English Folk Project, Dec 27, 2020
Recording credit: Flying Fish Sailors, Loch Ness Monster
King of the Cannibal Islands is an English folk song published as a broadside ballad in 1858. It is a comical song telling of a sailor's interaction with the king of the Cannibal Islands, a name applied to the islands of Polynesia in the Victorian era. It reflects the contemporary English view of Polynesian society as one of cannibalism, savagery and unintelligible speech. It became popular in society and was frequently sung at events pertaining to the Pacific Ocean, such as by students of Oxford University upon the visit of Sir George Grey, governor of New Zealand.
This channel is dedicated to preserving the neglected culture of English folk songs in the form of short lyrical videos. The folk songs of the English have been overlooked compared to those of the other British peoples, something that this channel hopes to fix.
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Another YouTube sound file of this same Flying Fish Sailors (music group) record indicates that it was released in 1999.
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Edited by Azizi Powell
The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural and recreational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to those who are featured in this showcased sound file. Thanks also to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.
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The song "The King Of The Cannibal Islands" shouldn't be confused with the later song "The Cannibal King".
WARNING: "The King Of The Cannibal Islands" is a stereotypical song that is usually almost completely composed of racially, ethnically, and culturally offensive content.
Also, at least one example [in Excerpt #3] has given in this pancocojams post has sexually explicit references.
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DISCLAIMER
This pancocojams post is published, in part, for folkloric purpose. However, I've also published this post because I'm concerned that "The King Of The Cannibal Islands" songs might be confused with "The Cannibal King" songs. whose seldom mentioned Black American source sparks my interest.
I want to emphazie that these pancocojams posts on "The King Of The Cannibal Islands" and "The Cannibal King" are published for folkloric purposes and not for recreational or other social purposes (I'm not encouraging these songs to be sung except for historical and folkloric study.)
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DIFFERENCES BETWEEN "THE KING OF THE CANNIBAL ISLAND" SONG AND "THE CANNIBAL KING" SONG
"The King Of The Cannibal Islands" is an older song than "The Cannibal King".
"The King Of The Cannibal Islands" songs begins with lines such as "Oh! have you heard the news of late,/ About a mighty king so great?". Those songs includes "Hokey Pokey Winky Wum" similar nonsense words that are supposedly the king's name.
"The Cannibal King" usually begins with the first line "The Cannibal King with the big nose ring".
"The Cannibal King" is sometimes given as "The Zulu King". The title "The Cannibal King" probably was influenced by the title of the earlier "The King Of The Cannibal Islands" songs.
The tunes for these two songs are different.
"The King Of The Cannibal Islands" song usually includes cannibalism references while "The "Cannibal King" focuses on the romance between that king and his "dusky maiden".
"The King Of The Cannibal Islands" songs are longer than "The Cannibal King".
The "King Of The Cannibal Island" refers to the Polynesian Islands while "The Cannibal King" refers to Africa and specifically South Africa i.e. Zulus are an ethnic group in the nation of South Africa. However, Zulus weren't (aren't) cannibals.
It appears in the mid 20h century that both "The King Of The Cannibal Islands" and "The Cannibal King" were sometimes sung as a school song or a camp song (in the United States and in other English speaking countries). However, after the 1950s in the USA, when people mention "The Cannibal King" camp song, my guess is they are usually referring to "The Cannibal King" (with the big nose ring) and not that earlier song.
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INFORMATION AND EXAMPLES
Excerpt #1: http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/PHCFS195.html
"King of the Cannibal Islands, The
DESCRIPTION: Sometimes a ballad about castaways marrying the daughter of the King of the Cannibal Islands, but often degenerates into a quatrain-ballad about the odd events on the islands. The use of the title phrase is characteristic.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (Hodgson's Royal Song Book, p. 4); before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 36(10) View 2 of 2)
KEYWORDS: humorous cannibalism royalty
[...].
Roud #15695
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 36(10) View 2 of 2, "The King of the Cannibal Islands," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Johnson Ballads 536, Harding B 11(322), Harding B 11(1997), Firth c.17(312), Harding B 11(1496), Harding B 11(2830), "[The] King of the Cannibal Islands"
NLScotland, R.B.m.143(147), "The King of the Cannibal Islands," Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1858
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf."The Settler's Lament (The Beautiful Land of Australia)" (tune)
[...]
