Mother Earth Crying [Song]

Uploaded by IsDePanInMe
MOTHER EARTH CRYING
By Baron (1994)

In the beginning by the sixth day morning
The whole creation was given birth
And then God made man and gave him dominion
Over every living creature on the earth
Tragedy in the garden, we all know whey happen
Shamefully banished from Eden
We witness the first Paradise lost
And since then is Mother Earth who end up paying the cost
That's why I'm begging.

Mother Earth is crying, she say to stop the polluting...oy oy oy
Mother Earth is dying, we got to stop the polluting...oy oy oy
Whole attitude got to change, and priorities rearrange
We got to become more competent
The way we protect the environment
And fight, fight for all that it's worth
Fight to save Mother Earth...oy oy oy
Mother Earth crying... oy oy
In case you don't know, the planet Earth dying slow
What a sad way to go.

The ozone layer's depleting
Endless factories belching tons of pollutants in the atmosphere
Rivers and seas can't escape
On Mother Earth, we constantly commit rape
We even planning to strip the Amazon bare.
Acid rain on the nations, species hunted to extinction
A roller coaster ride to self-destruction
Stop mankind from digging a certain grave
We got to get together is Mother Earth we must save
That's why I'm grieving.

Mother Earth is crying, she say to stop the polluting...oy oy oy
Mother Earth is crying, we got to stop the polluting...oy oy oy
Whole attitude got to change, and priorities rearrange
We got to become more competent
The way we protect the environment
And fight, fight for all that it's worth
Fight to save Mother Earth...oy oy oy
Mother Earth crying... oy oy
In case you don't know, the planet Earth dying slow
What a sad way to go.

Massive global warming with the sea level rising
Islands and countries like Holland may be no more
As natural resources deplete, people can't find food to eat
Famine for both rich and poor
Impossible you might think, but we tottering on the brink
Next thing you know we become extinct
The cancer we create a Mother Earth sore
And she is going to give up the ghost when she can't take no more...no more.

Mother Earth is crying, she say to stop the polluting...oy oy oy
Mother Earth is crying, we got to stop the polluting...oy oy oy
Whole attitude got to change, and priorities rearrange
We got to become more competent
The way we protect the environment
And fight, fight for all that it's worth
Fight to save Mother Earth...oy oy oy
Mother Earth crying... oy oy
In case you don't know, the planet Earth dying slow
What a sad way to go.

Today the things we nurture could determine the future
And pray what would the picture be
See grandson and granddaughter fighting, chaos and disaster
As Mother Earth protest violently
Wake up, wake up people and be part of the struggle!
The planet earth in serious trouble
We got to end this melancholy refrain
We cannot afford to lose Paradise again
That's why I'm pleading.

Mother Earth is crying, she say to stop the polluting...oy oy oy
Mother Earth is Dying, we got to stop the polluting...oy oy oy
Whole attitude got to change, and priorities rearrange
We got to become more competent
The way we protect the environment
And fight, fight for all that it's worth
Fight to save Mother Earth...oy oy oy
Mother Earth crying... oy
In case you don't know, the planet Earth dying slow
What a sad way to go.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are 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

'Whole attitude got to change, and priorities rearrange"... Thank you Baron.

"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

Me Today, You Tomorrow [Song]

 
Uploaded by cool4rocknroll
ME TODAY, YOU TOMORROW
By Shadow (1993)

Crazy people [yey yey], lazy people [woh oh woh]
The neighbour's house is burning and you laughing?
What don't meet you doesn't pass you yet...oh no, no, no
Someone in your neighbourhood is crying
Tomorrow's coming, how can you forget?

The neighbour's house on fire, run for water
The neighbour's house on fire, out the fire
The neighbour's house is burning
It might be your house in the morning
The neighbour's house on fire, run for water
The neighbour's house on fire, out the fire
Put out the fire, yey, yey, yey
Put out that fire, yey, yey yey, now now

Crazy people [yey yey], lazy people [woh oh woh]
Laugh and cry, you'll find them in the same place
Only time can separate the two
Just like little dimples on the same face
Laughing dimples, crying dimples too

The neighbour's house on fire, run for water
The neighbour's house on fire, out the fire
The neighbour's house is burning
It might be your house in the morning
The neighbour's house on fire, run for water
The neighbour's house on fire, out the fire
Put out the fire, yey yey yey
Put out the fire, yey yey yey yey yey yey

Crazy people [yey yey], lazy people [woh oh woh]
You see the piggy biting up his brother, yey
He don't care who die, he just want war
But when his time is come to face the butcher
It's crying time in the abattoir.

