As I sit here thinking about Spike Jones and listening to The Pogues, Hawaiian War Chant (Ta-Hu-Wa-Hu-Wai) comes to mind. Jones did a really wacky version of it. In The Haunted Tiki House (or whatever it’s called) at Disneyland, they play a sedate, ‘pretty’ version of it.
What I’d like to find is a version that starts out sedately, and then turns up-tempo – IIRC, The Lion King had a lyrics-changed version that was up-tempo. In my mind’s eye I imagine riding on Disneyland’s canoe ride, where the ‘guests’ paddle a large canoe, packed with a ‘picked crew’ and a clueless ‘guide’. As we paddle in unison, we break into the sedate opening of Hawaiian War Chant. Very pretty. Then we all begin paddling furiously while singing the up-tempo version while we watch the ‘guide’ stand helplessly. But then, my sanity has often been called into question.
I’ve found the lyrics online, but I haven’t found the version I want. I tried looking at iTunes, but my dial-up connection does not permit me to listen to the samples – I get about two seconds before it has to rebuffer. There are versions of the song that are instrumental, and there is the Lion King version with the ‘wrong’ lyrics, and there is Jones’s version that is too wacky, and there are versions by Hawaiian vocalists that play it too straight.
Does anyone have an idea of a version that matches what I’m looking for?
