1951: “Klooches Sika Klattawa” song, and oral history
A Portland Jargon translation of an American folk song lived on in BC long past frontier times…
…But in a form colored by memory.
Welcome to the world of oral history!
Thanks very much to reader Darrin Brager for contributing this newspaper clipping from long after the frontier era:
Klooches Sika Klattawa
Kla-how-ya Tillicums!
“Good Night Ladies” is a song almost all of us know, but we met a Tillicum with a slightly better-than-average knowledge of it than the rest of us had.
She could sing it in Chinook — the language from which we get “Tillicums” and “Kla-how-ya”.
We asked her to write it out for us, just in case some of you would also like to acquire a better-than-average knowledge of “Good Night Ladies” and are printing it below.
Klooches sika klattawa,
Klattawa, klattawa,
Klooches sika klattawa,
Kopa hyas chuck.Kla-how-ya klooches,
Kla-how-ya klooches,
Kla-how-ya klooches,
Kopa hyas chuck.
— from the Vancouver (BC) Daily Province of August 2, 1951
That’s…unusual Chinook Jargon, for being “better-than-average” 🙄
What is “sika”?
“Klooches” is Settler English, not a word I’ve ever seen within Chinook Jargon.
Dutifully as always, here’s my attempt at translation:
Klooches sika klattawa, ‘ladies _____ go,’
Klattawa, klattawa, ‘go, go,’
Klooches sika klattawa, ‘ladies _____ go,’
Kopa hyas chuck. ‘to the ocean.’
Kla-how-ya klooches, ‘Goodbye ladies,’
Kla-how-ya klooches, ‘Goodbye ladies,’
Kla-how-ya klooches, ‘Goodbye ladies,’
Kopa hyas chuck. ‘to the ocean’ (?!)
If I’m not mistaken, that makes no sense. (What is sika?)
Coming a generation or two after Chinuk Wawa was any kind of useful language in Vancouver, BC, this looks like someone’s partial recollection of how CW works.
In fact, I believe the above version of the lyrics is an old and very distorted memory of a specific, published Chinook translation by Laura Belle Downey-Bartlett of Oregon.
Here’s LBDB’s 1914 text (I’ve already blogged about the songs that are in Bartlett’s dictionary; I’ll go on soon to discuss her book of “Chinook-English Songs”) —
KLOSH POLAKELY T’SLADIE.
Ict.
Klosh polakely t’sladie!
Klosh polakely t’sladie!
Klosh polakely t’sladie!
Nesika klatawa alta.
Konaway Shunta.
Hee-hee nesika cooley kah,
Cooley kah, cooley kah,
Hee-hee nesika cooley kah,
E-niti hy-as chuck.
Mox.
Kla-how-ya t’sladie!
Kla-how-ya t’sladie!
Kla-how-ya t’sladie!
Nesika klatawa alta.
Konaway Shunta.
Klone.
T’see moosum t’sladie!
T’see moosum t’sladie!
T’see moosum t’sladie!
Nesika klatawa alta.
Konaway Shunta.
And the English lyrics as she quotes them:
GOOD NIGHT LADIES
1
Good night ladies,
Good night ladies,
Good night ladies,
We’re going to leave you now.
Chorus
Merrily we roll along,
Roll along, roll along,
Merrily we roll along,
O’er the dark blue sea.
2.
Fare well ladies,
Fare well ladies,
Fare well ladies,
We’re going to leave you now.
Chorus.
Merrily etc.
3.
Sweet dreams ladies,
Sweet dreams ladies,
Sweet dreams ladies,
We re going to leave you now.
Chorus.
Merrily etc.
Goofy as today’s BC version is, I still treasure every Chinook Jargon song that we find. It may be awful Chinook, but it’s the Chinook that someone actually remembered.
And music may be our secret weapon to get people’s attention and lodge some of this lingo in their minds!
Could “sika” be short for “nsayka” or “msayka”? I’ve seen “sayka” used for both in Grand Ronde elder wawa.
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It’s possible! We’ve never seen that usage anywhere but at the GR rez…
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My thoughts exactly: “we’re going to the ocean.” And klootch is an unfortunate word in Jargon, not one I’d’ve used in this context. I suspect whoever transcribed this song was unaware of that fact. (The fact that it’s also anglicised — “klooches” — further suggests that the reporter wasn’t very Jargon literate.)
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I really appreciate your comments, hayu masi!
Dave R.
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