Roots Archives Forum

hi guys,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Rj4O0nthGs

this tune from the pioneers - great vocal, but i am having trouble believing that they are singing "me naw go a believe". to me it sounds much more like "me naw go a belleview", referring to the mental health facility in jamaica (don't know if it's still there).

i can't really penetrate the lyrics too well so maybe you guys can help me out with that. it seems to me maybe that the song is about some sort of antagonist who is trying to drive the guy crazy, and send him to bellview. what do you guys think?

ok, i'll take a shot at the lyrics

Keep on trying
Keep on trying
But me nah go a (Belleview)?

You send me a (public)?
You send me a (yew seed)?
But me nah go a (Belleview)?

You tek (silver jacket)?
You put inna mi cornmeal?
Drugs in mi white rum
But me nah go a (Belleview)?

Man!

Keep on trying...

to my ears too they are definitely singing "me nah go a belleview" not "believe". Apart from that I can't make much of the lyrics either.
Great song though...

To my ears...

You send me a public
You send me a UC
But me nah go a bellview

You take silver ?
You put ina mi cornmeal
? ina mi white rum

Anyway, it certainly says Bellview (i.e. Im not crazy, I ain't goin' to no institution. I think the second verse also elludes to people trying to drug him by putting something in his food and drink.

i am reasonably sure it's this:


yuh send me a public (pretty sure that's KPH)
yuh send me a UC (University College - the UWI hospital)
but me nah go a Belleview

yuh tek silver, chuck it (probably mercury, which causes
brain damage)
yuh put inna mi cornmeal
throw inna mi white rum


Belleview is still there in East Kingston, down the road just east of the Tower St. Corr. Center (aka General Penitentiary) on the way to Harbourview.

Very cogent interpretation there by blackbeltjonez. Sorry if this may sound ignorant, but what does KPH stand for?

Kingston Public Hospital, downtown.

the University Of The West Indies (UWI) hospital is uptown, in Mona

It's actually "Bellevue"....of course it doesn't make a difference when you sing it, only when you write it.

i am glad to see that you guys have come to the same interpretation as i did, especially Dwick with people trying to drug him. i was starting to think that i might need to go to bellevue myself. blackbeltjonez extra special thanks for what i believe to be a very accurate interpretation of the lyrics, especially the part about mercury poisoning. thanks to all who posted so far.

In Obeah silver is has special powers, which can be used for both good and evil. so it might not be a mercury poisoning, but rather an obeah act that threatens to put him in Bellevue