What is this Tiki Room lyric?

MickeyLuv'r

MickeyLuv'r

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
What word does Michael say at this point in the lyrics? Can any of our WDW experts give a definitive answer?


Jose: Mi amigos stop the clucking, you sound like a bunch of old hens. There's a lot of birds waiting to go on. For instance:
Michael: The boys in the back are ___________________.
Jose: Because of their claws?
Michael: No because they're macaws!
And our fine feathered friend is a jolly toucan,
and two can sound better than one toucan can.


When I search, I see two different answers.
 
JohnD

JohnD

Well-Known Member
MickeyLuv'r said:
What word does Michael say at this point in the lyrics? Can any of our WDW experts give a definitive answer?


Jose: Mi amigos stop the clucking, you sound like a bunch of old hens. There's a lot of birds waiting to go on. For instance:
Michael: The boys in the back are ___________________.
Jose: Because of their claws?
Michael: No because they're macaws!
And our fine feathered friend is a jolly toucan,
and two can sound better than one toucan can.


When I search, I see two different answers.
Click to expand...

macaws. That's the joke.
 
MickeyLuv'r

MickeyLuv'r

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
JohnD said:
macaws. That's the joke.
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to be critical, but do you have evidence to back that up? I ask, because multiple sources have different words in that spot, including a book.

(FYI, I've always thought it was "called macaws" there too.)
 
MickeyLuv'r

MickeyLuv'r

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I tried listening to different versions of the songs for insight.

The Hillary Duff version omits that verse (but keeps the ladies' hat verse for some reason).

The Los Lobos version sounds pretty clearly like Kamikaze, or actually like, "Kamikaw" without the last syllable. Which then makes it sound almost like "comical."

It kinda makes sense that line would have a pun in it. I always thought I heard "called macaws", but the added play on words of Kamikaw/comcial fits with the play on toucan in the next line, " And our fine feathered friend is a jolly toucan and two can sound better than one toucan can."

Though a bit removed from the original attraction, the book, "Tales from Adventureland: The Keymaster's Quest" features, a Tiki room that is a sanctuary for a rare magical breed of talking birds called, the "Akamai." It is sold by Disney books, so presumably it is sanctioned by Disney. It was sold as, "The first in a series of novels inspired by the attractions in Adventureland."


Also the Sherman bothers loved wordplay. (They wrote the song.)
 
NelleBelle

NelleBelle

Well-Known Member
I always thought it said "comical"--but then again, I'm totally notorious with my family and friends for making up lyrics because I can't understand what they say (I could've sworn that Michael Jackson's "Soon We'll Be Startin' Something" said "Soon We'll Be Startin' Summer")! 😂
 
Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
"The boys in the back are kamikaze."

1599272395592.png


From this book

1599272410364.png
 
redsfan4life

redsfan4life

Active Member
NelleBelle said:
I always thought it said "comical"--but then again, I'm totally notorious with my family and friends for making up lyrics because I can't understand what they say (I could've sworn that Michael Jackson's "Soon We'll Be Startin' Something" said "Soon We'll Be Startin' Summer")! 😂
Click to expand...
Its Wanna be starting somethin
 
K

KaliSplash

Well-Known Member
MickeyLuv'r said:
I tried listening to different versions of the songs for insight.

The Hillary Duff version omits that verse (but keeps the ladies' hat verse for some reason).

The Los Lobos version sounds pretty clearly like Kamikaze, or actually like, "Kamikaw" without the last syllable. Which then makes it sound almost like "comical."

It kinda makes sense that line would have a pun in it. I always thought I heard "called macaws", but the added play on words of Kamikaw/comcial fits with the play on toucan in the next line, " And our fine feathered friend is a jolly toucan and two can sound better than one toucan can."

Though a bit removed from the original attraction, the book, "Tales from Adventureland: The Keymaster's Quest" features, a Tiki room that is a sanctuary for a rare magical breed of talking birds called, the "Akamai." It is sold by Disney books, so presumably it is sanctioned by Disney. It was sold as, "The first in a series of novels inspired by the attractions in Adventureland."


Also the Sherman bothers loved wordplay. (They wrote the song.)
Click to expand...
It is definitely Macaws, the word pun Is intended. You can listen to other artists but their take on someone else's song does Not necessarily use all the lyrics of the original.
 
MickeyLuv'r

MickeyLuv'r

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In general, I'd agree, the best source is the Sherman brothers' take.

In this case though, the versions I quoted were all recorded by Disney. This isn't a folk song passed down in taverns for 20 years, it is Disney re-recording their own song. The Sherman brothers didn't voice the original attraction. It was voiced by Wally Boag, Fulton Burley, and Thurl Ravesncroft.

There's also the version of the song that was in the "Under New Management" version of the show. To me, that version sounds like, "called macaws."

Literature is full of writers who published multiple versions of their own literary works. (or else had them edited by others) Robert Frost once said, "We read A the better to understand B (we have to start somewhere; we may get very little out of A.) We read B to the better to understand C, C the better to read D, D the better to go back and get something more out of A Progress is not the aim, but circulation. The thing is to get among the poems."

One of his famous poems was once widely published this way:

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,

When correct punctuation of the line was supposed to be:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

The addition of a single comma changes the meaning of the entire poem considerably. If the 3 adjectives are equal, then the woods are enjoyable, but he has to get home. Removing the extra comma hints that the poem is really about a darker kind of sleep:

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
 
Last edited:
C

celluloid

Well-Known Member
I always thought called Macaws was an odd line but so quirky, it still worked. Now hearing this, I believe it to be Kamakazie just as easily because Sherman Brothers and Wally Boag's creativity would slide something so kooky in the script.
 
MickeyLuv'r

MickeyLuv'r

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Larryz- that's why the Kamikaze seems wrong- too many syllables.

But there too, the Sherman brothers often made up words: heffalumps, Higitus Figitus, zumba magnificus (a real word, but not in English), trouncy, cher-ree, chim cher-oo....


Side note- supposedly United was the first sponsor of the Tiki Room, in order to promote their new flights to Hawaii! FL's was initially sponsored by the FL Citrus Commission; thus the Orange Bird mascot. Dole became the sponsor in 1976.
 
Last edited:

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom