Johnston Sisters Sing an Ojibwe Sweetheart Song
To celebrate Women’s History Month and Poetry month in 2026, Curator & Public Historian, Barbara Bair assembled an exhibit of the work of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft at the Library of Congress. Bamewawagezhikaquay (Woman of the Sound the Stars Make Rushing Through the Sky) began writing poetry in English and Ojibwemowin and as Bair notes: “her poems reflect her love of nature and the songs, tales, and history of her Indigenous heritage. They also explore hope, faith, and delight, and the pain of grief, loss, and separation.
One of the songs Jane transcribed and translated is Ojibwe Ikwezens which was sung often by both Jane and her sister Charlotte.
For more about Jane see https://ojibwe.net/songs/traditional/nindinendam-thinking/
For more about Charlotte see https://ojibwe.net/projects/namewin-prayer/
The song moving across time
To see how the song has moved across time, there are three versions of the lyrics, a musical score, and audio so you can learn to sing the song yourself.
The audio was created by Margaret Noodin in 2026 using the score by Anna Brownell Jameson. Careful listeners will notice that the audio does not match the score exactly because the notation didn’t provide all of what Jane and Charlotte might have taught another woman learning to sing it. However, the basic tune was plucked out on a harp, not unlike one that the Schoolcraft and Jameson families would have been familiar with and when a note was unclear, the vast repertoire of Ojibwe songs filled in the gaps. It was truly delightful to see how familiar the vocables and patterns of sound still are today.
Play Audio: Schoolcraft-Sweetheart-Song
Part 1: The lyrics as Jane transcribed them
1.
Aun dush ween do win ane
Gitchy Mocomaun aince
Caw awzhaw woh da modé
We yea, yea haw ha! &c
2.
Wah yaw bum maud e
Ojibway quaince un e
We maw jaw need e
We yea, yea haw ha! &c
3.
Omow e maun e
We nemoshain yun
We maw jaw need e
We yea, yea haw ha! &c
4.
Caw ween gush shá ween
Kin wainzh e we yea
O guh maw e maw seen
We yea, yea haw ha! &c
5.
Me gosh shá ween e yea
Ke bish quaw bam maud e
Tehe won ain e maud e
We yea, yea haw ha! &c
Song lyrics as written by Jane Johnston Schoolcraft online at Library of Congress:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss39115.07025/?sp=3
Part 2: The modern Ojibwe spelling of the lyrics
1.
Aan’ dash wiin daawin ani
Gichi-mookomaanens
Gaa-aazhawaadamoode
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)
2.
Wayaabamaad e
Ojibway ikwezens e
Wii-maajaanid e
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)
3.
Omawimaan e
Wiininimosheyan
Wii-maajaanid e
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)
4.
Gaawiin gosha wiin
Giiwenaazha’aad
Ogaa-mawimaansiin
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)
5.
Mii gosha wiin ayaad
Gabe ishkwa waabamad e
De-wanenimad e
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)
Part 3: The literal meaning of the words
1.
Why is he in his camp there
The young American
He has crawled across the river
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)
2.
He sees her
The Ojibway maiden
She will leave
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)
3.
He cries for her
His sweetheart
She will leave
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)
4.
It is not really
That he will dismiss her
He will not be crying for her
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)
5.
When he is there
At the end of seeing her
He will forget her
We yaa, ya haa ha (repeat)
Jane’s Re-telling of the Story in Prose & Anna Brownell Jameson’s Musical Score
Jane’s lovely retelling of the story in prose:
Why! What’s the matter with the young American? He crosses the river with tears in his eyes! He sees the young Ojibway Girl preparing to leave the place: he sobs for his sweetheart, because she is going away! but he will not sigh long for her, for as soon as he sees her out of sight, he will forget her.
The first known score of the song recorded by Anna Brownell Jameson in her book Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada published in 1838 in which she says Ojibwe songs ought to be compared with the Notturini of Felice Blangini (1781, Turin – 1841, Paris) due to their repetition and focus on sentiment over extensive detail.
Note: Anna Brownell Jameson, was a scholar, artist, art historian and feminist born in Dublin, Ireland in 1794. In 1837 she traveled through several Anishinaabe communities in southern Ontario. The book that established her reputation as a scholar was Characteristics of Women, Moral, Poetical and Historical (1832), later titled Shakespeare’s Heroines and still cited by researchers today.
