Market Morning
Original calypso-style lyrics celebrating the noise, humour, bargaining, food, and community of a Caribbean market.
Verse One
Before the sun put on its crown,
Miss Inez done reach in town,
Basket heavy, spirit light,
Setting up before daylight.
Tomato red like carnival,
Pumpkin broad and ginger small,
She clap her hands and start to call,
Come get good food, come one and all.
Chorus
Market morning, hear the sound,
News and laughter going round.
Pepper hot and coconut sweet,
Whole island passing through one street.
Market morning, bright and loud,
Every stall pulling a crowd.
Buy what you need, hear what you don't,
Leave with a bag and a story you won't.
Verse Two
Fisherman pull in by the bay,
Saying kingfish fresh today.
One lady watch him with suspicious eye,
Ask how the fish fresh if the eye look dry.
He say, Madam, this fish just sleep,
She say, Then wake it before you make it cheap.
Everybody laugh till the vendor vex,
Then she buy two pounds and ask for extra neck.
Bridge
In the market everybody know
Who come back and who must go,
Who getting married, who leave school,
Who buy new car and acting fool.
News travel faster than radio,
From lettuce stall to domino.
By half past nine the whole place wise
To every truth and three good lies.
Verse Three
Spice woman grinding clove and bay,
Tell me bush can cure my day.
One for pressure, one for sleep,
One for promises you cannot keep.
She say boil this leaf beneath the moon,
Drink it slow with a silver spoon.
I ask if it help with unpaid rent,
She say, For that one, child, try government.
Final Chorus
Market morning, hear the sound,
Roots of the island in the ground.
Pepper hot and coconut sweet,
Memory walking on two feet.
Market morning, bright and loud,
One small world inside the crowd.
Buy what you need, give what you can,
Everybody leave knowing where they stand.
Outro
When the stalls fold down at two,
Street look empty, sky look blue.
But tomorrow before first light,
Market voices rise again bright.
Before the sun put on its crown,
Miss Inez done reach in town,
Basket heavy, spirit light,
Setting up before daylight.
Tomato red like carnival,
Pumpkin broad and ginger small,
She clap her hands and start to call,
Come get good food, come one and all.
Chorus
Market morning, hear the sound,
News and laughter going round.
Pepper hot and coconut sweet,
Whole island passing through one street.
Market morning, bright and loud,
Every stall pulling a crowd.
Buy what you need, hear what you don't,
Leave with a bag and a story you won't.
Verse Two
Fisherman pull in by the bay,
Saying kingfish fresh today.
One lady watch him with suspicious eye,
Ask how the fish fresh if the eye look dry.
He say, Madam, this fish just sleep,
She say, Then wake it before you make it cheap.
Everybody laugh till the vendor vex,
Then she buy two pounds and ask for extra neck.
Bridge
In the market everybody know
Who come back and who must go,
Who getting married, who leave school,
Who buy new car and acting fool.
News travel faster than radio,
From lettuce stall to domino.
By half past nine the whole place wise
To every truth and three good lies.
Verse Three
Spice woman grinding clove and bay,
Tell me bush can cure my day.
One for pressure, one for sleep,
One for promises you cannot keep.
She say boil this leaf beneath the moon,
Drink it slow with a silver spoon.
I ask if it help with unpaid rent,
She say, For that one, child, try government.
Final Chorus
Market morning, hear the sound,
Roots of the island in the ground.
Pepper hot and coconut sweet,
Memory walking on two feet.
Market morning, bright and loud,
One small world inside the crowd.
Buy what you need, give what you can,
Everybody leave knowing where they stand.
Outro
When the stalls fold down at two,
Street look empty, sky look blue.
But tomorrow before first light,
Market voices rise again bright.