Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé!

"Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé"
What does this mean? What language is it in?

According to May Pang (in "Loving John"), John had a dream in which two women were calling his name, and saying Ah Bowakawa Pousse, Pousse! He woke up and wrote the lyrics. I don't know anything other than that; I have no knowledge of languages past English and a smidge of Spanish!

LovinLennon is right, it's not in a real language, as far as anyone knows. (Now, if it turns out to be something in some obscure Aboriginal language from Bora-Bora, don't blame me! ) Seriously, I've heard the dream story too, that it was actually a phrase John heard in a dream.

Thanks! Not knowing this had been bothering me for quite some time, but I always forgot to ask about it.

Quite honestly...I don't want to know

to me it always sounded like 'ah powa powa poor sussay'

<font color="green"> Yeah, LovinJohn909 and Susan are right. It doesn't mean anything, as far as language goes. But it's about a dream he had with someone calling out his name and saying Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé

Tiff Lennon </font>

Similar to Sun King heh? With the Spanish that is not Spanish. ( At least I think its not. I read it somewhere):D

[ QUOTE ]
scott500 Posted:
Similar to Sun King heh? With the Spanish that is not Spanish. ( At least I think its not. I read it somewhere):D

[/ QUOTE ]
I think Sun King is a smattering of Spanish, Porteguese and Italian. I remember reading somewhere a loose translation of what it means, but some of the words WERE made up, like "paramucho," and "carathon."

I've read that "pousee" means "I'm over", but I can't remember where I read that

In 1971 John said that "Sun King" came to him in a dream, but in 1980 he said it was "garbage". This song by Lennon reminds me of a combination of I Am the Walrus and Because. It contains basically nonsense, combined with wonderful harmonies, making it a really beautiful song. The closing lines are nothing more than Italian, Spanish and Portugese words which are more common to tourists. John Lennon, in 1969 said, "We just started joking, you know, singing `quando para mucho.' So we just made up... Paul knew a few Spanish words from school, you know. So we just strung any Spanish words that sounded vaguely like something. And of course we got `chicka ferdy' in, a Liverpool expression. "Chicka ferdy" could also be a combination Spanish/Liverpudlian pun "chica verde" [green girl] or just like `na-na, na-na-na'-- "as one child would say to taunt another." `Cake and eat it' is another nice line too, because they have that in Spanish-- 'Que' or something, and eat it." In this song, The Beatles freely mixed dialects and languages here, (Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese) and when this is combined with less than perfect enunciation and accent, many uncertainties arise, leading to many possible interpretations. The words are as published: "Quando paramucho mi amore de felice corazon Mundo paparazzi mi amore chica ferdy parasol Cuesto obrigado tanta mucho que can eat it carousel" "Parasol" is an umbrella, of course, but literally translates as "para sole" as in for the sun, or perhaps "pa re sole" for sun king. "Paparazzi" are people who take pictures of celebrities. "que can eat it" should be "que/cake and eat it", "carousel" is a popular brand of chocolates in Britain. "Obrigado" is Portuguese [thank you], or "obbligato" [musical term - secondary, yet necessary part] A literal translation would most likely be: Quando para mucho mi amore de felice corazon "If/When For Much, My Love Of Happy Heart" Mundo paparazzi mi amore chicka/chica ferdy/verde para sole "World Paparazzi, My Love, Chicka/Girl Ferdy/Green For The Sun Cuesto obrigado, tanta mucho, que/cake and eat it, carousel/cara sole This Thanks, Very Much, Cake and Eat It, Carousel/Dearest Sun Regardless, I think it's still a rather cool song!

That's what it says on http://iamthebeatles.com about Sun King.

Just a few references here...
Ah~ = Ah~
Awakawa =Meaning and Beauty


"Beneath the creation of any piece of art, two interrelated instincts are at work. One is the instinct for expression, to convey a view of life (which in turn arises from the basic attempt to find meaning, to 'contemplate' the world). It is from this attempt to find meaning, to contemplate life that art and literature came into being in the first place. The second is the desire for pleasure, to experience 'beauty'. This may seem, superficially, to be at variance with the instinct for self-expression, but in fact the active expression of a view of life results in fulfillment and pleasure, which is heightened to the degree one partakes of and expresses truth. This 'contemplation' entails, of course, an act of selection in terms of a particular work of art, taking a particular scene of human life as it unfolds before one and empathizing, knowing, understanding, feeling it as a part of one's own experience.

"It is from this contemplation and expression that the extreme pleasure afforded by art derives, a pleasure that results from the pursuit of, and experiencing of reality. Thus 'artistic' in this context may mean more or less the same as 'religious'; when an artist produces a work, his awareness expands in every direction and is amplified, assimilating the vast and profound truth of life in a way impossible in ordinary, everyday activity. The act of artistic expression thus becomes a statement of the universal, and as such is an act of worship in the deepest sense. It is characteristic of art that the contemplation of life that is its prime objective also carries with it the elevation and joy of a profound religious experience, the joy that arises with the growth of truth in the mind of the artist.

"Seen in this light, when a work of art is an expression of truth, the distinction between didactic art and 'art for art's sake' becomes blurred or disappears altogether; in the same way, art 'for the sake of the self' and art 'for the sake of an ideal' fuse together and become art expressing the universal."

Yasuichi Awakawa
Brushmarks of Infinity
Translated by John Bester
Page 30-31

Posse =pos·se   
[pos-ee] Show IPA
–noun
1.
posse comitatus.
2.
a body or force armed with legal authority.
Origin:
1575–85; < ML posse power, force, n. use of L inf.: to be able, have power, equiv. to pot- ( see potent) + -se inf. suffix

...or, if the word is "Pousse" = (From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:)

Pousse \Pousse\ (p[=oo]s), noun Pulse; pease. [Obs.] --Spenser.

So... like maybe it means "Art of the Universe Expressed in Force" or adversely, "Ah~ The Art Police" ???

Interesting, man!


"Ah~ The Art Police" -- that's my new catch phrase right there

Having just listened to the LENNONYC podcast someone mentioned (and I think it might have been Roy Cicala the engineer on the record) that the original lyric John sang was Pussy Pussy. He and a few other people in the studio told Lennon he should change that lyric as it might not get played on the radio. I believe it was Roy Cicala's wife suggested the french pronunciation - pousse pousse.

here's the link http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmast...y-cicala/1660/

It is a phrase that does not exist, it is simply apart of a dream John had, and decided to make a song about the whole dream.

I always felt that his dream was a premonition of his death, though he did not realize it when he created the song.

Originally Posted by gmajenswen

I always felt that his dream was a premonition of his death, though he did not realize it when he created the song.

I thought I could hear (hear, hear, hear)
Somebody call out my name as it started to rain

As the Lennons walked by, Chapman called, "Mr. Lennon."
http://www.john-lennon.com/jlnytimes.htm

Music touching my soul, something warm, sudden cold
The spirit dance was unfolding


Well, that's pretty eerie

It means nothing.

My money says it's a bunch of gibberish strung together so John could sing the slang term for the female genitalia and broadcast on worldwide radio.

That'll teach 'em to ban Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

Originally Posted by Johnny Lover

"Ah! böwakawa poussé, poussé"
What does this mean? What language is it in?

It's 2 different languages with an intentional letter misspelled.


böwakawa poussé

The first word böwakawa SHOULD be spelled: bäwakawa this means, in Swahili "beetles"

The first word isn't a challenge. It's french. It means (when a noun is in front of it as in this case) pushed

(Google translate will back all this up).

So. It means: beetles pushed.