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IN THREE PARTS APPENDIX 1311
Stanza 1
Raise the flag of the feeling for Tl'uknaxAdi-chUdren,
so that aU the Ravens wiU see it.
Stanza II
1 hate to leave Yakutat and the Tl'uknaxAdi-chUdren
behind, I hate to see the mountains disappear behind
me. That makes me feel sad.
When the tape is heard it becomes evident that
Minnie Johnson reversed the order of the two stanzas
in her explanations. The words of the song appear
to be:
Refrain
ha 'e-ya ha-na.
'a yi 'i 'i-yaw 'a ye hu 'a ye-ye,
'e ye dji-ya 'an-a 'e-yi ye ya 'a
yay yu 'a 'e-ye 'e ya 'a 'e hu,
'a he ye ya, 'a ye [clears throatl he-ya ha-ya.
A
B
Stanza I (sung once)
tcu 'axtu sAniku—Just my feehngs are sick [I
just feel sad]
'in de-i kudi 'ayi ?-
'i 'ani cayi—Your land's mountains,
C
D
E
F
A
B
C
X
Tl'uknaxAdi-yAtii—Tl'uknaxAdi-children,
'ade xaga [yuhude! yuhude!] (spoken)—About it, I
(weep ?) [seems to be correcting a mistake]
dade xagax nuktc 'ahi—About it I always weep.
'ehe ya ha he, yu 'a he
[tcuye! tcuye!] (spoken)—["Again! Again!"]
'u haye-he 'ani 'aha ya
Stanza II (sung once)
dadi sAyiyi^ de—(About it? [dade ?]) hoist ye!
Koc^i'kani-yAtxi—Kuc^i-qwani (?)-children's
tuhu 'ayu de—Feelings, so that
tcAldAkAt du yeli—AU their Ravens
t6A naqati—May see it.
hu! hu! hai ya he—Whoo! Whoo! hai etc.
[yuw;,i! laughs]—["That's it!"]
The old lady attempted to be a whole chorus, beating
the drum for herself and caUing out the words of the
song leader. She misspoke herself in the first stanza,
exclaiming what I interpret to be a correction of her
mistake.
The structure of the song is:
Refrain: A B C D E["]
Stanza I: A B C[^^] D E[>^F
StanzaH: A B C
X
Clarence Peterson's Love Song for Tl'uknaxAdi-Children
1954, 1-2-F; recorded by Charley White (drumming)
and Frank Dick on AprU 9.
The composer, Clarence Peterson (1890-1942), a
Tl'uknaxAdi man named Skinya (or SkEnya), was the
son of a CAnkuqedi father. He was once married to
Violet James, the Teqwedi daughter of Ned James, a
Tl'uknaxAdi man. She died some years ago, and
Clarence Peterson then married Esther, a CAnkuqedi
woman who is now Mrs. Chester Johnson. This song
was composed for his former wife, Violet.
Charley White introduced the song in Tlingit (30
seconds); the song itself lasts 3:05 minutes. The words
to the two stanzas were dictated by the singers. My
transcription was corrected and the translation supplied
by John ElHs.
Stanza I
tlax y^ 'alAdzfyin—This is very hard,
Tl'uknaxAdi-yAtxi—Tl'uknaxAdi-chUdren,
I'ew xa djdngE—If I never dream.
'ax tuwu yuke—I feel good
'At xiidAnayi—When I drink something.
'ax tuwu kekuxsAgu—I will feel happy
'At yiidAnayi—When I drink something.
Stanza II
tlei ci kAt—In one song
wucdaga—About each other
yti^etulA'at—We wiU be talldng,
Tl'uknaxAdi-yAtxi—Tl'uknaxAdi-chUdren,
'aga 'awE—And then,
yahdkagaceni—When we feel high,
keguxsAgu 'Ak'^ce—^It wiU be fun, won't it?
The words as sung and heard on the tape were,
however, somewhat different. There was a refrain,
Stanza I sung twice, the refrain sung again (and repeated
by mistake), and then Stanza II was sung twice, the
second time ending abruptly before the final phrases.
A
Refrain
'e ye 'u 'e ye 'a ye-i ya 'a 'a ye 'u 'e,
(hu)
'^ Interrupted by throat clearing.
"• Correction of mistake.
" Song leader's cry.