"Linstead Market" is a Jamaican folk song of the mento type that tells of a mother who goes to the market with her ackee fruit but does not sell any, with the result that her children will go hungry. History Possibly the earliest publication of the tune with words occurs in Walter Jekyll's 1907 book, Jamaican Song and Story, as item 121, pages 219-220. In Jekyll, the lyrics are as follows: Carry me ackee go a linstead market not a quatee wud sell carry me akee go a linstead market not a quatee wud sell oh lawd! what a night! what a night! what a saturday night! etc... In Helen H. Roberts' collection of folk song variants based on field work in Jamaica, published in 1925, the version in Jekyll is reproduced, followed by twelve variants. In some of these, "Sollas market" replaces "Linstead market". (Sollas market became Jubilee Market, located on West Queen Street in Kingston.) For example, Roberts includes a version as sung in Christiana: Sold me ackee, go to Sollas market. Not a quatty would sell. Sold me ackee, go to Sollas market. Not a quatty would sell. So whole o' Saturday night, so not a light, not a bite. So not a quatty would sell. In 1975, Oxford University Press published "Linstead Market" in Olive Lewin's collection of Jamaican folk-songs, with these words: Carry me ackee go a Linstead market, Not a quatty wut sell, Carry me ackee go a Linstead market, Not a quatty wut sell. Lawd wat a night, not a bite, Wat a Satiday night. Lawd wat a night, not a bite, Wat a Satiday night. On page 14, Dr. Lewin explains that "Linstead Market still remains a picturesque small town market. The song is now often taken at a much faster pace for dancing but was originally sung slow and plaintively by a mother who couldn't sell enough at the market to feed her children. A quatty was a small copper coin of very small value." A quatty (also spelled quattie) was worth one and one-half pennies (also expressed as three half-pennies, or six farthings). It was not in fact a minted coin – rather, it served as a standard unit when buying and selling. Goods were commonly sold in amounts which were worth a quatty, or multiples thereof. If the value of a good changed, the amount that buyers received in