Edited by Azizi Powell
This post showcases a sound file of and lyrics for the Jamaican Reggae song "Ram Goat Liver" written & performed by Leighton "Pluto" Shervington.
Selected comments about this song from the featured YouTube sound file's viewer comment thread and other information about this song also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
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INFORMATION ABOUT LEIGHTON "PLUTO" SHERVINGTON [Added 10/19/2014]
From http://www.caribbeantoday.com/feature/item/16906-%E2%80%98i-man-born-ya%E2%80%99-pluto-shervington-tells-jamaica%E2%80%99s-true-stories-in-songs.html
‘I MAN BORN YA’: Pluto Shervington tells Jamaica’s true stories in songs Written by Michelle Cawley Dreseris, 24 July 2013
..."One of Jamaica’s golden icons is reggae artiste Leighton Shervington, known worldwide as Pluto. While other stars have risen sharply then fizzled, Shervington’s popularity has continued globally for more than 40 years. There’s no sign of burnout. “I’m performing five nights weekly, sometimes more,” he told Caribbean Today recently. “I’m working harder than I’ve ever worked before.”
A good friend and former back-up musician for the late Bob Marley from the early days of reggae, Shervington is an original. His reggae songs – sung largely in Jamaican patois – have been hits in Jamaica, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany and other countries...
Shervington serves up potent reggae beats and timeless, socially conscious lyrics. The Miami resident is a versatile singer, songwriter, musician, engineer and producer. He is often found traveling the world to perform – either with his band Pluto and Company or as a solo act....
In 1997, Shervington was named one of Jamaica’s 15 musical “Living Legends” at the Reggae/Soca Awards in Miami. He received the prestigious award for Outstanding Contribution to Jamaican Reggae Music from Jamaica’s then-Prime Minister P.J. Patterson.
Other “Living Legends” recipients include Marley, Smith, Byron Lee and the Dragonaires, The Mighty Sparrow, The Merry Men, Bob Andy, Jimmy Cliff, The Merritones and Keith Lyn."...
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG "RAM GOAT LIVER"
From http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090301/ent/ent3.html
"In 1974, while Ernie Smith was on his way to the Federal Records (now Tuff Gong) on Marcus Garvey Drive, Kingston, he saw an accident. When he got to the studio he told Pluto Shervington about it. By the end of the week, Shervington had recorded a song based on the story. That song took off immediately and, 35 years later, is one of the enduring classics of Jamaican music.
Pluto Shervington puts his Ram Goat Liver into the canons of folk music.
"I think that song has got into the category of songs like Evening Time and Linstead Market. I think Ram Goat Liver is past a hit." he told The Sunday Gleaner."...
-snip-
Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto_Shervington for biographical information about Pluto Shervington.
The story this song tells is as follows:
"Man boards a bus. Bus hits a ram goat. News of the accident quickly spreads to the surrounding community, but no one knows who owns the goat. They decide to make mannish water. They get a pot and cooking supplies from a Rasta, who witnessed the accident. Soon the pots boils, other ingredients are added. The pot cooks, our narrator gets his share of the food and eats."
As he is waiting down the street to bum a ride he starts feeling such abdominal discomfort that he wants to die and is forced to relief himself then and there to the laughter of passersby. The moral of the story is that crime does not pay. The chorus: Ram goat is good to make mannish water (a soup made of goat that encourages stamina), its teeth can be made into earrings for your daughter and it makes a good curry goat lunch. It will make your daughter walk and talk."
-Shannon Richardson, 2013 [two comments from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGtStkmZv8A
"Pluto Shervington Ram Goat Liver with Lyrics HD"]
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FEATURED EXAMPLE
Pluto Shervington - Ram Goat Liver
ZIONHIGHER, Uploaded on Jun 27, 2008
A tune that was a hit in 1974. the version is next.
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LYRICS FOR "RAM GOAT LIVER"
(Pluto Shervington)
Sunday gone I jump on a mini bus
I really late but it's not my fault
And when we nearly reach by the terminus
I feel de bus come to a halt
Ee lick a ram goat down a de round-about
but just as if that could not suffice
A bredda run through the bus and start to shout
You shoulda dead mek we buy a pound a rice
Ram goat liver good fi mek mannish water
Billy goat teeth mek the earring for you daughter
Curried goat lunch put de bite in your bark
It mek you daughter ... It mek you daughter walk and talk
Well the news spread fast like a telegram
Nobody know whey de goat come from
We raise a pot and a pan from a nya man*+
Who sit down dey all along
Two twos++ and the pot a boil
A hit* a yam and banana tip
"meanwhile a little waters a gwan*+++
Lick me goat and a meeeh tek me sip
Ram goat liver good fi mek mannish water
Billy goat teeth mek the earring for you daughter
you daughter ... It mek you daughter walk and talk
Well I pop two belch and never sighed
I tek a walk go outta street
But while I waitin down de road fi bum a ride
I feel a gripe and start I feel very weak
Before too long you no ha fi ask
A runny belly like a judgement day
A everybody in the road a dead wid laugh
Its then I know that crime will never pay
Ram goat liver good fi mek mannish water
Billy goat teeth mek the earring for you daughter
Curried goat lunch put de bite in your bark
It mek you daughter ... It mek you daughter walk and talk
<--interlude-->
Ram goat liver good fi mek mannish water
Billy goat teeth mek the earring for you daughter
Curried goat lunch put de bite in your bark
It mek you daughter ... It mek you daughter walk and talk
Ram goat liver good fi mek mannish water
Billy goat teeth mek the earring for you daughter
Curried goat lunch put de bite in your bark
It mek you daughter ... It mek you daughter walk and talk
*Lyrics differ than those found at http://www.smartlyrics.com/Song616257-Pluto-Shervington-Ram-Goat-Liver-lyrics.aspx
These corrections were posted by YouTube commenters on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGtStkmZv8A Hat tip to Shannon Richardson, liveAliveShow, and chimaera01, and any who others I omitted for those corrections.
+ CliveAliveShow, 2013
"Good but translation is a bit off. Eg, nya-man = nyabinghi man..."
++ chimaera01, 2013
"two twos...meaning in no time."
++ Shannon Richardson, 2013
"Please note that mannish water never cooks in two twos (quickly), it is a 4 to 5 hour cook on a wood fire. The meal was probably undercooked and resulted in this poor guy having "judgment day" diarrhea."
+++ Shannon Richardson, 2013
"meanwhile quarters a gwan" should be "meanwhile a little waters a gwan" i.e. they were drinking overproof white rum."
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OTHER SELECTED COMMENTS
(These comments are presented in chronological order with the oldest comments posted first.)
From the viewer comment thread http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kca32orFys
..."terminus is the place where all the buses stop and take another set of passenger beginning a new journey"
-Kwekwe, 2010
**
"i just read that mannish water is considered an aphrodisiac and hence what this song is talking about in the chorus. once again, there goes my childhood innocence"
-MsTkhan, 2010
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"...yeah it duppy gunman riddim
ROCKSTEADY!!!"
-TerryMarineBMF, 2010
**
..."but the tune is all in fun, many of Pluto's best songs are slightly outrageous although maybe not impossible, especially in JA."...
-blakbeltjonez, 2012
-snip-
JA=Jamaica
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Thanks to the musical legacy of Pluto Shervington.
Thanks also to the publisher of this featured sound file and thanks to all those whose comments are quoted in this post.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
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