Edited by Azizi Powell
This post provides information about the African American game song "Knock Jim Crow" and the minstrel song & dance "Jump Jim Crow" that was adapted from it.
The content of this post is provided for folkloric, historical, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the composers and performers of "Knock Jim Crow" and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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COMMENTS, LYRICS, AND DANCE INSTRUCTIONS FOR "KNOCK JIM CROW"
From Step It Dowm: Games, Plays, Songs & Stories from the Afro-American Heritage by Bessie Jones and Bess Lomax Hawes (The University of Georgia Press, 1972), pp. 55-57
Bessie Jones: “When I was a little girl, I thought Jim Crow might have been a bird, because it was “going down to the new ground”, and they always shoot them birds out of the corn. “New ground” is ground where the trees have been cut off, but it’s never been planted in. So that was what I understood at the time, that was my idea. But we don’t know what the old folks meant, we sure don’t.”
John Davis: “ I don’t believe that the old folks knew what they were talking about their ownselves. Anyway they didn’t tell nobody”...
“Jim Crow” developed from a dance imitating the motions of birds and hunters, and quite possibly magical in nature, into a commercial caricature. No wonder the term, when used in a political context, has a bitter taste today. The Islanders, however, clearly regard this as a pleasurable dance, probably about birds, and “knock Jim Crow” with enthusiasm and alacrity.
FORM: Indefinite; group of children standing in a line of ring. There may be a lead singer or the children may all sing together.
Lead and Group Voice
Where you going, buzzard?
Where you going, crow?
I’m going down to the new ground
To knock Jim Crow
Up to my kneecap
Down to my toe,
And every time I jump up
I knock Jim Crow.
(Speed increases)
I knock.
I knock Jim Crow.
I knock.
I knock Jim Crow.
I knock, knock,
I knoc Jim Crown.
(repeat ad lib).
Action
Step on the right foot, raise left leg with knee straight (like a high goose step)
and clap hands together around it; repeat raising alternate legs until
On to, raise right knee (bent) and slap it with right hand.
On cap raise left knee (bent), and slap it with left hands.
On to point down to ground with right index finger.
On beat after “toe” point down to ground with left index finger.
Resume raising alternate legs and clapping around them as in first step.
Dancers increase speed, continuing to lift legs and clap while turning round in place until exhaustion sets in.
Be sure that the steps are on the downbeat, so that the claps can come on the offbeat.
where you go-ing buz-zard, where you go-ing crow?
step clap step clap step clap step clap
-snip-
My comment:
I believe that the word "knock" as used in the song "Knock Jim Crow" (and as it is used in another African American children's plantation game "Gon' Knock John Booker") means "to dance" (and probably "to dance very well"; I believe that this use of "knock" is very much like the phrase "He knocked it out of the park (or out of the box") to refer to somebody doing something-other than playing baseball very well.
This slang use of "knock" in those old Southern USA plantation songs reminds me of the Hip-Hop (Rap) dance songs that began with the phrase "Crank dat" ("Crank that"). The first song in that category is entitled "Crank That (Soulja Boy") by the rapper known as Soulja Boy (2007). "Crank That" (also given as "crank dat") means "to do that particular dance very well". The word "crank" used that way suggests starting up a movement similar to how the old record players had to be cranked to begin playing music.)
****
Google Books: Carrion Dreams 2.0: The Hagetaka-tan Version
By Benjamin Joel Wilkinson; pp. 374-375
...”[Thomas] Rice developed his [Jump Jim Crow] routine from an already extant song and dance tradition among southern blacks known as “Knock Jim Crow” which consisted in part of imitating the movement of birds. Whether the birds that were imitated were the genuine Jim crow-vultures- or the common American Crows, or both, it is impossible to say for certain.
The trademark movements of a vulture might seem like an odd inspiration for a popular dance routine, but we’ve already seen the Amerindians across the hemisphere employed just such inspiration for their ritual dances. Additionally, there was at least one other traditional [Black American] slave dance that was also popularized by a white minstrel, dubbed the “Buzzard Lope” which had much the same imitative origin as “Jump Jim Crow”. A dictionary published in 1890 defined Buzzard Lope as “the latest social institution in America….a dance taught to a Georgian negro by the turkey buzzard. Unlike Jump Jim Crow, this dance survived in one form or another into the 20th century; in Ben Burman’s 1938 book Blow For A Landing is found a description of the “buzzard dance” in which the dance would “wheel in long, doleful circles. His arms became gaunt, flapping wings; his head swung jerkily from his cadaverous neck, peering, searching.” Similar, if not identical dances were found by anthropologists studying the customs of African Americans living along the Georgia coast; and as late as 1958 there’s a description of an old man demonstrating “a kind of buck- and- wing dance dubbed the “Buzzard Flop”. Despite its vulturine origins, “Jump Jim Crow” proved to be a smash hit for Rice, who soon began to bill himself as “Jim Crow” Rice, and by the mid 1830s “Jim Crow” had entered the common parlance of white Americans, initially as a derogatory attachment. For example, editorial comment in a newspaper might call a disliked politician’s behavior a “Jim Crow” performance.
Along those same lines, abolitionist newspapers of the 1840s applied that term to railroad cars that separated their passengers by the color of their skin, in hopes of generating the appropriate amount of outrage about such bigoted arrangements. The name stuck so well that, during the post Civil War era, Jim Crow was used as a catchphrase description for the system of institutional segregation that was practiced in the American South until the 1960s. All and all vultures seem to have had a remarkable amount of influence upon African American dance culture, for good or ill.”...
-snip-
"Black American" in brackets is my addition to this passage to clarify which enslaved people the writer is referring to (since historically there were other enslaved people besides Black people and Black Americans.]
****
INFORMATION ABOUT "JUMP JIM CROW"
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_Jim_Crow
"Jump Jim Crow" is a song and dance from 1828 that was done in blackface by white comedian Thomas Dartmouth (T.D.) "Daddy" Rice. The number was supposedly inspired by the song and dance of a crippled African slave named Jim Cuff or Jim Crow, who is variously claimed to have resided in St. Louis, Cincinnati, or Pittsburgh.[1][2] The song became a great 19th century hit and Rice performed all over the country as "Daddy Jim Crow".
