The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #40845 Message #3233786
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
04-Oct-11 - 02:00 PM
Thread Name: ADD: jamaican folk music
Subject: RE: ADD: jamaican folk music
Lyr. Add: ONE SOLJA MAN
1 One solja man come fe court me, Me sey me no ha' nobody, *Him gimme one shillin' an' quatty. Me tek i' buy silk an' satin. 2 Me wash i' me starch i' me iron i', Me pred i' pon pingwing macka, An one ole un-conscionable John Crow Come fling i' eena crevice an' corner. 3 No tear i' Jeremiah, no tear i', No tear i' Jeremiah, no tear i', No tear i' Jeremiah, no tera i', No tear up me silk an' satin. 4 A weh yuh dah weel an' tun me, A weh yuh dah weel an' tun me, Yuh mussa wan' me fe go fall dung, An' lick me belly pon tambourina.
Solja- Soldier Ha'- Have Quatty- Penny halfpenny Pred- Spread Pingwing macka- Cactus John Crow- Jamaican scavenger bird, but here used in a derogatory sense, alluding to 'Jeremiah'. Eena- In Weh- Why Mussa- Must Fe go fall dung- To fall down Tambourina- Tambourine
Also sung as 'One Bungo Man', Bungo meaning an African. *May be sung as: 'Him gimme one cock-y'eye fourbit', 'fourbit' being one shilling and sixpence.
Pp. 58-59, With music for voice and piano.
Tom Murray, Ed. and arr., 1951, Folk Songs of Jamaica, Oxford University Press.