NZ Folk Song * Blue Smoke

Performance comments

1. The present arrangement is most suitable for a concert item with the men (as the soldiers overseas) singing the first verse and then the women (as the sweethearts waiting at home) coming through with verse 2.

2. As well as piano, Karaitiana played a trombone, and you should slide the notes of this song into each other as if your voice was a trombone. I could not get that effect properly with the midi sound file I made for you. When Karaitiana recorded this in 1949, he had a Hawaiian band, with Hawaiian lap steel slide guitar, that also captured that sliding 'drifting away' effect.

3. Pixie Williams always sang "skies" [plural] in the original recordings of this song :
Blue smoke goes drifting by, into the deep blue skies ...

4. The Smoke drifts above me section was sung as an introduction in the original version of Blue Smoke. It was normally performed with sheet-music piano accompaniment that helped the singer with all the accidental notes it contained. But nowadays this introduction is usually omitted by most play-by-ear party singers and guitar strummers. They find the accidentals and the piano chords are too difficult. Or the vocalist speaks these words as a bridge in between verse 1 and verse 2 while the band, or the rest of the singers, play or hum the tune of verse 1 quietly behind him.

But if you want to try singing it, here are the chords.


G             C         G                 Cmin
Smoke drifts above me - Whispering I miss you

G         D                 G    D
Taking my thoughts back to you - Across the sea

G            C     G             Cmin
I know that when - I sail home again 

A             A₇          D     D+
I'll find you waiting for me

Carolina Moon

Eddie O' Strange writes,
"Before Ruru left for the Middle East, he was playing in dancebands, mainly in Wellington and usually on piano, and one pop tune that remained extremely popular for some time was Carolina Moon.

Carolina moon I'm pining
Pining for the place I long to be

"The structure of this tune became the basis of "Blue Smoke."

Translation of Auahi rere nei

The above translation is a rather free one, in the style of Witi Ihimaera's novel Tangi. It illustrates how Karaitiana's use of fragmentary Mäori phrases and use of the present continuous tense make this verse a lot more vivid than the polite English in the first verse. It recreates the emotions of the women left behind as the troop trains carrying the Maori Battalion chuffed their way out of those small town stations in 1939.
My te reo friends tell me the following words are a more literal translation:

Smoke escapes into the great sky
And my memories arrive from afar, Aue!
Great is my love and (many are my) tears ...
(at) this separating, this separating from you
I am going with you (in spirit), by the power of love
For you, boy, is this love.

Blue Smoke sung in North Africa

From Eddie O' Strange again,

" Blue Smoke was definitely written in 1940 on-board the Aquitania troopship. Ruru put the song together in his head and sang it in a ship's concert. Then when the ship arrived in London he tried to "sell" the song to Chappell's publishing - and was rejected!
"A few years ago I heard on radio an old Maori who said he had strong memories of the song being softly sung and floating across the chilly desert night-time, consequently his inevitable haunting image is of gun smoke drifting skyward. It is not the only time I've been told the song was in fact sung in North Africa."

Recording Blue Smoke

Eddie O' Strange has kindly contributed this information also. Thanks Eddie.

"The TANZA label credits read: Ruru Karaitiana Quintette with Pixie Williams. Ruru did not use the muso's he would normally engage for his pick-up dancebands, but instead used Jimmy Carter's Hawaiian band
"For the recording of Blue Smoke this consisted only four of the quintet's five musicians; Jimmy Carter on Hawaiian/lap steel, Gerry Hall on rhythm guitar, George Attridge on ukelele, and Johnny McNeeley on double bass. The quintet's drummer, Noel Robertson was not used on this particular song, but did play on several other songs recorded during the winter of 1949.

"Ruru himself did not play on any of the various cutting sessions of Blue Smoke, neither at the beginning of 1949 when "more than half-a-dozen" masters were cut, nor about a year later when another batch of acetates were cut.

"Although the recording has 3rd Oct 1948 displayed on the label, it was NOT made in 1948, but early 1949, probably at the beginning of February. Pressings became available about March/April 1949. It was so popular that more masters were needed. So the band was re-assembled and several more sides were cut. (Noel Robertson's neice is sure that her uncle played double bass on the original recording. As the drums were not used in the recording, and as it was recorded on more than one occasion, Noel Robertson and Johnny McNeeley may have shared the bass playng.)

"The late Stan Dallas was not only the cutting engineer but he also built the studio. He had been asked,sometime in October 1948, if he could put a studio together. He said he'd have a go but couldn't start work on it until after he returned from his honeymoon on the 21st December.

"He spent a few days between Christmas and New Year, on his own, gutting what had been an old brass foundry; took 2 or 3 days off and started back in early January; he then co-opted some other staff when they returned from their holiday break.

"So the 3rd Oct 1948 as displayed on the label has nothing to do with the actual recording ... Stan thought it was probably the date that Radio Corp bosses said "Blow you HMV, you won't supply us with records so we'll make our own".

Blue Smoke Versions

Piano arrangement

1947, by George Winchester.

On 78rpm records

1949, Ruru Karaitiana Quintette and Pixie Williams 1951, Aotearoa Quintet.

