The Day Is So Long and the Wages So Small

by Charters, Samuel Barclay

• ISBN13: 9780714530765
• ISBN10: 071453076X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-12-01
• Publisher: Marion Boyars

Summary

In the summer of 1958 Samuel Charters travelled with Ann Danberg to Andros, an 'island on the wrong side of the wind' in the Bahamas, drawn there by a song so rich and startling in its resonance that they had followed it to its source. Living within the small yet vital community descended from a handful of Bahamian slaves, Charters and Danberg discovered the pleasures and harsh realities of island life. They also found that the historical fusion of disparate cultures on Andros, from Africa and Europe, had resulted in a wealth of traditional Bahamian music that stubbornly resisted the influx of modern styles. The invaluable recordings they made that summer introduced the world to the guitar music of Joseph Spence, the ballads and 'rhyming' songs of John Roberts and Frederick McQueen, plus a wealth of traditional Bahamian music. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Samuel Charters, the eminent historian of jazz and blues music, is the author of the award-winning The Roots of the Blues, The Legacy of the Blues, Jelly Roll Morton's Last Night at the Jungle Inn and the novel Louisiana Black, filmed under the title White Lies

Table of Contents

List Of Illustrations	8	(3)
A Different Kind Of Music	11	(7)
An Island The Wrong Side Of The Wind	18	(15)
The Problem With Fishing Boats	33	(14)
An Island House	47	(11)
Night Voices	58	(14)
Opinions About Sharks	72	(14)
Spence	86	(9)
Sharks Again	95	(11)
Gal, You Want To Go Back To Scambo	106	(11)
A Walk On The Beach	117	(15)
The Pleasures Of Sailing	132	(14)
The Day Is So Long And The Wages So Small	146	(10)
McQueen	156	(10)
Last Long Summer Days	166	(7)
Appendix	173