By Ateebo
After a life of serving his master well
This politician claim he one way ticket to Hell
Satan take him one side an start to squeeze he hand
He say, "Down here, boy, your skills are in real demand
I have a crew of demons whose jobs are on the line
Since you left office, boy, they're facing the breadline
I know this is your area of expertise
Just handle them and give your father an ease. "
Like Satan, he know all ‘bout finding work for idle hands
He decide to start dem off wit counting ocean sands
De demons start to steups and screw up dey mouth
Dey want to know if is de sands in de North or in de South
If is only wet sand or de dry sand on de beach
Forget bout sand on breeze wey dey cyah reach
It had to be de sand stick up in dey toes
Or only de sand grains dey finding in dey nose.
De politician shake he head and he had to smile
Ah could tell yuh been in my Trini land a while
But not even dem Trinis who all born yesterday
With such blatant insubordination could get away
In Trinidad, fellahs, my word was the law
If I call a man ah ass, he would say “Hee Haw”
So pick up yuh buckets and start counting where you stand
My checkers will ensure dat yuh doh get outta hand.
In Trinidad, I had sufferers like you painting stones
In de hot sun all day long, only drying up dey bones
Dey had to take dey money, grin and tell me “Thanks”
I did get my power kicks from all dese little pranks
Some ah dem did tief but ah let all dem feel
Dat in de end is dey who get de bettah deal
People up dey have dis convenient belief
Dat God does laugh if ah thief steal from ah thief.
In de end dey learning only how to scam
How to take dey sardine money an’ blow it on ham
How to work a hoe in slow motion de whole day
How to make invisible men collect real pay
How to hew wood and have dem women carry water
How to come when called, like lambs to de slaughter
To spin and spin like brainless tops in mud
And call me Father as if I and dem is blood.
Satan fold he arms, throw back he head and smile
Your mother did tell me you were your father's child
It's a long time that I've been waiting for this day
Whitey tired now, and it's high time that I make my way
From external foe to the one inside the brain
Of my rising son of neocolonialism
You have mastered my game and learned your lessons well
The time has come for a Trini to control Hell.
© 2006 - Ateebo
Posted with kind permission of the author.
Massa Day Will Never Done
Across The Dark Waters [Song]
ACROSS THE DARK WATERS
Performed by Kobo Town
Lead singer/songwriter Drew Gonsalves
Across the dark waters we came
With despair in our eyes,to rest beneath these foreign skies
And so began the endless wait
For an end to misery, for an end to history
In this new land we came to learn
About greed’s capacity to incite our cruelty
But over time we came to yearn
For the precious liberty that always stood beyond our reach
But the wheels of history grind slowly
Circumstance never smiles on the lowly
Everywhere we see contradictory signs
Perhaps tomorrow will being a brighter time…
Tumblin’ off the grandstand on the savannah
Bubblin’ out the speakers on every corner
Breakin’ over the mountain like a mighty thunder
Our hope is a restless song
Rising up from the sands like a defiant flower
Holding and consoling us in our darkest hour
Sweeping over the country like a dry-season shower
Our hope is a restless song
Our hope is a restless song
Across the dark waters we passed
To arrive where we now stand in this divided land
Few believed that we could last
To build a nation on these shores but look how we endured
In this former colony things are never what they seem
Beneath every place we see is a tortured history
The past could trample us
It could not rub out our dreams
And though we reached our present time
We have not left them behind.
But the wheels of history grind slowly
Circumstance never smiles on the lowly
Everywhere we see contradictory signs
Perhaps tomorrow will being a brighter time…
Tumblin’ off the grandstand on the savannah
Bubblin’ out the speakers on every corner
Breakin’ over the mountain like a mighty thunder
Our hope is a restless song
Rising up from the sands like a defiant flower
Holding and consoling us in our darkest hour
Sweeping over the country like a dry-season shower
Our hope is a restless song
Our hope is a restless song
You are my land, you are the land of my birth
For better or for worse, you are the land of my birth
In sickness and in health
And In good times and bad
I bow to you oh Trinidad
Though I have lived out my life far across the sea
In a foreign country in a frozen city
But I know I would be back again
You are the land running though my veins
You are my land , the land of my life
You are my land, the land of my life
Your joy is my light and your sorry my night
Your vision my sight, your soil my birthright
You are the land of my struggle
And your plight is my fight
The land of my struggle
And your plight is my fight
Tumblin’ off the grandstand on the savannah
Bubblin’ out the speakers on every corner
Breakin’ over the mountain like a mighty thunder
Our hope is a restless song
Rising up from the sands like a defiant flower
Holding and consoling us in our darkest hour
Sweeping over the country like a dry-season shower
Our hope is a restless song
Our hope is a restless song
Our hope is a restless song.
© Copyright – Kobo Town.
Posted with the kind permission of Kobo Town.
....................................................................................................
A Note From The Gull
These are the events that bring me joy: whenever a writer submits his/her work for posting or I discover some talent hitherto unknown to me. The latter describes my Kobo Town experience. I was directed to their website by a Trinidadian friend living abroad who was equally impressed and her excitement made me curious enough to visit them. I was not disappointed. In fact I was overwhelmed. I am not going to try to decide here which other band or artist they resemble or into which category they fall. All I can say is that for me, they are a much needed breath of fresh air on our music scene.
