ENTITY · CULTURAL PRACTICE
Mento double-entendre
Well supported
The mento tradition of bawdy, thinly veiled sexual word-play, heard in widely cited recordings such as "Rough Rider" and "Water the Garden" and prized by rural audiences for its comic innuendo while respectable society dismissed it as "smutty.".
At a glance
- Type
- cultural practice
- Confidence
- Well supported
- Era
- Open era →
Connections
Watch & listen
Debate & reception
How people argued about the music — praise, criticism and public debate. See all debate & reception →
debate
'Wet Dream' and the BBC ban: protecting decency or prudish overreach?
Two documented positions on the 1969 BBC ban of Max Romeo's hit: the broadcaster framed it as protecting decency over an overtly suggestive lyric, while critics called it prudish overreach that ignored a Jamaican tradition of innuendo, and the record charted regardless. Neutral framing; no verdict. Sources: Jamaica Star archive; Jamaica Gleaner archive.
Stance: protecting broadcast decency vs prudish censorship of a Jamaican innuendo tradition
debate
Mento's bawdy songs: rustic candour or colonial indecency?
Two documented positions on mento's sexual double-entendre, stated neutrally: defenders heard rural working-class humour and honest candour in the word-play, while respectable and colonial opinion condemned it as 'smutty' and low. Neutral framing; no verdict. Sources: Jamaica Gleaner archive; Carolyn Cooper, Noises in the Blood.
Stance: rural working-class humour and candour vs middle-class colonial indecency