| "Senorita from Havana" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by George Pierre and Ochestra | |
| A-side | Senorita from Havana |
| B-side | Market Day |
| Format | 78 rpm single |
| Recorded | 1954 |
| Genre | Becasse |
| Label | RCA Victor |
| Writer(s) | Waterman E. Charles |
Senorita from Havana (also known as Senorita or The Senorita from Havana) is a Galantian becasse song written in the late 1940s and made famous in the 1950s. This is considered to be the best-known song from Marigalante, especially as it was the first to find some measure of success abroad.
Background[]
The Senorita from Havana was written by Waterman E. Charles in 1945 or 1946. Charles was a proficient songwriter, known for incorporating rhythms from Jamaica, Haiti and elsewhere in his music and one of the figures in the creation of becasse. Becasse music, established by the 1940s, was related to Jamaican mento, calypso and the later Haitian compas. While bands and songs were to be found in Marigalante, musicians were too poor or unwilling to record their music, instead only performing live, of which some songs were recorded on tape. The 1921 recordings of James Hollis' Troupe, brought to Mariana to record a set of contradance songs, was the only Galantian music professionally recorded up to that point.
Versions[]
Jerrold Martin recording[]
Becasse: The rhythms of Marigalante
Senorita from Havana would mark the start of a golden age of music on the island. Jerrold Martins' Galantians, a becasse band, played the song extensively and in 1950, Charles was able to get them recorded on a Kalypso Records Ltd. (of Jamaica) release. The 78 rpm single saw fewer than 1000 presses made and was not a big hit, but achieved significance as the first Galantian music recorded and sold. Today such presses are rare and fairly valuable.
George Pierre recording[]
During carnival of 1953, the song, as played by George Pierre and his Orchestra, was recorded on tape. Pierre made the song much livelier than Martin's 1949 recording, and became a hit that summer. The recording made its way to Anglo-America, where executives at RCA Victor were impressed enough to release a recording of the song, tweaked by Charles and arranged by Pierre. When released, it sold 7,000 copies in Anglo-America, an impressive feat, but managed nearly 20,000 in the Caribbean alone.
Later recordings and releases[]
King Tiger and his band released a ska version of Senorita from Havana in 1971, which was a minor success, but he is best remembered for a 1985 remix of his first version together with the soca song Hot Hot Hot, released simply as Senorita.
Both the early versions of the song are featured in the 2006 album Becasse: The rhythms of Marigalante. Becasse is an album dedicated to the first recordings of Galantian becasse and contradance music, or to later recordings of songs written pre-1955, released as a 2-CD set.
Lyrics[]
Senorita from Havana is a song about a man sailing the Caribbean, ostensibly to Jamaica but ending up in Havana with a senorita (a young girl) and both courting her and escaping from the clutches of a former lover.
As sung in the 1954 Pierre recording.
As I was rowin across the water
I started thinking that I should ought'er
A-take a turn just around Jamaica
And see what sort of things I should make-a
But fate decided that it don't matter
Where I just came from or I was going
And when I thought it was almost hopeless
I saw a figure and she was glowing
Senorita from Havana, you guide my ship to big old town
Across the waters warm and gray, all the way from Galantian way
And every time I close my eyes, she standing up and tell me "say"
Just take a walk then you can state, senorita you're mine today
I took her hand inside of mine
And walked the boarded malecon
Looked in her eyes where out she said
Look out there boy there's the old don
Now don was angry cause he don't got her
The senorita, wished her together
We started running and then she told me
I go with you because you're just better
Senorita from Havana, you guide my ship to big old town
Across the waters warm and gray, all the way from Galantian way
And every time I close my eyes, she standing up and tell me "say"
Just take a walk then you can state, senorita you're mine today