NOTES [479 words]: This doesn't show up in folk songbooks much, but it seems to me that I heard it somewhere in my youth; I suspect it qualifies as a children's folk song. At least, I'm putting it here on that assumption. - RBW
From the commentary for broadside NLScotland RB.m.143(147): "This ballad was written at a high-point of British Imperialism, and is a telling illustration of the superior attitudes which popularly existed among both those Brits who settled abroad, in countries such as Africa, and also among the broadside-buying public back in Scotland. As with another broadside in the National Library of Scotland's collection, 'The Queen of Otaheite', the 'natives' are portrayed as bigamous cannibals, with little regard for Western ways." - BS
This even though most places referred to as "Cannibal Islands" were in fact under European control by the time the song was written (under the above assumption). The etymology of "Cannibal" in Robert Hendrickson, The Ocean Almanac, Doubleday, 1984, pp. 118-119, derives the name "Cannibal" from "Carib,""Inhabitant of the Caribbean," a formation going back to Columbus -- although cannibals if anything were more common in the Aztec areas of Mexico, as well as in the South Seas (recall how Captain Cook died; also the fact that kuru, the laughing sickness, the first known prion disease, spread by eating infected brain tissue -- and was found only in the South Seas).
Most of these places were at one time or another called "Cannibal Islands" -- although hardly any of them had an actual king. It was more common to eat one's enemies than one's subjects (the latter is obviously inefficient -- you run out of subjects fast that way), so cannibalism tends to imply a nearby external enemy. - RBW
Opie/Opie-OxfordDictionaryOfNurseryRhymes re 227, "Hokey, pokey, whisky, thum": Evidently derived from "King of the Cannibal Islands" by A.W. Humphreys. See broadside [Note however that the NLScotland broadside of 1858 states that the tune comes from "Hokee Pokee Wonkee Fum"] - BS
Jim Holder points out to us that Herman Melville mentions this song in chapter 1 of his 1846 tale Typee. It probably should not surprise us that Melville was interested in cannibalism; according to A. B. C. Whipple, Yankee Whalers in the South Seas, Doubleday & Company, 1954, pp. 41-45, Melville was fascinated by the story of the whaleship Essex, which was fatally damaged by a whale, forcing the men into the boats, with instances of cannibalism taking place on both surviving boats. This story underlies Moby Dick. Typee has its own link to cannibalism; it is largely autobiographical, about Melville's own travels in the South Pacific -- in which he actually jumped ship on an island allegedly inhabited by cannibals (Whipple, pp. 46-48). - (RBW)
Thanks to Jim Dixon for pointing out the 1827 printing in Hodgson's Royal Song Book. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: PHCFS195
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"The King Of The Cannibal Islands" song was found in English speaking nations such as Great Britain, United States, and Australia.
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Excerpt #2
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=9724
[Pancocojams Editor's Note: These selected posts from this discussion thread are numbered for referencing purposes only.]
1.
Subject: Lyr Add: KING OF THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS
From: Alice
Date: 19 Mar 99 - 06:30 PM
KING OF THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS
chorus
Hokey Pokey Winky Wung,
Polly Makoo Kamoling Kung,
Hangery Wangery Chingery Ching,
The King of the Cannibal Islands.
Have you heard my story of late,
For if you've not 'tis on my pate,
About a mighty potentate,
The King of the Cannibal Islands.
chorus
Polly Makoo Kamoling Kung,
Hangery Wangery Chingery Ching,
The King of the Cannibal Islands.
Woman pudding and baby sauce,
Little boy pie for second course,
He'd swallow them all without any remorse,
The King of the Cannibal Islands.
chorus
Polly Makoo Kamoling Kung,
Hangery Wangery Chingery Ching,
The King of the Cannibal Islands.
.........
The long list of words in the chorus were, as we thought of it, the king's name."
Alice in Montana
2.
Subject: Lyr Add: KING OF THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Jul 02 - 05:35 PM
"KING OF THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS
1. Oh! have you heard the news of late,
About a mighty king so great?
If you have not, 'tis in my pate,
The King of the Cannibal Islands.
He was so tall, near six feet six.
He had a head like Mister Nick's.
His palace was like Dirty Dick's.
'Twas built of mud for want of bricks,
And his name was Poonoowingkeewang
Flibeedee flobeedee buskeebang,
And a lot of Indians swore they would hang
The King of the Cannibal Islands.
CHORUS: Hokee pokee wongkee fum,
Puttee po pee kaibula cum,
Tongaree wongaree ching ring wum,
The King of the Cannibal Islands.
2. The mighty king had in one hut
Seventy wives as black as soot,
And thirty of a double smut,
The King of the Cannibal Islands.
So just one hundred wives he had,
And every week he was a dad.
Upon my word, it was too bad,
For his smutty dears soon drove him mad.
There was Hungkee Mungkee, short and tall,
With Tuzzee Muzzee and Keeko Pall,
And some of them swore they would have all
The King of the Cannibal Islands.
3. One day the king invited most
All of his subjects to a roast,
For half his wives gave up the ghost,
The King of the Cannibal Islands.
Of fifty wives he was bereft
And so he had but fifty left.
He said with them he would make shift,
So for a gorge all set off swift.
The fifty dead ones were roasted soon
And all demolish'd before the noon,
And a lot of chiefs vow'd to have soon,
The King of the Cannibal Islands.
4. When they had done, and bones picked clean,
They all began to dance, I ween.
The fifty wives slipp'd out unseen
From King of the Cannibal Islands.
He turning round soon miss'd them all,
So for his wives began to bawl,
But not one answered his call.
He sprung out through the muddy wall,
Then into the woods he went with grief,
And found each queen 'long with a chief.
He swore he'd Macadamize every thief,
The King of the Cannibal Islands.
5. He sent for all his guards with knives.
He put an end to all their lives,
The fifty chiefs and fifty wives,
The King of the Cannibal Islands.
These cannibal slaveys then begun
Carving their heads off one by one,
And the king he laughed to see the fun,
Then jump'd into bed when all was done,
And every night when he's asleep,
His headless wives and chiefs all creep,
And roll upon him in a heap,
The King of the Cannibal Islands.
From http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ballads/ballads.htm: Bodleian.
This song has been a favorite of all lovers of the long pig for many years. These lyrics are from two broadside ballad printings, Harding B36(10) and Harding B 11(322), both printed in London, UK between 1813 and 1838 and 1813-1844, resp. The chorus is similar to that of "Ching a Ring Chaw," an anonymous minstrel song of 1833 date, and also in "In Chinaland There Lived a Great Man," from the 1850s. Chinaman
Also see thread 19284: Cannibal
@humor @cannibals @minstrel?"
3.
Subject: RE: LYR REQ & ADD: king of the cannibals
From Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Jul 02 - 10:51 PM
.. "here is the last verse which is missing in the broadsides I quoted:
They all rush in at every door,
And drop upon him on the floor,
Revenge is sweet they loudly roar,
To King of the Cannibal Islands.
The headless tribe the palace fill,
Old Poonoowingkeewang to kill,
From every one he gets a pill,
And tells him he must make his will.
They all retire- at daylight,
And visit him again at night,
Oh what a benefit- and fright
For King of the Cannibal Islands.
Chorus:
According to this link, the lyrics were writtwn by A. W. Humphreys, a concert performer. The text is from sheet music published in 1830. Tune by John Charles White, originally published as a Quadrille in "The Two Rivals (Le Deux Rivales)," then later as a country dance, "Vulcan's Cave," published in London. The South Riding website provides midis of the arrangements for "Vulcan's Cave" and "The Quadrille." The tune, under the name, "King of The Cannibal Islands," is given for several later sets of lyrics; and is used and often named for "The Cumberland Reel (South Riding link)."
This song seems to be the inspiration for the chorus of "Ching a Ring Chaw," 1833, a minstrel song.
There are several sanitized and childrens versions, some of which can be found on Google."
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4.
