'Bolobolo Woman' - Original by Ted and Ba Gre

[Ted]

This is the first song I've recorded in Madagascar, and the first song I've recorded with my kabosy.

The short story is...

I really did have a friend named Moses, in Cameroon, who asked me to find him an American wife. I did not, however, send him a sex doll. This song was an inside joke -- inside my head -- until 2008 when I asked a different Cameroonian friend, Ba Gre, to polish the Kamtok (a.k.a. Cameroonian Pidgin English). Gre also added some ideas to the lyrics, so I give him co-writing credits.

The song owes a lot to Nigerian highlife. I borrowed some ideas from Sweet Mother by Prince Nico Mbarga. There's a little influence from South African mbaqanga in the bass.  However, now that I'm in Madagascar, I thought I'd try it on my kabosy. The song took right to it. The kabosy still has the ancient strings that were on it when I bought it, and it still has a cut-off pencil for a saddle and bridge.

Finally: Moses was a musician; a saxophonist, among other things, so I threw in this sax solo downloaded from Looperman.

Bolobolo Woman
(c)2008 Ted Johnson

voice, kabosy, bass, drum programming: Ted
Sax: Dan(?)

Analog recordings: Micro BR (not counting the sax loop)
Drums & Mixdown: GarageBand for OSX

(English Translation Below)

I seh Ni Moses, you tok seh mek I send you
American woman. Na so I go do, o.

Poor don come hold you. Ya woman don troway you.
American woman, you check seh no go do so.

Yi no go run time weh you di sick.
Yi no go go yi, time weh ya head di kick, o.

Me sef, I don find am soteh I no see am
Soteh yi don pass me, I see some magazine, o.

Empty skin woman, dem deh fo inside Playboy.
I don look 'am fine, o, soteh book di finish.

I wan look fo las page, time weh I see wonda.
Weh na advatisement fo bolobolo woman.

I seh Ni Moses, you tok seh mek I send you
American woman. Na so I don do, o.


Yi no go run time weh you di sick.
Yi no go go yi, time weh ya head di kick, o.

Go fo post office. Open ya post box.
Inside small katon, ya problem don finish.

You wan look inside. You go see wonda.
Inside small katon na bolobolo woman.

Bolobolo woman


English Translation:

So, Moses, you say that I should send you
An American woman. That's what I'll do.

You became poor. Your wife cast you away.
An American woman, you think would never do so.

She won't abandon you when you are sick.
She won't leave you when you become crazy.

I searched for one myself, but I never saw one,
I had failed until I saw this magazine.

There are naked women in Playboy.
I looked at it thoroughly, nearly to the end of the book.

I was almost to the last page, when I saw something amazing.
I saw an advertisement for an inflatable [balloon] woman.

So, Moses, you say that I should send you
An American woman, and that's what I've done.

She won't abandon you when you are sick.
She won't leave you when you become crazy.

Go to the post office.  Open your post box.
Inside a small box, your problem is over.

Look inside, you'll see something amazing.
Inside a small box is an inflatable woman.

Inflatable woman

[Oldrottenhead]

Giving me gas for a kabosy, tho not for an inflatable women. Braw tell yer maw.

[SE]

That vox is sounding cool, and the kabosy sounds the biz too, blow up dolls  m mm mm mm,  nah not really

[IanR]

Great sound, great song.

The whole thing sounds very Madagascan 

cheers,

Ian 

[Groundy]

Great start to my sunday Morning......Alex

[Hook]

Brilliant Ted, love everything about it. Listened to this on my phone last night but didn't get that bass line at all, glad I came back. Kabosy fever is what I gots!
Rock On! 

[Picker]

That's freakin cool!!!!

[Redler]

Excellent song! Loved the African rhythm and feel on this! Kabosy sounds really good! Thanks for sharing the story!

[Greeny]

Totally unexpected and different, but all the better for it. The vocoder / auto-tune treatment on the vox works so beautifully on this, and the whole composition is full of joy and talent.

What a brilliant song!

[Nelson]

Nice groove.
Your kabosy playing sounds great and your vocals are wonderful.

Loved the funny back story about your friend, wanting an American wife.

Beautiful song.