Edited by Azizi Powell
**
From
YOUTUBE EXAMPLES
Example #1: Justin Hinds & The Dominoes/Carry Go Bring Come
Here are selected examples of comments (including lyrics) from the discussion thread for this sound file. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
1. Jimmy Fantabulous, 2011
"this song plays in the background during the following scene from Last Days of Disco: look up "last days of disco" and "to thine own self be true."
**
2. Ruby Morris, 2012
"sounds awesome!! just like it should. authentic, none of that over-engineered sound processing - thank you :)"
**
3. Mike Ballard, 2012
"1963 top of the pops with a bullet, according to Keith Richards in his bio, LIFE."
**
4. Elkaosenpanama, 2014
**
5. Carlton Ayre, 2017
"masterpiece of ska they hail from the hills steer town in the parish of ST ANN
**
6. sherwood991, 2017
"This song was banned from airplay in Jamaica, at one point. An interesting fact, given what's allowed to play today."
**
REPLY
7. beanyjazz, 2018
"Any idea why sherwood991 dude?"
**
REPLY
8. Andrew Palmer, 2019
"It is a protest song ,how long should the wicked rain over my people is a cry for help its a cry for help over prejudice"
**
9. Jahson Ntare, 2018
****
Example #2: Justin Hinds - Carry Go Bring Come (Rock Steady Version)
The Rickynow, July 1, 2010
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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitors comments are welcome.
This pancocojams post provides information about Jamaican singer/songwriter Justin Hinds and showcases sound files of Justin Hinds & The Dominos' Ska and Rocksteady records "Carry Go Carry
Go Bring Come".
The lyrics for this song and selected comments from one of these YouTube sound files are also included in this post.
The lyrics for this song and selected comments from one of these YouTube sound files are also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purpose.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Justin Hinds and the Dominos for their musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of this song on YouTube.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/06/what-does-nigerian-pidgin-english.html for the somewhat related pancocojams post entitled "What Does The Nigerian Pidgin English Phrase "Carry Go" Mean? (with online definitions & comments from Nigerians).
****
INFORMATION ABOUT JUSTIN HINDS
From https://www.furious.com/perfect/justinhinds.html Justin Hinds and the Dominoes
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/06/what-does-nigerian-pidgin-english.html for the somewhat related pancocojams post entitled "What Does The Nigerian Pidgin English Phrase "Carry Go" Mean? (with online definitions & comments from Nigerians).
****
INFORMATION ABOUT JUSTIN HINDS
From https://www.furious.com/perfect/justinhinds.html Justin Hinds and the Dominoes
by Eric Doumerc, (May 2007)
"Justin Hinds began to make records with the Dominoes (Junior
Dixon and Dennis Sinclair) forming a Jamaican harmony trio in the early 1960's
and later gained some popularity abroad in the 1990's. Sadly, today Hinds and
his comrades have remained rather unknown outside the circle of reggae
cognoscenti and their music deserves much wider exposure.
Justin Hinds was born in the small village of Steertown on
the Jamaican north coast in 1942 and came to Kingston to make his way in the
music business in the early 1960's. He hooked up with the producer Duke Reid in
1963 and recorded his fist song in the same year with the cream of studio
musicians at the time (Tommy McCook on saxophone, Drumbago on drums, Jah Jerry
on guitar). The dominant sound at the time was ska and the Dominoes' first
song, entitled "Carry Go Bring Come" (a Jamaican phrase meaning a
gossip) was recorded in that style, with blasting horns and a driving rhythm.
The song was a hit, remained in the charts for seven weeks, and launched Justin
Hinds' career, becoming a transatlantic smash with the UK West Indian immigrant
community and with the early incarnations of the skinhead movement (the
Selecter covered the song in the late '70's and the Specials would later cover
it with Desmond Dekker).
