Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown

Subject: Lyr Add: CUDELIA BROWN (from Louise Bennett)
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 04:18 AM

Interestingly, the liner notes to the Louise Bennett album give a different explanation for the song and print slightly different lyrics. "A red-headed Negro girl is told why her hair is red and is warned about losing her boy-fried, who does not like the colour of her hair."
Here are those lyrics.
Lyr Add: CUDELIA BROWN (from Louise Bennett 1954, "Jamaican Folk Songs")

1. Oh Cudelia Brown,
Wha meck yuh head so red?
Oh Cudelia Brown,
Wha meck yuh head so red?

Yuh siddung eena de sunshine,
Wid nutten' pon yuh head,
Oh Cudelia Brown,
Dat's why yuh head so red!

On a moonshine night, on a moonshine night,
I meet Missa Ivan, an' Missa Ivan tol' me,
Sey dat him gi Neita de drop,
Jamaica flop, an' de moonshine drop,
And the reason why, because
Her head so red & (etc.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 04:21 AM

*friend

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 08:56 AM

One thing is certain: Sitting in the sun does not change the colour of any (young) person's hair. Wearing a hat against the sun is a comparatively recent invention, necessary to protect one's (light-coloured) skin. This is true in Antigua and elsewhere.

However, many people change the colour of their hair by chemicals, for reasons of beauty. If the eye of the beholder has a different view, they might blame the sun, as a lame excuse.

But the Antiguan lyrics say "yuh", not "I", and "Dat's why yuh head so red!", not "Dat's why yuh head so red???".

I'm still puzzled, and so seem the natives.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 09:20 AM

Well, Grishka, it seems like Louise Bennett sang a different version. In that version (the one I posted above) Neita/Nita/Netta seems to be the other girl involved with Missa Ivan, who he "dropped" (dumped?) not Cudelia's mother, because"her head so red". It doesn't seem to make any more sense than the other one, which seems more plausible.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 08:22 AM

Refresh. Something else just occurred to me about why the song is so puzzling in its meaning- I think Louise Bennett collected all the songs on her album. Although she is mostly known as a poet, another well-known thing about her is that she was a folklorist. From Google Books I discovered that she wrote a book published in 1950 called "Anancy Stories and Dialect Verse". That book contains Jamaican folk songs and this song might be in there. It's possible that since she helped in the repertoire for the Edric Connor LP of Jamaican folk songs, she was responsible for this song being on the track list. Lord Burgess adapts the song from the version he hears on the LP and Harry Belafonte (who might have remembered the song from his period living in Jamaica as a child) decides he likes it and wants to record it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 01:04 PM

"Cudelia Brown" seems an unlikely subject to be found in the Ananci stories.
Two major works:
Martha Warren Beckwith, 1924, Jamaica Ananci Stories, contains 149 Ananci stories, with copious notes.
This work is on line-
Ananci Stories
Even better version:
Martha Warren Beckwith, 1924, Jamaica Ananci Stories with music recorded in the field by Helen Roberts, American Folk-Lore Society, Memoirs, Vol. XVII, 1924.
Online-
http://www.aren.org/prison/documents/african/14/14.pdf
Several online copies:

[Much interest in these stories, since they parallel the Brer Rabbit stories told in America.]

Walter Jekyll, 1907, Jamaican Song and Story, 51 Annancy stories, some notes.
Several copies online:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35410/35410-h/35410-h.htm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 01:07 PM

'Several online copies'- error, applies only to the Jekyll book. The two for Beckwith are the only ones with her complete stories

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 18 Jul 11 - 05:37 PM

Q, Louise Bennett's book also contains dialect verse, including a section of Jamaican folk songs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 19 Jul 11 - 02:32 AM

*Note: I think my transcription of "Cudelia Brown" as sung by Louise Bennett is slightly inaccurate. "Ee-he-ha-ha, ee-he-ha-ha, ee-he-ah-ha, ee-he-ah-ha" appears after "Jamaica flop an' de moonshine drop" as in the other traditional versions, then the first verse is repeated with "And the reason, why, because her head so red" tacked on at the end.

Subject: Lyr Add: MISSISSIPPI LADY (Jim Croce)
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Jul 11 - 04:41 AM

Then there's this one by Jim Croce.

