Love Medicine
This is our largest category, and there are various explanations why songs and formulas for love medicine should be comparatively numerous. For one thing, this is a sphere of life that was not much affected by the economic and technological transformations that occurred in the period after contact, and it also seems likely that these songs and formulas were less guarded by secrecy than some other types of medicine, such as those for conflict and revenge. Indian persons interviewed between 1900 and 1942 were presumably less likely to share information about the latter or about other types of medicine that were considered quite valuable as property. In any case, the relative abundance and diversity of items in this category remind us that only a fraction of the songs and formulas that actually existed for any function were ever documented, and that the
corpus considered here gives only a meager impression of the richness of the mythology on which Indian spiritual life was based.
Love medicine was used by a person in private rather than in the presence of the person who was its object. Typically, a formula and a song went together, but as in other types of medicine we do not always have complete information about both. In some cases a text of the formula was collected but no recording of the song associated with it exists, while on other occasions a recording was made but nothing was documented about its mythic significance. Despite these problems, a survey of the existing evidence tells us much about love medicine in general.
It is clear, for example, that crying was an important theme in love medicine, for it is mentioned in several formulas and evident in the "sobbing" timbre heard in many of the songs. The quotation at the head of this chapter formula is taken from the translation of a formula that was based on the story of a female spirit-person who had accidentally killed two "wind babies" (appendix 2, E-28). This caused a great wind that blew her house away and carried her all the way downriver and out across the ocean. She was lost there, and she had given up hope. Then a man heard her crying, and he fell in love with her, thinking that her crying was a beautiful song. As in other types of formulas, the woman using this medicine would re-enact these events dramatically, first calling upon the spirit-person and then acting out the dialogue between her and her suitor. The song could be used at various points in this conjuring or else just by itself.
The same speaker (Georgia Orcutt) also described a man's love formula that involved a crying (appendix 2, E-30). In this narrative, two wealthy women were being followed everywhere by a poor man from whom they wanted to escape. Later, they heard him crying as he traveled across a ridge in the high country and this made them change their minds so that they began pursuing him.
Similar texts were collected from another Karok woman, Mary Ike. One of the narratives involved the story of a young man who was frustrated by some girls who refused to speak to him and ran in the house every time they saw him coming (appendix 2, E-33). Later, one of them changed her mind and wanted him to stay with her, but he said, "No, I will not live with you. You did not like me. You did not want me." He cried as he said this and his tears
created a big creek. He later became the mountain which is now called Preston Peak. In this example, a rejected (spirit) person turns the tables on the girl he desired rather than simply winning her heart. This vindictive element is present in many formulas, and another formula mentioned by Mary Ike is very similar in character (appendix 2, E-35).
Each of the formulas mentioned above involves using a song which represented (or consisted of) crying. Unfortunately, none of these songs was recorded, but there are several recordings of love songs in which a "sobbing" vocal quality is quite obvious. One example was sung by Tom Hill (Chilula) in 1905 and is transcribed below in example 39. The delivery is heavily glottalized, and the song is sung slowly in free rhythm. I have used tied quarter notes in order to indicate relative durations, but these are only approximations as there is a halting and irregular quality to the rhythm from beginning to end. The range is extremely wide (an octave and a fifth) and the singer can barely reach the lowest note, which is quite unfocused in pitch. The song is sung only once on the recording, and thus it is not clear whether it would be sung the same if repeated. There is little sense of symmetry in the phrasing, and the song has an aimless quality, much as if the singer were moaning in grief.
A love song collected from Weitchpec Henry (Yurok) in 1906 has a similar character (example 40). Here again the song is in free rhythm and the phrasing is rather unsymmetrical. A formal structure ABB1 can be discerned, but the B sections differ significantly from each other and it is not clear to what extent the song is improvised. The singer begins quite softly, as if he were moaning, but at various points he sings quite loudly. These dynamic contrasts produce a "sobbing" quality that seems somewhat more urgent or dramatic than that heard in the previous example.
Other love songs collected from Yuroks identified as Weitchpec Nancy (appendix 2, E-9) and Blind Bill (appendix 2, E-18) could not be notated, partly because of the poor audio quality of the recordings but also because these "songs" were closer in some respects to actual crying than to singing.
Not all of the love songs in the corpus had a "sobbing" quality, and one that was collected from Tom Hill (Chilula) in 1905 is very different indeed. This song (example 41) has a vigorous quality and
Example 39.
Love song performed by Tom Hill (Chilula) and collected
by Pliny Earle Goddard in 1905 (appendix 2, E-12).
even includes vocal pulsations reminiscent of Plains Indian singing. It is sung loudly and the pitches are clearly focused. As in so many songs of this region, the range is very wide and the melodic contour is descending, but here the use of pulsated notes produces a more terrace-shaped melody. This vigorous style is also heard in a love song performed by Frank Douglas (appendix 2, E-44).
The love songs used by women were very diverse in character. Even more prevalent than the "crying" type is a more lyrical style of love song such as that sung by Aileen Figueroa (Yurok) in the next example. Here a sense of meter is clearly discernible, though the tempo is very slow and there is much rubato, and the singer's intonation is very precise. The construction is simple but elegant, as the song seems to be composed of five short units that fit together neatly and descend through an octave. The type of pentatonic scale observed here is very common in these songs. Even to the modern, non-Indian listener this song seems very "musical" indeed, yet it has a mournful character, perhaps largely due to the repeated use of the glottal stop (with much aspiration and nasality) in a manner that suggests crying.
A love song collected from a woman identified as Minnie (Yurok)
Example 40.
Love song performed by Weitchpec Henry (Yurok) and collected
by Alfred Kroeber in 1906 (appendix 2, E-6).
Example 41.
Love song performed by Tom Hill (Chilula) and collected
by Pliny Earle Goddard in 1905 (appendix 2, E-13).