1949-50 many overseas artists.
In England, Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth.
In the USA, Dean Martin, Al Morgan, Teddy Phillips and Leslie Howard.

45s

1973, The 1947 Home Guard.

1982, Eddie Low.

CDs

1990, Angel At My Table music from the film soundtrack arr. by Don McGlashan

1991, Windstar - Aotearoa John Grenell (Hore)

1996, Kiwi nostalgia hits of the 50's.
From the Newstalk ZB Nostalgia programme.
This CD has a track of the original 1949 Pixie Williams version.

1993, Down the Hall When the Cat's Been Spayed

1998, Memories are Made of This Dean Martin,
This CD has a track of Martin's original 1950 cover.

For full details of this material

Search in the National Library of NZ Catalogue

Ruru Karaitiana 1909 - 1970

I whänau a Rangi Ruru Wänanga Karaitiana i tëtahi wähi e pätata atu rä ki Tanewaka (Dannevirke) i te 4 o Maehe o te tau 1909, ä, nö Ngäti Kahungunu me te hapü o Ngäti Mutuahi o Rangitäne ia. Ko te tama ia a Hineiwhakaarahia Ngärüma Karaitiana räua ko tana hoa täne, ko Heketä. Heoi rä riro ana ia nä öna tüpuna ki te taha o tana mämä, nä Wirihana Kaimokopuna Karaitiana räua ko tana wahine, ko Irihäpeti Tühokairangi a ia i whakatipu mai i Tahoraiti.

Born on 4 March 1909 near Dannevirke, Rangi Ruru Wananga Karaitiana (Christian) was a member of the Ngati Mutuahi hapu of Rangitane, and of Ngati Kahungunu. He was the son of Ngaruma Karaitiana and Heketa, and was raised by his elderly maternal grandparents, Wirihana Karaitiana and his wife Irihapeti, at Tahoraiti.

Ko töna reo tuatahi ko te reo Mäori, engari he tino märama anö hoki a ia ki te körero Päkehä. I tïmata mai tana ako ki te patu piana i te kura kawenati, ä, e ono noa töna pakeke ka tïmata tana purei piana i ngä pö kanikani o ngä Hätarei. Ko te nuinga o öna möhio whakatangitangi he mea ako tonu e ia, ä,tekau tau i muri mai he kitekitea tonutia ake tana mahi i ngä pëne i ngä takiwä i Te Papa-i-öia tae noa ki Pöneke.

He spoke Maori as his first language, but was fluent in English. Ruru had started piano lessons at the convent school and began performing at the age of six, when he played at Saturday night dances. Mostly self-taught, a decade later he was performing regularly with bands between Palmerston North and Wellington.

I te wä o te pakanga i te Räwhiti Pü, he höia noa nei te türanga o Karaitiana i roto i te Ope Taua 28 (Mäori) o Aotearoa. He kaiärahi anö hoki täna mahi i te röpü könohete a te ope taua, ruarua noa nei ngä mea mahue ake o tö rätou koaea, tekau mä whitu kë nei te nui.

During the war Karaitiana served in the Middle East as a private with the 28th New Zealand (Maori) Battalion. He led the battalion concert party, and was one of the few survivors of its 17-member choir.

I te tau 1947, kua hoki kë mai rä ia ki Niu Tïreni, kua whakatüria këtia e ia he röpü tokorima nei, ä, nö Oketopa o te tau 1949 i Pöneke i hopukia e rätou, ko te kaiwaiata rä ko Pixie Williams, te whakaaturanga o te waiata nei, o Blue Smoke. E ono wiki kë te roa o te waiata e matatihi nei i ngä whakaaturanga o ngä reo irirangi o Aotearoa, ä, nuku atu ana i te 20,000 ngä kape i hokona mai i te tau kotahi.

Back in New Zealand, in 1947 he assembled a quintet, and in 1949 in Wellington they recorded a version of Blue Smoke with singer Pixie Williams. It topped New Zealand radio hit parades for six weeks, and sold more than 20,000 copies within a year.

Nö te tau 1949 i moea ai e Karaitiana a Joan Chettleburgh, he hëkeretari, he kaiwhakakite käkahu äna mahi. I whai tonu a Karaitiana i ngä mahi ä-tau, arä, i te mahi kutikuti hipi, mahi atu hoki i ngä whare patu mïti. He tangata pakupaku noa nei töna hanga, he tangata nguengue, huna nei te ähua, engari me ka tü mai ana ia i te whatärangi, tü mai ana he tangata rerekë. I te wä i rongo nei ia i te Röpü Whakatangitangi O Te Motu e whakatangi mai ana i tana waiata, i a `Blue smoke', me tana rongo anö i taua waiata e waiatatia mai ana i te reo Mäori i runga i te reo irirangi, i tino whakahï rawa nei ia.

In 1949 Karaitiana married secretary and model Joan Chettleburgh. He continued to take seasonal jobs as a freezing worker and shearer, and was known for his love of exotic cars and his good manners. Small in stature, he was a quiet and private man, but was transformed when on stage. His proudest moments were hearing Blue Smoke performed by the National Orchestra, and a version sung in Maori on radio.

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Published June 16, 2000, revised 8 August 2001 and July 2021