Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 9:31 am
Caravan Ray wrote: This is a simple song about facial hair and oral sex.
I Promise
- Caravan Ray
I promise I will build you a kiakia
On the ocean-side at Bikenibeu
I promise you fresh moimoto every morning
I promise to always look after you
Just promise that you won't go out tonight
To Te Nitespot with your lava-lava tight
And run your fingers through the beard of that Abemama man
Taioka kinano that's just not right
That's not right
Promise me you won't go out tonight
That's not right
I promise you the world, if you'll only treat me right
I know you are a Maiana woman
So what you say is not always so
But this I-Matang man will run naked if you ask him
From Buota all the way down to Betio
Just promise that you won't go out tonight
To Te Nitespot with your lava-lava tight
And run your fingers through the beard of that Abemama man
Taioka kinano that's just not right
That's not right
Promise me you won't go out tonight
That's not right
I promise you the world, if you'll only treat me right
Teuana, uoua, tenua, aua - kawai!
Kabuai! Kabuai! Moanriki om'aaka
Kabuai! Kabuai! Moanriki om'aaka
They say he is like Ten Binoka
You are just pillow stuffing in his eyes
I promise one day I'll make you shout "ieng bubuai!"
Get ready for a big surprise!
Just promise that you won't go out tonight
To Te Nitespot with your lava-lava tight
And run your fingers through the beard of that Abemama man
Taioka kinano that's just not right
That's not right
Promise me you won't go out tonight
That's not right
I promise you the world, if you'll only treat me right
EXPLANATORY NOTES -
kiakia - small, moveable sleeping platform with thatched pandannus roof
moimoto - young, green coconut, full of water, with the meat a jelly-like consistency,
Te Nitespot - popular entertainment venue on the island of South Tarawa. The band plays in a cage.
...run your fingers through the beard of that Abemama man - Abemama, one of the Gilbert Islands, is an atoll lying almost on the equator. Popular legend has it that Abemaman men are particularly skilled in the art of cunnilingus. Particuly those with beards. Not surprisingly, many Abemaman men have beards (and no, I am not making this up. Really.)
taioka kinano - please darling/sweetheart/whatever
Maiana woman - Maiana is an atoll just south of Tarawa atoll. Local legend has it that people from Maiana can be slightly devious
I-Matang - literally a "person from Matang" - Matang being a mythical place where the people of the Gilbert Is. originated - now it is used to refer to "outsiders" - generally European.
Buota all the way down to Betio - roughly 25km
Teuana, uoua, tenua, aua - 1,2,3,4
kawai! to engage in performing an incantation to make a beard grow
Kabuai! an incantation to make a beard grow
Moanriki om'aaka it sprouts, it grows rapidly
They say he is like Ten Binoka, You are just pillow stuffing in his eyes - Binoka was King of Abemama in the late 19th century. Robert Louis Stevenson met him during his time on the island and wrote of him in In The South Seas. He kept a large harem, and legend has it that he slept on a pillow stuffed with the pubic hair of virgins.
"ieng bubuai!" - "My goodness! What a large, bushy beard!"
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OK - I've pretty much finished - sorry I'm late - are we still emailing to Minty Handy? Or just posting up here?