“Our hope is a restless song.” It isn’t enough that Kobo Town’s music is too sweet to resist, their lyrics/songwriter is also a poet. I have read these words again and again without any music, marveling over the lyrical musings of a Trinidadian who has not forgotten the land that is his birthright. I remember the title of one of Darcus Howe’s articles in the New Statesman containing the following statement about Trinidad: “Not even the cascadura fish could lure me there.” For many Trinidadians living abroad, it would be sweet relief to realise such closure. Neil Bissoondath also expressed a similar sentiment, having attained the enviable release of not having a single regret about leaving Trinidad or having the slightest desire to return.
But what of those who must live apart from a land that they continue to feel as a constant tangible presence running through their veins, as Drew describes it. What must they do to come to terms with the fact that they exist in a constant state of bilocation? Drew uses the vehicles of poetic words and music to give expression to sentiments shared by many expatriate Trinidadians who still love the land of their birth, who feel concern for the plight of their country and dream about return at some point when the choices available to them are not the cold stability of a foreign land versus the steamy chaos back home. In the mean time it is therapeutic just to share, to testify:
You are my land, you are the land of my birth
For better or for worse, you are the land of my birth
In sickness and in health
And in good times and bad
I bow to you, oh Trinidad
Though I have lived out my life far across the sea
In a foreign country in a frozen city
But I know I would be back again
You are the land running though my veins
You are my land, the land of my life
Your joy is my light and your sorry my night
Your vision my sight, your soil my birthright
You are the land of my struggle
And your plight is my fight
The land of my struggle
And your plight is my fight
For me, this song touches upon so many aspects of the experience of being a Trinidadian and the impact of a turbulent history on what remains a turbulent society today.
In this former colony things are never what they seem
Beneath every place we see is a tortured history
Drew neglects neither the good nor the bad that exists, but in weighing them both chooses to focus on the resilience, the “defiant flower”, the exuberance of the Trinidadian that despite everything continues to give us the capacity to dance. The conclusion that this song exudes is one of hopefulness and love because that is what exists in the eye of this beholder:
The past could trample us
It could not rub out our dreams
And though we reached our present time
We have not left them behind.
Perhaps tomorrow will being a brighter time
Tumblin’ off the grandstand on the savannah
Bubblin’ out the speakers on every corner
Breakin’ over the mountains like a mighty thunder
Our hope is a restless song
Rising up from the sands like a defiant flower
Holding and consoling us in our darkest hour
Sweeping over the country like a dry-season shower
Our hope is a restless song
Our hope is a restless song
This is the optimism that has been under constant siege in Trinidad, that is being leached away by the acid rain of unrelenting betrayals, both self-inflicted or otherwise:
And so began the endless wait
For an end to misery, for an end to history
In this new land we came to learn
About greed’s capacity to incite our cruelty
But over time we came to yearn
For the precious liberty that always stood beyond our reach
The title “Across The Dark Waters” is also well chosen. We had come to associate this specifically with the East Indian experience of crossing the kala paani or Dark Waters to arrive in Trinidad, but here Drew expands this experience to include all who came (and are still coming – Welcome!). We are all united in that experience of the fear and uncertainty of crossing from the familiar to the unfamiliar. Perhaps what Trinidadians are experiencing today is another Dark Waters. Perhaps if successfully negotiated, this is the crossing that will take us not so much to a new country but a new appreciation of what this country means to us and our place in it.But over time we came to yearnFor the precious liberty that always stood beyond our reachIn conclusion, I just have to confess that of late I have been frequently repeating to myself the line, “Our hope is a restless song.” For me that says it all.
Thanks Kobo Town.
This is the first of a series of posts featuring the lyrics from some of the songs off the soon to be released Kobo Town CD entitled “Independence.” Kobo Town is a Canadian based band with very close ties to Trinidad, a few of their members being Trinidadian. As the title of the CD hints, many of these songs are about what Independence has meant for former colonies and in particular, Trindiad and Tobago.
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
Sweet, Sweet Trinidad [Song]
Uploaded by seukeran
SWEET TRINIDAD
By Lord Funny (1966)
Foreigners always asking me why in Trinidad people so happy
What to do? Man, I have to tell them the truth
I say, a man could sleep until 10 o' clock
Get up and still he ent late for work
Wey he hurrying for? He getting transport in front he door.
And is poke a poke, they going all day
And on pay day still draw a big fat pay
If they like, they could call a big strike.
Chorus:
So I tell them, sweet, sweet Trinidad, fus I love this country bad
I doh want to leave at all ever since I small
Look I bawling, sweet, sweet Trinidad! Brother, fus I feeling glad
When I dead, please bury me in the center of the city.
We got we big oilfields just in the South
We have all kind of thing to talk about
No regret, you just have to get up and get
And anytime things a little bad
Man, you have a garden in your backyard
And don't doubt, the food almost in your mouth
We got women, colour class or creed
Any kind of a woman that you need, you could bet,
The sweetest woman you could get.
Chorus:
So I tell them, sweet, sweet Trinidad, fus I love this country bad
I doh want to leave at all ever since I small
Look I bawling, sweet, sweet Trinidad! Brother, fus I feeling glad
When I dead, please bury me in the center of the city.
