Papa Coyote: Origin Story

The other week I got the great news that YouTube had given me access to my official artist page. Now that I have access and control over the Papa Coyote music catalog on YouTube and the other streaming services, I will be doing some management of my catalog—retiring some tracks and re-releasing others as singles.

The 2012 release Talking Dog features

nine songs. The band at the time consisted of Papa, Ben Rougeau on bass (who passed in 2017, f*** cancer), Kevin Fisher on guitar, Jim Fisher on percussion, and Kevin Byers on drums. It was recorded and mastered at Cloud City studios and was engineered and mixed by Justin Phelps.

Here is a video of us playing at

Dantes in Portland Oregon in 2010.

Let’s do deep dive into the opening song Ellegua, which is the name of an African god of the Yoruban peoples and the African diaspora. He is also known as Papa Legba, and this post will talk about the magical connections to—and the origins of the name Papa Coyote.

Papa Coyote: What’s in a name?

In the late 1990s, I moved my Pagan Polyamorous Plentitude from Rochester, NY to a 40-acre homestead in the Finger Lakes that we named Coyote Hill. Around that time Ma, Pa, Grandpa, the three young girls, and honorary cousins Mike and Mark performed locally as the Coyote Family Band. Of course, I was Papa Coyote, and the name stuck. It fits because in many Native cultures Coyote is the trickster who is sometimes foolish and sometimes wise and rarely does things the way most people do. If you know me, you’re probably saying “Yup. Still fits.”

Coyote as trickster is mischief personified and teaches that there are always two ways to see any issue. The Trickster is also associated with the spirit or god Èṣù-Elegba of the Yoruban peoples from what is now West African Nigeria, Benin, and Togo.

Through the African diaspora of enslaved peoples, this tapestry of practices, philosophy, and metaphysics made its way to Cuba as Santeria, to Brazil as Candomblé, and to Haiti and New Orleans as Voodou/Voodoo.

It then traveled from New Orleans to a young Papa by way of rituals led by the Voodoo Spiritual Temple at the Brushwood Folklore Center over the course of several years.

It was from these experiences and from my study of Latin rhythms that I wrote the song Ellegua. The lyrics go:

Oh Ellegua we call on you

bring our message to the stars,

oh that we might do your will

and bring the light unto the earth!

This speaks to the tradition that in order to talk to the gods you need to first bring your message to Ellegua who waits at the crossroads. If brought a gift of coffee or sweets--and he approves of your message and intent--he will carry your message to his brothers and sisters, like Oshun and Yemaya who may act by granting your prayer. The second verse goes:

Coyote of the night how I love to hear you howl!

We must turn this site around,

through the crossroads,

to the light!

On coyote hill we would often be in the Tipi, the Straw Bale, or the A-frame at night and would hear the coyotes yipping and howling in the night. But we never saw them. Since I got to Portland more than 15 years ago, I've seen one just about every year but have only heard them once. The second stanza refers to Ellegua/Coyote’s Roll as trickster. He may bring you what you want but twist your words to teach a lesson. I know he has brought me many such gifts.

It also has to do with the tarot major arcana key 12, the Hanged Man, who hangs upside down by his feet with his arms and legs crossed. You would think that he's in distress but by his expression he is in perfect contentment. He realizes as the Trickster that life is a reflection of what is apparent on the surface and we must look inside to find our own way through the crossroads to the light.

As you can see a lot of thought and meditation and experience went into these brief lines and this song has been a band and crowd favorite for more than 20 years. Here is The Buddhahood playing it in Rochester, New York in 2018.

In a future post I will talk about how I incorporate alternate meters and polyrhythms (in this case, the clave and cascara) into melodic structures that make up the rhythm and melody of this song.

Blessed be,

Papa