The neighbour's house on fire, run for water
The neighbour's house on fire, out the fire
The neighbour's house is burning
It might be your house in the morning
The neighbour's house on fire, run for water
The neighbour's house on fire, out the fire
Out the fire, yey yey yey yey yey
Put out the fire, yey yey yey yey yey yey

The neighbour's house is burning
It might be your house in the morning
The neighbour's house on fire, run for water
The neighbour's house on fire, out the fire
Put out the fire, now now now now now now
Put out the fire, now now now now now now now!

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are 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

Is the Shadow's work organic, unpretentious, elemental, essential, uninhibited, sincere, radical, elusive, hypnotic, the product of genius, the naive algorithm coming out of the blue, the equalising, unifying pulse? I think it is even deeper.

I think to create songs like this one the Shadow must be able, whether by natural inclination or special invitation, to synchronise with and channel a primordial intuition that gets to the heart of situations and their causes and solutions. The natural world and music convince me that it was not Logos - the Word that existed before all else. In the beginning was the Rhythmos - the Rhythm.

Thank you Mighty Shadow! I couldn't have expressed this song's message better in a million years.

"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 Ent Gone Through Yet [Song]

Uploaded by trinidesi
WE ENT GONE THROUGH YET
By Protector (Michael Leggerton)

We ent gone through yet, we ent gone through yet...No!
Don't write off my country, those who leaning on the rope
Don't condemn T&T, those who feel she cannot cope
With a growing moral crisis that bringing tears to we eyes
From the depths of these ashes, like a Phoenix she will rise
Yet every day is scandal and shame spoiling mih country name

But...We ent gone through yet...No! We ent gone through yet
And if you listen to them scribe, every policeman taking bribe...but
We ent gone through yet, we ent gone through yet
For just when you thinking, this country's no longer great
Something precious will happen to restore your faith
The same Police Force that reeling from corruption
Delivering babies in their police station
Now that's a reason to smile
And that's the saving grace of mih nation!

Oh, ah telling you
We ent gone through yet...No! We ent gone through yet...No, no!
You hear what ah say now
We ent gone through yet...No! We ent gone through yet
We keep breaksin' from infection but every month is another 'flu
Hospitals give no injection, no linen, no ambulance crew
Once money was no problem, we used to boast 'bout we wealth
But like ------- hit the system, now there's no money for health
In WASA they find raw faeces, a breeding ground for every disease

But....We ent gone through yet, we ent gone through yet
And now I hear that in jail AIDS and -------- prevail
But...We ent gone through yet We ent gone through yet
For just when you thinking, things can't get no worse
Forget 'bout the ambulance, tell them buy a hearse
A general blackout hit the ICU
But doctors get a pullout from a TV6 crew
Now that's a reason to smile
And that's the saving grace of mih nation!

I want to hear you say it now
We ent gone through yet...No! We ent gone though yet...no, no! T&T!
We ent gone through yet...No! We ent gone through yet

They say, "Scrap Common entrance." Why?
Them school children getting too traumatised
No relief for parents, a next ----- commesse they organise
But while some trying to save the children from falling though the cracks
The Ministry's biggest problem is how to save them from bosé backs
But while their back getting straight, like they getting more illiterate

But...We ent gone through yet, we ent gone through yet
To stop school indiscipline, kids have to pass through scanners and thing
But...We ent gone through yet, we ent gone through yet
For just when you thinking the future ent making sense
Them youths too preoccupied with guns and violence
Up comes Veera Bhagan from where, heaven knows
Excelled in Common Entrance, writing with she toes
Now that's a reason to smile
And that's the saving grace of mih nation!
Oh, you hear what ah say now

We ent gone through yet...No! We ent gone through yet...No, no!
You hear what ah saying
We ent goin through yet...No! We ent gone through yet
You know mih country hit a stalemate
President and PM in a big fight
PM say, Fire two from the Senate
President say, "That one ent reading right."
And then he say, "Mister Prime Minister, Try and don't forget
Is I who have you in power and I could wreck your whole cabinet."
So every day is commesse and row, Kuei Tung ent take no poverty vow

But...We ent gone through yet...No! We ent gone through yet
And then ah read up in Mayaro, a politician get pass out, just so
But....We ent gone through yet...No! We ent gone through yet
For just when you thinking the mess hits the fan
Some even say look like Benny Hinn left a serious curse on my land
We looking to the heavens, asking for a sign
I say, "Maybe by tomorrow you go hear Dhanraj Singh resign."
Now that's a reason to smile
And that's the saving grace of mih nation

You see what I mean now...

