Anti-Confederation Song

"The Anti-Confederation Song." This folksong originated around the time of the heated 1869 election in which Newfoundland was to decide whether or not to join the newly formed Dominion of Canada.

"The Anti-Confederation Song." This folksong originated around the time of the heated 1869 election in which Newfoundland was to decide whether or not to join the newly formed Dominion of Canada. Pro-Confederationists argued the advantages of lower prices for goods; Anti-Confederationists countered with the prospect of high taxes on fishermen's boats and gear and played on Newfoundlanders' pride in being Britain's oldest overseas colony.

The traditional tune is possibly a variant of the widespread "Villikins and His Dinah." The song was published first by Gerald S. Doyle in Old-Time Songs and Poetry of Newfoundland (St. John's 1940), and is included in the Fowke-Johnston Folk Songs of Canada (Waterloo 1954) and the Fowke-Mills Singing Our History (Toronto 1984). Alan Mills recorded it (Folk 3000).

The song's lyrics express pride for the island and convey a sense of distrust in the proposed terms of union.

To download the easy alphanotes and chords, look here. Enjoy! 

Lyrics: 

Ye brave Newfoundlanders who plough the salt sea,

With hearts like the eagle so bold and so free,

The time is at hand when we'll have to say

If Confederation will carry the day.

 

Men, hurrah for our own native Isle, Newfoundland,

Not a stranger shall hold one inch of its strand;

Her face turns to Britain, her back to the Gulf,

Come near at your peril, Canadian Wolf!

 

Cheap tea and molasses they say they will give,

All taxes taken off that the poor man may live;

Cheap nails and cheap lumber, our coffins to make,

And homespun to mend our old clothes when they break.

 

If they take off all taxes, how then will they meet

The heavy expenses on army and fleet?

Just give them the chance to get into the scrap,

They'll show you the trick with pen, ink and red tape.

 

Would you barter the right that your fathers have won?

Your freedom transmitted from father to son?

For a few thousand dollars Canadian gold

Don't let it be said that our birthright was sold.

We Are Fred Karno's Army

 We Are Fred Karno's Army is a type of chaotic organization, named for the comedian Fred Karno (1866–1941); his ‘Army’ was the company which gave a solid start or valuable experience to many comedians. ‘We are Fred Karno's army, the ragtime infantry’, perhaps referring to ‘Kitchener's Army’, was one of the trench songs of the First World War. 

Music Hall impresario Fred Karno had his own “fun factory,” where he discovered and trained a generation of British stage comedy performers. Many of these “plonks” went on to make their marks on world cinema. Featured in the stage-to-screen line-up are Max Linder, Charlie Chaplin, Billie Ritchie, and Stan Laurel.

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy! 

Lyrics:

We are Fred Karno's Army, 

What bloody use are we?

We cannot fight, we cannot shoot,

So we joined the infantry.

But when we get to Berlin,

The Kaiser he will say,

"Hoch! Hoch! Mein Gott,

What a jolly fine lot

Are the ragtime infantry!"

We are Fred Karno's Army,

A jolly lot are we,

Fred Karno is our Captain,

Charlie Chaplin our O.C.

But when we get to Berlin,

The Kaiser he will say,

"Hoch! Hoch! Mein Gott,

What a jolly fine lot

Are the boys of company C!"

We are Fred Karno's Army, 

What bloody use are we?

We cannot fight, we cannot shoot,

So we joined the infantry.

But when we get to Berlin,

The Kaiser he will say,

"Hoch! Hoch! Mein Gott,

What a jolly fine lot

Are the ragtime infantry!"

I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago

"I was born about ten thousand years ago, And there's nothing in this world that I don't know." The singer boasts of his past accomplishments, e.g. watching Adam and Eve eat the apple (and eating the core); teaching Solomon to read....
 It need hardly be stated that there is very little truth in this song (even if one accepts the Bible as literally true). I won't state examples; they would just bore you.
I do suspect that the "Ten Thousand Years" title is original, and "four thousand years" is a later correction by those who thought the braggart couldn't have been born before 4004 BCE. And "six thousand years ago" may be an adjustment by someone who knew Archbishop Ussher's 4004 date and did some subtraction. 

Not to be confused with the bawdy "Three Thousand Years Ago". 

The verse "She's my darling, she's my daisy, She's humpbacked and she's crazy... She's my freckled-faced consumptive Mary Ann" (sung as part of this song, e.g., by Charlie Poole) is also associated with "Hungry Hash House," and that's where I've listed it when it occurs on its own. It's not clear that Poole's piece belongs there, but for the moment I'm listing that song with this one because it fits better metrically.

Woody Guthrie took this idea and rewrote it as "The Great Historical Bum." This was one of his Columbia River songs; Greg Vandy with Daniel Person, 26 Songs in 30 Days: Woody Guthrie's Columbia River Songs and the Planned Promised Land in the Pacific Northwest, Sasquatch Books, 2016, p. xvi, shows one of Woody's typed copies; it ends "But Coulee Dam's th' biggest thing that Man has ever done." Someone (Chad Mitchell Trio? Milt Okun?) then combined the two. Talk about a strange sort of folk process.

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics: 
I was born about ten thousand years ago
There aint nothing in this world that I dont know
I saved king davids life and he offered me a wife
I said now youre talking business have a chair

Yeah, I was born about ten thousand years ago
Aint nothing in this world that I dont know
Saw peter, paul and moses playing ring around the roses
Ill lick the guy that says it isnt so

I was born about ten thousand years ago
Aint nothing in this world that I dont know
I saw old pharaohs daughter bring moses from the water
Ill lick the guy that says it isnt so

I was there when old noah built the ark
And I crawled in the window after dark
I saw jonah eat the whale and dance with the lions tale
And I crossed over canaan on a log

I was born about ten thousand years ago
Aint nothing in this world that I dont know
I saw old pharaohs daughter bring moses from the water
Ill lick the guy that says it isnt so

Yeah, I was born about ten thousand years ago
Aint nothing in this world that I dont know
Saw peter, paul and moses playing ring around the roses
Ill lick the guy that says it isnt so

I was there when old noah built the ark
And I crawled in the window after dark
I saw jonah eat the whale and dance with the lions tale
And I crossed over canaan on a log

I was born about ten thousand years ago
There aint nothing in this world that I dont know
I saved king davids life and he offered me a wife
I said now youre talking business have a chair

Yeah, I was born about ten thousand years ago
Aint nothing in this world that I dont know
Saw peter, paul and moses playing ring around the roses
Ill lick the guy that says it isnt so
Send "I Was Born About Ten"

Ophelia Letter Blow 'way

Ophelia Letter Blow 'way song dates back in 1950 (Elder-FolksongsFromTobago). This song is describing as life is like a letter that wind can blow away, but the person whose life has been lost is not dead but blown away to some other place, like Arima.

Elder-FolksongsFromTobago: "In 'Ophelia letter' we have a beautiful metaphor of a woman losing her husband or spouse and the sheer impossibility of saying just where the dead man is."

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

 Lyrics: 

Ophelia letter blow way, It blow 'way in Arima (repeat).

It blow way in Arima, It blow' way in Arima (repeat). Oh!

 

Ophelia where your letter? It blow 'way in Arima (repeat).

It blow 'way in Arima, It blow' way in Arima (repeat). Oh! .

Ophelia where your letter? It blow 'way in Castara (repeat).

It blow 'way in Arima, It blow' way in Castara (repeat).

Hill And Gully Rider

 "Hill an gully rider" is a call and response work song from Jamaica which used to be sung by workmen constructing new roads. In its topical way it refers to the uneven and hazardous terrain through which the new road had to be cut. The response can be sung in unison or in two part harmony. 

Mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. Mento typically features acoustic instruments, such as acoustic guitar, banjo, hand drums, and the rhumba box — a large mbira in the shape of a box that can be sat on while played. The rhumba box carries the bass part of the music.

Mento is often confused with calypso, a musical form from Trinidad and Tobago. Although the two share many similarities, they are separate and distinct musical forms. During the mid-20th century, mento was conflated with calypso, and mento was frequently referred to as calypso, kalypso and mento calypso; mento singers frequently used calypso songs and techniques. As in Calypso, Mento uses topical lyrics with a humorous slant, commenting on poverty and other social issues. Sexual innuendos are also common. 

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy! 

Lyrics

Refrain
Hill and gully rider, Hill and gully. (repeat)

1. Took my horse and come down, Hill and gully,
But my horse done tumble down, Hill and gully.
And the nighttime come a-tumblin’ down, Hill and gully.

2. Oh the moon shone bright down, Hill and gully,
Ain’t no place to hide in down…
An’ a zombie come a ridin’ down… Refrain

3. Oh, my knees they shake down…
An’ my heart starts quakin’ down…
An’ I run ’til daylight breakin’ down… Refrain

4. That’s the last I set down…
Pray the Lord don’ let me down…
Ain’t nobody goin’ to get me down… Refrain

Fan Me Solja Man

 Fan Me Solja Man is from Jamaica. It's about a young wife, whose husband has gone to war. This young wife  loses her good reputation, although she continues to be well dressed, because she is carousing with and accepting the gifts of (ill reputed) soldiers. 

