John Kanaka

Song Information

Composer: Traditional

Lyric Author: Traditional

Published: Late 19th Century

Country of origin: American/English

General Interest

John Kanaka is a great example of sailors adopting words and phrases from the lands they visited. Kanaka is the Hawaiian word for Man, or perhaps "Man from Hawaii". Many sailors had difficulty pronouncing the names of the Hawaiian natives that worked with them on the ships, and so would call them Kanaka.

The repeated syllables "naka" might sound nonsensical, but in Hawaiian it means "shell" or "sea creature", so John Kanaka-naka would mean "John the Hawaiian sea creature"

Tu lai e are very common words in Polynesian languages, and roughly translate to "stand your ground", referring to the necessity of planting one's feet firmly on the deck when hauling on a halyard at sea, to raise sails for example.

Source: Hawaiian Music in Motion: Mariners, Missionaries, and Minstrels by James Revell Carr

Many versions change the refrain to "Too rah yay", to suit the English-speaking tongue.

Here's a link to the Lyric:

John Kanaka Lyric

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