Just about everybody learning the Samoan language will come to know this song. It’s a fun (and funny), tourist-y classic.
Savalivali means go for a walk
Tautalatala means too much talk
Alofa ia te oe means I love you
Take it easy, faifai lemu
Teine manaia means pretty girl
Ta’amilomilo means around the world
Whisper to me means musumusu maia
Oi aue, means my, oh my
{ CHORUS }
E ua malie o, avane i le malo
E le faia so’u loto
A e tu’u lou finagalo
Go for a ride, ti’eti’e ta’avale
Stay at home means nofo i le fale
Leai o se tupe means no more money
Much trouble means fa’alavelave
Aue ta ino’ino i lau amio pi’opi’o
Ua e musu ia ita ua e laulauina
A ua e alu e nofo i le Saina
Isa isa fuga i lou fia ai alaisa
(Jerome Grey version)
Tautalatala means too much talk
Savalivali means go for a walk
Alofa ia te oe means I love you
Take it easy, faifai lemu
x2
Ti’eti’e ta’avale means go for a ride
Leai se kupe means no more money
Lusi lo’u ulu, you make me crazy
Le iloa, I don’t know
x2
Ua malie o, avane i le malo
E le faia so’u loto
Ae tulu lou finagalo
Go hospital, alu falema’i
Inuinu pia, drink everyday
Ave a’u kupe, you spend my peso
I’m broke, ua ou masaesae
x2
Tautalatala means too much talk!
Tautalatala means too much talk!
Tautalatala means too much talk!
Too much talk!
You seem to be missing verse 3 – see Jerome Grey’s You Tube video…could you please add this to your lyrics?
Apologies for te 3-years-later…But thanks for the tip. I just found the Jerome Grey version.
Thank you also for the background information on this song. Very good to know!
Apologies for te 3-years-later…But thanks for the tip. I just found the Jerome Grey version.
Thank you also for the background information on this song. Very good to know!
i needed this for my teacher lol i only know the first verse and chorus.
awesome! i sang this song with my yr 6 class all the time in samoa, though that was a few years ago and i couldn’t remember the lyrics. now i have them, yay! ^_^
Does anyone know where I can get a digital recording of this song?
This song is also known as “Tautalatala means too much talk” which confuses a lot of people when trying to search for it.
If you go to SOUNZ online you can check out an old recording of it by Willie Miller & Henry Hunkin. The song was composed by Billie Nelson-Retzlaff. Hope that helps.
I really wanted it to sing to my newborn and my brothers and sisters could only remember the first verse also when I rung and asked them it was my baby sister that recommended I search it on the net, so thanks!
Shouldn’t “Teine manaia means pretty girl” be “Teine ‘aulelei….”?
Manaia means nice, ‘Aulelei means pretty. Teine manaia really means Nice girl, not Pretty girl.
This song was written in the days when there was a naval station in American Samoa by girls who at the time dating the shipmen of the Manuao. their way of communicating to the english speaking men.
dat song is rong in a way.
line 2 is supposed to say tautala soo, not tautalala
coz da meaning ov tautala soo is too much talk and derez no suj word in da samoan vocabulary that says tautalatala
=]
Clearly you need to learn to write in English properly lol
According to the composer, the song should read ” tele tautala” but I guess they can take artistic license with words a ea, like “derez no suj word?” no such words in the English language either.
derez no 4nier person dan you
Manaia can be pretty, handsome, of course. It can mean ‘nice’, too, but nice in the sense of appearence. =p
And Tautala is like, to talk. Tautalatala means someone who talks too much. My Samoan language teacher explained this one to us.
So says the palagi.
lol
Help, please! I need a mp3 or any other audio version of this song! Does anyone know where I can get it? Or if you know the tune, please be so kind to sing it for me and send me a copy of your voice recording at carol52dxz@yahoo.com.cn, please, please, please!
Hi Carol
Check it out on youtube here ==> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrbc-_BTKC8&feature=related
Some of the words will be a little different, but that’s how it’s sung.
🙂
LMAO! This song! Didn’t help me understand Samoan at all, I still don’t know what my grandpa’s saying 😀 Thank you for putting this up!
on the line Leai o se tupu it should be Leai o se tupe…
Oops. All fixed now. Thanks Stacey, Fale, Jesse & Trinity 😀
Hi I would Love to Play it on my Ukulele, does anybody have some chords?
Our child sang the first verse at her child care centre fete (in Brisbane). very nice …
I’d really like to know what the meaning of the chorus is! – iapiinapia
Does anyone know the guitar chords for this song???
Here is another version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgXjlgPODW4
Is anyone reading these comments from Samoa or know someone from Samoa? I am very interested in this culture and would love to learn more! email me at rachelhickm@gmail.com if you have anyone willing to talk to me about Samoan culture! thanks!
Is anyone from Samoa or know anyone from Samoa? I am very interested in the culture. If you know anyone I willing to teach me, I would love it! email me at rachelhickm@gmail.com thanks!
hey how are u im manu from samoa .
la manuia le aso palagi
Thanks for the memories. Learned this song in 1965 and this is the first time I’ve seen it spelled out.
You seem to be missing verse 3 – see Jerome Grey’s You Tube video…could you please add this to your lyrics?
I’m 78yr’s old my mum used to sing this song to us when we were kids.
alot of my class says tautalatala wrong and so since I’m Samoan and Maori I have to teach them
Good on ya, Robbie 👍
“Teine manaia” should be “teine aulelei/lalelei” both words aulelei n lalelei means pretty
Also “Tele fa’alavelave” is much trouble
Its teine aulelei not teine manaia 😭🫶🏽
A lot of people use the word ‘manaia’ to describe physical beauty as well (especially around the time this song was written).
Its suppose to be teine aulele