We ent gone through yet...No! We ent gone though yet...No, no!
You hear what ah say now
We ent gone through yet...No! We ent gone through yet...

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are 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

More Trinbagonian escapism or much needed encouragement? It depends on what you do with Protector's message. He is telling us that we each, even those who have been written off by society as bad seed, have within us the potential to do something that will inspire others to get up and have a positive impact on our society. I don't think that he is saying that we should just lie back and depend on the good deeds or accomplishments of the few to feel good about ourselves. It's a funny thing but even if things were to remain as grim, we would still experience an immediate lifting of our spirits if we were to reject the roles of helpless victims.

One theory, with which I strongly disagree, is that Benny Hinn put a curse on our country. That's just looking for a supernatural scapegoat and it is just as bad as looking for supernatural saviours. The power is in OUR hands.

Like Protector, I don't think that we have gone through yet. "We will awake. We will laugh. We will return." My wish for us is that in the future we will only make honest mistakes as a result of our untiring efforts to live intelligently. The tedium and embarrassment of blatantly repeating others' and our own mistakes has become too much to bear. We can and must do better.

Thank you Protector.

"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

Which Bone? [Song]

Listen to Joanne Foster sing "Which Bone" courtesy we7.

[Link will open in new window.]
WHICH BONE?
Performed by Joanne Foster (2004)
Composed by Christophe Grant

Them is patriots [patriots]
The Soca Warriors they're back
See them wave their red, white and black
All them patriots [patriots]
Some does even plate up their face
Like the cascadou they done taste.
If you probe past the superficial
They bound to leave you amazed
Shocked, bewildered and in a daze
'Cause the same ones who are so vocal
Time to put their heads on a block
Long ago abandoned this rock.

'Cause when it down to the nitty gritty [Trini to we bone!]
They done fly out to New York city [Trini to we bone!]
Pursuing their own self interests [Trini to we bone!]
To this land they does pay lip service [Trini to we bone!]
They say they making a sacrifice
So their children won’t pay the price
In the Apple they take a bite
Back in Trini, boy, things real tight
And they can't fly back home until
They get their green card or learn a skill
Until then, just leave them alone
'Cause them is Trini to the bone
Which bone?
Oh, which bone?
Which bone?
Ah say, which bone? Oh oh oh oh

Them is patriots [patriots]
Say they go dead for their Trinbago
They love their Pan and they Calypso
All them patriots [patriots]
With their cooler in the North Stand
Panorama to hear their band
All they love Boogsie and their Phase II
Do they know that Pan getting stick?
Every day a next one evict
Homeless now, thrown in the bamboo
Yes, Boogsie and he boys
Kick out because Pan is noise.

While we give them a big ovation [Trini to we bone!]
Lord, the panman facing frustration [Trini to we bone!]
While we run about helter skelter [Trini to we bone!]
Still the panman must beg for shelter [Trini to we bone!]
Though we never support the Arts
Our commitment does stop and start
How many kasisonians must dead
Without a roof over their head?
While the local composers bawl
All the royalties for Sean Paul
All them Sizzla and Beenie clone
But them is Trini to the bone
Which bone?
Tell me, tell me, tell me, Which bone?
Oh, which bone?
Ah say, which bone?, oh oh oh oh

When they up and leave Trinbago,
Is straight New York they does go
When they get deport and they come back home
Is only then they does be Trini to the bone
When they up and leave Trinbago,
Is straight New York they does go
When they get deport and they come back home
Is only then they does be Trini to the bone

Them is patriots [patriots]
All them DJs who make the switch
Never playing Shorty or Kitch
All them patriots [patriots]
Who daily offend we ear
With all that garbage that we does hear
For every time we turn on the radio
Is only hip hop in the mix
Local music keep getting licks
How the hell we go build Trinbago
How we go ever sit on the throne
If we do not promote we own?

