Abiyoyo

**Abiyoyo** is a song/story written by Pete Seeger in 1963.

Raffi tells this on his 2016 album: Owl Singalong.

## Lyrics

Once upon a time there was a little boy, who played a ukulele

He'd go around town clink, clunk, CLONK!

The grown-ups would say: Take that thing out of here!

Not only that. The boy's father would get in trouble, too

His father was a magician and he had a magic wand. He could go Zooop!

With it, and make things disappear

But he played too many tricks on people

He'd come up to someone just about to drink a nice glass of something

Zoop! The glass would disappear

He'd come up to someone doing some work—maybe sawing off a log of wood:

Zzt, zzt, zzt. Up comes the father with his magic wand: Zoop!

And the saw would disappear

He would come up to someone just about to sit down after a hard day's

Work, and zoop! No chair

People got tired of this. They said to the father:

Hey you get out of here too. Take your magic wand and your practical

Jokes and you and your son, just git!"

They ostracized them. That means, they

Made 'em 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 tree, and he could eat people up

Of course, nobody believed it; but they told these stories anyway

But one day, one day, the sun rose red over the hill

And the first people that 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. Strong men fainted. They said: “Run for your lives!

Abiyoyo's coming!”

Down through the fields he came. He came to the sheep pasture and

Grabs a whole sheep. Yeowp! He eats it in one bite. He comes to the cow

Pasture, grabs a whole cow and Yuhk! Gone

People yelled: “Grab your most precious possessions and run!”

Just then the boy and his father were waking up. They'd been up late the

Night before at a party. The boy rubbed his eyes and said:

"Hey, pa, what's coming over the fields"

The father said: "Oh, son. That's Abiyoyo."

Oh, if only I could get him to lie down, I could make him disappear."

The boy said, "Come with me father." He grabbed his father by the hand

And the father grabbed the magic wand, and the boy grabbed his ukulele

And over the fields they went, right up to where Abiyoyo was

People screamed "Don't go near him! He'll eat you alive!"

There was Abiyoyo

He had long fingernails, ‘cause he never cut 'em

He had slobbery teeth 'cause he never brushed them

He had stinking feet, cause he never washed them

He was raising up his claws and just then the boy whipped out his ukulele

Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo

Abiyoyo, yo yoyo yo yoyo

Abiyoyo, yo yoyo yo yoyo

Well, the giant had never heard a song about himself before, and a

Foolish grin spread across his face. And the giant started to dance

ABIYOYO, ABIYOYO, ABIYOYO

The boy went faster

ABIYOYO, ABIYOYO, ABIYOYO, ABIYOYO

ABIYOYO, YO YOYO, YO YOYO ABIYOYO, YO YOYO…

And the giant was dancing faster, and faster he got out of breath and

He staggered. He fell down flat on the ground

Zoop, zoop! Went the father with his magic wand, and Abiyoyo disappeared

People streamed out of their houses, and they ran across the fields

They said: "Why, he's gone, he's disappeared!"

They said: "Come back to town. And sure, bring your ukulele; we don't care."

And they all sang:

Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo, Abiyoyo

Abiyoyo, yo yoyo yo yoyo, Abiyoyo, yo yoyo yo yoyo

## Song Credits

Written by Pete Seeger, published by Figs D. Music, Inc. and Sanga Music, Inc..

* Raffi: Ukulele
* Adrian Dolan: Fiddle