Hinds and his friends then recorded exclusively for Duke
Reid until the producer's death in 1974 and then began to record for the late
Jack Ruby in 1976, a partnership which led to the release of the Jezebel LP on
Island, which included a remake of "Carry Go Bring Home." In spite of
one of the songs from the LP (the jubilant "Natty Take Over") being
included on the soundtrack to the film Rockers, lasting recognition still
failed to come and Hinds went into semi-retirement. Although he returned to
recording in the mid-1980's when he made an album for the American Nighthawk
label (Travel with Love, 1985), he still missed out on the acclaim he
deserved. The Dominoes had to wait until the 1990's for international
recognition to come when they first performed at the Sierra Nevada World Music
Festival in 1996, which led to more touring in the USA and in Europe. Justin
Hinds died of cancer in Jamaica on March 17th, 2005.
[…]
For Hinds and the Dominoes, their belated recognition may be
accounted for by the fact that they recorded in a style which was far removed
from the mainstream of Jamaican music but which was nevertheless steeped in the
Jamaican oral tradition. Their music (in the ska, rock steady and reggae modes)
is best described as "rural" and could be said to belong to a type of
reggae music sometimes known as "country reggae." Groups like Stanley
and the Turbines and the Ethiopians recorded in a similar style.
The Dominoes' harmonies were church-based and Hinds himself
came from a deeply religious family and loved to sing religious hymns in
church. Parallel to that, he also liked listening to American popular music and
his favourite artists included Fats Domino (hence Justin Hinds and the
Dominoes), B.B. King, Smiley Lewis and Louis Jordan.
Hinds' lyrics were influenced both by his religious
background and by the Jamaican oral tradition, which is based on storytelling,
proverbs, sayings and songs. His first hit, "Carry Go Bring Come,"
was about a gossip, a "news-carrier":
[...]
The song was an immediate hit in 1963, during the ska era, and
Hinds later re-cut it the rock steady idiom in 1967, and later as a Reggae song
in the 1970s (on the Jezebel LP). The lyrics are a mixture of folk sayings and
biblical allusions ("Jezebel", "Mount Zion", "the
wicked") which struck a chord with the audience. Everyone was able to
relate to the general feelings expressed in the songs about the wicked
oppressing the weak. After all, the song was released in 1963, just one year
after Jamaica became independent and the colonial legacy was certainly visible at
the time.”…
**
From
Work with Duke Reid
His first recording with Duke Reid was "Carry Go Bring
Come", made in late 1963 in one take. It became a big hit topping the
Jamaican chart for two months, just before the Wailers got their big hit with
"Simmer Down". "Carry Go Bring Come" would later be covered
by the British ska band The Selecter on their 1980 album Too Much Pressure,
and by Desmond Dekker and The Specials on King of Kings.
[…]
He also released "Carry Go Bring Come" in 1963 in
conjunction with Jonathan Bevan, an English-born Jamaican national, a
successful collaboration which drew much admiration amongst Jamaican music
producers. The track was described by esteemed Ghanaian music aficionado Zahid
Chohan as "simply wonderful; belongs in any reggae fan's collection"….
-snip-
A number of other Reggae singers recorded "Carry Go Come Back" including Freddy McGregor, Millie Smalls, and the Skatalites.
****
WHAT "CARRY GO BRING COME" MEANS-snip-
A number of other Reggae singers recorded "Carry Go Come Back" including Freddy McGregor, Millie Smalls, and the Skatalites.
****
"Noun
Gossip. Idle talk, rumours, or salacious news about the
private affairs of others.
Synonyms
brango, commesse, he say dem say, labba labba, labrish,
melee, pung melee, pung name, seetful, shush, shushu, sip sip, skyat, suss,
sussu, sussu sussu, yerriso"
Tags
Belna, May 19, 2015
JahMar 17, 2017
"Dwl!! Dis one old ennuh mi granny always seh dis."
-snip-
-snip-
The phrase "carry go" is known in Nigeria, but has a different meaning (or meanings). I'm curious if there is any connection between the Jamaican phrase "carry go bring come" and the Nigerian phrase "carry go".A series of posts on the Nigerian use of "carry go" will be published ASAP on pancocojams and the link to that first post will be added here.