Mississippi Lady

With just a sleeping bag and an old guitar
I left the band in New Orleans
I did some time with the bottle, some with the river queens
I never thought I would meet a girl
Who could turn my head around
Till I met that Mississippi Lady in sleepy Gulfport town, she was a

Chorus:
Mississippi Lady
My lovin' Gulfport gal
She taught me how to love
And she really loved me well
She took me up to heaven
Then she brought me down
That Mississippi Lady, Sweet Cordelia Brown

Hot July in Gulfport
And I was working in the bars
And she was working on the street
With the rest of the evening stars
She said, I never met a guy
Who could turn my head around
And that's really sayin' something
For Sweet Cordelia Brown, She was a

Chorus

Now I'm back in New York City
Playin' in a band
But my mind's on Mississippi
Is it hard to understand
I never thought I would meet a girl
Who could bring me that far down
Like the girl I met in Gulfport
Sweet Cordelia Brown, she was a

Chorus




cheers

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: GUEST,Bugsy
Date: 19 Jul 11 - 04:43 AM

Oooops.......... having re read the original posting, I can see this is NOT the one you were looking for.........

Sorry

Bugsy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 19 Jul 11 - 05:38 AM

Bugsy, the original poster hasn't posted on this thread since 2004, when I was 11. His request was answered soon after he posted. This thread has moved on to being a discussion of the history of the song he asked about (covered by Harry Belafonte), originally a Jamaican folk dance tune called "Cudelia Brown".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 19 Jul 11 - 04:01 PM

Nevertheless it would be interesting to know the relation between those songs. Mere coincidence?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Jul 11 - 04:30 PM

Doubt that "Cudelia Brown," with its 4/4 melody, was a dance tune.

Bugsy, thanks for posting the Jim Croce "Mississippi Lady." A nice song. Everyone knows his "Bad Boy ...." but I don't think I ever heard Mississippi Lady. Cordelia as a name is not uncommon, my wife has a cousin with the name. Dunno if coincidence or not.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 19 Jul 11 - 09:23 PM

Not sure who wrote the liner notes to the Louise Bennett album or where they got the information, (possibly Louise Bennett herself, from older people who were her informants?) but those notes call it a dance tune.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 30 Sep 11 - 11:28 PM

Interestingly, Louise Bennett implies that Neita and Mr Ivan are known to Cordelia (and possibly that Mr Ivan knows - or was a former boyfriend of Cordelia's) and that rather than being her parents, they are her same-age acquaintances.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 02 Oct 11 - 07:57 AM

Anyone want to continue discussing "Cudelia Brown"?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 02 Oct 11 - 03:49 PM

Anyone want to continue discussing "Cudelia Brown"?

You do, Morwen.

As soon as you find out new facts, e.g. by contacting knowledgable Jamaican natives, we will be pleased to discuss them. Simple refreshing rarely does the trick.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 24 Nov 11 - 01:07 AM

Just want to tell everyone that yes, a few knowledgeable posters on Jamaicans.com have told me that the second verse may be a rework of another song referring to an incident in West Indian cricket in the 1930s. Neita is not a woman, but a man! Now the question becomes "How did the verse from the other song get into this one?". BTW, the name is not always "Cudelia Brown" and the verse does not always refer to red hair; one poster quoted several versions referring to "why yuh head so hard?"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 24 Nov 11 - 02:58 PM

Might be crossing with the pop song of the 1940s, "Caldonia, Caldonia, what makes your big head so hard?"

BB King, Louis Jordan, others recorded it, but Jordan produced the hit record.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 25 Nov 11 - 12:15 AM

Probably...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 02 Dec 11 - 10:03 PM

The other question is whether the first verse is the only verse of CB if you leave out the second, which is a different song. Did CB have another verse/other verses? Or is it like "In the Pines", a song cluster of two one-verse songs instead of a song on its own?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 02 Dec 11 - 10:07 PM

Another idea is that the song got to Antigua through news travelling fast; a sporting scandal involving members of prominent families would be big news in the 1930s. (It still would be now but in a different way)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 03 Dec 11 - 06:16 PM

Refresh