"Jump Jim Crow" was a key initial step in a tradition of popular music in the United States that was based on the imitation of Blacks. The first song sheet edition appeared in the early 1830s, published by E. Riley. A couple of decades would see the mockery genre explode in popularity with the rise of the minstrel show. It was also the initial step in the extant tradition in popular music of incorporating African styles and subject matter.
The tune became very well known not only in the United States but internationally; in 1841 the US ambassador to Central America, John Lloyd Stephens, wrote that upon his arrival in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, the local brass band played "Jump Jim Crow" under the mistaken impression that it was the US national anthem.”...
=snip-
[excerpt from that song's original lyrics]
"kneel to de buzzard, an, I bow to the crow;
An eb'ry time I weel about I jump jis so.
Other verses, quoted in non-dialect standard English,
Come, listen, all you girls and boys, I'm just from Tuckahoe;
I'm going to sing a little song, My name's Jim Crow.
Chorus: Wheel about, and turn about, and do just so;
Every time I wheel about, I jump Jim Crow."
-snip-
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALTam2L9NhE for "A recreation of the Jump Jim Crow refrain the way it was performed by Thomas Dartmouth "Daddy" Rice (1808-60). This clip is so short I repeated it three times so you can get a good look. This is the only clip I've ever found that shows a performer singing and dancing the actual tune. This clip is from a Vitaphone." (Video published by ikachina Published on Jan 26, 2013).
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RELATED LINKS
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/09/john-crow-part-i-what-john-crow-means.html for Part I of a pancocojam post on the Caribbean term "John Crow".
A pancocojam post on the African American children's game "Gon' Knock John Booker" (To The Low Ground) will be published ASAP.
****
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Visitor comments are welcome.
Showing posts with label Jump Jim Crow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jump Jim Crow. Show all posts
Monday, September 1, 2014
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
What "Cutting Monkey Shines" & "Cut A Shine" Mean
Edited by Azizi Powell
This post provides information & speculations about the meanings of "cutting monkey shines" ("making monkey shines"), "cut a shine" ("cut shine), "cuttin up" and "cut a monkey".
This post is part of a continuing series that presents information and speculation about the meanings of certain words & phrases that are found in American Old Time Music and other music genres.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and educational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
MONKEY SHINE (MONKEYSHINE)
Definition #1 (verb)
"cutting" monkey shines (later "monkeyshines")
Acting silly (as monkeys are said to do), acting mischievously, making a prank out in public, making a public spectacle of yourself acting like a monkey
****
Definition #2: (noun)
From http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monkeyshine
"prank—usually used in plural
Examples of MONKEYSHINE
First Known Use of MONKEYSHINE
circa 1832"
-snip-
This statement probably refers to the Minstrel song "Jump Jim Crow". Information about that song is found below.
-snip-
Definition #3:
Monkeyshines [noun] mischievous or playful tricks, including jokingly making funny faces or gestures
From
http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/03/monkeyshine.html "TheGrammarphobia Blog"
"Monkeyshine! March 29th, 2007
Q: I’ve been curious about the word “monkeyshines” since I was a child and visited my grandmother, who was born in the early 20th century in a small town in Kansas. As we drove away, she’d make odd gestures and call out “monkeyshines.” I know that the word means acting up, but I wonder where it comes from. Does it have its origins in vaudeville or minstrel shows?
A: The word “monkeyshine” (often “monkeyshines”), referring to a mischievous or playful trick, has a very interesting and disturbing history.
It first appeared in 1828 (as “munky shines”) in a song by Thomas “Daddy” Rice, a popular white comedian who performed in blackface. In the song, called “Jump Jim Crow,” Rice sings and dances as an old plantation slave: “I cut so many munky shines, I dance de gallopade.” (The gallop, or gallopade, was a 19th-century dance.)
The song also gave us the term “Jim Crow” for segregation and other discrimination against African-Americans. But the use of the word “shine” as an abusive term for a black person may have nothing to do with Rice’s song. The usage didn’t appear in print until the early 20th century, well after the song’s heyday, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Your guess that “monkeyshine” comes from minstrel shows was right on target. In fact, some people consider “Daddy” Rice to be the father of minstrelsy.
-snip-
Italics added to highlight that sentence.
****
Song Example For "Cut Monkey Shines" - "Jump Jim Crow" [1828]
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_Jim_Crow
"Jump Jim Crow" is a song and dance from 1828 that was done in blackface by white comedian Thomas Dartmouth (T.D.) "Daddy" Rice. The first song sheet edition appeared in the early 1830s, published by E. Riley.
...Come, listen, all you girls and boys, I'm just from Tuckahoe;
I'm going to sing a little song, My name's Jim Crow.
Chorus: Wheel about, and turn about, and do just so;
Every time I wheel about, I jump Jim Crow.
I went down to the river, I didn't mean to stay,
But there I saw so many girls, I couldn't get away.
I'm roaring on the fiddle, and down in old Virginia,
They say I play the scientific, like master Paganini,
I cut so many monkey shines, I dance the galoppade;
And when I'm done, I rest my head, on shovel, hoe or spade.
-snip-
Italics added by me to highlight that line.
My interpretation of the line which includes a reference to the gallop dance is that that dance was just a part of "cutting monkey shines". I don't believe that line means that "cutting monkey shines" always meant doing any dance.
-snip-
Here's an example of conversational use of the phrase "making monkey shines"
From http://www.folkstreams.net/principal,58http://www.folkstreams.net/principal,58 "Othar Turner, Cane Fife Maker" by William Ferris
[Otha Turner describing how he and other musicians attract a crowd for the community picnic he sponsors]
“Then I start the drums to playing and the cane fifes to blowing. We play "Shimmy She Wobble,"8 "My Baby Don't Stand No Cheating On Her."9 "Granny, Will Your Dog Bite?" "Rolling and Tumbling,"10 "Glory Hallelujah,1111 "When the Saints Go Marching In." We play all stuff like that you know. We got a whole lot of different pieces we play. You know, you can sing to the drums, we've sung to them many times and played. It just depends on what you want to do. But now ordinary playing in a picnic, that's just for drawing a crowd. We go out there and. go to playing the drums, sometimes go to hollering and playing and making monkey shine with the drums, just cutting up, you know. That's what will draw your crowd. That's what that's for."
-snip-
In the context of this conversation, "making monkey shine" means
having fun playing the drums, without any serious intent to perform any particular song, for instance, playing chords before an actual musical performance. The expression "monkeying around with ___" has a similar meaning.