Cause is only foreign they playing [Trini to we bone!]
Local music, right they, it staying [Trini to we bone!]
Dem is cobo, yes, bloody vulture [Trini to we bone!]
But they real love their Trini culture [Trini to we bone!]
No they never support the pan
Till they play the 50 cent jam
They think that soca and calypso
Began with Marshall Montano
They don't root for no limbo dance
Julia Edwards could go to France!
All them Snoop and P. Diddy clone
But them is Trini to the bone
Which bone? Oh, which bone? Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Which bone? oh oh
Ah say, Which bone? Oh oh oh oh
Which bone?, tell me, tell me, tell me
Which bone? Oh oh oh oh
They fooling…oh oh oh oh they playing

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are 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

WOW!!! I am speechless. Let me reveal my ignorance by asking, Who is this amazing Joanne Foster? I love her voice and the passion with which she sings this song. As one of the "patriots" who long ago "abandoned" this rock, I want to thank Ms Foster for raising some interesting issues (while singing to my self doubt). I hope to look at patriotism soon.

In the mean time, here are some posts by Trinbagonian bloggers on that topic of patriotism. If you know of any others, please consider sharing them with us.

To Die For by Geoffrey Gonsalves at his blog, "Occasional Ramblings"

Citizens of the world...and patriots by Nzingha at her blog, "Mouth of the River of Real Evolution"

On Patriotism by Dzifa Job at her blog, "Mystic Melange"

And thank you very much for this amazing song, Joanne Foster and Christophe Grant.

"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

Country Life

Uploaded by anonyjw

By Lord Relator

You know that the hospitality that you get when you go out to the country is so marvellous at all times that I decided to write this song about twelve years ago. The arrangement is by Mr. Arthur De Coteau. The name of the song is called "Country Life."

Town people should take example
And try to live like the country people
Ah say, town people should take example
And try to live like the country people
If you broad minded, friends you wouldn't make fuss
When ah say country people more generous
Just take a --------, you go see
They living like one whole big family.

But some of my friends they go criticise
When I say country people more civilised
A lot of hospitality, they full of generousity
They very loving and kind-hearted
Country people seldom show hatred
No strife, so I must love the country life.

I spent some time in the country
And believe me, friends, I was never hungry
Because every ten or fifty minutes
Somebody coming home with a basket
Some bringing plantain, dasheen and eddoes
Others bringing grapefruit, tania, tomatoes
And if the neighbour ----- go fishing
He dropping -------- when he passing.

But some of my friends, they does criticise
When I say country people more civilised
A lot of hospitality, they full of generousity
They very loving and kind-hearted
Country people seldom show hatred
No strife, so I must love the country life.

If you want to build a house in the country
Just get materials, your house build already
Undoubtedly, you could get free labour
Who ent mason, is carpenter, some is joiner
You going to get a lot of help from the neighbours
Because they going to turn out in their large numbers
Two bottle of rum to make the thing sweet
And woman cooking big pot ah food to eat.

But some of my friends, they does criticise
When I say country people more civilised
A lot of hospitality, they full of generousity
They very loving and kind-hearted
Country people seldom show hatred
No strife, so I must love the country life.

In the city now where I living
The people does hardly want to say, "Morning"
If you say "Good evening" to a young lady
She feel that you want to push a move on she
But the country girls they are not so
It's a pleasant "Howdy do" or "Hello"
And they may even stand up and chat
Knowing nothing funny going to follow that.

But some of my friends, they does criticise
When I say country people more civilised
A lot of hospitality, they full of generousity
They very loving and kind-hearted
Country people seldom show hatred
No strife, so I must love the country life.

Source:
N.B. The lyrics posted on this blog are 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, Lord Relator. I am extremely biased so I run the risk of upsetting town and city folk. There are exceptions as always in all groups, but I believe that country people might be more "civilised" because of the civilising influences of their natural environment and way of life.

We need less "big city" and more "country" in T&T.

"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

Pay De Devil [Song]

  Uploaded by jason1985riddims
PAY DE DEVIL (PAC PAC)
By Shadow

Long ago in Tobago, the Carnival wasn't so, no
Was plenty jab-jab and devil
They came down to Les Couteaux
They came from Culloden, horns on their head
One name is Vixen, eyes always red
One Abyssinia, a hero of man
Portraying Lucifer with a fork in his hand.

Pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac
Pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac
Pay de devil, pay de devil
Pay de devil, pay de devil

Pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac
Pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac
Pay de devil, pay de devil
Pay de devil, pay de devil.

If yuh bad, don't die
Walk about and cry
De devil down dey
You will have to pay
Pay de devil, pay de devil
Pay de devil, pay de devil.

Mama, ah hear a rumble!
Abyssinia coming down! Oh lord, oh!
The children begin to tremble.
Abyssinia coming down!
The crowd start to scatter, place getting warm
Fall in the gutter, they don't care a damn
Man start to free up, spirits are high
The crowd start to jump up like they learning to fly.

Pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac
Pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac
Pay de devil, pay de devil
Pay de devil, pay de devil

Is pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac
Pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac
Pay de devil, pay de devil
Pay de devil, pay de devil

If yuh bad, don't die
Walk about and cry
De devil down dey
You will have to pay
Pay de devil, pay de devil
Pay de devil, pay de devil.

I used to love the rhythm
When I hear dem coming down. Oh lord, oh
Oh, what a sweet vibration, I want to play the drums
But I can't find the drummer and I have to go now
To help my grandfather look after the cow
And I can't find a helper, not even a thief
And I can't find a butcher to turn them to beef.

Pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac
Pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac
Pay de devil, pay de devil
Pay de devil, pay de devil

Pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac
Pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac
Pay de devil, pay de devil
Pay de devil, pay de devil

If yuh bad, don't die
Walk about and cry
De devil down dey
You will have to pay
Pay de devil, pay de devil
Pay de devil, pay de devil.
Pay de devil, pay de devil
Pay de devil, pay de devil.....  

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are 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

Love the energy in this song. Brings back vivid memories. I have never been able to convey exactly what I felt as a child when these devils would noisily congregate to bring Carnival to our front gate in the darkness of a J'Ouvert morning. There would always be just enough light to see their painted luminous faces and it didn't help matters to observe the masked ones cock their heads jerkily from side to side as if they were using superhuman senses to detect the presence of our tense little bodies at the windows hidden behind the curtains. They scared the guava cheese out of me and it was our father who would go out to pay the devils by dispensing the coins that would finally unglue their blue and ashy white hands from the gate. After these experiences, I could never encounter a Bermudez biscuit tin without being flooded by the memories of "pac pac-pac pac pac-pac pac pac," ropes knotted around waists, menacing pitchforks, clanking chains and associated childhood terrors.

Why am I including this song? "Pay de devil" has been coming to mind very often as a result of what is happening in T&T and the world today. Debts to many "devils" have to be paid. This crisis is a wake up call. It it entirely up to us to decide if it will become something worse.

Thank you Mighty Shadow! You are gold.

"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

Plant A Garden

"Our laid-back approach to food production is what bothers me most. There is much talk but little action. If government diverts 10 per cent of the resources it has put in its chase for a new POS skyline into agriculture, we could increase food production to a level where it dampens inflation. If we join hands in the Caribbean, embrace our brethren in South and Central America where land space is not a problem, then food inflation would subside."
---Raffique Shah "Vision and visionaries to steer us through crisis" Sunday, October 5th 2008.

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"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

True Opposition [Song]

Uploaded by johnnyshoeshine
TRUE OPPOSITION
By Brother Valentino

We have no opposition in the House of Parliament
So politically is we who have to comment 'bout this government
But the tune you chanting is wrong yet you keep singing along
Like you join the bunch of the wrong and strong...well, sing your song
But if you check where kaiso come from
Was the black man's cry of protest
Now Panorama and Dimanche Gras have their heads in a mess...what a mess
Since in the days of Atilla, kaiso showed its true colour
I wonder if you people know the importance of kaiso?
As sure as calypso is the culture of this land
The calypsonian is the only true opposition.

So open your mouths my brothers and speak with a righteous tongue
Instead of putting the people on a merry go round...and round
You are not saying the right things and so much things happening
Yet you only want to keep them people dancing...prancing
But I know this is their last chance
So let them prance if they want to prance
Such was the joy, shall be the sorrow after they dance...so let them prance
Brothers, you are worth your weight in gold
Yet your precious talent people control
You're are being used for the wrong purpose
Folks are just trying to full their purse
As sure as calypso is going through this exploitation
The calypsonian in the only true opposition.

It seem as though you don't know the precious talent you possess
It's a gift more valuable than all the rest...oh yes
The attention that you gain from this nation is beyond any politician
So don't forget you are the true, true opposition...in this land
Yet you feeding the people minds with the same set of backside jive
And the real vintage kaiso struggling to survive...that is jive
Man get up and do your duty, you will be rewarded much more highly
We have a purpose and a reason so we should should all sing in unison
It is we who really got, ey!, the voice of the land
The calypsonian is the only true opposition.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are 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

"You are not saying the right things and so much things happening
Yet you only want to keep them people dancing...prancing"

Thank you Bother Valentino. What has happened/is happening with calypso is a reflection of what has happened/is happening in the nation.

