{"history":[],"article":{"id":"7ac7bb49-c786-4c56-bdb4-9b64a96d8b8e","title":"Linstead Market","slug":"linstead-market","content":":::summary\n:::\n\n# \n\"**Linstead Market**\" is a [Jamaican](https://bliptext.com/articles/jamaica) folk song of the [mento](https://bliptext.com/articles/mento) type that tells of a mother who goes to the market with her [ackee](https://bliptext.com/articles/ackee) fruit but does not sell any, with the result that her children will go hungry.\n\n# History\nPossibly the earliest publication of the tune with words occurs in Walter Jekyll's 1907 book, Jamaican Song and Story, as [item 121](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined), pages 219-220.\nIn Jekyll, the lyrics are as follows:\nIn [Helen H. Roberts](https://bliptext.com/articles/helen-heffron-roberts)' collection of folk song variants based on field work in Jamaica, published in 1925, the version in Jekyll is reproduced, followed by twelve variants.\nIn some of these, \"Sollas market\" replaces \"Linstead market\".\n(Sollas market became [Jubilee Market](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined), located on West Queen Street in [Kingston](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingston-jamaica).)\nFor example, Roberts includes a version as sung in Christiana:\nSold me ackee, go to Sollas market.\n
\nNot a quatty would sell.\n
\nSold me ackee, go to Sollas market.\n
\nNot a quatty would sell.\n
\nSo whole o' Saturday night,
\nso not a light, not a bite.\n
\nSo not a quatty would sell.\n
\nIn 1975, [Oxford University Press](https://bliptext.com/articles/oxford-university-press) published \"Linstead Market\" in [Olive Lewin](https://bliptext.com/articles/olive-lewin)'s collection of Jamaican folk-songs, with these words:\nCarry me ackee go a Linstead market,
\nNot a quatty wut sell,
\nCarry me ackee go a Linstead market,
\nNot a quatty wut sell.\n
\nLawd wat a night, not a bite,
\nWat a Satiday night.\n
\nLawd wat a night, not a bite,
\nWat a Satiday night.\n
\nOn page 14, Dr. Lewin explains that \"Linstead Market still remains a picturesque small town market. The song is now often taken at a much faster pace for dancing but was originally sung slow and plaintively by a mother who couldn't sell enough at the market to feed her children. A quatty was a small copper coin of very small value.\"\nA quatty (also spelled quattie) was worth one and one-half pennies (also expressed as three [half-pennies](https://bliptext.com/articles/halfpenny-british-pre-decimal-coin), or six [farthings](https://bliptext.com/articles/farthing-british-coin)).\nIt was not in fact a minted coin – rather, it served as a standard unit when buying and selling.\nGoods were commonly sold in amounts which were worth a quatty, or multiples thereof.\nIf the value of a good changed, the amount that buyers received in exchange for a quatty went up or down accordingly.\nIn all the versions mentioned above except the earliest, the melody is written in 2/4 or 4/4 time, but in Jekyll, the time signature is 6/8.\nThe melody has been arranged for solo voice with piano.\nOne of the earliest such publications was \"Linstead Market: a Jamaican Folk-song,\" by [Arthur Benjamin](https://bliptext.com/articles/arthur-benjamin), [Boosey & Hawkes](https://bliptext.com/articles/boosey-hawkes), 1947 (5 pages).\nAmong choral arrangements is one of the same title by A. H. Green, published by Oxford University Press in 1967 (8 pages).\nThe song was included on the compact disc \" The [King's Singers](https://bliptext.com/articles/king-s-singers) in 1992. The song was recorded by the English folk group [The Spinners](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-spinners-uk-band), sung by their Caribbean singer Cliff Hall. The song is also published in modern collections, such as Songs of the Americas, arranged by Margery Hargest John, published by Boosey & Hawkes, London, 1993.\nThe song was covered by legendary Cuban group [La Sonora Matancera](https://bliptext.com/articles/la-sonora-matancera) in 1957, in English and Spanish.\nMore recently, published in January 2014, the album by [Monty Alexander](https://bliptext.com/articles/monty-alexander), titled \"Harlem-Kingston Express, Vol. 2: The River Rolls On\", contains track #11, \"Linstead Market (Live Bonus)\".\nIt is 6:37 long and features a spoken introduction.\nLiner notes of the album by Monty Alexander reference the track by stating, \"... this beloved old Jamaican folk song from way before my time, is one of the staples of the [Mento](https://bliptext.com/articles/mento) repertoire.\"\n[Brian Raphael Nabors](https://bliptext.com/articles/brian-raphael-nabors) arranged [Linstead Market](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined) 2018 for string quartet, commissioned by [Castle of Our Skins](https://bliptext.com/articles/castle-of-our-skins) for its Celebrity Collaboration Project.\nThe track was recorded by Rob Macomber in 2012 at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola in NYC.\nAdditional liner notes from the album regarding the song:\n\n# Hymn tune\nQuite a different direction of development was the inclusion of \"Linstead Market,\" as LINSTEAD, arranged as a [hymn tune](https://bliptext.com/articles/hymn-tune) by [Doreen Potter](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined) in Break Not the Circle, Hope Publishing Co., 1975.\nHere, the melody is found with a hymn text by [Fred Kaan](https://bliptext.com/articles/fred-kaan).\nThis arrangement appears in at least five hymnals:\nPresbyterian Hymnal (1990), no. 514
\nWith One Voice (Lutheran, 2000), no. 754
\nWorship and Rejoice (2001), no. 698
\n''Sing!\nA New Creation'' (CRC, 2002), no. 258