YOUTUBE EXAMPLES
Example #1: Justin Hinds & The Dominoes/Carry Go Bring Come
Soberphobe, Feb 5, 2007
-snip-Here are selected examples of comments (including lyrics) from the discussion thread for this sound file. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.
1. Jimmy Fantabulous, 2011
"this song plays in the background during the following scene from Last Days of Disco: look up "last days of disco" and "to thine own self be true."
2. Ruby Morris, 2012
"sounds awesome!! just like it should. authentic, none of that over-engineered sound processing - thank you :)"
**
3. Mike Ballard, 2012
"1963 top of the pops with a bullet, according to Keith Richards in his bio, LIFE."
**
4. Elkaosenpanama, 2014
This carry go bring come, my dear, brings misery
This carry go bring come, my dear, brings misery
You're going from town to town making disturbances
It's time you stopped doing those things, you old Jezebel
The meek shall inherit this Earth, you old Jezebel
It needs no light to see you're making disturbances
It's better to seek a home in Mount Zion high
Instead of keeping oppression upon innocent man
Time will tell on you, you old Jezebel
How long shall the wicked reign over my people?
It's better to seek a home in Mount Zion high
Instead of keeping oppression upon innocent man
Time will tell on you, you old Jezebel
How long shall the wicked reign over my people?
How long shall the wicked reign over my people?
How long shall the wicked reign over my people?
**
5. Carlton Ayre, 2017
"masterpiece of ska they hail from the hills steer town in the parish of ST ANN
**
6. sherwood991, 2017
"This song was banned from airplay in Jamaica, at one point. An interesting fact, given what's allowed to play today."
**
REPLY
7. beanyjazz, 2018
"Any idea why sherwood991 dude?"
**
REPLY
8. Andrew Palmer, 2019
"It is a protest song ,how long should the wicked rain over my people is a cry for help its a cry for help over prejudice"
**
9. Jahson Ntare, 2018
"TYPICAL ENGAGED MUSIC
"Carry Go Bring Come" by Justin Hinds and the
Dominoes was very popular in 1964 and is claimed to have criticised the then
powerful J.L.P. political leader, Alexander Bustamante, also a trade unionist
(founder and leader of the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union, which has been
nearly coalesced into the J .L.P., whereas the P.N.P. has obtained a strong
connection with the National Workers Union, established by Norman Manley). The
J.L.P. was organised under the leadership of Bustamante in 1943, and the P.N.P.
by M. Manley in 1938. (Interestingly Bustamante and Manley were cousins.)
The following is an excerpt from the song:
Carry go bring come, my dear, bring misery
Yuh goin' from home to home, making disturbancy
Time, yuh stop doin' those t'ings, Yuh ole Jezebel
The meek shall inherit the earth ...
Better to seek a home in Mt. Zion I
Instead of keepin' oppression upon a (h)innocent man
Time will tell yuh, yuh 01' Jezebel
How long shall de wicked reign over my people
RASTAFARIAN MUSIC IN CONTEMPORARY JAMAICA: A Study of
Socioreligious Music
of the Rastafarian Movement in Jamaica
By Yoshiko S Nagashima"
-snip-
This is the only lyric transcription that I have found online that gives the line "Better to seek a home in Mt Zion I" instead of "Better to seek a home in Mt. Zion high". The phrase "Mt. Zion I" fits the Rastafarian language use of the word "I"*. However, this may be\is a Rastafarian adaptation of Justin Hinds' lyrics and not the way Hinds wrote that line.
*Click https://debate.uvm.edu/dreadlibrary/grant02.htm for a 2002 paper about Rastafarians written by William Grant. I'll quote the section of that paper about Rastafarians' use of the word "I" in the comment section for this pancocojams post.
-snip-
This is the only lyric transcription that I have found online that gives the line "Better to seek a home in Mt Zion I" instead of "Better to seek a home in Mt. Zion high". The phrase "Mt. Zion I" fits the Rastafarian language use of the word "I"*. However, this may be\is a Rastafarian adaptation of Justin Hinds' lyrics and not the way Hinds wrote that line.
