The Origin of Sonny Rollins' St. Thomas

The unforgettable "St. Thomas" from Rollins' Saxophone Colossus is a great example of a jazz musician tapping his Caribbean roots. Rollins is the child of Caribbean immigrants from the Virgin Islands, and his mother's family came to the Virgin Islands from Haiti, if I remember correctly. St. Thomas is also one of the islands within the Virgin Islands, so although the song is of calypso origin, it's dedicated to the homeland of Rollins' parents.

In truth, Rollins was not the first to record the song. Better known as the calypso tune "Fire Down There" (with obvious sexual metaphors), it was recorded by Louis Farrakhan back when he was a calypso singer in the early 1950s and jazz pianist Randy Weston, who is also of West Indian (Jamaican) heritage. Now when Rollins has endeavored to explain the origin of the song, he claimed his mother sang it to him as a nursery rhyme. On another occasion, when interviewed Rollins stated the song came from a Danish song (Denmark had Caribbean colonies so it's not too far-fetched for a Danish song to spread in the Caribbean region). As previously stated, the song is "Fire Down There" and its most likely an original composition in the calypso style that became popular in Jamaica, Trinidad and perhaps other Anglophone Caribbean islands, such as the Virgin Islands.

Here is the earliest jazz recording of the song. By Randy Weston and titled "Fire Down There." Recorded in 1955, one year before Sonny Rollins recorded it for Saxophone Colossus. 

Here is the classic Sonny Rollins recording of the tune in 1956 which features great drumming from Max Roach.

And a live performance of the tune in the 1960s or round about then

Ska version of "Fire Down There" by The Skatalites in the 1960s

http://yankeedollar.wordpress.com/2011/02/12/helan-gar-dey/ Excellent site tracing the origins of St. Thomas

Here is a collection of unreleased Fela Kuti highlife recordings. The second track quotes part of the melody of "St. Thomas."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM7CyDi5dTk&feature=related