SSBMI Language Department

Family Songs

Yan, Yan, Yanhaháp

Yan, Yan, Yanhaháp (Pick It, Pick It, Always Pick It) is a Nisenan-language song sung to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".

You can listen to the song in Nisenan using the controls below.

Nisenan

Yan, yan, yanhaháp,

Yanhaháp c’iwí!

Yánbene, yánbene,

Yánbene, yánbene,

Yan okóm lamí!

Yan, yan, yanhaháp,

Yan okóm wonó!

Yánbene, yánbene,

Yánbene, yánbene,

Payélwes nees opló!

English

Pick it, pick it, always pick it,

Always pick clover!

You can pick it, you can pick it,

You can pick it, you can pick it,

Pick it all day long!

Pick it, pick it, always pick it,

Pick it every day!

You can pick it, you can pick it,

You can pick it, you can pick it,

We will eat cooked greens!

About the lyrics

You might be wondering why we did not translate the actual lyrics of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" into Nisenan for this song. This is because the direct translation would be difficult to sing to the original tune, and would require words and phrases that don’t translate well directly. To make this song pleasant and easy to sing, we composed new lyrics that fit the original tune.

C’iw (clover) is an important traditional food source that can be eaten raw or cooked. Cooked greens, including c’iw and pɨk (California poppy), are called opló in Nisenan. In addition to being eaten fresh and cooked, many greens like c’iw can be dried to be eaten in the wintertime.¹

[1] The information in this paragraph comes from William Joseph, a Nisenan man from Amador County, as published in the book "Nisenan Texts & Dictionary" by Uldall and Shipley (1966); and from the book "Ethnology of the Nisenan" by Beals (1933), which relates information from several Nisenan speakers including William Joseph.

Language for everyday life

There are many parts of this song that you can expand on and use in everyday life!

For example, notice that yan- is said several times in this song, sometimes on its own ("yan") and sometimes with word-endings ("yanhaháp", "yánbene"). This is a Nisenan word root meaning 'to pick' things like berries, grapes, and greens (i.e. to gather food by picking it off of stems).

To instruct someone to pick things like clover or berries, you can just say the verb yan- on its own when you are talking to exactly one person:

The same goes for any verb that ends in a consonant, like tuy- (to sleep) or sol- (to sing). You use it on its own when talking to one person:

However, there is a bit of a wrinkle for verbs that end in a vowel (i.e. one of the letters 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u', 'ɨ', or 'ə'). If you are using a verb that ends in a vowel, like hati- (to stop) or payyo- (to dance), you add -p to the end when you are instructing a person to do that activity:

To suggest or give permission to someone to pick things like clover or berries, you can add the word-ending -bene to the verb. You can also add it to other verbs to suggest or give permission to do that activity. Likewise, you use this word-ending when talking just to one person:

Hesíbe hedém solím? (What is this song?)

This song was written by SSBMI Language Department staff member Skye Anderson to be sung to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat". The audio recording that you can listen to here is of SSBMI Language Department staff member Richenda Ervin singing this song.

You can download a copy of the song lyrics and supplemental information by clicking here. If you have questions about these lyrics or would like to know more, please reach out to the SSBMI Language Department at Language@ssband.org.

Webpage last updated: 2024-05-07