Around 1945 Lion (Hubert Charles) wrote and recorded "Fan Me, Saga Boys." A "saga boy" was "a lower-class male whose garb and behavior were copied from American zoot-suitrers of the 1940s.... The song utilizes images of World War II to metaphorically describe sexual intercourse.... 'Fan Me Soldier Man, Fan Me' is probably based upon the same lavway as this song" (Donald R. Hill, "Calypso Calaloo" (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1993), p. 264; The Lion with Gerald Clark and His Original Calypsos, "Fan Me Saga Boy", Guild 125A, 1945?)). It seems unlikely that the source for "Fan Mi Solja Man" is a Trinidad lavway (calypso road march). Lion's chorus is "Fan me, saga boys, fan me / I said, Oh! fan me, saga boys, fan me / Long live our gracious king / But I kiss me saga boy Christmas morning." The chorus from Jekyll-JamaicanSongAndStory is "Fan me, soldier man, fan me / Fan me, soldier man, fan me/ Fan me, soldier man, fan me oh! / Gal, you character gone.' 

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

Fan me solja man, fan me,
Fan me solja man. fan me,
Fan me solja man, fan me, oh !

Gal, yuh character gawn.

Wey de use yuh dah shawl up, shawl up, (3x)
Gal yuh character gawn.

Wey de use dah lace-up stays-up, (3x)

Gal, yuh character gawn.

Sake a Coolie-man bangle, (3x)

Gal yuh character gawn.

Fan me solja man, fan me,
Fan me solja man, fan me,
Fan me solja man, fan me, oh,

Gal yuh character gawn.

Cudelia Brown

Cudelia Brown  (also known as "Cordelia Brown") is a Jamaican folk song from a tradition of "Mento Music".

 "Mento Music is a style of Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music...

Mento is often confused with calypso, a musical form from Trinidad and Tobago. Although the two share many similarities, they are separate and distinct musical forms...

Mento uses topical lyrics with a humorous slant, commenting on poverty and other social issues. Sexual innuendos are also common. Mento was strongly influenced by calypso, the musical traditions of the Kumina religion and Cuban music. During the mid-20th century, mento was conflated with calypso, and mento was frequently referred to as calypso, kalypso and mento calypso; mento singers frequently used calypso songs and techniques.

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics: 

O Cudelia Brown,
Wha mek yu head so red? (Yu head so red!)
O Cudelia Brown,
Wha mek yu head so red? (Yu head so red!)
Yu si' dung eena di sunshine wit' nut'n 'pon yu head,
O Cudelia Brown,
Wha mek yu head so red? (Yu head so red!)

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,
Ee-hee-aw, haw; Ee-hee-aw, haw; Ee-hee-aw, haw.

Nobody's Business

Nobody's Business is a Jamaican folk song. Jamaican folk songs have become a definitive characteristic of Jamaican culture. They are exemplars of a culture whose music reflects the lifestyle of most of its citizens. In modern times, their beauty has been show cased in local and foreign performances which exposes an element of the country to the world. Additionally, the arrangements of these songs by Jamaican composers like Noel Dexter and Peter Ashbourne have aided in their renaissance in modern times. This also attests to their high entertaining quality which most audiences have come to appreciate. 

However, in colonial times, the songs’ function and purpose were two-fold. First, they were used as a mode of communication between slaves and their masters, as well as among the slaves themselves. Secondly, they were used to enhance religious aspects of worship and praise. Additionally, the colonial system created a stratified society in which the white masters were superior to the enslaved Africans. This permeated every aspect of the colonial society and was especially noticeable in the disparity in social conditions between the whites and the slaves. Colonialism also enabled the imposition of European culture on society. Overtime, the slaves perceived that the European culture was better than theirs, and they fashioned their social habits after their masters’. The resultant was their viewing their African ancestry with shame and overtime abandoning its traditions.

This research explored the transition of Jamaican folk songs from the slave fields to the art music stage. In so doing, it investigated colonialism and slavery as factors that influenced these songs’ usage in communication, entertainment, and worship. It also explored independence as a catalyst in the creation of a new identity for Jamaicans and, in so doing, investigated the cultural policies of successive Jamaican governments coupled with the concerted efforts of the artisan class, especially musicians in producing Jamaican artifacts that are representative of the people.

To download the easy alphanotes and chords, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

1.Solomon Grundy gone a Ecuador
Lef him wife and pickney out a door
Nobody's business but me own;
Solomon Grundy gone a Ecuador
Lef him wife and pickney out a door
Nobody's business but me own.