\nSinging the New Testament (2008), no. 166","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-26T07:23:34.473Z","updated_at":"2025-01-26T07:23:34.473Z","search_vector":"'linstead':1 'market':2","search_content":" \n \n\n# \n\"**Linstead Market**\" is a [Jamaican](https://bliptext.com/articles/jamaica) folk song of the [mento](https://bliptext.com/articles/mento) type that tells of a mother who goes to the market with her [ackee](https://bliptext.com/articles/ackee) fruit but does not sell any, with the result that her children will go hungry.\n\n# History\nPossibly the earliest publication of the tune with words occurs in Walter Jekyll's 1907 book, Jamaican Song and Story, as [item 121](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined), pages 219-220.\nIn Jekyll, the lyrics are as follows:\nIn [Helen H. Roberts](https://bliptext.com/articles/helen-heffron-roberts)' collection of folk song variants based on field work in Jamaica, published in 1925, the version in Jekyll is reproduced, followed by twelve variants.\nIn some of these, \"Sollas market\" replaces \"Linstead market\".\n(Sollas market became [Jubilee Market](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined), located on West Queen Street in [Kingston](https://bliptext.com/articles/kingston-jamaica).)\nFor example, Roberts includes a version as sung in Christiana:\nSold me ackee, go to Sollas market.\n \nNot a quatty would sell.\n \nSold me ackee, go to Sollas market.\n \nNot a quatty would sell.\n \nSo whole o' Saturday night, \nso not a light, not a bite.\n \nSo not a quatty would sell.\n \nIn 1975, [Oxford University Press](https://bliptext.com/articles/oxford-university-press) published \"Linstead Market\" in [Olive Lewin](https://bliptext.com/articles/olive-lewin)'s collection of Jamaican folk-songs, with these words:\nCarry me ackee go a Linstead market, \nNot a quatty wut sell, \nCarry me ackee go a Linstead market, \nNot a quatty wut sell.\n \nLawd wat a night, not a bite, \nWat a Satiday night.\n \nLawd wat a night, not a bite, \nWat a Satiday night.\n \nOn page 14, Dr. Lewin explains that \"Linstead Market still remains a picturesque small town market. The song is now often taken at a much faster pace for dancing but was originally sung slow and plaintively by a mother who couldn't sell enough at the market to feed her children. A quatty was a small copper coin of very small value.\"\nA quatty (also spelled quattie) was worth one and one-half pennies (also expressed as three [half-pennies](https://bliptext.com/articles/halfpenny-british-pre-decimal-coin), or six [farthings](https://bliptext.com/articles/farthing-british-coin)).\nIt was not in fact a minted coin – rather, it served as a standard unit when buying and selling.\nGoods were commonly sold in amounts which were worth a quatty, or multiples thereof.\nIf the value of a good changed, the amount that buyers received in exchange for a quatty went up or down accordingly.\nIn all the versions mentioned above except the earliest, the melody is written in 2/4 or 4/4 time, but in Jekyll, the time signature is 6/8.\nThe melody has been arranged for solo voice with piano.\nOne of the earliest such publications was \"Linstead Market: a Jamaican Folk-song,\" by [Arthur Benjamin](https://bliptext.com/articles/arthur-benjamin), [Boosey & Hawkes](https://bliptext.com/articles/boosey-hawkes), 1947 (5 pages).\nAmong choral arrangements is one of the same title by A. H. Green, published by Oxford University Press in 1967 (8 pages).\nThe song was included on the compact disc \" The [King's Singers](https://bliptext.com/articles/king-s-singers) in 1992. The song was recorded by the English folk group [The Spinners](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-spinners-uk-band), sung by their Caribbean singer Cliff Hall. The song is also published in modern collections, such as Songs of the Americas, arranged by Margery Hargest John, published by Boosey & Hawkes, London, 1993.\nThe song was covered by legendary Cuban group [La Sonora Matancera](https://bliptext.com/articles/la-sonora-matancera) in 1957, in English and Spanish.\nMore recently, published in January 2014, the album by [Monty Alexander](https://bliptext.com/articles/monty-alexander), titled \"Harlem-Kingston Express, Vol. 2: The River Rolls On\", contains track #11, \"Linstead Market (Live Bonus)\".\nIt is 6:37 long and features a spoken introduction.\nLiner notes of the album by Monty Alexander reference the track by stating, \"... this beloved old Jamaican folk song from way before my time, is one of the staples of the [Mento](https://bliptext.com/articles/mento) repertoire.\"\n[Brian Raphael Nabors](https://bliptext.com/articles/brian-raphael-nabors) arranged [Linstead Market](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined) 2018 for string quartet, commissioned by [Castle of Our Skins](https://bliptext.com/articles/castle-of-our-skins) for its Celebrity Collaboration Project.\nThe track was recorded by Rob Macomber in 2012 at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola in NYC.\nAdditional liner notes from the album regarding the song:\n\n# Hymn tune\nQuite a different direction of development was the inclusion of \"Linstead Market,\" as LINSTEAD, arranged as a [hymn tune](https://bliptext.com/articles/hymn-tune) by [Doreen Potter](https://bliptext.com/articles/undefined) in Break Not the Circle, Hope Publishing Co., 1975.\nHere, the melody is found with a hymn text by [Fred Kaan](https://bliptext.com/articles/fred-kaan).\nThis arrangement appears in at least five hymnals:\nPresbyterian Hymnal (1990), no. 514 \nWith One Voice (Lutheran, 2000), no. 754 \nWorship and Rejoice (2001), no. 698 \n''Sing!\nA New Creation'' (CRC, 2002), no. 258 \nSinging the New Testament (2008), no. 166","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}