Subject: RE: LYR REQ & ADD: king of the cannibals
From Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Jul 02 - 01:39 PM
| "The islands constituting Fiji were once commonly known as the Cannibal Islands. In 1874, King Cakobau and island leaders signed a treaty with Great Britain, putting the islands under British protection; the islands became a crown colony. The ceremonial eating of the "long pig" (common pidgin English term at the time for human flesh) did not survive for long after the treaty. Soon after the treaty, more than one-third of the Fijians were dead from imported diseases, including measles, innocently brought back by King Cakobau and his party following a visit to Australia, where the disease was prevalent in Sidney. In medical history, Fiji was the prime example of a "virgin soil epidemic." (The same catastrophic loss of life destroyed many American cultures as diseases brought by the Spaniards and other early explorers and settlers spread across the continent.)"... **** 5. Subject: RE: Lyr Req: King of the Cannibal Islands From GUEST slehto Date: 16 May 13 - 10:49 PM "My dad learned this song at Boy Scout Camp or YMCA camp back in the 1920s. He used to sing it to us kids in the 1950s. Here is all I remember of his version. I'm glad to see all the other verses that I have forgotten. Thanks. Hokey Pokey Winky Wum. Parlacom pinky moorly come Hansy tansy whyry rum Down on the Cannibal Islands. The king, he had a little roast. and 40 of his wives, gave up the ghost. and we had crocodiles on toast Down on the cannibal islands. The king he made a chief of me and called me Nora Kirah Kee. and we got gay as gay could be. Down on the cannibal islands. **** 6. Subject:RE: Lyr Req; King of the Cannibal Islands From: GUEST Debbie Date: 06 Dec/ 18: 4:31 AM
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Excerpt #3
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=9724
[Pancocojams Editor's Note: These selected posts from this discussion thread are numbered for referencing purposes only.]
1.
Subject: RE: Info: King of the Cannibal Islands
From: Amos
Date: 17 Jun 03 - 11:47 AM
And apparently it also spun off a lullaby and child's play verse.
"Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes" by Iona and Peter Opie:
Hokey, pokey, whisky, thum,
How d'you like potatoes done?
Boiled in whisky, boiled in rum,
Says the King of the Cannibal Islands.
Heard sung as a lullaby in 1947, and also known as a school song and counting-out rhyme, the lines are evidently a somewhat rationalised memory of the chorus of a popular comic song "The King of the Cannibal Islands" written about 1830 by A. W. Humphreys and 'Sung by him with great applause at the London Concerts':
Oh, have you heard the news of late,
About a mighty King so great?
If you have not, 'tis in my pate––
The King of the cannibal islands.
He was so tall––near six feet six,
He had a head like Mister Nick's,
His palace was like Dirty Dick's,
'Twas built of mud for want of bricks,
And his name was poonoo winkewang,
Flibeedee-flobeedee-buskeebang;
And a lot of the Indians swore they'd hang,
The King of the cannibal islands.
(Chorus)
Hokee pokee wonkee fum,
Puttee po pee kaihula cum,
Tongaree, wongaree, ching ring wum,
The King of the Cannibal Islands
And again another version (just for fun):
Hoky poky, winky wum,
How do you like your 'taters done?
Snip snap snorum, High popolorum.
Kate go scratch it, You are out!.
(from http://fracman.home.mchsi.com/works/lion/LION.89_28-36.90_01-33.part1.doc.)
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Pancocojams Editor's Note:
That link is no longer accessible (Sept 12, 2022).
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2.
Subject: RE: Info: King of the Cannibal Islands
From: GUEST,Barrie Roberts
Date: 29 Nov 04 - 12:24 PM
"The early 19th Century song clubs out of which Victorian music-hall grew were pretty low places. Cheap books of bawdy songs were printed for their audiences, books with titles like 'Fanny Hill's Bang-Up Reciter'. An item found in some of these books is a song called 'The Queen of the Cannibal Islands'. The chrus is as much as I will quote here, but is sufficient to show a) that the song is related to the 'King of..' version, and b) the nature of the 'Queen of...'. The chorus runs:
Hokey pokey, wankee fum,
Clap your fingers under my bum,
That's the way to make me come,
Says the Queen of the Cannibal Islands.
The songbooks are about 1820s/'30s, but whether they might contain any evidence as to which came first I don't know"
3.
