This is mostly for Tommy, but others in class were interested in the Calypso song so seemingly incongrously sung in Distant Voices/Still Lives.
While I have been unable to find a source for the version of the lyrics in the film, I did find this interesting bit of information on the song and the "Calypso Fever" of the mid-50's:
"Brown Skin Girl" was composed by Trinidadian calypsonian King Radio in 1946, in response to the presence of American servicemen in Trinidad during World War II. The calypso commented on the practice of soldiers and sailors fathering babies and then returning to the United States. In the song's chorus, a serviceman tells his paramour:
I'm going away, in a sailing boat
And if I don't come back, stay home and mind baby.
While its social commentary was typical of calypso, the song undoubtedly became a favorite with audiences because of its infectious melody. Caribbean-American singer Harry Belafonte popularized the calypso in his smash-hit album titled Calypso (1956). Since then it has remained a standard part of the repertoire of Caribbean hotel entertainers. Meanwhile, jazz versions of "Brown Skin Girl" have appeared on recordings by Sonny Rollins and Roy Haynes."
I would think that it would be the Belafonte version that the characters in the film were acquainted with, but somewhere along the way a variation on the lyrics was produced. I'm still interested in tracking this down because I'd like to see the connection between the King Radio version and the one we hear in the film: has it become a song about a woman murdering her GI husband?
(I grabbed the above material from the Historical Museum of Southern Florida's "Calypso: a World of Music" entry on their website)
9 comments:
"Distant Voices/Still Lives"... very interesting movie. i liked the way "dad" handled things around the house. " mother" was always so quiet, she does her "job" and goes to bar to have fun and that's all she does. one thing i didn't like about the movie was the singing. they sang every time something happened.
(could you please send me an invitation so i could set up my account again, becouse the one that i have no wont allow me to post, i can only leav comments. thank you HaMiD.R)
I have a few west indian dj friends, I'm spinning with them tomorrow. I'm gonna asked them about this song. One of them dad (also a dj)shows up every once and awhile. This guy has EVERYTHING! I wonder if he has this, I gotta ask him!
it would be fun to hear that record
You might be able to find it as a downloadable mp3, Dawn. At the very least the Belafonte version should be pretty available...
Hamid I need your email to resend the invitation.
The version that Harry Belafonte sings was written by King Radio (aka Norman Span) in 1946, but the chorus is traditional, and much older, and seems to have originated in Granada - see http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=137067#3134087.
I would like to talk to you Professor Estevez about this song. I am doing research for a documentary film about the creole people of Bluefields in the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua. I had an interview with a creole historian, he sings this song as an analogy of the society 60 years ago but he changes some words, for instance: brown skin girl, stay home and mind baby, Im going away on a sailing boat and I dont come back "throw away that damn baby"........ but i think it was more a cultural adaptation of the creole people in that particular region of Central America.
by the way.... which movie did you comment on? what is the name of the movie? which year?
thank you
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