Shop for Music
About the Composer
Timothy C. Takach
Timothy C. Takach Publications
Johnny Come Down to Hilo
A rousing sea chanty – fast rhythms, call and response, a big finish.
TTBB a cappella
Takach has arranged a rarely-heard sea chanty in an energetic score for men’s voices. The upbeat piece opens with an optional solo (or the entire choir!), and doesn’t let up from there. Homophonic textures are mixed with little calls and responses, and the slower waltz section in the middle provides a lyrical and funny anecdote before the series of harmonic shifts at the end close out the song with a bang.
Text
I’d never seen the like since I been born,
An Arkansas farmer with his sea boots on.
When Johnny come down to Hilo, poor old man.
I love a little gal across the sea,
She’s a Bajan beauty and she says to me:
When Johnny come down to Hilo, poor old man.
Oh, wake her! Oh, shake her!
Oh, shake that gal with the blue dress on.
Johnny come down to Hilo, poor old man.
Who’s been there since I been gone
with the pretty little gal with the blue dress on.
Those Hilo gals they dress so fine
they ain’t got Jesus (Sunday) on their mind.
Chorus
My wife she died in Tennessee
And they sent her jawbone back to me.
I hung that jawbone on the fence,
And I ain’t heard nothing but the jawbone since singin’:
Chorus
Oh, my wife she died in Tennessee
And they sent her jawbone back to me.
I hung that jawbone on the fence,
And I ain’t heard nothing but the jawbone since singin’:
Chorus
– Traditional
$1.60 per licensed PDF
Music from Timothy C. Takach Publications
-
Ghosts
Difficulty: 2Duration: less than 3 min. -
-
-
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.