From http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/monkey-around
"Monkeying around:
verb - intransitive
to mess around, waste time."
-snip-
Information about "just cutting up" is found below.
****
Definition #4
(verb)
Black people purposely acting a fool in front of, pandering to White folks
From http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/4/messages/1048.html"I heard an African American comic talk about being criticized by members of his race for "cutting monkey shines" in front of white people. Meaning, as I understood it, acting all jolly in a manner that would please the white folks. Acting a fool. Pandering, I guess you could call it."
-snip-
Read the same definition below for "cutting the monkey".
****
Definition #5:
noun - the name of a particular type of dance
In "Harlem Shuffle" by Bob & Earl [1966]
http://www.shsu.edu/lis_fwh/book/brill_building/Dance%20Crazes2.htm "Dance Crazes" *
"Bill Black's Combo- "Monkey-Shine" (1963)
Also in "Harlem Shuffle" by the Rolling Stones**
Excerpt for the Rolling Stones song:
From http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rollingstones/harlemshuffle.html
Huhuuuhuhuhuhuuuuuuh, hu!
You move it to the left, yeah, and you go for yourself.
You move it to the right, yeah, if it takes all night.
Now take it kinda slow,
with a whole lot of soul.
Don't move it too fast.
Just make it last.
You scratch just like a monkey.
Yeah ya do, real cool...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, do the Harlem Shuffle.
(Do the Monkey Shine)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, shake your tail feather, baby.
(Shake shake, shake shake yeah!)..."
* The R&B dance "The Monkey" probably came from the "Monkey Shine" dance. Visit that page for a list of other Rock & Roll/ R&B records including these songs that promoted the "Monkey" dance "Do The Monkey", "It's Monkey Time" and "Mickey's Monkey".
**Is the Rolling Stones' song a cover of the earlier Bob & Earl record?
****
Editorial Comment:
I believe that the phrases "cutting a shine" ("cutting shine"), "cutting the monkey" ("cutting a monkey"; "cuttin monkey"), and "cutting up" all come from the phrase "cutting monkey shine" ("cutting monkeyshine").
DEFINITION #1: "CUT A SHINE"
Music Genres: American Minstrel, American Old Time Music
http://www.gatlinburgtnweather.com/southern_slang_dictionary.html
"cut a shine" - to dance"
Example:
From https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.music.country.old-time/ATTT1UtigL8
"Little Lula/Lulu/Lulie"
Oldtime1 [Joe Wilson], 5/29/97
Little Lula/Lulu/Lulie
Paul asked if there are two Lulu songs. Yes. The "Bang Away Lulu" lyric he quoted is not at all like "Shout Lulu." When I interviewed G. B. Grayson's oldest daughter, Lilly Grayson Sturdivant, in 1972 near Rising Sun, MD (with Ken Irwin and Marian Leighton), she told about his compositions. She said he did not write "Shout Lulu" and that she thought it was "an old song." If it was old when Grayson recorded it in the late 1920s, it may be
from minstrelsy. It certainly has the feel and rhythm of a minstrel song:
"Takes a nickle, takes a dime, To see Little Luly, cut a shine."...*
-snip-
Italics added to highligh that line.
Click the "Shout Lula" tag found below for several pancocojams post about this Old Time Music song, including a post about the Grayson & Whittier recording of that song.
****
DEFINITION #2: "CUT A SHINE"
Music Genre: American Music Hall song
Definition
From http://www.omnilexica.com/?q=cut+a+shine
"Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English (1905)
Abridged from the Seven-volume Work, Entitled: Slang and Its Analogues by John Stephen Farmer, William Ernest Henley
to cut a shine, to make a show ; every shine, every one ; as verb, (a) to make a stir, or impression"
-snip-
I think that this definition of "cut a shine" - to make a positive impression [to shine like the sun] is a positive spin on the older meaning of "cutting a shine" in which the person showed off, making a public spectacle of himself or herself by acting like a monkey.
****
Song Examples from http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=129161
[hereafter known as "Mudcat: McGuiness"]
posted by Joe Offer, Date: 30 Apr 10 - 02:28 AM
"Here are the lyrics from the 1880 sheet music at the American Memory Collection (Library of Congress):
WHEN MCGUINESS GETS A JOB
(Jim O'Neil & Jack Conroy)
CHORUS:
Then cheer up, Missus Reiley, don't give 'way to the blues,
You and I will cut a shine, new bonnets, and new shoes,
As for me, I'm done a-crying, no more will I sigh or sob,
I'll wait till times get better, when McGuiness gets a job.
Copyright 1880 by Mrs. Pauline Lieder"
-snip-
This song is also known as "Last Winter Was a Hard One"
-snip-
Italics added by me to highlight that line.
****
"Mudcat: McGuiness" posted by Joe Offer, Date: 30 Apr 10 - 12:28 AM
"...Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:
Last Winter Was a Hard One
DESCRIPTION: Two Irish women lament the hard times. Neither woman's husband could find a job, and both families suffered. They curse the Italians who have arrived to take Irish jobs. They look forward to better times when their husbands find work
AUTHOR: Words: Jim O'Neil / Music: Jack Conroy
EARLIEST DATE: 1880 (sheet music)
****
Music Genre: British Music Hall song
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=126008
Lyr Req: I Do Like A S'Nice S'Mince S'Pie, posted by Jim Dixon, 24 Jan 11 - 03:18 PM
"The British Library [London] has the sheet music, described thus:
I DO LIKE A S'NICE S'MINCE S'PIE.
Written and composed by W. David and B. Lee.
Author: Worton David; Bert Lee
Publisher: London : Star Music Publishing Co, [1914]
Edition/Format: Musical score
My Old Red Vest
Chorus
I never get the knocker when the boys shout cock, cockly, cock, cock robin
With my old red vest I mean to cut shine.
Walking down the street, they call me danger on the line.
And the more they call out robin red breast, I'll wear it longer still.
I will have a red waistcoat, I will,
I will, I will, I will, I will, I will.
-snip-
Italics added by me to highlight that line.
****
RELATED WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS:
CUTTING UP [CUTTIN UP] (Usually given as "just cuttin up")
Definition: verb; acting silly, "actin a fool", (meaning purposely acting like a fool.
Example: Read the excerpt about Othar Turner above.
