Lyrics of 'Abiyoyo' by Arlo Guthrie

Story by Pete Seeger
traditional African music arranged by Rev. HCN Williams and JN Maselwa

Chorus:
Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo
Abiyoyo, yoyoyo, yoyoyo

Once upon a time there was a little boy who
played the ukelele. He'd go around town,
'Blmp, blmp, blmp, blmp, blmp, blmp, blmp,
bImp blmp blmp, blmp blmp, blmp!'
Grown-ups said "Get that thing out of here!"

Not only that, the boy's father was a gettin'
in trouble. He was a magician. He had a
magic wand. He could go 'Zoop! Zoop!' make
things disappear. But the father played too
many tricks on people. Somebody doing a
hard job of work, 'zzt, zzt, zzt', up comes the
father with his magic wand, 'Zoop!' no saw.
Come to someone about to drink a nice cold
glass of something, 'Zoop!' the glass
disappears, He'd come to someone about
to sit down after a hard day's work, 'Zoopl'
no chair.

People said to the father, "You get out
of here, too. Take your magic wand and
your son!" The boy and his father were
ostracized. That means they made them
live on the edge of town.

Now in this town they used to tell stories.
The old people used to tell stories about
the giants that lived in the old days They
used to tell a story about a giant called
Abiyoyo. They said he was as tall as a
house and could eat...people... up.
Of course, nobody believed it, but they
told the story anyway.

One day, one day, the sun rose, blood red
over the hill. And the first people got up
and looked out of their window, they saw a
great big shadow in front of the sun. And
they could feel the whole ground shake.
'Stomp, stomp'. Women screamed, 'Ahh!'
Strong men fainted "Ohh!" - "Run for
your lives! Abiyoyo's coming!"

He came to the sheep pasture, grabs a
whole sheep, 'Yeowp!' Comes to the cow
pasture, grabs a whole cow, 'Yeowp!'
Daniel, "Grab your most precious
possessions and run! Run!" Just then the
boy and his father woke up "Hey, Paw,
what's coming over the field?" - Oh, Son,
that's Abiyoyo. Oh, if I could only get him
to lie down, I could make him disappear."

The boy said "Come with me, Father." He
grabs his father by one hand. The father
gets the magic wand, the boy gets the
ukelele. They run across the field. People
yelled, "Don't go near him! He'll eat you
alive!" There was Abiyoyo. He had long
fingernails cause he never cut 'em.
Slobbery teeth, cause he didn't brush
them. Stinking feet, 'cause he didn't wash
'em. He raised up with his claws, the boy
whips out his ukelele and starts to sing.

Chorus

Well, you know the giant had never heard a song
about himself before, and a foolish grin spread
over the giant's face. And the giant started to
dance "Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo," the boy
went faster, "Abiyoyo, yoyoyo, yoyoyo. Abiyoyo,
Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo," The giant
got out of breath. He staggered. He fell down flat
on the ground 'Zoop!, Zoop!' people looked out
the window, Abiyoyo disappeared.

They ran across the fields. They lifted the boy
and his father up on their shoulders. They said,
"Come back to town. Bring your damn ukelele,
we don t care anymore!" And they all sang:

Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo
(Oh, you sing it with me,)
Abiyoyo Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo