{"id":3289,"date":"2017-12-30T01:00:14","date_gmt":"2017-12-30T06:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/?p=3289"},"modified":"2025-09-17T22:46:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T02:46:44","slug":"brownskin-girl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/brownskin-girl\/","title":{"rendered":"Brownskin Girl (Joseph Spence)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Brownskin Girl (Joseph Spence)\" width=\"474\" height=\"267\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AcIiK_4HGuU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve been fascinated by the Bahamian genius Joseph Spence since I was a kid, and by 1986 I&#8217;d worked out rough and inaccurate approximations of a few of his pieces. This was one of my favorites off his Folkways album, and it came in handy when I hitchhiked down through Mexico, up through Guatemala, and wound up in Belize.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3311 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Belize-300x205.jpg?resize=300%2C205\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Belize.jpg?resize=300%2C205&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Belize.jpg?w=371&amp;ssl=1 371w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>My ride dropped me in Belize City around mid-afternoon, and I wandered the streets looking for someplace cheap to stay. In those days the town looked like a rundown Caribbean port in an old movie: lines of battered, close-packed houses with carved wooden balconies sagging in the tropical heat. I was directed to a Chinese hotel that was like the place Bogart met Tim Holt and Walter Huston in <em>Treasure of the Sierra Madre<\/em> &#8212; the &#8220;rooms&#8221; were just cubicles separated by chicken wire, each with a cot and not much else. It looked thoroughly uncomfortable, and a fan at the end of the hall was doing nothing to combat the heat, so I gave it a pass.<\/p>\n<p>The alternative was to find someone who would put me up, and since I didn&#8217;t have a clue where that person might be, I wandered over to the port. The fishing boats had come in and young men were sorting fish into baskets and hawking them to customers, cleaning them on the stones and tossing the guts over a low wall into the water. I walked by with my guitar, and a couple of them called me over. I don&#8217;t remember what I played first &#8212; probably some blues followed by a country song, since the nearby bar was decorated with posters of Bob Marley and Willie Nelson and I didn&#8217;t play reggae. Anyway, they enjoyed it and\u00a0 then, after a bit, I played this song and a couple of them began singing along.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3291 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Joseph-Spence-at-home-237x300.jpg?resize=237%2C300\" alt=\"\" width=\"237\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Joseph-Spence-at-home.jpg?resize=237%2C300&amp;ssl=1 237w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Joseph-Spence-at-home.jpg?w=253&amp;ssl=1 253w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 237px) 100vw, 237px\" \/>I&#8217;d never known the words, since I&#8217;d only heard it done by Spence, who tended to mumble more than sing. So that was a nice surprise. They sang:<\/p>\n<p><em>Brownskin girl, stay home and mind the baby.<br \/>\nBrownskin girl, stay home and mind the baby<\/em>.<br \/>\n<em>If you go away in a sailing boat,<br \/>\nAnd if you don&#8217;t come back,<br \/>\nPlease take that damn baby.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I later learned this was a variant of the usual words &#8212; &#8220;Papa&#8217;s gone away in a sailing boat\/ And if he don&#8217;t come back\/ Stay home and mind the baby.&#8221; Obviously, an improvement.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, I ended up spending the night with one of the fish cleaners. He had a tiny place, just a shack big enough for a stove and a bunk bed, and he let me sleep in the top bunk. He explained that a young woman often slept there, but she was a prostitute so probably wouldn&#8217;t need it during the night.<\/p>\n<p>He took me to a nearby restaurant where I played and got us a meal, then we joined some friends of his, drank some beers, and ended up back at his place. His roommate did come in later that night and offered to join me, but everyone was tired so instead she split the lower bunk with my host, we all got some sleep, and the next morning I hitched north to Mexico.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-3470 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Spence-dvd-cover-211x300.jpg?resize=211%2C300\" alt=\"\" width=\"211\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Spence-dvd-cover.jpg?resize=211%2C300&amp;ssl=1 211w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Spence-dvd-cover.jpg?w=250&amp;ssl=1 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px\" \/>As for Spence, I&#8217;ve written about him in posts for &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/glory-of-love\/\">Glory of Love<\/a>&#8221; and &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/sloop-johnb\/\">Sloop John B<\/a>,&#8221; and on the page for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/spence.html\">my instructional DVD on his guitar style<\/a>. I got more serious about working out his arrangements in the 2000s, and the DVD includes a fairly complete exploration of &#8220;Brownskin Girl,&#8221; along with <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">&#8220;Glory of Love,<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">&#8221; &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wing-and-a-prayer\/\">Coming In On a Wing and a Prayer<\/a>,&#8221; &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/happy-meeting-in-glory\/\">Happy Meeting in Glory<\/a>,&#8221; &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/spence-medley\/\">Oh, How I Love Jesus,&#8221; and &#8220;The Lord is My Shepherd.