****
CUTTING [THE] MONKEY
Definition #1
(verb) acting silly, acting [like] a fool
From http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/their-eyes-were-watching-god/study-help/full-glossary-for-their-eyes-were-watching-god
All them dat's goin' tuh cut de monkey in other words, if everyone has finished acting silly.
-snip-
From http://poetry.rapgenius.com/Zora-neale-hurston-their-eyes-were-watching-god-chap-16-lyrics
[WARNING - This book includes the n word fully spelled out and colorist language about dark skinned Black people.]
Italics were added by me to highlight that portion.
****
Definition #2
(verb) showing off in front of White people, pandering to White people*
From http://poetry.rapgenius.com/Zora-neale-hurston-their-eyes-were-watching-god-chap-16-lyrics "Zora Neale Hurston – Their Eyes Were Watching God (Chap. 16)"
"We’se uh mingled people and all of us got black kinfolks as well as yaller kinfolks. How come you so against black?”
“And dey makes me tired. Always laughin’! Dey laughs too much and dey laughs too loud. Always singin’ ol’ n&&&er songs! Always cuttin’ de monkey for white folks."
-snip-
Italics were added by me to highlight that portion.
The second paragraph in this excerpt is spoken by a Black women who is sharing why she doesn't like dark skinned Black people.
-snip-
WARNING: The n word is fully spelled out in this book.
**
This usage is the same as Definition #4 for "cutting monkey shines"
which is found above.
*I believe that the expression about Black people "cutting the monkey" can be connected to, but isn't necessarily integral to the stereotype of Black people as monkeys. Click for information about that old & still current very negative stereotype.
****
ADDENDUM
I'm intrigued by the common usage of the words "cut" and "cuttin" ("cutting") to mean "doing". Examples from Old Time Music are "cuttin monkeyshines" and "cutting a shine" (as well as "cut a shine" from Music Hall songs. "Cut the rug" meaning "to dance" is probably a more familiar, albeit mostly retired example of this use of the word "cut". Here's a comment about that expression:
"The term to "cut a rug" first started to emerge as a slang term for dancing in the 1920s. Use of the phrase persisted well into the 1940s, although the popularity of the term has since faded...
Like most slang, the origins of "cut a rug" as a synonym for dancing are disputed. Several competing theories to explain the idea have been bandied about, but none have been firmly proved. This is often the case with slang, which sometimes seems to catch on overnight..."
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-does-it-mean-to-cut-a-rug.htm
-snip-
It seems likely that this vernacular use of the word "cut" and "cutting" originated with African Americans. And, as the lyrics to "Jump Jim Crow" show, this use of "cut" document, that word was used that way as early as the 1830s. But I don't know why "cuttin" came to be used that way.
****
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
This post provides information & speculations about the meanings of "cutting monkey shines" ("making monkey shines"), "cut a shine" ("cut shine), "cuttin up" and "cut a monkey".
This post is part of a continuing series that presents information and speculation about the meanings of certain words & phrases that are found in American Old Time Music and other music genres.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, and educational purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
MONKEY SHINE (MONKEYSHINE)
Definition #1 (verb)
"cutting" monkey shines (later "monkeyshines")
Acting silly (as monkeys are said to do), acting mischievously, making a prank out in public, making a public spectacle of yourself acting like a monkey
****
Definition #2: (noun)
From http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monkeyshine
"prank—usually used in plural
Examples of MONKEYSHINE
First Known Use of MONKEYSHINE
circa 1832"
-snip-
This statement probably refers to the Minstrel song "Jump Jim Crow". Information about that song is found below.
-snip-
Definition #3:
Monkeyshines [noun] mischievous or playful tricks, including jokingly making funny faces or gestures
From
http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/03/monkeyshine.html "TheGrammarphobia Blog"
"Monkeyshine! March 29th, 2007
Q: I’ve been curious about the word “monkeyshines” since I was a child and visited my grandmother, who was born in the early 20th century in a small town in Kansas. As we drove away, she’d make odd gestures and call out “monkeyshines.” I know that the word means acting up, but I wonder where it comes from. Does it have its origins in vaudeville or minstrel shows?
A: The word “monkeyshine” (often “monkeyshines”), referring to a mischievous or playful trick, has a very interesting and disturbing history.
It first appeared in 1828 (as “munky shines”) in a song by Thomas “Daddy” Rice, a popular white comedian who performed in blackface. In the song, called “Jump Jim Crow,” Rice sings and dances as an old plantation slave: “I cut so many munky shines, I dance de gallopade.” (The gallop, or gallopade, was a 19th-century dance.)
The song also gave us the term “Jim Crow” for segregation and other discrimination against African-Americans. But the use of the word “shine” as an abusive term for a black person may have nothing to do with Rice’s song. The usage didn’t appear in print until the early 20th century, well after the song’s heyday, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Your guess that “monkeyshine” comes from minstrel shows was right on target. In fact, some people consider “Daddy” Rice to be the father of minstrelsy.
-snip-
Italics added to highlight that sentence.
****
Song Example For "Cut Monkey Shines" - "Jump Jim Crow" [1828]
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_Jim_Crow
"Jump Jim Crow" is a song and dance from 1828 that was done in blackface by white comedian Thomas Dartmouth (T.D.) "Daddy" Rice. The first song sheet edition appeared in the early 1830s, published by E. Riley.
...Come, listen, all you girls and boys, I'm just from Tuckahoe;
I'm going to sing a little song, My name's Jim Crow.
Chorus: Wheel about, and turn about, and do just so;
Every time I wheel about, I jump Jim Crow.
I went down to the river, I didn't mean to stay,
But there I saw so many girls, I couldn't get away.
I'm roaring on the fiddle, and down in old Virginia,
They say I play the scientific, like master Paganini,
I cut so many monkey shines, I dance the galoppade;
And when I'm done, I rest my head, on shovel, hoe or spade.
-snip-
Italics added by me to highlight that line.
My interpretation of the line which includes a reference to the gallop dance is that that dance was just a part of "cutting monkey shines". I don't believe that line means that "cutting monkey shines" always meant doing any dance.