In Trinidad, crime don't pay
No, it cyah happen down here no day
And of course, we got the brilliant Police Force
Them young fellahs, they ent want no work
Man they liming and feting ‘round the clock
And yes friend, dey always have money to spend.
Dem beggars, wey de want a house for
When they could sleep in front ah any store
And if you see the beautiful city!
Chorus:
So I tell them, sweet, sweet Trinidad, fus I love this country bad
I doh want to leave at all ever since I small
Look I bawling, sweet, sweet Trinidad! Brother, fus I feeling glad
When I dead, please bury me in the center of the city.
We got steelband music, sweet for so
And don't talk about we sweet calypso
Bacchanal when it come to the Carnival
And if you see how the island progressing
Every day is new plans that they making
Sun or rain, men down here ent play they got brain
Man, if I got to tell you ‘bout here
It going to take me more than a year
As you see, a happiness killing we.
Chorus:
So I tell you, sweet, sweet Trinidad, fus I love this country bad
I doh want to leave at all ever since I small
Look I bawling, sweet Trinidad! Brother, fus I feeling glad
When I dead, please bury me in the center of the city.
[Sweet, sweet Trinidad, fus I love this country bad Yes! Tell you!
[Sweet, sweet Trinidad]...
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
Congo Bara (Kalinda)
Uploaded by TheRealDJGIBS
CONGO BARA
Digital archive of Decca 78 RPM single 17257 A;
Congo Bara - by Keskidee Trio (Raymond Quevedo [Atilla], Egbert Moore [Lord Beginner] and Neville Marcano [The Tiger])
Accompanied by Gerald Clark And His Caribbean Serenaders
℗1935 Decca Records, Inc.
Prizonnyè lévé, mété limyè bay kongo bara
Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Mété limyè bay kongo séléwa.
Prizonnyè lévé, mété limyè bay kongo bara.
Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Kongo Bara ka pléwé pou mwen.
Prizonnyè lévé Mété limyè bay kongo bara
.... I pèdi baton-li
Samdi, Madi i plis ki maléré.
Prizonnyè lévé Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Gwanpapa-mwen, i mò lendi maten
Manman-mwen ka pléwé pou mwen.
Prizonnyè lévé Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Judge and jury goin' try me for murder.
Prizonnyè lévé Mété limyè bay kongo bara
The Greyhound sòti an Tunapun
Kongo ba yo bwa fè , yo déviré.
Prizonnyè lévé Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Lendi, madi i djabman dézolé.
Prizonnyè lévé Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Kongo bara , kongo lawa
Kongo sèmanté i ké mawon.
Prizonnyè lévé Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Mété limyè , sòti nou ka mandé.
Prizonnyè lévé Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Atilla, beginner épi Tiger
Nou ka chanté --- America.
Prizonnyè lévé Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Mété limyè bay séléwa-la.
Prizonnyè lévé Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Kongo bara, i plis ki dézolé
Kongo bara, i djabman danjéré.
Prizonnyè lévé Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Mété limyè bay Pharaoh.
Prizonnyè lévé Mété limyè bay kongo bara
Lyrics Source via Matthew Fargher. .............................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
Is Ah Long Time [Song]
IS AH LONG TIME
Performed by Manchild
Composed by Carlton Collins (2004)
Dis old lady was fretting, to she grandson she talking
Grandchild of mine, you going to regret
You feel it have profit in being a bandit
What you looking for you surely go get.
He tell she, Granny, Granny, Granny, Granny you sticking
If you know the facts you surely go bawl
When you listen to me, I’m sure you will agree
Dis system cyah stop criminals at all.
Because is a long time dey take whenever dey planning
Dey have de mentality of a snail
He say, is a long time but while dey zigging and zagging
Bandit lighting fire in people tail
They say dey have to uphold de law so dey got to be very sure
While they upholding, hold-up we staging
Dey say is crime dey fighting but de reason why dey losing
Is a long time dey take to do anything.
The youth was expatiating, if you hear him crowing,
Granny, there are many things you don’t know
We bandit never go UWI but we make de system a study
And we know de damn ting is really slow
He tell she, we know every station that doh have transport
Who only have one jeep for patrolling
We bandit eh making no joke, we doing we homework
Is we liveliehood that we protecting.
He gone again…
Is a long time ah sure you hearing the rumours
Criminals is get dey information
He say is a long time we have we inside informers
Who does tell we all dat is going on
How you feel de coke and the guns
Coming in by crate and the tons
How you feel there is money laundering?
Dey say is crime dey fighting
But corruption alive and kicking
‘Cause is a long time dey take to do anything
De bandit say listen to me, Check out any Trini
We does take we time to do anything
We take we time when we eating, 'specially in lovemaking
Yes, we very slow when we responding.
He tell she, Trini to de bone is dem politicians
Look how long to pass de Kidnapping Law
And while they jibbing and jibbing, stressed out people asking
Wey de hell we does vote for dem people for?
Because is a long time dem jokers fighting each other
Both the government and opposition
He say is along time it taking them to discover
Dey only frustrating the whole nation
By the time dey take to get smart
We bandit done have a headstart
Some of we get rich and retiring
Dey say is crime dey fighting
But ---------
‘Cause is a long time dey take to do anything.
De old lady wasn’t submitting, she starting attacking
She say monkey know what tree they should climb
If you was in Iran, you done lost yuh two hand
But remember time is longer than twine.
