Yoda Chant

[ludovica64]

Had an interesting chat on Twitter with someone who knows "Tjak" as a choral piece by Canadian composer Stephen Hatfield based on something called the Balinese Monkey Chant. Both can been seen on You tube using the search terms Tjak and Balinese Monkey Chant.. unsurprisingly. I feel that the part in the Yoda Chant is closer to the Balinese "original" than to the Hatfield piece anyway, (probably deliberate) but it was interesting to discover it that way. Apologies if you guys all knew all about this already, but I must have missed that memo

[Orthography Enthusiast]

I think I had heard about the monkey chant (there's a YouTube video of it from Bali if I'm not mistaken) but I never knew it had been turned into an actual choral piece. Stuff you learn on Twitter! Now, why did I have the impression that something in the Yoda chant came from Cars?

[NH Weird Al Fan]

...Now, why did I have the impression that something in the Yoda chant came from Cars?

Hmm, I haven't heard about anything from Cars being in the Yoda Chant, but there are 2 other Disney-related songs used in it.

[ludovica64]

So.. can we now definitively identify every piece of the chant?

[Orthography Enthusiast]

Yes, I think so.

1) da din din da (Tabla chant)

2) Boom shaka laka (what's the best theory of its origin? I favor Muppet Treasure Island myself, especially if you take the "Pork!" interjection to be a reference to Miss Piggy)

3) Homina homina (various origins, may go back to Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden on the Honeymooners, may be from Terry S. Taylor's Neverhood game soundtrack; sticking with cartoons I'm going with the Spongebob theory)

4) Papa oom mow mow (Surfin' Bird, the Trashmen)

5) weeell doggie! (I favor a Jed Clampett source for this one)

6) Hawaiian War Chant (possibly via the Enchanted Tiki Room)

7) Zicke zacke, zicke zacke, hoi hoi hoi! ("Ein Prosit" German Oktoberfest toast, also used in The Man Show)

Ring ding ding (Marching Off To Bedlam" by Napoleon XIV)

9) La la la nice lady! (Frank Zappa, "Billy the Mountain")

10) Big Shoes, Steve Jay

11) Grim Grinning Ghosts (Haunted Mansion, Disneyland)

12) Frere Jacques (trad.)

13) Tjak (Balinese Monkey Chant-- if I had to guess, I'd say Al got it from the 1992 movie Baraka)

I got a lot of this from Dave/Elvis' invaluable website, but AFAIK no one has ascribed #9 to Zappa before.

[minnick27]

I never even would have pegged it as a Zappa reference. I would go with Jerry Lewis though because they do an imitation of him

[Killingsworth]

I never even would have pegged it as a Zappa reference. I would go with Jerry Lewis though because they do an imitation of him

I was gonna say the same thing, I also always thought the "tabla" chant was something Al created on his own, but I think he said that he got it form somewhere else.

[eleventhirtyfour]

"AFAIK no one has ascribed #9 to Zappa before."

That's because it was The Beatles...

[Orthography Enthusiast]

I never even would have pegged it as a Zappa reference. I would go with Jerry Lewis though because they do an imitation of him

That's the beauty of it. It's Frank Zappa doing a Jerry Lewis imitation. Check out this live recording of Billy The Mountain at 11:45 to 11:50.

[JohnnyLurg]

I never even would have pegged it as a Zappa reference. I would go with Jerry Lewis though because they do an imitation of him

When the whippoorwill whippers in the wind, the wind can whipper back, OH NICE AND CHUBBY BABY!

Bark woof bark FREUNLAVEN!