Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Cudelia Brown / Cordelia Brown
From:
Azizi
Date: 24 May 11 - 11:28 AM
Grishka, I'm not an expert on Jamaican culture, although I've done some study of that culture and some study of other cultures of the African Diaspora including my own African American culture. As such, I VERY much disagree with your opinion of the meaning of the Jamaican folk song/mento song Cordelia Brown (Cudelia Brown).
I respectfully suggest that your hypothesis that Cordelia is a pale, light skinned Jamaican who is proud of her European ancestry, and that the "red" in the lyrics refers to her blushing or her face being sunburn, as well as your focus on the Shakespearean origin of the female name "Cordelia" are all examples of interpreting Caribbean songs using a Eurocentric [meaning a White person's] filter and not taking into consideration the culture of the song's times.
[I don't mean that Jamaicans who have European ancestry shouldn't be proud of that ancestry as well as being proud of their African ancestry, Indigenous ancestry, and/or Asian ancestry. I also don't mean that there aren't any pale Jamaicans who could get red through sunburn or who you could see red in their face when they blush. What I DO mean is that this song isn't about any of that.]
As MorwenEdhelwen1 indicated in her 24 May 11 - 05:07 AM post to this thread, in the central question that is posed in the song "Cordelia Brown" is why does Cordelia have [naturally] red hair.
It's my strongly held opinion that the words to the song Cordelia Brown are meant as a taunt (dig, diss, rip, unkind tease) on Cordelia for having red hair. However, in a deeper sense, the song may have been also meant as a commentary on mixed race Jamaicans and how they got that way.
In that song, those persons who are teasing Cordelia really know how she got her red hair, but they say that the reason her hair is red is because she sat out in the sun without anything on her head. I imagine those persons saying those words in a sneering tone as in "Yeah, right. So is that the excuse you're going to give us, and do you really expect us to believe that?"
I believe that the first three lines of the second verse of this version of Cordelia Brown provides a first person account of what really happened.
On a moonshine night, on a moonshine night,
I met Missa Ivan, an' Missa Ivan tol' me,
Sey dat 'im gi Neita di drop, Jamaica flop, and di moonshine drop,
-snip-
A concise translation of those lines is that on a night when the moon shined bright, Mr. Ivan [a White man] met Neita [Nita, a brown skinned Jamaican female] and those two had a sexual encounter which may or may not have been consensual.
I interpret the last line of that second verse "Ee-hee-aw, haw; Ee-hee-aw, haw; Ee-hee-aw, haw" to be those taunters laughing in Cordelia's face.
[See the lyrics in an earlier post that include the name "Nita" for "Neita"].
I base my reasons for believing that Missa Ivan refers to a White man on the traditions of the United States-and I believe also those of the Caribbean that reserved "titles" such as "Mr." and "Miss" for White folks. I believe the phrase "give Neita the drop" and "Jamaica flop" obliquely refer to the sex act. The phrase "the moonshine drop" may also refer to that or may refer to the light going out of Neita's [Nita's] life after that interracial sexual encounter. However, I admit that I have no strong proof for my interpretations of those phrases. Of course, it's possible that there was no moon that night this encounter took place, as found in a version of the lyrics given in an earlier post to this thread.
It should be noted that in his much more popular version of this song, Harry Belafonte gives this implausible explanation for why Cordelia's hair is red:
"Yes you fell in love with Ned
And when he left, your head turned red".
http://www.nomorelyrics.net/harry_belafonte-lyrics/176355-cordelia_brown-lyrics.html Those lyrics are also found in this thread.
-snip-
I present the following excerpt to support my hypothesis:
From http://dianebrowneblog.blogspot.com/
Sunday, April 17, 2011
in Cordelia Finds Fame and Fortune, a picture story book, I introduce the folk song. 'Cordelia Brown'. This is how it goes:
O Cordelia Brown whe mek you head so red?
O Cordelia Brown whe mek you head so red?
For you siddung ina de sunshine
Wid nuttin' pon you head
O Cordelia Brown dat's why you head so red.
(I hope the words are correct. I am taking them from the book, and I trust that at the time I did thorough research, because that's what I usually do).
The story is about a little girl who is teased because she has red hair, in a village where everyone else has chocolate coloured skin like her, but they do not have red hair. She survives the teasing, and in fact, her red hair becomes something of importance in her 'fame and fortune'. It stands out"...
-snip-
Also, the idea that a mento song might address issues of racial mixture is supported by this excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mento
"The lyrics of mento songs often deal with aspects of everyday life in a light-hearted and humorous way. Many comment on poverty, poor housing and other social issues. Thinly-veiled sexual references and innuendo are also common themes..."
-snip-
The only comment that I will make about statements found in this thread about who is or is not White is to say that I don't believe that those statements are accurate for Jamaica or the USA then (when the song Cordelia Brown was first recorded) or now
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