She say, the system that you disrespecting and mocking
The system you telling yourself is boo
It will make you get slack and then it will attack
Grandson, I am saying a prayer for you.
Because is long time ------- was thinking
By the law he didn’t have to abide
He rise, he fall, he slip and then he went sliding
Now he chillin’ out on the other side
The system is slow it is true
But grandson, I am warning you
You go get lock up, it is a sure thing
And when you trial slow in starting
Remember the point you making,
Is a long time they take to do anything.
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
We Talking Change [Song]
Uploaded by grjoseph
WE TALKING CHANGE
Protector (1988)
We got a change of government and that was by choice
In anticipation of great improvement, we start to rejoice
Then we walking ‘bout shouting,“One Love!” anywhere we go
But how could we be preaching love when there is so much pain and sorrow
Well after careful consideration I'm forced to conclude, my friends
That we can’t have love and improvement in this land
'Til we change our attitude.
So let me tell you friends...
When I see parents showing children that they care
Teaching them to respect their elders everywhere
I’ll be proud to stand up and cheer with my hands in the air I'll shout, “One Love!”
Look, when some of our drivers in dey maxi taxi
Start discouraging school children from that blatant vulgarity
I’ll be proud to stand up and cheer with my hands in the air I'll shout, “One Love!”
Not before, I’m sorry! Good lord! Good lord!
And we talking change, change Good lord! [We talking change]
Civil servants crying, their salary drop
While the already high cost of living still keep going up
Now when they argue they are told that they are cutting salary
Is the only possible way to start rebuilding the Treasury
But lord, if the workers are forced to make this compromise
Then could someone tell me why on earth the business people
Decide ------ vendors and the shop keepers can’t do likewise?
So let me tell you friends,
When I see the poor man walking down the street
Smiling again because he family could eat
I’ll be proud to stand up and cheer with my hands in the air I'll shout,“One Love!”
When dem vendors take dey hands from off we throat
When we could go shopping and come back with we money’s worth
I’ll be proud to stand up and cheer with my hands in the air I'll shout,"One Love!"
Not before, I'm sorry! Good lord!
And everybody we talking [change], serious change [We talking change]
We have joined the world in condemning South Africa,
It is nice that we trying to feed the hungry in Ethiopia,
But while we seriously trying to solve the problems out there,
We have a rapid increase in AIDs, vagrancy, poverty and hunger right here.
When talking 'bout prejudice we couldn’t ask for more, s I am simply saying,
It’s on these major problems that's affecting us in our land, we should declare war
So let me tell you friends,
When politicians regardless of party
Could show that they serious about rebuilding this county
I'll be proud to stand up and cheer with mih hands in de air I'll shout,"One Love!"
When we could eliminate from the society them degrading words nigger and coolie
I'll be proud to stand up and cheer, with mih hands in the air I'll shout,"One Love!"
Not before, I'm sorry! Good lord!
I say this land of ours [change], serious change [We talking change]
Now it look like the tourist dollars is now our only resort
Because the situation with oil is so sad to report
But yet when the tourist come to visit our country
For some unknown reason, some of us seem to go out of our way to make them unhappy
I mean we mug them, we rob them, we overcharge them, we give them migraine
Then when they leaving, they got to read that agonising sign at the airport
"Nice having you, please come again.",
And look wey happening here...
Black women no longer get respect, whether dark or clear
Because black brothers on the pavement pulling dey breasts and dey rear
And expect them to turn and cheer when they jokingly declare,"Sister, One Love!"
So let me tell you...
When my daughter or yours could walk this country
Without the fear of some maniac raping or strangling she
I'll be proud to stand up and cheer, I'll be damn happy to declare,"One Love!"
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
.............................................................................................................................."Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
No Nationality
Cristo (1965)
(Christopher Laidlow 1923-1984)
Long ago I was a real Trinidadian
I used to boast of my native land
But now to go near to Cumuto I am afraid
And at Tetron Bay I’m forbidden to bathe
So don’t bother with me and nationality
For that’s all abound in hypocrisy.
Long ago you who remember know
To any part of Trinidad you could go
To Arima, Sangre Grande, or ---------
Siparia to Los Iros Bay
But today if below Carenage you venture
You’ll find yourself in prohibited area
The Yankee sentry will shoot you and then declare
You had no right in America.
In the British ----- we put our trust
But they never considered us
In those days Hitler was on top and things were bad
What did they care about Trinidad
For fifty old destroyers, so it is said
They sold those valuable bases over our head
And today we don’t know who are masters in this land
If it’s the English or the American.
The Yankees launched a real social invasion
They did as they pleased in my native land
They had a lot of money and spent lavishly
And they broke down the pillars of our aristocracy
I must confess they helped us financially
But they played hell with our morality
They took all our girls and had a glorious time
And left us blue-eyed babies to mind.
If Ah Dead, Ah Dead
By Ateebo
Fire brigade, water de road
Today is we day oh
Fire brigade, water de road
Si mweh mo, mweh mo
Fire brigade, water de road
Today is we day oh
Fire brigade water de road
If ah dead, ah dead!
Dey will kill, kill, kill one another
To grab de falling coins
Dey go kiss and kiss de hand ah de thrower
He’s a son ah dey loins.
Fire brigade, water de road
Today is we day oh
Fire brigade, water de road
Si mweh mo, mweh mo
Fire brigade, water de road
Today is we day oh
Fire brigade water de road
If ah dead, ah dead!
