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Jamaican Song and Story

by Walter Jekyll

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CX

The next is an old tune which is going out of fashion. It is still remembered in my district, but nobody can tell me how it is danced.

[XML]

Johnny, Johnny, da wharra fe dinner?
Three slice a lilly bit a dumpling,
Me Johnny come roll the board.

“Da wharra” literally means “is what.” What is there for dinner? Three slices and a little bit of dumpling. I tried to find out whether they were slices of dumpling or slices of something else, but no one could tell me that. The dumplings are plain flour and water, innocent of suet. They are very popular, and are eaten with a morsel of salt fish or meat. Johnny is invited to come and roll them on the board.

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