PDF Lo-Res - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

Foreign and Miscellaneous Songs
This last group of songs contains some melodies that are difficult to place in any known
category. There is the lament of the slave, a Haida love song, and three songs described
as "drinking songs." The latter may have been suitable for singing by the guests as they
feasted after a potlatch distribution.
In addition, mention was made of a drinking song composed by Old Fox of Teslin,
Yukon Territory, the last of the YAnyedi song composers. His Tl'uknaxAdi father at Sitka
gave a potlatch in 1900, and this song was sung there by the YAnyedi guests from Taku,
which strengthens the suggestion that all "drinking songs" were sung on such occasions.
There was also mentioned a love song, the words of which were: 'T never believed
the earth goes round. I thought it was still. Now because of that girl, the whole town is
turning upside down." The phrase, "Haines Alaski" appears in the refrain.
Lament of the Slave
1954, 5-2-B; recorded by Minnie Johnson on April 7.
According to the singer, this song was composed
by a male slave named Gucdutin ('Visible Dorsal Fin
[of the Killerwhale]'), who belonged to her mother's
father, a Teqwedi house chief named Lusxox. The
latter died about 1900, perhaps earlier. The slave
came from Victoria, but was purchased by his master
in southeastern Alaska. He and two or three other
slaves escaped in a canoe. Before he left Yakutat,
he painted his face with a round red spot on each
cheek because this was the mark of the Children of
the Sun, the spirit that belonged to Tek-'ic, who was
a member of his master's lineage. This face painting
design now belongs to the Teqwedi, because Gucdutin
was never ransomed.
The same song was recorded by Swanton (1909,
Song 68, p. 406), although the two stanzas are trans
posed in the latter's version. When the words were
read to Minnie Johnson, she was very much surprised
that Swanton had heard the song in 1904, but accepted
this as proof that the slave really did escape from
Yakutat and was not drowned on the way south.
(Swanton credits the song to a man of the Nanj'^a'ayi,
a Wolf Eagle sib of Wrangell, who almost drowned
on a journey to Victoria.)
There is first an explanation in Tlingit (50 seconds);
the song itself lasts 1:20 minutes; then follows a conclusion
in Thngit (45 seconds) and by one in English
1360
(3:20 minutes). There had been a mistake in the firs
recording (5 2-A), so the second was made (5-2-B).
As is usual with Minnie Johnson's recordings, there
is no refrain. Each stanza was sung twice. The words
are as follows together with her translations:
A
B
X
(X/
A
B
X
(X/
Stanza I (sung twice)
'ican