YIPPIE CAYO HUESO
Cayo Hueso is, of course, Key West's original name. In Spanish it means “Bone Key”. Pronounced Kai Oh WAYso. Cayo means Key and Hueso means Bone. When Great Britain acquired Florida from Spain in 1763 they heard the name “Cayo Hueso” and thought it meant Key West and renamed it as such. However, to this day every Spanish speaking country in the world still call it “Cayo Hueso”. In Key West it's not uncommon to hear people refer to our little island as Cayo Hueso.
Many Americans incorrectly translate it to “Bone Island”. Although I guess that could be called slang, as the translation back to Spanish would be “Isla Hueso”. The translations of many Keys are often a bit twisted, HA HA HA! If you take Islamorada, (Translation: Purple Island) that gets twisted into knots! Or Bahia Honda (Say : Ba EEa Onda it means “Deep Channel” )often comes out seriously mangled! HA HA HA!
I give this to you as a history of the area and also so that if you didn't know that Cayo Hueso is also the name for Key West, now you do, thanks to the British. :-)
With “Yippie Cayo Hueso” I was out with my friends Joe Gowran (A.K.A. Key Largo Joe) and Gary. While out ob the town, Joe came up with the saying “Yippie Cayo Hueso”. I loved it and with his approval, I wrote it and gave him credit as a co-writer. I wrote the entire song. Most writers however, do not do this. They'll write the song and give no credit to the person who gave them the inspiration.
I see it differently. This song is a good example. If Joe never said “Yippie Cayo Hueso”, the song would never exist, would it? It's only right that Joe gets a credit for co-writing it. Why? Because he did.
In songwriting I always strive to be unique and original. This is paramount for me. While I may have influences from say, Jerry Garcia, Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, John Lennon, Mick Jagger, James Taylor, Gregg Allman, Frank Zappa... etc, the last thing I want to do is sound like any of them.
One
of the ways I sound original is by writing the music first. Here in
this case I already have a subject, “Yippie Cayo Hueso”. How
could it be anything but?
Amazingly the chorus just rolled out:
“Yippie Cayo Hueso
Yippie Cayo Way
Yippie Cayo Hueso
An Island In The Stream”
That last line, of course is a salute to Ernest Hemingway who lived in Key West and wrote the book “Islands in the Stream”.
One of the things I love the most here in Cayo Hueso, is getting out on the water! When it got to the last line of the chorus, “An Island in the stream” that line just came out of nowhere. It just popped out! And as soon as it popped out I knew the song would be aquatic based!
So, the song bursts like it was shot out of a cannon. It's flat out, pedal to the metal, in 6th gear!
We're approaching the 1st chorus going flat out. This is not normal!!! Usually with a song with high energy, you save the highest energy for the ending of the song. What do we do? Lets slow it down, just a touch. As we are talking in automotive metaphors, as far as the structure of the song goes, lets call it 5th gear. Good! It works! Plus, I came up with a cool progression to go with it. The song mow has a firm foundation, and it's both rock solid and unique
So, now that I've come up with the music, lets look for the lyrics. I know it a song about being out on the water. We had been out on a boat not too long before I started this song and we had been out near Sand Key, so I based the first verse with memories of that, complete with the dolphins that joined us!
1
“Sailing out to Sand Key
A little bit north of the light
A pod of dolphins started playing
Right off our port side”
Verse two carries it right along
2
“We came about and we headed south
The sea was quite serine
And that pod of dolphins showed the way
Right off of our bow”
I wanted a chorus and the music I set up for this song was very unique and somehow it worked :-O
The chorus would hit the nail right the head, underlining the fundamental message of the song, albeit with a bit of gray matter inserted on the listener's part. And that would be a subliminal “You're on vacation. You're on the water in Key West. You've sailed with dolphins today, and now you're on a sunset sail!! Back at home, everyone's all wound up. Traffic jams, crime, road rage, the list goes on and on. And here you are relaxed, perhaps enjoying a coattail with your significant other and your on a sunset sail, just off of Key West, watching the sun sink into The Gulf of Mexico. Life it good here.
Refrain:
“Back on the mainland they're wound so tight
Sometimes I can't believe my eyes
Just take a sail on a sunset eve
in the twilight, you can't believe”
Here it returns to the chorus underlining the theme of the song which again, subliminally says: This is the way life is supposed to be!