-snip-
Here's an example of conversational use of the phrase "making monkey shines"
From http://www.folkstreams.net/principal,58http://www.folkstreams.net/principal,58 "Othar Turner, Cane Fife Maker" by William Ferris
[Otha Turner describing how he and other musicians attract a crowd for the community picnic he sponsors]
“Then I start the drums to playing and the cane fifes to blowing. We play "Shimmy She Wobble,"8 "My Baby Don't Stand No Cheating On Her."9 "Granny, Will Your Dog Bite?" "Rolling and Tumbling,"10 "Glory Hallelujah,1111 "When the Saints Go Marching In." We play all stuff like that you know. We got a whole lot of different pieces we play. You know, you can sing to the drums, we've sung to them many times and played. It just depends on what you want to do. But now ordinary playing in a picnic, that's just for drawing a crowd. We go out there and. go to playing the drums, sometimes go to hollering and playing and making monkey shine with the drums, just cutting up, you know. That's what will draw your crowd. That's what that's for."
-snip-
In the context of this conversation, "making monkey shine" means
having fun playing the drums, without any serious intent to perform any particular song, for instance, playing chords before an actual musical performance. The expression "monkeying around with ___" has a similar meaning.
From http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/monkey-around
"Monkeying around:
verb - intransitive
to mess around, waste time."
-snip-
Information about "just cutting up" is found below.
****
Definition #4
(verb)
Black people purposely acting a fool in front of, pandering to White folks
From http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/4/messages/1048.html"I heard an African American comic talk about being criticized by members of his race for "cutting monkey shines" in front of white people. Meaning, as I understood it, acting all jolly in a manner that would please the white folks. Acting a fool. Pandering, I guess you could call it."
-snip-
Read the same definition below for "cutting the monkey".
****
Definition #5:
noun - the name of a particular type of dance
In "Harlem Shuffle" by Bob & Earl [1966]
http://www.shsu.edu/lis_fwh/book/brill_building/Dance%20Crazes2.htm "Dance Crazes" *
"Bill Black's Combo- "Monkey-Shine" (1963)
Also in "Harlem Shuffle" by the Rolling Stones**
Excerpt for the Rolling Stones song:
From http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/rollingstones/harlemshuffle.html
Huhuuuhuhuhuhuuuuuuh, hu!
You move it to the left, yeah, and you go for yourself.
You move it to the right, yeah, if it takes all night.
Now take it kinda slow,
with a whole lot of soul.
Don't move it too fast.
Just make it last.
You scratch just like a monkey.
Yeah ya do, real cool...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, do the Harlem Shuffle.
(Do the Monkey Shine)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, shake your tail feather, baby.
(Shake shake, shake shake yeah!)..."
* The R&B dance "The Monkey" probably came from the "Monkey Shine" dance. Visit that page for a list of other Rock & Roll/ R&B records including these songs that promoted the "Monkey" dance "Do The Monkey", "It's Monkey Time" and "Mickey's Monkey".
**Is the Rolling Stones' song a cover of the earlier Bob & Earl record?
****
Editorial Comment:
I believe that the phrases "cutting a shine" ("cutting shine"), "cutting the monkey" ("cutting a monkey"; "cuttin monkey"), and "cutting up" all come from the phrase "cutting monkey shine" ("cutting monkeyshine").
DEFINITION #1: "CUT A SHINE"
Music Genres: American Minstrel, American Old Time Music
http://www.gatlinburgtnweather.com/southern_slang_dictionary.html
"cut a shine" - to dance"
Example:
From https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.music.country.old-time/ATTT1UtigL8
"Little Lula/Lulu/Lulie"
Oldtime1 [Joe Wilson], 5/29/97
Little Lula/Lulu/Lulie
Paul asked if there are two Lulu songs. Yes. The "Bang Away Lulu" lyric he quoted is not at all like "Shout Lulu." When I interviewed G. B. Grayson's oldest daughter, Lilly Grayson Sturdivant, in 1972 near Rising Sun, MD (with Ken Irwin and Marian Leighton), she told about his compositions. She said he did not write "Shout Lulu" and that she thought it was "an old song." If it was old when Grayson recorded it in the late 1920s, it may be
from minstrelsy. It certainly has the feel and rhythm of a minstrel song:
"Takes a nickle, takes a dime, To see Little Luly, cut a shine."...*
-snip-
Italics added to highligh that line.
Click the "Shout Lula" tag found below for several pancocojams post about this Old Time Music song, including a post about the Grayson & Whittier recording of that song.
****
DEFINITION #2: "CUT A SHINE"
Music Genre: American Music Hall song
Definition
From http://www.omnilexica.com/?q=cut+a+shine
"Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English (1905)
Abridged from the Seven-volume Work, Entitled: Slang and Its Analogues by John Stephen Farmer, William Ernest Henley
to cut a shine, to make a show ; every shine, every one ; as verb, (a) to make a stir, or impression"
-snip-
I think that this definition of "cut a shine" - to make a positive impression [to shine like the sun] is a positive spin on the older meaning of "cutting a shine" in which the person showed off, making a public spectacle of himself or herself by acting like a monkey.
****
Song Examples from http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=129161
[hereafter known as "Mudcat: McGuiness"]
posted by Joe Offer, Date: 30 Apr 10 - 02:28 AM
"Here are the lyrics from the 1880 sheet music at the American Memory Collection (Library of Congress):
WHEN MCGUINESS GETS A JOB
(Jim O'Neil & Jack Conroy)
CHORUS:
Then cheer up, Missus Reiley, don't give 'way to the blues,
You and I will cut a shine, new bonnets, and new shoes,
As for me, I'm done a-crying, no more will I sigh or sob,
I'll wait till times get better, when McGuiness gets a job.
Copyright 1880 by Mrs. Pauline Lieder"
-snip-
This song is also known as "Last Winter Was a Hard One"
-snip-
Italics added by me to highlight that line.
****
"Mudcat: McGuiness" posted by Joe Offer, Date: 30 Apr 10 - 12:28 AM
"...Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song:
Last Winter Was a Hard One
DESCRIPTION: Two Irish women lament the hard times. Neither woman's husband could find a job, and both families suffered. They curse the Italians who have arrived to take Irish jobs. They look forward to better times when their husbands find work
AUTHOR: Words: Jim O'Neil / Music: Jack Conroy
EARLIEST DATE: 1880 (sheet music)
****
Music Genre: British Music Hall song
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=126008
Lyr Req: I Do Like A S'Nice S'Mince S'Pie, posted by Jim Dixon, 24 Jan 11 - 03:18 PM
"The British Library [London] has the sheet music, described thus:
I DO LIKE A S'NICE S'MINCE S'PIE.
Written and composed by W. David and B. Lee.
