2:47
The Skatalite, 1969
Written by Justin Hinds, 1964?
This ska song, originally recorded by Justin Hinds and the Dominoes, is a warning to a woman getting herself a bad reputation with all her getting around. The title phrase is a Jamaican expression meaning gossip. "This carry go bring come, my dear, brings misery / You're going from home to home making disturbances / It's time you stopped doing those things, you old Jezebel." Harsh words! I admit ignorance as to whether the woman in question is a metaphor for some other representative of a larger system of oppression, like the British monarch or the wife of a prime minister. If not, one might accuse the narrator of melodrama: "How long shall the wicked reign over my people?" he moans.