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Post by ns on Jul 13, 2007 10:36:03 GMT
What is this wonderful and sad song all about? Can't figure it out. While we're at it, what does the term 'Sleng Teng' (sling thing?) mean? Thanks.
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Post by ringo on Jul 13, 2007 11:31:40 GMT
Pumpkin Belly is a reference to the proverb also utilised in the Wailer's Simmer Down. If nanny goat didn't want a runny belly she shouldn't have eaten the pumpkin seed. You reap what you sow, don't do it if you know how bad the consequences are going to be etc.
Sleng Teng is the weed.
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Post by diddleybop on Jul 13, 2007 11:40:14 GMT
so in the TUNE admiral bailey "pumpkin Belly" are the dj's name checked being dissed?
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Post by southcoastninjah on Jul 13, 2007 11:43:14 GMT
.................No cocaine,i don't wanna i don't wanna go insane...............under mi sleng teng mi under mi sleng teng........................al a...........under mi sensi mi under mi sensi.....
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Post by papastalawatt on Jul 13, 2007 11:55:21 GMT
You know, I'm not convinced by the Pumpkin Belly / Simmer Down link. Simmer Down quotes the proverb verbatim - as do Larry & Alvin in Nanny Goat, of course. Tenor Saw uses such a different construct that I think he means something else. The only link seems to be the reference to the older generation. My immediate interpretation of the phrase "pumpkin belly" when I first heard it was as a reference to a pregnant woman. With "water" referring to, er, the fluid required to get her pregnant. So this is Tenor's granny asking him if he knows the facts of life. Haven't listened to this for a while, though, and I can't remember the lines before and after which might (or might not!) put this into context. And thinking about it, I'm wondering whether I've heard the line right in the first place  Respect, PapaS |
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Post by ns on Jul 13, 2007 11:56:10 GMT
How water walk a go a pumpkin belly/ Who tell me that but me old time granny/ She say, "Saw you must be going on like a ginal, woooaaa"/ I said, "No grandma. I won't tell you now"thank you all for the interesting info.
so sleng teng=sensi? how come I never heard that phrase elsewhere?
PapaS, I also thought 'pumpkin belly' reffered to a pregnant woman. But now I see it has to do with a Jamaican proverb:If my mother wanted me to go somewhere and be back very quick, she always had two phrases as a threat:
"If u don't reach back before my spit dry, u go si how water walk gaa pumpkin belly"
or if i did something wrong in the house and i got off scotfree the first time she always had this to say: "cat nuh put on yard boot fi catch house rat."
www.coconutlounge.com/forums/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=1913&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&vc=1also: www.dancehallreggae.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1708905
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Post by diddleybop on Jul 13, 2007 12:14:59 GMT
oops i'm thinking of big belly man..someone successful. fat of the hog.
i apologise for the error caused by a temporary brain malfunction ie meltdown, ie the weekend.I' ve rel-listened to the track and think that it relates to growth. Pumpkin belly being related to a proverb from Tenor Saws Grandmother, similar to overcoming obstacles dealing with growth, learning from your experiences. Dialogue on original single deals with encouragement.Grand finale is overcoming the hurdle i.e the pumpkin belly.
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Post by ns on Jul 13, 2007 12:16:57 GMT
OK, found this out: Tenor Saw A Youth with a Future Interview by Lesli Singer Photograph by Originally published: August/September 1986 ... Is that where your grandmother lives? (Laughing) Yeah, that's where my grandmother live. That's how I come to create Pumkin Belly. Caw when I go there to spend time with my father, I spend some time with my grandmother. That's where she live, in the countryside, Trelawny. Explain to me what "How water walk go a pumkin belly" means. Well, to tell you the truth, I can't explain how it walk. That's why I say in the song (singing), "It would be better if you ask my mommy." I really don't know. (laughter all around) Can't really tell you still. ... www.dancehallmusic.de/forum2/thread.php?postid=859 |
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Post by Mr Swing Easy on Jul 13, 2007 13:06:39 GMT
'Teng' as in sleng teng is a variant on 'ting' as in thing. Sleng' is another name for the herb superb.
MSE
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Post by papastalawatt on Jul 13, 2007 13:35:31 GMT
I thought Tenor was maybe being deliberately obtuse in that interview, until you modified your previous post to include the proverb. Here's another reference that I think helps my understanding:
So the way I see it now, is that it means that some things can't be understood, so you should stop wasting your time wondering about them. Water can't walk, after all! And Tenor's probably being a smart-arse in directing his granny to his mommy, who presumably tells him the same thing.
JA friends might offer a better explanation, mind.
BTW, I think the suggested link to Simmer Down / Nanny Goat springs from confusing the pumpkin belly proverb with this one:
Quite ;D
Respect,
PapaS
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Post by ns on Jul 13, 2007 13:55:57 GMT
thanks MSE, that clears things up.
PapaS, thanks. I wonder how a Jamaican youth would understad that song. Is it Tenor Saw saying back to the elders: you can't understand us, you think we're doing wrong, but...
And why is that proverb 'profane'? does it contain, after all, a conotation to pregnancy?
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Post by wareika on Jul 13, 2007 14:09:29 GMT
Regarding the Sleng Teng term, I'm quite sure it does not mean anything even if the sensi reference is obvious. Actualy Wayne Smith explained the whole story on the Beth Lesser book. From memory he said it was the first thing he though about. He didn't say it has a any meaning, it just sounds good!. Don't forget the singing on this tune is closed to B Levy's "Under Me Sensi". I also rode somewhere Barrington Levy was not happy cause he considered Wayne Smith reproduced the vocal style of the Under Me Sensi hit.
wareika
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Post by papastalawatt on Jul 13, 2007 14:11:52 GMT
I think that other proverbs are profane, this one is not profane but is his favourite.
The comment about promiscuous youths still leaves me wondering about connotations of pregnancy, too.
Really gonna have to dig this tune out of the crates when I get home tonight ;D
Respect,
PapaS
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Post by ns on Jul 13, 2007 15:30:09 GMT
I also read somewhere Barrington Levy was not happy cause he considered Wayne Smith reproduced the vocal style of the Under Me Sensi hit. yeah, only with a casio riddim that changed the entire course of Jamaican (and western) music.  |
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Post by Mr Swing Easy on Jul 13, 2007 15:42:13 GMT
... a slowed down casio version of Something Else by Eddie Cochran is the base for Under Mi Sleng Teng.
MSE
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Post by ns on Jul 13, 2007 17:19:45 GMT
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