“Yippie Cayo Hueso
Yippie Cayo Way
Yippie Cayo Hueso
An Island In The Stream”
With this it goes to the instrumental portion of the song. With most, but not all instrumental segments, the majority of solos in songs are based on the verse chord progression, or in other cases the refrain or the chorus. Not in this song however. In this song the solo instrumental has it's own segment, different from the rest of the song. This is not the first time in the annals of music this was done, of course, however it is not all that common. Not only that, the solo is actually done as a rhythm guitar solo. That is certainly not common at all. Additionally, the solo is done in octaves and is actually a reverse of the refrain. The refrain goes A Maj7 - B octave, where as the solo goes B octave - A Maj7 and while they are related, structurally they sound quite different.
(Rhythm guitar solo)
The third verse takes a fun little twist:
3)
Pelican flies like a B25
a half a foot off the waves
and when they're high they sure can fly
always carrying a smile”
The first two lines of this verse are a reference to The Doolittle Raid, where B25's took off from the deck of the USS Hornet and flown at a very low altitude, to avoid being spotted by radar in WW2.
Pelicans likewise often fly with their wingtips about an inch off the water. This is actually another subliminal message to those visiting Cayo Hueso. For them, be they from Atlanta, Charlotte, Boston, New York, or, say Chicago, they don't have pelicans back home. However, you won't have any trouble finding them in the Keys archipelago. And mark my words Pelicans make you smile! :-D
Here the song repeats the refrain “Back on the mainland they're wound so tight...” reminding the listener of the madhouse it can be living above the Keys and at the same time carrying a higher intensity that the earlier refrain.
To end the song we return to the chorus, albeit with actually more intensity than it had in the beginning and ending with a hard hitting crescendo
BA-BA-BA-BA BA-BA-BA-BA BAAAAAAAAAA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJzumCPK7wo&list=RDVJzumCPK7wo&start_radio=1
YIPPIE CAYO HUESO
YIPPIE CAYO HUESO YIPPIE CAYOWAY
YIPPIE CAYO HUESO AN ISLAND IN THE STREAM
1)
SAILING OUT TO SAND KEY
A LITTLE BIT NORTH OF THE LIGHT
A POD OF DOLPHINS STARTED PLAYING
RIGHT OFF OUR PORT SIDE
2)
WE CAME ABOUT AND HEADED SOUTH
THE THE SEA WAS QUITE SERINE
AND THAT POD OF DOLPHINS SHOWED THE WAY
RIGHT OFF OF OUR BOW
(Refrain)
BACK ON THE MAINLAND THEY'RE WOUND SO TIGHT
SOMETIMES I CAN'T BELIEVE MY EYES
JUST TAKE A SAIL ON A SUNSET EVE
IN THE TWILIGHT YOU CAN'T BELIEVE
GO!!!
(chorus)
YIPPIE CAYO HUESO YIPPIE CAYOWAY
YIPPIE CAYO HUESO AN ISLAND IN THE STREAM
(Rhythm guitar solo)
3)
PELICAN FLIES LIKE A B25
A HALF A FOOT OFF THE WAVES
AND WHEN THEY'RE HIGH THEY SURE CAN FLY
ALWAYS CARRYING A SMILE
(SOMETIMES A FISH)
BACK ON THE MAINLAND THEY'RE WOUND SO TIGHT
SOMETIMES I CAN'T BELIEVE MY EYES
JUST TAKE A SAIL ON A SUNSET EVE
IN THE TWILIGHT YOU CAN'T BELIEVE GO!!!
(chorus)
YIPPIE CAYO HUESO YIPPIE CAYOWAY
YIPPIE CAYO HUESO
YIPPIE CAYO HUESO
YIPPIE CAYO HUESO
AN ISLAND IN THE STREAM
© 2013 by Christopher R. Rehm, Joe Gowran BMI
McClure and Trowbridge Publishing, Ltd. Nashville
"Time Traveler - The Oddities and Adventures of a Key West Bartender". The first of the series!
Also! My latest music release, "Trimaran" is now available through Amazon at only:
$2.97
for the download!
"Time Traveler II - The Further Adventures of a Time Traveling Key West Bartender"
This book picks up where "Time Traveler The Oddities and Adventures of a Key West Bartender" leaves off!
Available at Amazon!
https://www.amazon.com/Time-Traveler-Adventures-Traveling-Bartender/dp/B08VLZ3PBN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1LYBSXDY1L1HS&dchild=1&keywords=time+traveler+ii+book&qid=1617467025&sprefix=Time+Traveler+II+%2Cstripbooks%2C179&sr=8-1
All The Best From Key West! Released in December, 2019, to rave reviews!
Only $5.94 for the download
https://www.amazon.com/All-Best-Key-West-Chris/dp/B082XFG8G7
THANK YOU!!!!!
"Key West Chris" Rehm
No comments:
Post a Comment