Dey saying, “Fix yuhself boss, we belly done ban.”
Dey go glad fuh two lime to make juice
What if yuh slap dem? Dey go still shake yuh hand
Trini people made for abuse.
Fire brigade, water de road
Today is we day oh
Fire brigade, water de road
Si mweh mo, mweh mo
Fire brigade, water de road
Today is we day oh
Fire brigade water de road
If ah dead, ah dead!
Dey swallowing Jumbie Beads to forget dey sorrow
Dey hoping what doh kill will fatten
Yuh tell dem take ten and doh call yuh tomorrow
You have dem lowlands to flood and more hills to flatten
Fire brigade, water de road
Today is we day oh
Fire brigade, water de road
Si mweh mo, mweh mo
Fire brigade, water de road
Today is we day oh
Fire brigade water de road
If ah dead, ah dead!
If ah dead, ah dead, we going de same place
We all leaving wit empty hands
There’ll be no time fuh scheming when face to face
With the one and only Master of this land.
Fire brigade, water de road
Today is we day oh
Fire brigade, water de road
Si mweh mo, mweh mo
Fire brigade, water de road
Today is we day oh
Fire brigade water de road
If ah dead, ah dead!
Oh Trinidadians, wake up and open yuh eyes
The Devil is answering yuh front door
Is dutty copper, not manna dat falling from yuh skies
Even doves must now speak of war!
Fire brigade, water de road
Today is we day oh
Fire brigade, water de road
Si mweh mo, mweh mo
Fire brigade, water de road
Today is we day oh
Fire brigade water de road
If ah dead, ah dead!
© 2006 - Ateebo
Posted with kind permission of the author.
The Ganges and The Nile [Song]
Uploaded by trdonaghy1978
GANGES AND THE NILE
By David Rudder (1990)
Once upon a time there was a magic island full of magic people
Let me tell you a story 'bout their pain and their glory...oh yeah.
Many rivers flowed to this naked isle
Bringing fear and pain, but also a brand new style
And of all these rivers that shaped this land
Two mighty ones moved like a sculptor's hand
And today those hands across the land, man, they still landscaping
And there's no doubt we go work it out, there is no escaping
As the river flows, there are those who will change its passage
But every common man, got to understand-up and send a message.
I say to put up your hand if you understand now...Come!
See how we moving, watch how we grooving
See how we step in style
One lovely nation under a groove
The Ganges come meet the Nile.
Them boys with the hidden agendas, and the mind benders,
People done take in front
Various smart men and politicians can come along if they want.
'Cause the people got the power [power] and the glory [glory]
See how we float in style.
See how we moving, watch how we grooving.
The Ganges has met the Nile.
Differences, there will always be
So that you'll be you, and I'll be me
That's the damn thing self that makes it sweet
Brother, bring your drum, leh we start to beat.
Don't mind them politcky, politicky, politicky, politicky politicians
And with their politricky, politricky, politricky, politricky situation
We done jamming and we jamming and we jamming and jam 'cause we know the story
Let them fight if they want in this land of -------- glory
So people put up your hand if you understand now...Come!
See how we moving, watch how we grooving
See how we step in style
One lovely nation, under a groove
The Ganges done meet the Nile.
Them boys with the hidden agendas, and the mind benders,
They will always do their do.
Various smart men, and politicians, dem could come along too.
'Cause we moving with the power [power] and the glory [glory]
See how we float in style.
See how we moving, watch how we grooving.
The Ganges has met the Nile
See how we moving, watch how we grooving
See how we float in style.
One lovely nation, under a groove
The Ganges done meet the Nile.
Them boys with the hidden agendas, and the mind benders,
They will always do their do.
But now that we holding hands, trudging to the Promised Land
Them could come along too.
'Cause we moving with the power, and the glory.
See how we float in style.
One lovely nation, heading to salvation.
The Ganges come meet the Nile.
My people, oh my people, keep your head on at all times.
Understand-up and be counted, understand-up and be counted...woh
Understand-up and be counted...yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
And send a message, send a message...yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
See how we moving, watch how we grooving
See how we float in style
One lovely nation, under a groove
The Ganges has met the Nile.
Them boys with the hidden agendas, and the mind benders,
People done take in front
Various smart men, and politicians can come along if they want.
'Cause we moving with the power [power] and the glory [glory]
See how we float in style....
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................
A Note From The Gull
Thank you, David Rudder.
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
Mongrel [Poem}
MONGREL
By Gene Wilkes
I find it hard to understand
All this bickering about race,
With so much miscegenation
Going on all over the place.
Brother Marvin sang "Jahagi Bhai"
And it get plenty people goat,
But, doh care what nobody say,
Plenty ah we in the same boat.
Two of my ancestors also
Arrived here riding on a wave,
One, quite likely, a slave owner,
The other, most likely, a slave.
Through the years, for some good reason,
Two blood lines mingled, willingly,
With the native Amerindian...
And there began my family.
Here, in this Rainbow Republic,
We have an ethnic callaloo,
Hybrids that transcend barriers
To enrich our cultural brew.
Mestizo, beige, khaki people,
And it have so many ah we,
Making solid contribution
To the uplift of this country.
Half white, half breed, half Chinee,
High brown, beke negre, shabeen,
Red people and cocoa payol,
Dougla, and others in between.
