Monday, February 17, 2014

Umiak kayak song redux

Three years ago I posted the lyrics I remembered from a grade school song in which one learns a few "eskimo words." I now realize that this post has garnered a number of comments over the intervening period. At the time, I promised to follow up with a post of the musical notes for the melody, which I then shamefully forgot to do. Anyway, here's a link to a midi based on what I recollect of the cheesy but catchy "Native American"-style melody, in the key of A minor. This only goes through the tricky "mukluk" verse... you can improvise the balance in the same style. Don't forget to include a dramatic ritardando and hushed pianissimo for the two lines just before the booming "Learn them if you can!" ending: a tempo, fortississimo!

Melody here.

Lyrics:

Umiak, kayak, mukluk, tupik,
Umiak, kayak, mukluk, tupik,
Umiak, kayak, Eskimo words,
Learn them if you can.

Umiak, a boat for many men,
Kayak, a boat for one man,
Umiak, kayak, Eskimo words,
Learn them if you can.

Mukluk, an Eskimo boot,
Tupik, an Eskimo tent.
If you heard an Eskimo say these words,
You'd know exactly what he meant.

Umiak, kayak, mukluk, tupik,
Umiak, kayak, mukluk, tupik,
Umiak, kayak,
Eskimo words,
Learn them if you can.

18 comments:

  1. Thank you. This morning we were out on the lake with my family and a few kayaks went by and I started singing this song. I learned it in the 60s in elementary school. No one I know is familiar with this song. Your blog is the only place I could find the lyrics. And I love the music. Now if only I could find someone singing it somewhere online.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, there's a girl in Boston who sings this song in her head. 60's baby also ;-)

      Delete
  2. My sister and myself sometimes get in goofy moods and start singing songs from grade school and this is one of them...i have to laugh because somehow it just popped in my head and i googled it which brings me here.....Memories from a loooong time ago!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for posting this song. I remember it from elementary school too.

      Delete
    2. I learned this in elementary school, and sang it to my daughter when she was little. Today I was looking for the lyrics to sing to my grandson who was studying polar regions in school as I could no longer remember the words but did the tune.
      .

      Delete
  3. Your contents give me more creational ideas that I can possibly use on my web page too. cheapkayaks.org

    ReplyDelete
  4. Much obliged to you again for all the learning you distribute,Good post. I was exceptionally intrigued by the article, it's entirely rousing I ought to concede. I like going by you site since I generally run over fascinating articles like this one.Great Job, I enormously acknowledge that.Do Keep sharing! Respects, klick

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yep, I remember this song from grade school in the 60's. Loved it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This song has rolled around in my mind for decades, but I couldn't remember all the words, not a surprise since I think I learned it in first grade. Thank you for filling in the blanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So amazing that in 1964, I remember this song, when I was 6yrs. old in the 1st grade, @ Blewett Elementary School in St. Louis. I sanged it while washing dishes, or bathing my grandchildren. Ofcourse I didn't remember all the words, this is a good thing. Now, I'll be able to teach my younger grandchildren this song, so it just might be stuck in their heads for decades as well...

      Delete
  7. Omg I'm 60 years old and I just found myself singing this song. I knew that the last time I sang it or heard it was probably 50 or more years ago. And I remembered almost all of the words. I'm not sure the song Is politically correct nowadays, but I sure did enjoy it about a half a century ago

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am 66. My son is 26. He was looking for slippers and asked me what a mukluk is? I remembered that it was an Eskimo boot. Then all of a sudden the first line came to me. Umiak, Kayad, Mukluk, Tupik. I remember I was in grade school when I learned that song. I Goggled it and here I am. I couldn't believe that I actually remembered the tune. Says a lot about our young brains. I wonder how much other stuff is in there from my childhood that I thought that I had forgotten.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for posting this! The song was stuck in my mind after all of these years and I couldn't remember what a "Tupik" was. I learned the song in elementary school music class around 1964. At the time, I had no idea that I would go on and paddle kayaks for the rest of my life. (Including representing the United States at several world championships!)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for posting. I remember this song from elementary school, which I entered 50 years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you, I also recall this song from my grade school days. I wondered if it is considered politically incorrect to use the work Eskimo nowadays. I have never met anyone else who knows this song.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Something made this song pop into my head today and I Googled it to see if I’m the only person in the world to remember it. So glad that’s not the case! I learned it in elementary school in the late ‘60s.

    ReplyDelete