Linstead Market

Info

This song is in the Jamaican mento genre (not Calypso) (source).

This is about a woman going to market trying to sell her fruit, but having no success. I omitted the verses about the woman’s children going hungry.

(Jamaican folk song)

Carry me ackee* go a Linstead Market,
Not a quattie** would sell.
Carry me ackee go a Linstead Market,
Not a quattie would sell.

Refrain
Oh no! Not a mite, not a bite,
What a Saturday night!
Oh no! Not a mite, not a bite,
What a Saturday night!

Make me call it louder,
“Ackee, ackee!”
Red and pretty dam tan.
Lady, come buy your Sunday morning breakfast,
Rice and ackee nyam gran’. Refrain

*ackee – fruit – link (source)

**quattie – worth one and a half penny during colonial rule

dem tan = they are

nyam gran’ = taste good (source)

Song with chords, Lesson ideas for rhythm (syncopation, half notes & rests, ostinato parts), Orff arrangement (PDF)
MIDI file
Listen to the song