Whenever it have election,
The race talk just keep getting worse,
So I giving this solution
In my Trini dialect verse.
Calling Mongrels of Trinbago,
Some people like they want to fight,
Is time to form a buffer zone,
So we mix-breed have to unite.
We, mix-up, callaloo people
Who have no particular race,
But have so much ah ancestors
From all kinda different place.
We, who is neither fish nor fowl,
But just a little bit of each,
May never know where we come from,
But we know for sure that we reach.
We eh have no mother country:
Spain, China, Syria, Lebanon,
France, England, India, Africa...
We TOTALLY TRINBAGONIAN.
Mongrel is not a dirty word,
Look around you, can't you see
That in another couple years
We go be in the majority?
So we have to stop the ruction,
Is we responsibility
To wipe out racial prejudice
In we beloved Tee and Tee.
Even strong roots cannot nourish
Those branches cut off from the tree;
Why should the weaver unravel
This multi ethnic tapestry?
So come on my Mongrel Trinis,
Is time to rally to the cause
And stop reckless politicians
From instigating senseless wars.
© Copyright – Gene Wilkes, Cocoyea.
Posted with the kind permission of the poet.
VIEW ALL WORKS SUBMITTED BY THIS AUTHOR.
Back to My West India Home [Song]
Uploaded by cvbagva
BACK TO MY WEST INDIA HOME
By Sam Manning
Said I’m leaving, leaving, leaving this town today
Sailing, sailing like a stowaway
Empty handed, broken-hearted, got no trunks to pack
But I am happy ‘cause I am going home and I ain’t coming back.
Back to my West India home where the coconuts grow
Back, back where I belong never to roam no more
I ain’t got no money, I’ve been broke for the longest time
But the folks will be glad to see me though I ain’t got a dime.
Oh yes, I am going right back with the flowers and the bees
Oh now I am hurrying back ‘neath the coconut trees
Over there don’t have to have the blues
Don’t need no overcoat, I wasn’t born with shoes
I’m just a rolling stone going back to my West India home.
Back to my West India home where the coconuts grow
Back, back where I belong never to roam no more
I ain’t got no money, been broke for the longest time
But the folks will be glad to see me though I ain’t got a dime.
I say, I am going right back with the flowers and the bees
Oh yes, I am hurrying back ‘neath the coconut trees
Over there don’t have to have the blues
Don’t need no overcoat, I wasn’t born with shoes
I’m just a rolling stone going back to my West India home.
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
Revolution Chant [Song]
REVOLUTION
By Sheldon Blackman
Wherever the revolution begins, ooohoo, is where I want to be
Wherever the revolution begins, ohwow, is where I want to be
So tell me are you ready, ohwoh, ready for the revolution?
Tell me are you ready, ahoh, ready for the revolution?
Wherever the revolution begins, is there I want to be
Wherever the revolution...
Wherever the revolution...
Wherever the revolution begins, is there I want to be.
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
Sailing [Song]
Uploaded by ScorpioPetey
SAILING
Composed by Winston Devine
Performed by the Mighty Trini
If Trinidad is a boat, sailing on the earth
I go sail on it, O Lord, I go sail on it.
Whether it fast or slow, wheresoever it goes
I going with it, tell dem, I going with it.
I go sail when de tide is slack
I go sail when de tide is neap
If she goin’ to Hell and back
I go make de trip, I bound to make de trip.
Chorus:
I sailing with de boat, sink or float, I sailing with de boat
I sailing with de boat, sink or float, I sailing with de boat
Through hurricane and storm, Hell or high water come
And when she needs a push, I going to push like bush
If Trinidad is a boat, I go sail on it, sink or float.
I----
Who-----
And I watching them, I say, I watching them
Who giving de captain lip and all who abandon ship
And I markin’ dem, I say, I markin’ dem
Stowaways tiefin’ free passage, castaways with excess baggage
Crimson pirates moving in to kill, but I sailing still, I say, I sailing still.
Chorus:
I sailing with de boat, sink or float, I sailing with de boat
I sailing with de boat, sink or float, I sailing with de boat
Through hurricane and storm, Hell or high water come
And when she needs a push, I going to push like bush
If Trinidad is a boat, I go sail on it, sink or float.
I am a sailor by birth, calypso in mih throat
And I sailing on, I say I sailing on
Trinbago is my tag, white and black is my flag
And I moving on, I say, I moving on
It is right that I be on board
For in spite of the small reward
As she hastens to her destiny
She ent leaving me, no how she leaving me.
Chorus:
I sailing with de boat, sink or float, I sailing with de boat
I sailing with de boat, sink or float, I sailing with de boat
Through hurricane and storm, Hell or high water come
And when she needs a push, I going to push like bush
If Trinidad is a boat, I go sail on it, sink or float.
Pessimistic, who think, Soca Boat going to sink
Tell dem, think again, I say, tell dem think again
And all who cherish the hope I go run out of rope
Tell dem, hope again, ah say, tell dem hope again.
I go bail when she spring a leak
Trim the sails when de winds get weak
If she stalling, and she need a push
I go push like bush, O Lord, I go push like bush
Chorus:
I sailing with de boat, sink or float, I sailing with de boat
I sailing with de boat, sink or float, I sailing with de boat
Through hurricane and storm, Hell or high water come
And when she needs a push, I going to push like bush
If Trinidad is a boat, I go sail on it, sink or float.
