Sammy Dead

DESCRIPTION: Jamaican patois: Sammy was killed because he planted corn that flourished and his black neighbors could not stand to see another black man's success. Sammy's end in hell is not his fault.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (Murray-FolkSongsOfJamaica)
KEYWORDS: jealousy theft curse farming magic food hell
FOUND IN: West Indies(Jamaica)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Murray-FolkSongsOfJamaica, pp. 22-23, "Sammy Dead Oh!" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Edric Connor with the Caribbeans and Earl Inkman, "Sammy Dead Oh" (on WIEConnor01)
Eric "Monty" Morris with Byron Lee and the Dragonnaires, "Sammy Dead" (1964, on Kentone 45 rpm [no number], 2001, "Ska Down Jamaica," Hudson VanDam HVCD CD 5105-2, "Sammy Dead-O" on This Is Ska, Island Visual Arts Film, IVA/Maverick 1989 release, recorded 1964, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY0LIlcN_2I accessed May 22, 2015.)
Byron Lee and the Dragonnaires, "Sammy Dead-O" on This Is Ska, Island Visual Arts Film, IVA/Maverick 1989 release, recorded 1964, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY0LIlcN_2I accessed May 22, 2015.
This Is Ska, Film, IVA/Maverick 1989 release, recorded 1964, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY0LIlcN_2I accessed May 22, 2015.
NOTES [40 words]: By repeating only the first two verses, the Monty Morris ska version avoids verses about black jealousy and about Sammy ending in hell. After his corn planting succeeds, Sammy is killed because of unspecified neighbor envy [via obeah?]. - BS
Last updated in version 3.7
File: JaMu022

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