*Click https://debate.uvm.edu/dreadlibrary/grant02.htm for a 2002 paper about Rastafarians written by William Grant. I'll quote the section of that paper about Rastafarians' use of the word "I" in the comment section for this pancocojams post.
The Rickynow, July 1, 2010
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitors comments are welcome.
As mentioned in this post, I found one transcription of a line in Justin Hinds' 1963 song "Carry Go Bring Come" that is given as "Better to seek a home in Mt. Zion I" instead of "Better to seek a home in Mt. Zion high".
ReplyDeleteAs these lyrics are quoted from a study of the Rastafarian religion/culture, they may be an adaptation of Justin Hinds' original wording. Note that I've found no reference to Justin Hinds being Rastafarian.
Here's an excerpt from an April 25, 2002 (university?) paper written by William Grant that provides an explanation of the word "I" at the end of Rastafarian phrases.
From https://debate.uvm.edu/dreadlibrary/grant02.htm Rastafari Culture
The Extreme Ethiopian Rasta Vs. The Mellow Dallas Rasta
..."Rasta Dialect
The dialect of the Rasta reflects their beliefs in many ways. “If you Really want to know how Rasta’s think, listen to them Talk”(Hicholas pg.37). Rasta’s take their speech very seriously. Rasta’s are often trying to make their speech sound very powerful and grateful. The Rasta’s speech reflects how they often think literally. Their speech uses a literal translation of words, just like their beliefs use a literal translation of biblical readings. Their speech reflects their protest against oppression, as well as their protest against authority. When the Rasta’s speech is analyzed, it shows how the Rasta’s are always trying to think positively.
The Rastafarian rhetoric changes the English language in a way that helps them make more sense of the world, as well as to protest against what the Rasta believe to be unjust. Rasta will often change word from a negative meaning to a positive meaning. The changing of the word understand to “overstand” is an example of this. To “overstand” means to fully and entirely have a grasp of a concept. This Rasta reasoning for this is that something that is under is worse than something that is over it, so they change “under” to “over”. A Rasta might say “I and I, must not just understand but overstand, seen”. A Rasta will almost never use a negative term. They will always replace it with something positive. This is a great reflection on how the Rasta always sees things positively.
Another interesting concept of the Rasta’s language is their concept of I and I. The letter “I” is in almost every part of their language. It is in the name of their Religion “Rastafari”, and it is part of their gods title Selassie I. The Rasta use the word to connect themselves to god, to show that that god is always part of them. A Rasta will never “I am going there” instead it would be “I and I am going there”. The Rasta does this to show that god is part of him, and that he is not separate from any other person. “I” is also used to replace letters of powerful words. This too is reflected in the word “you” not being part of the Rasta language. The Rasta believes that first there was just “I” and then the devil came and created “you”.”...
Even though the Jamaican phrase "carry go bring come" means "gossip", there's no doubt that this is a protest song that is still relevant today. This verse makes that clear:
ReplyDelete"It's better to seek a home in Mount Zion high
Instead of keeping oppression upon innocent man
Time will tell on you, you old Jezebel
How long shall the wicked reign over my people?"
Here's an excerpt from a 2012 Jamaican Observer article entitled
ReplyDelete"It's not Caricom, it's Carry go bring Come!" Friday, September 14, 2012
From "http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/It-s-not-Caricom--it-s-Carry-go-bring-Come-_12525295
"Ironically, before there was the Caribbean Community (Caricom), there was free movement of persons during the colonial era. But once we became independent, governments — intoxicated with the illusion of sovereignty — immediately instituted work permits and visas.
Now, Caricom is an advanced state of fragmentation, riven by centrifugal forces born of economic implosion and petty nationalism. Absent is the salutary influence of farsighted political leadership. The ultimate root cause is the lack of any genuine sense of community.
[...]
The last thing we would want to see is all our countries resorting to a tit-for-tat behaviour. Because then it would no longer be Caricom but a 'Carry go bring Come' community."
-snip-
That article includes "gossipy" characterizations of various Caribbean nations.