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................
A Note From The Gull
Thank you, Mighty Trini!
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
The Savagery (The Scent Has Returned) [Song]
Uploaded by IsDePanInMe
THE SAVAGERY (THE SCENT HAS RETURNED)
By David Rudder (1998)
Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry!
Step right up
Step right up, hurry, hurry
Step right up
I tell you, step right up
Step right up, step right up, step right up!
Welcome, welcome, step right up
To the place where the gobar flows nonstop
A matter of fact, the bull just purge
Soft and warm, everybody could splurge
This is a land of plots and counterplots
Of if’s and why’s and when’s and but’s
Regression, secession, we have it all
Grab a seat, grab a seat, now hold your belly and bawl.
Oh, what a scent, what a scent, what a scent!
The smell of the summer of our discontent
To do or not to do, pappy, that is the quest
Take a ticket and come see the mess.
Because it’s savagery
We call the play, "The Savagery"
You know it’s such an irony
Because it’s more like a comedy.
Oh step right up, step right up
Step right up, step right up,
Step right up, step right up,
Step right up, step right up.
Well it’s the theatre of the absurd, take another look
A minute of your time and you’ll be hooked
Political dancers for you to enjoy
Oh, what moves these people employ
Floor crossing, cross dressing, it’s all the same
These people can put James Brown and Rodman to shame
They do a dingolay, den dey do a jamblay
They do a flip flop and then they slide away.
Oh, what a scent, what a scent, what a scent!
The smell of the summer of our discontent
To do or not to do, pappy, that is de quest
Look, take a ticket and come see the mess.
Because it’s savagery
The play is called “The Savagery”
You know it’s such an irony
Because it’s more like a comedy.
Oh, step right up, step right up
Step right up, step right up,
Step right up, step right up,
Step right up, step right up.
America, America, you so damn lucky
America got a little toy called Chucky
But what they’ve got is a Hollywood toy
Trinidad got the real live Chucky boy
With real blood too, no special effects
Show him respect or he go mash up yuh neck
If yuh doh like yuh woman, yuh dig out she eye
No wonder the Catholic statue have to cry.
Oh what a scent, what a scent, what a scent!
The smell of the summer of our discontent
To do or not to do, pappy, come off the shelf
Look, take a ticket and come see yuhself
It is savagery
Dey call the play, “The Savagery”
It’s such an irony
Because it’s more like a comedy.
Oh, step right up, step right up
Step right up, step right up,
Step right up, step right up,
Step right up, step right up.
Mirror, mirror on the wall,
What do we have for a curtain call?
Holsters, holsters, guns, -------
Predicting the winners, shooting up the ends
Characters waiting to get assassinate
A whole heap ah youths to keep illiterate
Rail, rail, what a hell of a play!
Now somebody please take this skunk away!
Oh what a scent, what a scent, what a scent!
The smell of the summer of our discontent
To do or not to do, sister, that is the quest
Take a clothespin, come see the mess
Because it’s savagery
They call the play, “The Savagery”
It’s such an irony
Because it’s more like a comedy.
Brother Ezekiel
Sister Muriel
Brother Seecharan
Sister Ire
Mama Rodney
------ Ivy
What to do, what to do, what to do
Can you tell me?
Welcome, welcome, step right up!
To the place where the gobar flows nonstop
A matter of fact, the bull just purge
Soft and warm, everybody could splurge
Gobar in the mansions, gobar on the ground
Gobar in the country, gobar in the town
Look, the bull just purge in the yard
Full up yuh hand and wine like yuh mad.
Oh what a scent, what a scent, what a scent!
The smell of the summer of our discontent
To do or not to do, brother, that is the quest
Look, take a ticket and come see the mess
Because it’s savagery
We call the play, “The Savagery”
You know it’s such an irony
Because it’s more like a comedy.
© Copyright – David Rudder.
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................
A Note From The Gull
Thank you, David Rudder.
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
Iere Now And Long Ago [Song]
Uploaded by gamlahund
IERE NOW AND LONG AGO
By Atilla The Hun and Lord Beginner
How different is the island we know
To the Trinidad of the long ago
How different is the island we know
To the Trinidad of the long ago
She’s really the dame of the Antilles
And a queen of the West Indies
With motor cars running up and down
Trinidad coming like a New York town.
The island has changed up in different ways
To the Trinidad of the bygone days
Buildings have sprung up all around
We have got a clean and beautiful town
And by visitors we are told
Our streets as good as any in the whole wide world
With motor cars running up and down
Trinidad coming like a New York town.
Long ago to reach Manzanilla shore
It used to take us a week or more
Now if the distance is twice as far
It takes a couple of hours in a motor car
Today we have electric lights in our home
Refrigerators, radios and telephones
With motor cars running up and down
Trinidad coming like a New York town.
The south has changed up entirely
San Fernando is a beautiful town to see
Pointe-a-Pierre which was lost in obscurity
Now possesses giant oil refineries
Macqueripe which presented an awful sight
Is now recognised as the tourist delight
With motor cars running up and down
Trinidad coming like a New York town.
To see the change we are proud and glad
That has taken taken place in Trinidad
Chief of which we must now mention
Is none other than the Trinidad Guardian
Then it’s a thought which was once a dream
They started work on the harbour scheme
With motor cars running up and down
Trinidad coming like a New York town.