Subject: RE: Info: King of the Cannibal Islands
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 29 Nov 04 - 02:48 PM
"One of the versions of the "KIng ...." (unfortunately not the one about the queen) from a ca. 1813-1838 broadside was posted in the other thread, 9724: King of the Cannibal Islands."...
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4.
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: King of the Cannibal Islands
From: GUEST,Rev
Date: 19 Aug 06 - 01:16 AM
KING OF THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS
Oh! Have you heard the news of late,
About a mighty king so great,
If you have not, 'tis in my pate
The king of the Cannibal Islands,
He was so tall, near six feet six;
He had a head like Mr. Nick's,
His palace was like dirty Dick's;
'Twas built of mud for want of brick;
And his name was Poonoowinkewang,
Flibeedee flobeedee buskeebang,
and a lot of Indians swore they would hang,
Hokee, pokee, wongee, fum,
Putte, po, pee, kabula, cum,
Tongeree, wongree, ching, ring, wum,
The king of the Cannibal Islands.
This mighty king had in one hut,
Seventy wives as black as soot,
And thirty of a doble smut,
The king of the Cannibal Islands
Just one hundred wives he had,
and every week he was a dad,
upon my word it was too bad,
For his smutty dears soon drove him mad;
There was Hunkee, Munkee, short and tall,
with Tuzzee, Muzzee, and Keeko Pall,
and some of them swore they would have all,
The king of the Cannibal Islands.
One day the king invited most
All his subjects to a roast,
For half his wives gave up the ghost,
the king of the Cannibal Islands.
Of fifty wives he was bereft,
and so he had but fifty left;
He said with them he would make a shift,
So for a gorge they set off swift.
The fifty wives were roasted soon,
and all demolished before the noon,
and a lot of chief's vowed to have soon,
The king of the Cannibal Islands.
When they had done and bones picked clean,
They all began to dance I ween;
The fifty wives slipped out unseen,
from the King of the Cannibal Islands.
He turning round misses them all,
So for his wives began to bawl,
But not one answered to his call,
He sprung out through the muddy wall;
Then into the woods he went with grief,
And found each queen 'long with a chief,
He swore he'd Macadamize each thief,
The king of the Cannibal Islands.
He sent for all his guards with knives,
To put an end to all their lives,
The fifty chiefs and fifty wives,
The king of the Cannibal Islands.
These Cannibal slaves then begun,
Carving their heads off one by one,
And the king he laughed to see the fun,
Then jumpt into bed when all was done;
And every night when he's asleep,
The headless wives and chiefs all creep
And roll upon him in a heap,
The king of the Cannibal Islands.
Hokee Pokee, &c."
5.
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: King of the Cannibal Islands
From: GUEST,mei
Date: 15 Nov 07 - 03:57 PM
"It goes
"Oh have you heard the story of late, about the royal potentate?
Well if you haven't it's in my pate...
The King of the Cannibal Islands
His kingdom stretched for miles and miles
Around about the neighboring isles
His subjects fed on crocodiles..
The King of the Cannibal Islands
Hokey Pokey Winky Wong
Kalamazoo kazoo kazong
If you haven't it's in my pate
Chorus."
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This post (comment) also includes lyrics for a similar song entitled "The Tongo Islands"
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6.
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: King of the Cannibal Islands
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 16 Nov 07 - 08:48 AM
"The oldest version of THE KING OF THE CANNIBAL ISLANDS that I could find with Google Book Search is in Marsh's Selection, Or Singing for the Million, New York: Richard Marsh, 1854. "Containing the choicest and best collection of admired patriotic, comic, Irish, Negro, temperance and sentimental songs ever embodied in one work."
The words seem pretty close to the ones posted by GUEST,Rev above, so I won't repeat them, but those of you who collect old songs might want to browse in that volume."
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7.
Subject: RE: Lyr/Tune Req: King of the Cannibal Islands
From: GUEST,Tim Jaques
Date: 14 Oct 08 - 05:57 PM
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Pancocojams Editor's Note:
That Mudcat discussion thread includes other similar "cannibal" songs such as "I wouldn't leave my little wooden hut for you".
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