Chorus:

Nobody's business, business
Nobody's business, business
Nobody's business but my own
Nobody's business, business
Nobody's business, business
Nobody's business but my own.

2.If I married to a naygarman
An' I lef' him for a Chinaman
Nobody's business but me own
If I married to a naygarman
An' I lef' him for a Chinaman
Nobody's business but me own.

Linstead Market

Linstead Market is a Jamaican folk song of the mento type that tells of a mother who goes to the market with her ackee fruit but does not sell any, with the result that her children will go hungry.

Possibly the earliest publication of the tune with words occurs in Walter Jekyll's 1907 book, Jamaican Song and Story, as item 121, pages 219-220. In Jekyll, the lyrics are as follows:

In Helen H. Roberts' collection of folk song variants based on field work in Jamaica, published in 1925, the version in Jekyll is reproduced, followed by twelve variants. In some of these, "Sollas market" replaces "Linstead market"

On page 14, Dr. Lewin explains that "Linstead Market still remains a picturesque small town market. The song is now often taken at a much faster pace for dancing but was originally sung slow and plaintively by a mother who couldn't sell enough at the market to feed her children. A quatty was a small copper coin of very small value." 

Note: A quatty(or quattie) was actually one and one-half penny(halfpenny). During that time it was standard to sell goods in quatty(s) worth, which was 1.5 penny in value. If an item increased in value, then the quantity you received for a quatty would decrease. The quattie was not a minted coin. Three halfpenny(ha'penny) or six farthing would be the equivalent of one quatty. 

In all the versions mentioned above except the earliest, the melody is written in 2/4 or 4/4 time, but in Jekyll, the time signature is 6/8.

The melody has been arranged for solo voice with piano. One of the earliest such publications was "Linstead Market: a Jamaican Folk-song," by Arthur Benjamin, Boosey & Hawkes, 1947 (5 pages). Among choral arrangements is one of the same title by A. H. Green, published by Oxford University Press in 1967 (8 pages). The song was included on the compact disc " The King's Singers in 1992. The song was recorded by the English folk group The Spinners, sung by their Caribbean singer Cliff Hall. The song is also published in modern collections, such as Songs of the Americas, arranged by Margery Hargest John, published by Boosey & Hawkes, London, 1993. 

More recently, published in January 2014, the album by Monty Alexander, titled "Harlem-Kingston Express, Vol. 2: The River Rolls On", contains track #11, "Linstead Market (Live Bonus)". It is 6:37 long and features a spoken introduction. Liner notes of the album by Monty Alexander reference the track by stating, "... this beloved old Jamaican folk song from way before my time, is one of the staples of the Mento repertoire."

 The track was recorded by Rob Macomber in 2012 at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola in NYC. Additional liner notes from the album regarding the song.

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

Lyrics:

1. Carry me ackee go a Linstead Market,

Not a quatty wut sell.Oh

Carry me ackee go a Linstead Market,

Not a quatty wut sell. Oh

Chorus:

Lawd! 

Not a mite, not a bite,

Wat a Satiday Night!

Oh Lawd!

Not a mite, not a bite,

Wat a Satiday Night!

2.Ev'ry body come feel up, feel up,

Not a quatty wut sell. Oh

Ev'ry body come feel up, feel up,

Not a quatty wut sell. Oh

Chorus

3.Mek me call i' louda 'Ackee, Ackee,

Red an' pretty dem tan. Oh

Lady buy yuh Sunday mawnin' breakfus'

Rice an' ackee nyam gran'. Oh

Chorus

4. All de pickney come lingaling,

Fe weh dem Mama no bring. Oh

All de pickney come lingaling,

Fe weh dem Mama no bring. Oh

Chorus

John Belly Grow

 John Belly Grow or John Belly Mama is a Barbadian folk song coming out of the post-slavery period.

To download the easy alphanotes and chords sheet music, look here. Enjoy!

 Lyrics:  

John belly grow!

Ah was diggin' potatoes, John belly grow! 

An' ah dig ten baskit, John belly grow!

No man to pass here, John belly grow!

An' de police can't catch me, John belly grow!

Right roun' de harbour, John belly grow!

No coo-coo pon de table, John belly grow! 

Ah was diggin' potatoes, John belly grow! 

An' ah dig ten baskit, John belly grow!

No man to pass here, John belly grow!

An' de police can't catch me, John belly grow!

Right roun' de harbour, John belly grow!

No coo-coo pon de table, John belly grow!