Uploaded December 2020 | Updated September 2026, 6 days ago
Day 267 of the American Songbag Stay-at-Home Serie
It seems to be the only time this song has been published and I don’t think it has ever been recorded. Mainly because it is not much of a song. It’s a racist song written to entertain the Americans whose military duty took them to the Philippines after the United States “won” the country in the Spanish-American war. Its sole purpose is to make fun of the culture and underscore the superiority of the Americans. —Stephen Griffith
One of the problems in singing this song is that it is written in English and what’s called pidgin Spanish. I’ve translated some of it, but left a little of the language,
especially words I could not find.
1898 - The U.S. captures the Philippines from Spain. The Americans were unwilling to grant the islands independence, so many soldiers had to be sent to garrison the islands. Neither side had much regard for the other.
Sandburg writes: "Soldiers and sailors of conquering races and nations, in all times, it seems, have had songs kidding the language, manners, and customs, of the invaded, subjugated, and pacified races and nations.
"An old song with a Spanish tune opens with the lines, “I am a gay cavalierio, on my way to Rio De Janierio. ” Verses going to that tune arose out of the Spanish-American War and the campaign in the Philippine Islands, and they constitute the song called A Filipino Hombre or The Philippine Family. The Book of Navy Songs says, “It was composed and first sung by the late Captain Lyman A. Cotten, U. S. N., about 1900, when Navy, Army and Marine Corps were busy ‘pacifying’ the newly acquired Philippines.”
Day 267 of the American Songbag Stay-at-Home Serie
It seems to be the only time this song has been published and I don’t think it has ever been recorded. Mainly because it is not much of a song. It’s a racist song written to entertain the Americans whose military duty took them to the Philippines after the United States “won” the country in the Spanish-American war. Its sole purpose is to make fun of the culture and underscore the superiority of the Americans. —Stephen Griffith
One of the problems in singing this song is that it is written in English and what’s called pidgin Spanish. I’ve translated some of it, but left a little of the language,
especially words I could not find.
1898 - The U.S. captures the Philippines from Spain. The Americans were unwilling to grant the islands independence, so many soldiers had to be sent to garrison the islands. Neither side had much regard for the other.
Sandburg writes: "Soldiers and sailors of conquering races and nations, in all times, it seems, have had songs kidding the language, manners, and customs, of the invaded, subjugated, and pacified races and nations.
"An old song with a Spanish tune opens with the lines, “I am a gay cavalierio, on my way to Rio De Janierio. ” Verses going to that tune arose out of the Spanish-American War and the campaign in the Philippine Islands, and they constitute the song called A Filipino Hombre or The Philippine Family. The Book of Navy Songs says, “It was composed and first sung by the late Captain Lyman A. Cotten, U. S. N., about 1900, when Navy, Army and Marine Corps were busy ‘pacifying’ the newly acquired Philippines.”