Author: Worton David; Bert Lee
Publisher: London : Star Music Publishing Co, [1914]
Edition/Format: Musical score
My Old Red Vest
Chorus
I never get the knocker when the boys shout cock, cockly, cock, cock robin
With my old red vest I mean to cut shine.
Walking down the street, they call me danger on the line.
And the more they call out robin red breast, I'll wear it longer still.
I will have a red waistcoat, I will,
I will, I will, I will, I will, I will.
-snip-
Italics added by me to highlight that line.
****
RELATED WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS:
CUTTING UP [CUTTIN UP] (Usually given as "just cuttin up")
Definition: verb; acting silly, "actin a fool", (meaning purposely acting like a fool.
Example: Read the excerpt about Othar Turner above.
****
CUTTING [THE] MONKEY
Definition #1
(verb) acting silly, acting [like] a fool
From http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/their-eyes-were-watching-god/study-help/full-glossary-for-their-eyes-were-watching-god
All them dat's goin' tuh cut de monkey in other words, if everyone has finished acting silly.
-snip-
From http://poetry.rapgenius.com/Zora-neale-hurston-their-eyes-were-watching-god-chap-16-lyrics
[WARNING - This book includes the n word fully spelled out and colorist language about dark skinned Black people.]
Italics were added by me to highlight that portion.
****
Definition #2
(verb) showing off in front of White people, pandering to White people*
From http://poetry.rapgenius.com/Zora-neale-hurston-their-eyes-were-watching-god-chap-16-lyrics "Zora Neale Hurston – Their Eyes Were Watching God (Chap. 16)"
"We’se uh mingled people and all of us got black kinfolks as well as yaller kinfolks. How come you so against black?”
“And dey makes me tired. Always laughin’! Dey laughs too much and dey laughs too loud. Always singin’ ol’ n&&&er songs! Always cuttin’ de monkey for white folks."
-snip-
Italics were added by me to highlight that portion.
The second paragraph in this excerpt is spoken by a Black women who is sharing why she doesn't like dark skinned Black people.
-snip-
WARNING: The n word is fully spelled out in this book.
**
This usage is the same as Definition #4 for "cutting monkey shines"
which is found above.
*I believe that the expression about Black people "cutting the monkey" can be connected to, but isn't necessarily integral to the stereotype of Black people as monkeys. Click for information about that old & still current very negative stereotype.
****
ADDENDUM
I'm intrigued by the common usage of the words "cut" and "cuttin" ("cutting") to mean "doing". Examples from Old Time Music are "cuttin monkeyshines" and "cutting a shine" (as well as "cut a shine" from Music Hall songs. "Cut the rug" meaning "to dance" is probably a more familiar, albeit mostly retired example of this use of the word "cut". Here's a comment about that expression:
"The term to "cut a rug" first started to emerge as a slang term for dancing in the 1920s. Use of the phrase persisted well into the 1940s, although the popularity of the term has since faded...
Like most slang, the origins of "cut a rug" as a synonym for dancing are disputed. Several competing theories to explain the idea have been bandied about, but none have been firmly proved. This is often the case with slang, which sometimes seems to catch on overnight..."
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-does-it-mean-to-cut-a-rug.htm
-snip-
It seems likely that this vernacular use of the word "cut" and "cutting" originated with African Americans. And, as the lyrics to "Jump Jim Crow" show, this use of "cut" document, that word was used that way as early as the 1830s. But I don't know why "cuttin" came to be used that way.
****
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
Thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Huddie Leadbetter - Jim Crow Blues (Comments, Lyrics, & Videos)
Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision - December 12, 2019
This pancocojams post provides information about the term "jim crow", lyrics of Leadbelly's song "Jim Crow Blues", as well as a sound file & a video of selected performances of that song.
The content of this post is provided for historical, folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Hudie Leadbetter for composing and performing this protest song. Thanks to Lead Belly for his musical legacy. Alsp, thanks to Odetta and Cow Cow Davenport for their musical legacies. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.
****
WHAT "JIM CROW" MEANS
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws:
"The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities in Southern states of the former Confederacy, with, starting in 1890, a "separate but equal" status for African Americans. The separation in practice led to conditions that tended to be inferior to those provided for white Americans, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages."
-snip-
A person of color being "jim crowed" meant/means being treated in a discriminatory manner [being treated worse than White people in general because of one's race/ethnicity.]
A "Jim Crow town" is one whose White residents had discriminatory laws & customs.
****
COMMENTS ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM "JIM CROW"
Excerpt #1:
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_Jim_Crow
"The origin of the name "Jim Crow" is obscure but may have evolved from the use of the pejorative "crow" to refer to African Americans in the 1730s. Jim may be derived from "Jimmy", an old cant term for a crow, which is based on a pun for the tool "crow" which today we call a "crowbar". Before 1900 crowbars were called "crows" and a short crowbar was and still is called a "jimmy", a typical burglar's tool.
The folk concept of a dancing crow predates the Jump Jim Crow minstrelsy and has its origins in the old farmer's practice of soaking corn in whiskey and leaving it out for the crows. The crows eat the corn and become so drunk they cannot fly, but wheel and jump helplessly near the ground where the farmer can kill them with a club."
-snip-
Click that link for information about & lyrics to the 1828 USA minstrel song "Jump Jim Crow".
****
Excerpt #2
From http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090505044409AAEFfdV comment posted by d_r_siva 2009
"The reality of the term [Jim Crow] has nothing at all to do with crows, crow’s feet, or crow’s beaks. The term comes to English via the Nordic languages….probably as far back as Viking settlements in England.
The term refers to a cow’s foot. In Danish a cow is a kue. In Norwegian a cow is a ku. In Swedish a cow is called a ko and is pronounced “coo” like a dove sounds. And a crowbar today in Swedish is a kofot….a “cow’s foot.” And one must mention that the bar’s pulling end [two fingers around a nail] resemble a cow’s foot and thus the English derivation of crowbar has nothing to do at all with the crow, but with cows or a ko. Our crowbar is named after a cow’s foot. This is the true etymology of the word.
One false etymology is that the term crowbar derives from Jim Crow and that they were used by blacks to perform menial tasks, giving it racist origins. Jim Crow was alive at least 400 years after the origin of the crowbar, so it is highly unlikely that he had anything to do with its name. This has been discredited by Snopes.
