Matty Gru- McIntosh (St. Croix) 1989 REC
[Date is unknown. Recording Blinky and the Roadmasters, released on Rounder November 30, 1989 and also on VIBlinky01 which I assume pre-dates 1989.
I don't have this recording and have only got parts of it. An instrumental cover version by Jo Parris Hot shots is found on Zoop Zoop Zoop: Traditional Music & Folklore of St. Croix.
Mary Jane Soule in the liner notes to VIBlinky01: " 'Matty Gru' exhorts a young man to leave the bedroom of a married lady. (Although the need for such advice is not outside the realm of possibility in St Croix, the song actually derives from a British folk drama known locally as the King George play.)"
In "The Quelbe Commentary 1672-2012: Anthropology in Virgin Islands music" Dale Francis says, "They were also acted indoors, in under tents and at night. Rise Up Matty Gru, a wellknown quelbe song comes from a drama that was featured in tea meetings.
R. Matteson 2015]
Rounder Liner notes:
Hailing from the U.S. Virgin Islands, saxophonist Sylvester “Blinky” McIntosh and his band play traditional Crucian (St. Croix) dance music and topical songs, called “scratch music” for the assertive presence of the guiro, a dried gourd with ridges that is scraped to produce a percussive scratching sound. The Roadmasters are a full modern ensemble with electric guitar and bass complementing acoustic banjo-ukelele, triangle, congas and a second sax player. Another facet of the fascinating evolution of Afro-Caribbean music.
Matty Gru- Sylvester “Blinky” McIntosh [text incomplete]
Straight up to heaven, straight right back,
All night long.
'Tain' but .....
Rise up Matty Gru, rise up
It is time that you rise and go home.
Any man any man, any man
Any man in another man's house,
Any man in another man's house,
It is time that you rise and go home.