Jamaican Song and Story Part 54

Tell Mister Bell me go plant coco, Tell Mister Bell me go plant coco, Tell Mister Bell me go plant coco, fuppence a quart fe flour!

Flour Flour Flour Flour!

fuppence a quart fe flour!]

Mr. Bell is, however, the keeper of a country shop. "Tell Mr. Bell I am going to plant cocoes. Threepence a quart for shop flour! No, it's too much expense." ("Too much expense" is a favourite phrase.)

The accent which the music gives to the word _coco_ is not the right one. It should be on the first syllable.

"Fuppence" is fivepence, but means threepence. This is the survival of an old coinage in which sixpence was called tenpence. The _u_ in "fuppence" is an Italian _u_ with a turn towards an open _o_. It sounds more like fourpence than fippence.

"Plant coco" is the bobbin, but a gang who were inspired not to leave too much to the raiser of the tune, would take upon themselves to add "Fuppence a quart fe flour." ("Fe," sounded "fy," with short _y_ as in "very.")

LVI.

The next has again a well-defined bobbin in "nyam an' cry," and hereafter no reference will be made to this feature, which by now must be thoroughly understood. Where it appears to be wanting, the whole sing is sung in chorus.

[Music:

Bad homan oh!

bad homan oh!

nyam an' cry, me coco no ripe, nyam an' cry, me hafoo no ripe, nyam an' cry.]

The man is "working his provision ground," and his wife is always saying she has not got enough to eat. She is a bad woman, who does nothing but "nyam an' cry," eat and call for more, and my cocoes are not ready to dig and my Afoo (Italian _a_, ahfoo) yam is not ready either. (There are as many different kinds of yams as there are of potatoes.)

LVII.

Continuing with subjects connected with field-work, we come now to a sing which must have originated in old slavery days, when ringing a bell was the signal for beginning and knocking-off work:--

[Music:

Bell oh, Bell oh, Bell a ring a yard oh! oh Degay, Bell a ring a yard oh!

Baboon roll de drum oh, Monkey rub de fiddle, oh Bell a ring a yard oh!]

The bell is ringing up at the house, says one of the slaves to Degay the head-man, and we want our breakfast; and another, seeing Degay look cross at anybody presuming to make suggestions to him, tries to make him laugh with the piece of nonsense that follows. We shall meet with Degay or Deggy, for there is some doubt about his name, again. It will be thought that either the word Baboon is misplaced or the barring is wrong, but it is not so. The negro is careless of accent, as of many things. Here he likes to have it on the first syllable, which he lengthens to "bah." "Rubbing" a fiddle conveys the exact idea of the way they play it. Holding it not up to the chin but resting on the biceps, they rub a short bow backwards and forwards across the strings. If one of these is tuned it is considered quite satisfactory, and the rest make a sort of mild bagpipe accompaniment. Time is no object.

("Bell a ring" may mean either "The bell is ringing" or "The bell has rung." "A yard," in the yard. The immediate surroundings of the house are called the yard. They seldom speak of going to a friend's house.

They say they are going to his yard.)

LVIII.

Breakfast is at twelve o'clock, and after a short rest work goes on again. A shower starts a new train of thought:--

[Music:

The one shirt I have ratta cut ahm, Same place him patch ratta cut ahm, Rain, rain oh!

Rain, rain oh!

Rain, rain oh fall down an' wet me up.]

"The rats have cut my only shirt with their teeth. I put in a patch and they bit it through again in the same place, so when the rain came down it made me very wet."

(The broad "ahm" (for him, it), is more used now by the Coolies than the Negroes. "Ratta" is both singular and plural. When I first heard the word I thought it referred to a terrier. "Same place him patch"--in the same place where it was patched, just where it was patched.)

LIX.

The kindly sun comes out, the shirts are dry, and an amorous youth, with that absence of self-consciousness which is characteristic of the race, begins:--

[Music:

Jessie cut him yoke suit me, Jessie cut him yoke suit me, So-so wahk him wahk suit me, Jessie cut him yoke suit me, oh suit me, oh suit me, oh suit me, Jessie cut him yoke suit me.]

Broadly this means:--"all that Jessie does is right in my eyes. She dresses perfectly, but it is enough for me to see her walk to adore her. Jessie cuts her yoke"--technical term of modistes and tailors I am told--"to suit my taste."

("So-so walk him walk," is literally:--"the mere walk that she walks with suits me." They are fond of this repet.i.tion of a word, first as noun and then as verb. Thus they will say:--Me like the play him play:--It sweet me to see the dance him dance:--The talk him talk was foolishness:--The ride him ride, him boast about it.)

LX.

"Three acres of Coffee" which follows, is more interesting musically.

[Music:

T'ree acre of Cahffee, Four acre of bare lan', T'ree acre of Cahffee, Why you no come come ask fe me?

Mumma ho me love the man, Mumma ho me love the man, Mumma ho me love the man, Why you no come come ask fe me?]

The boy has been telling the girl of his worldly possessions, but has not made any offer of marriage. She is thinking it all over. "So you have got three acres of coffee and four acres of bare land, then why don't you come and ask for me?"

"Bare" land is good land which has not yet been taken into cultivation. The first money a poor boy earns he spends in boots, which are the outward and visible sign of being well-to-do. They hurt him, "burn him" as he says, but no matter. Next he buys a piece of land. This is probably in bush, covered that is with the rough growth of gra.s.s, bushes and trees that so quickly springs up in the tropics.

He clears and plants it piece by piece, as opportunity offers and inclination suggests.