Example 42.
Love song performed by Aileen Figueroa (Yurok) and recorded
by Charlotte Heth in 1975 (appendix 2, E-43).
in 1909 and notated in example 43 fits the same general profile and shows that the style has changed little during this century. Both songs employ vocables rather than words, and both are very slow in tempo. The song in example 43 uses another anhemitonic pentatonic scale (1-2-3-5-6) which is fairly common. The tonal structure of this song is somewhat obscured by the use of e natural (330 hz), but this only occurs as the singer is trying to find her pitch level and not in the body of the song itself. As in the previous example, the ambitus of the song in example 43 is very wide and the lowest tones are sung so softly that they can barely be heard.
A third love song in this lyrical style was collected from Weitchpec Nancy (Yurok) in 1906 and has been notated in example 44. The melody has an arched contour rather than a descending shape, but a similar effect is achieved. Most listeners would agree that the song seems very "musical" to modern ears and is perhaps even more "pretty" than the previous two examples. Still, the early recording date makes it quite clear that these three songs belong to a style that existed prior to any Euro-American musical influences. The audio quality is rather poor, and the text could not be transcribed where the performer was in her lower register and singing quite softly.
An altogether different style is heard in love songs collected from a Wiyot woman named Molly Brainerd (Wiyot) in 1923. Each of her songs has words that are sung repeatedly in a simple melodic pattern based on three tones or less. The texts refer to the loved one in various ways, and the songs all have a brooding and hypnotic character. The song in example 45 is sung thirty times on the recording, and the mantralike text has been translated "He travels the hills [hunts]." She sings in a low register, and the dark quality of her voice is enhanced by use of tremolo throughout much of the recording.
Another love song collected from Molly Brainerd (Wiyot) refers to two different men, as if the singer were trying to choose between them. The words of this song have been translated "Tall, lean man [or] delicate pitiful one." The song is sung eighteen times on the recording, with slight variations in the B section.
A love medicine song sung by Sara Frank (Yurok) and recorded by Kroeber in 1907 is somewhat more melodic but basically quite similar in character. This song (example 47) is sung fifteen times
Example 43.
Love song performed by Minnie (Yurok) and recorded
by Weitchpec Frank in 1909 (appendix 2, E-8).
Example 44.
Love song performed by Weitchpec Nancy (Yurok) and recorded
by A. L. Kroeber in 1906 (appendix 2, E-7).
Example 45.
Love song performed by Molly Brainerd (Wiyot) and recorded
by A. L. Kroeber in 1923 (appendix 2, E-16).
Example 46.
Love song performed by Molly Brainerd (Wiyot) and recorded
by A. L. Kroeber in 1923 (appendix 2, E-17).
Example 47.
Love song performed by Sarah Frank (Yurok) and recorded
by A. L. Kroeber in 1907 (appendix 2, E-11).
on the recording, and the musical form is AABB. The text seems to be based on an alternation between two parallel expressions, but unfortunately there is no translation.
A love song collected from Mary Grimes (Tolowa) in 1903 is rather unusual in that each note is articulated very crisply, and staccato (or perhaps mezzo-staccato) markings could have been placed over nearly every note in example 48. Presumably this distinctive vocal delivery relates to some mythic characterization in a spoken formula, but unfortunately we have no information concerning the archetypal event upon which this or any of the other love songs considered here were based.
The style of example 48 is similar to that of the Hupa Flower Dance songs that were discussed in chapter 5. One can hardly escape noticing that songs used for love medicine were quite diverse in character, as at least four distinct styles have been transcribed here. This multiplicity of styles is addressed in the next chapter, which moves away from specific examples to describe the musical tradition from a more general perspective.
Returning to the subject of spoken formulas, we find that the theme of the underdog who manages to prevail is prominent in love medicine just as it was in medicine for wealth, and some of these texts actually involve dogs. One such formula was collected from John Shoemaker (Hupa) in 1927. This is about a dog that was so ugly people would ridicule him when passing the place where he lived. He took the foreleg bone of a deer, and painted it red and black in a certain way. Then, after breaking the bone in two, he painted a black line and a red line across his face. Finally, he sang his medicine song. This made all the women want him.
As usual, the formulist impersonates the dog at various points in making medicine and states at the end that even a homely man can have women if he knows this medicine (appendix 2, E-25). Two other formulas involving dogs who managed to get women even though they were homely or aged were collected from Mary Ike in 1940 (appendix 2, E-31 and E-32). Both were associated with songs, but unfortunately the songs were not recorded.
In other cases a female spirit-person is the underdog, as in a formula collected from Georgia Orcutt (Karok) around 1940 (appendix 2, E-34). This story is about Sun Young Man and his wife Frog.
Example 48.
Love song for woman to use performed by Mary Grimes
(Tolowa) and recorded by Goddard in 1903 (appendix 2, E-14).
He was always gone, so Frog said that she wanted to travel with him. While they were traveling through the sky, he threw her into a fire which consumed her. It turned out that he had another woman across the ocean all along. Later, he felt so guilty about Frog that he stopped visiting the other woman. Frog assembled her bones together and came back to life. Toward the end of the texts Frog states that her song will make a husband return to a wife he has left.
As noted in this example, love medicine used by women was usually intended to hold on to a man or to make him return after he was gone. By contrast, men's love medicine was typically used in order to make initial contact with a woman (or frequently with two women). The idea that a man using love medicine might also obtain dentalium shell money as a bonus is also rather prominent, as for example in two formulas collected from Tom Hill (appendix 2, E-2 and E-3). Indeed, there seems to be much affinity between men's formulas for wealth and for success in love, and several Yurok formulas collected by Kroeber shortly after 1900 were evidently intended for money or for women without differentiation.[1]