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
.............................................................................................................................."Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
Look De Devil Dey [Song]
Uploaded by ScorpioPetey
LOOK DE DEVIL DEY
Performed by Penguin (1980)
Wey de devil dey? Wey de devil dey?
Wey de devil dey? Wey de devil dey?
So you ‘fraid Satan, that mysterious man?
And you keep saying, "In Hell he living."
Is time you know, you thinking wrong
Devil for so all over town
Chorus:
You ‘fraid de devil? You ‘fraid him bad?
Well look de devil right in your yard!
An’ he grinning while you saying grace
Shaking up he tail in people face
Wey de devil dey? Wey de devil dey?
Look de devil dey!
To fool people eyes devil does disguise
But is no problem to recognise them
Some like to deck in suit whole day
And round dey neck have balisier.
Chorus:
You ‘fraid de devil? You ‘fraid him bad?
Well look de devil right in your yard!
An’ he grinning while you saying grace
Shaking up he tail in people face
Wey de devil dey? Wey de devil dey?
Look de devil dey!
It have some devil with gown and bible
Who praise their Saviour but cuss dey neighbour
Another kind shared peace and blows
Hiding behind some police clothes
Chorus:
You fraid de devil? You ‘fraid him bad?
Well look de devil right in your yard!
An he grinning while you saying grace
Shaking up he tail in people face
Wey de devil dey? Wey de devil dey?
Look de devil day!
Pay de devil ! Pay de devil !
Pay de devil ! Pay de devil !
Pay de devil ! Pay de devil !
Pay de devil ! Pay de devil !
Pay de devil !
Wey de devil dey? Wey de devil dey?
Wey de devil dey? Wey de devil dey?
Devils in business, in halls of justice
In pot guts old men who seduce girl children
And if you praise the wrongs men do
Well then you is a devil too!
Chorus:
You ‘fraid de devil? You ‘fraid him bad?
Well look de devil right in your yard!
And he grinning while you saying grace
Shaking up he tail in people face
Wey de devil dey! Wey de devil dey!
Look de devil dey!
Pay de devil ! Jab Jab! Pay de devil ! Jab Jab!
Pay de devil ! Jab Jab! Pay de devil ! Jab Jab!
Pay de devil ! Jab Jab! …..
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
Home, Sweet Home [Song]
HOME, SWEET HOME
By The Mighty Terror
Hallelujah, I come back home
Hallelujah, no more to roam.
I live in England thirteen years
And many days I shedding tears
Now I back home to rest my bones.
Home sweet home, home sweet home
There is no other place like home
No matter wherever you roam
Make up your mind and come back home.
I’ve been weeping both day and night
I’ve been pining for my delight
I love my crab and callaloo
And my favourite cascadou
Now ah back home, I crush their bones.
Home sweet home, home sweet home
There is no other place like home
No matter wherever you roam
Make up your mind and come back home.
When I study freedom at home
I often wondered what made me roam
I had to fight with all my might
To come from darkness into light
Hallelujah, I won the fight.
Home sweet home, home sweet home
There is no other place like home
No matter wherever you roam
Make up your mind and come back home.
Trinidadians, take my advice
You are born in a paradise
Don’t let people mislead you
For you may have to shed tears too
Now I’m back home to stay with you.
Home sweet home home sweet home
There is no other place like home
No matter wherever you roam
Make up your mind and come back home.
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................
A Note From The Gull
Thank you, Mighty Terror.
"Trinidadians, take my advice
You are born in a paradise
Don’t let people mislead you
For you may have to shed tears too"
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
Good Citizen [Song]
Uploaded by cool4rocknroll
GOOD CITIZEN
Performed by The Mighty Sparrow
Album: Many Moods Of Sparrow, 1967.
When does someone really become a good citizen?
I’d like to know for sure.
Why when the ordinary man disagrees with the establishment
They call it treason?
Why should they persecute a brother for seeking black power?
Don’t they know a blind man could see that this is blatant hypocrisy,
The real traitors and them are all high in society.
Yet the government protecting all ah dem and penalizing you and me.
And in a million different ways they violate the law
It’s the same good, no good bastards who oppress the poor
They selling black market, making excess profit, paying a starvation salary.
These good citizens are the architects of economic slavery.
They say you have the right to criticize but then you are victimized,
And without any reason, many a time you find yourself
Politically paralysed by that same good citizen.
Yet these fakes and phonies enjoy a long life of luxury
While they spread corruption throughout the country.
When they should be arrested,
They’re protected and respected in the society.
And in a million different ways they violate the law.
It’s the same good, no good bastards who oppress the poor
With their false declaration, tax evasion, defrauding customs duty.
These good citizens are the architects of economic slavery.
In lust, in greed, in fraud, in strife they specialize
Double deals, double deals they idolize.
If you brave enough to open your mouth and criticize,
One time you are ostracized and or victimized.
Still they go unpunished and unaccused of any crime,
While on the backs of the ordinary man these vultures climb.
They use their riches and their power, make a mockery of the law
And have the law protect them same time.
And in a million different ways they violate the law
It's the same good, no good bastards who oppress the poor
They controlling bootlegging, dope peddling, prostitution and piracy.
These good citizens are the architects of economic slavery.
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
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