The Children's Song "Tingalayo" (information, lyrics, and videos)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part III of a three part pancocojams series about songs that include the verse "jawbone walk, jawbone talk/jawbone eat with a knife and fork." This post focuses on the Caribbean song "Tingalayo".

Part I contains information and lyrics of several old time songs from the United States that include that "jawbone walk, jawbone talk"... verse. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/jawbone-walk-jawbone-talk-information.html for that post.

Part II showcases one sound file and two videos of "Jawbone Walk" songs from the United States. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/jawbone-songs-from-united-states-sound.html for that post.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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INFORMATION ABOUT TINGALAYO
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=8164
Posted by Q 28 Jan 04

[The original Tingalayo song is] "A calypso of the Lesser Antilles, by Massie Patterson and Lionel Belasco, free transcription by Maurice Baron, copyright 1943 by M. Baron Co. [It was originally included in] the book "Calypso Songs of the West Indies," by Massie Patterson and Lionel Belasco, pp. 4-5, full sheet music.

[There are] Many re-writes and later copyrights of this old Lionel Belasco calypso in French patois of the Lesser Antilles (Guadaloupe, Martinique and to some extent in non-French-owned islands"
-snip-
If I understand what I read online, Massie Patterson was a singer of Trinidadian descent who moved to the United States & later collaborated with composer Lionel Belasco. "Tingalayo" is an adaptation by Mrs. Patterson and Mr. Belasco of an old Caribbean Calypso song.

Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Belasco for information about Lionel Belaco.

To date, no Wikipedia page exist for Massie Patterson. Information about Ms. Patterson is mostly gleaned from information about the "Rum & Coca Cola" lawsuit of which she was a crucial part.

Click http://www.chipublib.org/search/details/cn/2227856 for a list of the other Calypso songs that were included in Belasco & Patterson's book Calypso Songs of the West Indies. One of the songs that is included in that collection is "L'Annee Passee". The melody of that song was used for the song "Rum & Coca Cola".

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/09/lannee-passee-calypso-song-that-became.html for information about that song.

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COMMENT ABOUT THE "DONKEY WALK DONKEY TALK" VERSE
The following comment was posted to a Mudcat discussion thread in response to my question about the fact that the Caribbean song "Tingalayo" and several American old time songs have the same "donkey walk, donkey talk" verse:

http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=8164
Lyr Req: Lula Gal (Jawbone Walk)
Posted by Q, Date: 05 Dec 04 - 10:51 PM
"Azizi, contact between the West Indies and Venezuela and the south and east coasts of the United States could have occurred almost any time.

"Tinga Layo" originally was found in French patois in Trinidad. Slave owners not only traveled with slaves to their holdings, but hired them out to crew ships not owned by them. The slave owner, of course pocketed the bulk of the money. Contact was especially frequent between New Orleans and the French-speaking islands of the Caribbean (some of which became British colonies). Jawbone songs in the States are known back to the 1840s at least.

"Walk Jaw Bone" was a minstrel song written for the performer known as Cool White in 1844 by Silas Sexton Steele. I am sure that the idea came from slave dances and instruments. The chorus was:
"Walk, jaw bone, Jenny come along,
In come Sally wid de bootees on,
Walk, jaw bone, Jenny, come along,
In come Sally wid de bootees on."

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LYRICS
Lyr. Add: TINGA LAYO (Donkey Song)
Patterson and Belasco, 1943

Tinga Lay - o
Marré bourriq ba moen;
Tinga lay - o
Marré bourriq ba moen.
Bourriq parlé,
Bourriq marché,
Bourriq mangé avec un fourchet;
Tinga lay - o

Marré bourriq ba moen;
Tinga lay - o
Marré bourriq ba moen.
Bourriq parlé,
Bourriq marché,
Bourriq mangé avec un fourchet.
Tinga Lay - o

Marré bourriq ba moen.-
(Music diminuendo)

Tinga lay - o
Come, little donkey, come;
Tinga lay - o
Come little donkey come.
Me donkey walk,
me donkey talk,
Me donkey eat with a knife and fork;
Tinga lay - o
(Repeat)

http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=8164
Posted by Q, 28 Jan 04 - 04:40 PM

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FEATURED VIDEOS

Example #1: Tingalayo



Raffi, July 29, 2018
-snip-
This video replaces one that is no longer available on YouTube. 

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Example #2: Muffin Songs: Tingalayo | nursery rhymes & children songs with lyrics | muffin songs



Muffin Songs, Uploaded on Nov 15, 2011


Tingalayo - http://www.muffinsongs.com (more songs)

Tingalayo! Come little donkey come,
Tingalayo! Come little donkey come.
My donkey walks, my donkey talks,
My donkey eats with a knife and fork.
My donkey walks, my donkey talks,
My donkey eats with a knife and fork.

Tingalayo! Come little donkey come,
Tingalayo! Come little donkey come.
My donkey eats, my donkey sleeps,
My donkey kicks with his two hind feet.
My donkey eats, my donkey sleeps,
My donkey kicks with his two hind feet.

Tingalayo! Come little donkey come,
Tingalayo! Come little donkey come!
My donkey dances, my donkey sings,
My donkey wearin' a diamond ring.
My donkey dances, my donkey sings,
My donkey wearin' a diamond ring.

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