&#8221; <\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve been fascinated by the Bahamian genius Joseph Spence since I was a kid, and by 1986 I&#8217;d worked out rough and inaccurate approximations of a few of his pieces. This was one of my favorites off his Folkways album, and it came in handy when I hitchhiked down through Mexico, up through Guatemala, and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/brownskin-girl\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Brownskin Girl (Joseph Spence)<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Brownskin Girl (Joseph Spence) - Old Friends: A Songobiography<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/brownskin-girl\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Brownskin Girl (Joseph Spence) - Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I&#8217;ve been fascinated by the Bahamian genius Joseph Spence since I was a kid, and by 1986 I&#8217;d worked out rough and inaccurate approximations of a few of his pieces. This was one of my favorites off his Folkways album, and it came in handy when I hitchhiked down through Mexico, up through Guatemala, and &hellip; Continue reading Brownskin Girl (Joseph Spence) &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/brownskin-girl\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Old Friends: A Songobiography\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-30T06:00:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-18T02:46:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Belize-300x205.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ElijahWald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elijah Wald\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/brownskin-girl\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/brownskin-girl\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Elijah Wald\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"headline\":\"Brownskin Girl (Joseph Spence)\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-30T06:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-18T02:46:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/brownskin-girl\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":644,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/20e4f69f2f284ea0ff728a9d1b7720a9\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/brownskin-girl\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/11\\\/Belize-300x205.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/brownskin-girl\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.elijahwald.com\\\/songblog\\\/brownskin-girl\\\/\",\"name\":\"Brownskin Girl (Joseph Spence) - 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(\u00e0 la Joseph Spence)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"February 20, 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"The most popular Bahamian fisherman's anthem, first printed in 1916, played in the style of the magnificent Bahamian guitarist Joseph Spence.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"john b sails","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/john-b-sails-232x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4094,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wing-and-a-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":3289,"position":1},"title":"Comin&#8217; In on a Wing and a Prayer (Joseph Spence)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"November 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my favorite Joseph Spence piece to play -- which is not the same as my favorite to hear. I love Spence's singing, whether on his own or with his in-laws, the Pinder family, and if I had to take one Spence recording to the proverbial desert island it\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/spence2-300x230.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4051,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/happy-meeting-in-glory\/","url_meta":{"origin":3289,"position":2},"title":"Happy Meeting in Glory (Joseph Spence)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"October 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This is Joseph Spence's best-known guitar piece, and by the time I recorded my CD it had become a regular in my sets. At the time I thought I was pretty close to his sound, and I played a couple of my versions of his arrangements to Ernie Hawkins, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Spence-dvd-cover.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1828,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/glory-of-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":3289,"position":3},"title":"Glory of Love (Joseph Spence)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"July 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Before heading to Europe, I sat down with my records and made four or five cassettes that served as my music library for the next couple of years. I had various criteria for choosing the cuts, but most were songs or guitar parts I wanted to learn. It was a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/annecy-005-300x223.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5595,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/burma-road\/","url_meta":{"origin":3289,"position":4},"title":"Burma Road (Joseph Spence\/Ronnie Butler)","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"January 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I first learned this when I was immersing myself in the guitar style of Joseph Spence, preparatory to making an instructional video on his playing -- but at the time I had no idea it was more than a charming little ditty with a bunch of sections and variations. On\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Burma-road-clip.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Burma-road-clip.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Burma-road-clip.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Burma-road-clip.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4448,"url":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/spence-medley\/","url_meta":{"origin":3289,"position":5},"title":"Joseph Spence Medley","author":"Elijah Wald","date":"October 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Anyone who has followed this project knows how much I love Joseph Spence's guitar style. I've already posted my versions of his\u00a0 \"Coming In on a Wing and a Prayer,\" \"Happy Meeting in Glory,\" \"Brownskin Girl,\" \"Sloop John B.,\" and \"Glory of Love,\" and written about how I fell in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Spence-Folkways-CD-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3289"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5963,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3289\/revisions\/5963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elijahwald.com\/songblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}