"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

Voices From The Ghetto [Song]

Uploaded by wongkee83
VOICES FROM THE GHETTO - CRYING
By Singing Sandra

The sun rises slowly over the hills,
Everywhere is golden sunlight but still
Most nights with sad tales are crowded
Their days with dark clouds are shrouded
They don't smile and they never will,
Only vultures get their fill.
Empty promises is what they hear
No running water from year to year
Hearts that know one desire -
That if there is a Messiah,
Someday He'd hear their whispered prayer.

Cupboard always bare and scanty
Ten people in a one-bedroom shanty
Forced to sell on the pavement
No vacancies, no employment
Can't tell firecracker from gunshot
Blood does flow when things get hot
Ah 'fraid to look out mih window
To hear voices from the ghetto...

[Crying,] crying [crying] ay Lord, Lord [crying] crying, voices from the ghetto
[Crying,] crying [crying] Lord, Lord, Lord [crying] aye ay, voices from the ghetto
Help us Father! Oh, Lord!

Mothers does just hold their head and bawl
And them woman stronger than a wall
A big pusher eyeing she daughter,
Son in jail for manslaughter
Too bad for he, he ain't named Brad Boyce,
No bail, that's the black man's choice
Like Shadow say, "Poverty is Hell",
She little girl child belly start to swell
Some say life is a cycle
But don't draw she no circle
Where will it all end, only time could tell.

Outside the siren keep howling,
Inside your belly real growling
Police raid very often,
Simpson's measuring a coffin
One night in bed you sleeping,
Next night is a wake that you keeping
So you praying to win the Lotto,
Not to hear voices from the ghetto...

[Crying,] crying [crying] ay, crying, crying, crying, voices from the ghetto
[Crying,] crying [crying] Lord, hear them pleading [crying] ay, ay, ay, voices from the ghetto
Stretch forth a hand to us, Lord! We are not a forgotten people. Hear our cry.

With dented pride they soldier on
Revolutions' base, politicians' pawn
And often their tragic story brings a journalist glory
No wonder they view the world with scorn
From since the day they born
Some call them rebels without a cause,
These social victims of unjust laws
But yet they christen their heroes,
"Renegades," "Desperados"
Forever knocking on Heaven's doors...Hear me!

Steelband music shatters the silence,
Harmony to conquer the violence
Big men run when cops approach,
Fighting for scraps with the cockroach
Young turks, their turf protecting,
Almost every young girl expecting
So tomorrow, beg, steal or borrow,
There will be another voice from the ghetto...

[Crying,] Lord [crying] oh, oh, oh [crying] ay, ay, voices from the ghetto
[Crying,] Oh----- Mama [crying] Oh ----- Papa [crying] voices from the ghetto.

Social amenities, Lord, Heaven knows
Opportunities, well them always closed
Can't get work once it white collar
So if you can't stretch your dollar
Is later for you, crapaud smoke yuh pipe
You sure to dead from gripe
Life does rape dignity and pride
'Til there's only bitterness left inside
And everyday is a hustle,
Arguments are settled with muscle
'Til you six feet deep by three feet wide.

Children through life keep on drifting
Is something they smoking or sniffing
Maybe they trying to forget
This life of misery and regret
No one to come to their rescue
Except Cableton and Buju
So their boom boxes they leggo
To drown out voices from the ghetto...

[Crying] crying [crying] yeah, Lord, lord, lord [crying] ay, ay, voices from the ghetto
[Crying,] crying crying [crying] crying, crying [crying] crying, yeah eh, voices from the ghetto
[Crying,] I was born and bred in the ghetto [crying] I know what I talking about, you know [crying] ay, ay, I from the ghetto
[Crying] crying....

N.B. The following verse was sung at Singing Sandra's 1999 Dimanche Gras performance.

As parents struggle to provide
Children are neglected and deprived
Illiteracy on the rampage
Some parents never reach college
So ---- the child must ----
If he want to stay alive
The dropout rate does come out trump
As their big truck skid and hit life's bump
Dem can't relate education
To their daily life of starvation
So they take their chances in the dump

Every day garbage truck they hopping
Is old junk and metal they scrapping
To get a jump start on them corbeaux
Some does get squash like mosquito
So next time you passing the Beetham
In your fancy car, air-conditioned
Just above the hum of your motor
You might hear a voice from the ghetto.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are 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, Singing Sandra. I bow low.

"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