A crow has a powerful pointed beak with which it can, crows being very smart birds, pry open darn near anything it wants. So when humans invented a long iron bar with a hooked end to pry things open, they named it after the clever crow. In fact, the original crowbar (known simply as a "crow" back in 1400) sported one end shaped into a beak, rather than the flattened surface seen on modern crowbars.".
****
LYRICS: JIM CROW BLUES [1930?]
(Huddie William Ledbetter (January 1888 – December 6, 1949)[stage name: Lead Belly; usually given as Leadbelly)
Gotta get together let it __
don’t be no stone
Well we’ll all be in the same boat rather* ["together"]?
Okay now you gonna want this “Jim Crow Boys” enn
That man mus makes a man wear out his shoes when I give en the Jim Crow playin. **
[Actual song]
Bunk Johnson told me too, This old Jim Crowism dead bad luck for me and you
I been traveling, i been traveling from shore to shore
Everywhere I have been I find some old Jim Crow
One thing, people, I want everybody to know
You're gonna find some Jim Crow, every place you go
Down in Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia's a mighty good place to go
And get together, break up this old Jim Crow
I told everybody over the radio
Make up their mind and get together, break up this old Jim Crow
I want to tell you people something that you don't know
It's a lotta Jim Crow in a moving picture show
I'm gonna sing this verse, I ain't gonna sing no more
Please get together, break up this old Jim Crow
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pejC6hFJcVM&feature=related [Video #3 below]
-snip-
*Transcription of the first part of the sound file by Azizi Powell.
The first three lines appear to be the end of another song that Leadbelly sang before starting "Jim Crow Blues". The last two lines prior to the actual song are Leadbelly's introduction on that occassion for his performance of "Jim Crow Blues". My "translation" of the last sentence Leadbelly said is:
"That man's music [that song/my playing that song] makes a man wear out his shoes [dancing] when I play "Jim Crow Blues".
Additions and/or corrections to this transcription are welcomed.
****
SHOWCASE EXAMPLES
Example #1: Jim Crow Blues- Leadbelly
Uploaded by 427monkeyman on Jun 9, 2010
This is a protest song from the 1930's written and preformed by the great blues musician Leadbelly. For those who do not know, the Jim Crow Laws where laws that prevented African Americans and other minorities from having the same rights as Whites. Many of the pictures are of blues musicians and civil rights activists such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and W. E. B. Du Bois. This video is intended to be anti-racist so I do NOT want to see comments saying I am.
****
Example #2 -Odetta - Jim Crow Blues
Zé Paulo Gouvêa Lemos, Nov 3, 2011
Do show "História do Blues, em 2005
-snip-
This example replaces the previous example that is no longer available.
****
Example #3:Cow Cow Davenport Jim crow blues
Blues Blues, Oct 28, 2017
-snip-
This sound file was added to this pancocojams post on December 12, 2019
****
RELATED LINKS
Click http://uncensoredhistoryoftheblues.purplebeech.com/2009/09/show-43-jim-crow-blues.html for information about Blues songs which include the term "Jim Crow". Included in that post is a lyric excerpt of the 1925 song "Northbound Blues" performed by by Maggie Jones which contains the phrase “Jim Crow town”. That post also features an excerpt of a 1927 Blues song by Cow Cow Davenport which is also entitled "Jim Crow Blues".
**
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/09/john-crow-part-i-what-john-crow-means.html for Part I of a three part Pancocojams series on the Jamaican character/symbol "John Crow".
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Viewer comments are welcomed.
Latest revision - December 12, 2019
This pancocojams post provides information about the term "jim crow", lyrics of Leadbelly's song "Jim Crow Blues", as well as a sound file & a video of selected performances of that song.
The content of this post is provided for historical, folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Hudie Leadbetter for composing and performing this protest song. Thanks to Lead Belly for his musical legacy. Alsp, thanks to Odetta and Cow Cow Davenport for their musical legacies. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.
****
WHAT "JIM CROW" MEANS
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws:
"The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated de jure racial segregation in all public facilities in Southern states of the former Confederacy, with, starting in 1890, a "separate but equal" status for African Americans. The separation in practice led to conditions that tended to be inferior to those provided for white Americans, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages."
-snip-
A person of color being "jim crowed" meant/means being treated in a discriminatory manner [being treated worse than White people in general because of one's race/ethnicity.]
A "Jim Crow town" is one whose White residents had discriminatory laws & customs.
****
COMMENTS ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM "JIM CROW"
Excerpt #1:
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_Jim_Crow
"The origin of the name "Jim Crow" is obscure but may have evolved from the use of the pejorative "crow" to refer to African Americans in the 1730s. Jim may be derived from "Jimmy", an old cant term for a crow, which is based on a pun for the tool "crow" which today we call a "crowbar". Before 1900 crowbars were called "crows" and a short crowbar was and still is called a "jimmy", a typical burglar's tool.
The folk concept of a dancing crow predates the Jump Jim Crow minstrelsy and has its origins in the old farmer's practice of soaking corn in whiskey and leaving it out for the crows. The crows eat the corn and become so drunk they cannot fly, but wheel and jump helplessly near the ground where the farmer can kill them with a club."
-snip-
Click that link for information about & lyrics to the 1828 USA minstrel song "Jump Jim Crow".
****
Excerpt #2
From http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090505044409AAEFfdV comment posted by d_r_siva 2009
"The reality of the term [Jim Crow] has nothing at all to do with crows, crow’s feet, or crow’s beaks. The term comes to English via the Nordic languages….probably as far back as Viking settlements in England.
The term refers to a cow’s foot. In Danish a cow is a kue. In Norwegian a cow is a ku. In Swedish a cow is called a ko and is pronounced “coo” like a dove sounds. And a crowbar today in Swedish is a kofot….a “cow’s foot.” And one must mention that the bar’s pulling end [two fingers around a nail] resemble a cow’s foot and thus the English derivation of crowbar has nothing to do at all with the crow, but with cows or a ko. Our crowbar is named after a cow’s foot. This is the true etymology of the word.
One false etymology is that the term crowbar derives from Jim Crow and that they were used by blacks to perform menial tasks, giving it racist origins. Jim Crow was alive at least 400 years after the origin of the crowbar, so it is highly unlikely that he had anything to do with its name. This has been discredited by Snopes.
