From the liner notes:

SIDE II, Band 3:
PYTORIA (RUN COME SEE JERUSALEM) 4'40"
John Roberts, lead voice; H. Brown, bass; C. Wallace, treble.
Recorded at Fresh Creek Settlement, Andros, Bahamas Islands, August 10, 1958.

In nineteen hundred and twenty-nine

(REFRAIN)
Run come seek, Run come seek,

In nineteen hundred and twenty-nine
(REFRAIN)
Run come seek it, Jerusalem.

There was three sails leaving out the harbor, Etc.
I want you to tell me 'bout the three sails, Etc.
Will you name those three sails for me, Etc.
The Result, The Myrtle, the Pytoria Etc.
Now they're leaving out Nassau Harbor, Etc.
Now God send the Myrtle into Blanket Sound, Etc.
But God send Result into Staniard Creek, Etc.
Now we leave the Pytoria on the ocean, Etc.
There's a dark cloud build up in the north-east, Etc.
Now the wind and wave keep rolling down, Etc.
Pytoria couldn't hold up for the channel, (REFRAIN)
Now she's cut off for Standard Rock channel (REFRAIN) ,
When she get opposite the channel (REFRAIN) ,
Oh Lord, Captain George vas the captain (REFRAIN) ,
He spoke to the people on board her, (REFRAIN)
Said people, people what must we do? (REFRAIN)
Now everybody get confused in his mind (REFRAIN) ,
Now everybody get confused in his mind.
Oh he said, I cannot find the channel, (REFRAIN)
Oh Lord, I got to go in the channel now, (REFRAIN)
Nov the first sea hit the Pytoria, (REFRAIN)
Thank God everybody get confused, (REFRAIN)
The second sea hit the Pytoria., (REFRAIN)
Now she knock little Era to Glory, (REFRAIN)
Now she bad thirty-four souls board her, Etc.
Nov the next sea hit the Pytoria, (REFRAIN)
She leaved the people on the water, (REFRAIN)

Redacted from the liner notes below:
John Roberts composed PYTORIA. John remembered that the Pytoria sank on Wednesday, and on Sunday morning ". . . I had my song ready." John Roberts had been a crew member of the Pytoria until a week before it was destroyed on the rocks at Fresh Creek.


Since the 1920's the great Andros singers have composed ballads about their lives and experiences, and there has been a flowering of the ballad style. There are now five major ballads sung along the coast of Andros. McQueen composed CURRY CAMP BURNED DOWN and with John Roberts - who is mentioned in CURRY CAMP BURNED DOWN - composed PYTORIA. They are both from the settlement at Blanket Sound and John remembered that the Pytoria sank on Wednesday, and on Sunday morning ". . . I had my song ready." McQueen has certainly developed the magnificent CECIL GONE IN THE TIME OF STORM to its present form, but it was probably created by the entire community at Blanket Sound within a few weeks after Cecil's drowning. John Robert's singing of the ballad added a few details, but it was very similar to McQueen's. The other two ballads are from southern Andros and seem to have been composed by a singer from Long Bay Cay, Willie Bullard. They are HARCOURT DROWNED and CEDRIC. McQueen recorded HARCOURT DROWNED, but noone could be found in the Mangrove Cay area who could sing more than a few lines of CEDRIC. Bullard may have taken part in the development of CECIL GONE IN THE TIME OF STORM, since there is evidence that he sang the ballad in the 1930's. With the exception of CEDRIC and CURRY CAMP BURNED DOWN - which is regarded as McQueen's special song - the ballads all widely sung on Andros and are thought of as traditional.

The ballads of Andros are superb examples of a mature ballad style, and they have been collected at an early point, so that there is still a richness of detail and an intensity of mood. McQueen was on the beach at Blanket Sound when Eudie Newton was told that her son, Cecil, was drowned, and John Roberts had been a crew member of the Pytoria until a week before it was destroyed on the rocks at Fresh Creek. In their singing is the vividness with which they recall the scene. CURRY CAMP BURNED DOWN is a delightful example of that rare form, the comic ballad. Curry Camp was the ill-fated pineapple farm near Fresh Creek, run by a government official named Erwin McFee. McQueen paints a colorful picture of the confusion and excitement of the fire, and then solemnly recounts how the employees - including himself - cheated poor McFee when he was trying to make good their losses. McQueen sings the ballads with a moving sensitivity and expressiveness.

Recording by S. B. Charters, with the technical assistance of A. R. Danberg. Much of the recording was done under difficult conditions, and there is background noise from gasoline driven generators on at least two of the selections.