A Song Called “Mr. cocoji” from Cameroon

Here are two versions of a song called Mr. cocoji I received from Cameroon. They’re in Pidgin English. I can understand parts of the lyrics, but not all.

This is the version of Mr. cocoji from the north west province…

Mr. cocoji
(Pidgin English)

Mr. cocoji
ih begin di follow goat
ih nack ih oneside jiga
ih one side belle high

Here’s another version from the south west province…

Mr. cocoji
(Pidgin English)

Mr. cocoji
ih begin di follow goat
ih nack i foot for jiga
ih one side belle high

Many thanks to Ango Fomuso Ekellem for contributing this song.

If anyone could provide a translation into standard English, please comment below.

Thanks!

Lisa

Come visit the new Mama Lisa’s World Cameroon Page for more songs from Cameroon.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 30th, 2006 at 9:29 pm and is filed under African Children's Songs, Cameroon, Children's Songs, Children's Songs from Cameroon, Countries & Cultures, Languages, Pidgin English, Questions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Ms. Melissa Nambangi Says:
April 11th, 2007 at 1:49 pm

Here’s a translation for the Mr. Cocoji song: “Mr. Cocoji was trying to catch a goat. He hit his foot with the jigger in it (”foot” is used in pidgin English for “foot” as well as “toe” ), and one side of his tummy swelled up” – Quite nonsensical, if you ask me but we enjoyed singing it as children!

Thanks for the effort. It was great seeing these songs again. Can’t help with the Bali song, though. I don’t speak the language. BTW, the jigger or chigger is a small horrid pest found in some dusty areas of the country and when they burrow into the skin, usually the toes, they hurt really badly till they are taken out.

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