A crow has a powerful pointed beak with which it can, crows being very smart birds, pry open darn near anything it wants. So when humans invented a long iron bar with a hooked end to pry things open, they named it after the clever crow. In fact, the original crowbar (known simply as a "crow" back in 1400) sported one end shaped into a beak, rather than the flattened surface seen on modern crowbars.".
****
LYRICS: JIM CROW BLUES [1930?]
(Huddie William Ledbetter (January 1888 – December 6, 1949)[stage name: Lead Belly; usually given as Leadbelly)
Gotta get together let it __
don’t be no stone
Well we’ll all be in the same boat rather* ["together"]?
Okay now you gonna want this “Jim Crow Boys” enn
That man mus makes a man wear out his shoes when I give en the Jim Crow playin. **
[Actual song]
Bunk Johnson told me too, This old Jim Crowism dead bad luck for me and you
I been traveling, i been traveling from shore to shore
Everywhere I have been I find some old Jim Crow
One thing, people, I want everybody to know
You're gonna find some Jim Crow, every place you go
Down in Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia's a mighty good place to go
And get together, break up this old Jim Crow
I told everybody over the radio
Make up their mind and get together, break up this old Jim Crow
I want to tell you people something that you don't know
It's a lotta Jim Crow in a moving picture show
I'm gonna sing this verse, I ain't gonna sing no more
Please get together, break up this old Jim Crow
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pejC6hFJcVM&feature=related [Video #3 below]
-snip-
*Transcription of the first part of the sound file by Azizi Powell.
The first three lines appear to be the end of another song that Leadbelly sang before starting "Jim Crow Blues". The last two lines prior to the actual song are Leadbelly's introduction on that occassion for his performance of "Jim Crow Blues". My "translation" of the last sentence Leadbelly said is:
"That man's music [that song/my playing that song] makes a man wear out his shoes [dancing] when I play "Jim Crow Blues".
Additions and/or corrections to this transcription are welcomed.
****
SHOWCASE EXAMPLES
Example #1: Jim Crow Blues- Leadbelly
Uploaded by 427monkeyman on Jun 9, 2010
This is a protest song from the 1930's written and preformed by the great blues musician Leadbelly. For those who do not know, the Jim Crow Laws where laws that prevented African Americans and other minorities from having the same rights as Whites. Many of the pictures are of blues musicians and civil rights activists such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and W. E. B. Du Bois. This video is intended to be anti-racist so I do NOT want to see comments saying I am.
****
Example #2 -Odetta - Jim Crow Blues
Zé Paulo Gouvêa Lemos, Nov 3, 2011
Do show "História do Blues, em 2005
-snip-
This example replaces the previous example that is no longer available.
****
Example #3:Cow Cow Davenport Jim crow blues
Blues Blues, Oct 28, 2017
-snip-
This sound file was added to this pancocojams post on December 12, 2019
****
RELATED LINKS
Click http://uncensoredhistoryoftheblues.purplebeech.com/2009/09/show-43-jim-crow-blues.html for information about Blues songs which include the term "Jim Crow". Included in that post is a lyric excerpt of the 1925 song "Northbound Blues" performed by by Maggie Jones which contains the phrase “Jim Crow town”. That post also features an excerpt of a 1927 Blues song by Cow Cow Davenport which is also entitled "Jim Crow Blues".
**
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/09/john-crow-part-i-what-john-crow-means.html for Part I of a three part Pancocojams series on the Jamaican character/symbol "John Crow".
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Viewer comments are welcomed.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Jimmy Cliff - "John Crow" (Lyrics, Video, & Comments)
Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part III of a three part pancocojams series on the Jamaican character/symbol "John Crow". This post provides a video & lyrics of Jimmy Cliff's 1990's song "John Crow".
Part I of this series provides information about the cultural meaning of "John Crow". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/09/john-crow-part-i-what-john-crow-means.html for that post.
Part II provides excerpts from two Jamaican folk songs which refer to John Crow. Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/09/two-jamaican-mento-songs-that-mention.html for that post.
The content of this post is provided for folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
****
LYRIC: JOHN CROW
(Jimmy Cliff)
The eagle find him place in darkness
Fisherman find him place by the sea
Light up the dark in Kingston town
Mi bredren know you a come home without me
Ev'ry road have a bend, ev'ry wicked have an end
What your hands commit I know your body mus' feel
In this wicked, wicked war your time has come
You don't live right you will have no more fun
Jancro a go nyam your supper soon, boy*
Jancro a go lead the children astray
Jancro a go meet the retribution
Justice has finally find it's way
Screwface, you know that your time has come
You don't do right you gonna dead tonight
So now a go take you down the road to doom
The jancro a go nyam all your supper soon
Jancro a go nyam your supper soon, boy
Jancro a go lead the children astray
Jancro a go meet the retribution
Justice has finally find a way
Are you worried, says the wolf in sheep's clothing
Try to lead the children astray
But don't we know (?) a who fe frighten
take my hands I will show you the way
Jancro......Jancro
Source: http://www.smartlyrics.com/Song602053-Jimmy-Cliff-John-Crow-lyrics.aspx
*Jancro="John Crow"
-snip-
Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Cliff for information about Jimmy Cliff.
Click http://cocojams.com/content/caribbean-folk-songs for two examples of Jamaican folk songs that mention "John Crow" ("Long Time Gal" and "One Solja Man").
****
FEATURED VIDEO
Jimmy Cliff & Steven Seagal--John Crow*
Uploaded by jahppel on Oct 11, 2010
-snip-
This video provides snippets of scenes from the action movie which featured the song "John Crow", the Marked For Death starring Steven Seagal.
*The title of this video was erroneously given as "John Crown".
Here's a comment from this video's viewer comment thread which corrects that title and also provides information about the character of "John Crow" & the axiom that is repeated in that song:
"The term is "John Crow" not "John Crown." The axiom in the song that goes "John Crow ah guh nyam yuh supper soon boy", simply means that every persons time always comes. BTW translated, the saying is: "John Crow is going to eat your supper soon." A John Crow is the Jamaican jargon for a Vulture."
-smokeyhat, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=_Ksx9ishAOs
****
RELATED LINKS
Click http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090517/arts/arts1.html "Extracts from the 'Jamaica Journal' - Plants, Spirits and the meaning of 'John' in Jamaica" by John Rashford for more information about the Caribbean cultural meanings of "John Crow".
**
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & THANKS
Thanks to Jimmy Cliff for composing and singing this song. Thanks to the uploader of this video.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Viewer comments are welcome.
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