particularly keen on singing of work songs… Clearly in some form or another these were adopted and adapted by “white” sailors, adding to the already colourful repertoire of working songs. \u00a0Stan pointed out one time, while I was in earshot, that the chorus is “tulai e, oh, tulai e! \u00a0John Kanaka \u2018naka, tulai e!<\/strong>” \u00a0and NOT<\/strong> “Too-Rye-Ay” as many are wont to do… They is no “R” in Polynesian languages and the mistake is likely due to people being used to Irish American songs. \u00a0You will find that while most performers of this song share similar verses, there are ALWAYS variations and sometimes new and different verses.<\/p>\n

Jos. Morneault<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I thought I heard the First Mate say
\nJohn Kanaka \u2018naka, tulai e!<\/em> <\/strong>
\nYou\u2019ll work tomorrow, but not today
\nJohn Kanaka \u2018naka, tulai e!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

CHORUS
\ntulai e, oh, tulai e ! <\/em><\/strong>
\nJohn Kanaka \u2018naka, tulai e!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I thought I heard the old man say
\nJohn Kanaka\u2026<\/em> <\/strong>
\nToday, today is a sailing day
\nJohn Kanaka\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

CHORUS<\/p>\n

We’ll work tomorrow, but no work today,
\nJohn Kanaka\u2026<\/em> <\/strong>
\nWe’ll work tomorrow, but no work today.
\nJohn Kanaka\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

CHORUS<\/p>\n

We\u2019re outward bound from Frisco Bay
\nJohn Kanaka\u2026<\/em><\/strong>
\nWe\u2019re outward bound at the break of day
\nJohn Kanaka\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

CHORUS<\/p>\n

We’re bound away around Cape Horn,
\nJohn Kanaka\u2026<\/em> <\/strong>
\nWhere you wish to Christ you’d never been born!
\nJohn Kanaka\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

CHORUS<\/p>\n

It\u2019s rotten meat and weevily bread
\nJohn Kanaka\u2026<\/em> <\/strong>
\nIn two months out you wish you were dead
\nJohn Kanaka\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

CHORUS<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one more pull and then belay,
\nJohn Kanaka\u2026<\/em><\/strong>
\nFor today, today is a holiday,
\nJohn Kanaka\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

CHORUS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the songs Tim sings that tends to bring down the house. \u00a0Stan Hugill seems to have been the first to publish the song and he writes that he had learned it from “Harding of Barbadoes” who “sang it with many falsetto yelps and hitches almost impossible to imitate.” \u00a0He goes on the explain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3689","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3689"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4868,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3689\/revisions\/4868"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thejovialcrew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}