"Who Will Watch Over Me?" The Aloneness Of Sabrina Lalla-Mitchell

In this Tale From A Strange Land, the Strange Land is our aloneness as human beings and the savage ways in which this lesson is sometimes brought home to us. Sabrina Lalla-Mitchell left this life fighting to stay in it, surrounded more distantly by the people in her workplace and more immediately by an enraged ex-husband and her two young children, one of whom was actively engaged in trying to save her life. What were her last thoughts? What were the last images processed by her mind? Did she register this fact - as beautiful as it was tragic, that the child watching over her to the end was the one who needed her most to watch over him? - Her boy, who ignored his own physical weakness and safety to throw himself bodily into the fray to defend the mother that he loved.

"WOMAN STABBED TO DEATH"
By Stacy Moore
T&T's Newsday | Wednesday, October 27 2010

"Two young boys yesterday witnessed the brutal murder of their mother Sabrina Lalla Mitchell, 35, who was stabbed to death by a man with whom she ended an abusive relationship six months ago.

"Eleven-year-old Seth Mitchell and his brother Shayden, ten, watched as the man repeatedly stabbed their mother after he confronted her at her workplace at Bavarian Motors, Todd Street, San Fernando, where she was an assistant manager.

"The 36-year-old man begged Sabrina to reconcile with him and he attacked her when she refused. He then slit his wrists, ran out and got into his car which he crashed moments later in Gulf View.

"Although he was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital, sources said the man refused medical treatment and up to press time was reported to be in critical condition.

"Mitchell, however, was pronounced dead on arrival at the same hospital. Read more..."
The story is shocking enough, but then we learn that the son, a child only eleven years old, tried courageously and repeatedly to pull the assailant off of his mother while she was being murdered, the scene becomes even more poignant. But this is not all. The courageous child apparently had the maturity to appeal to the murderer's conscience,

"Seth said he tried to pull the man off of his mother and to convince him to stop stabbing her. “I tried to tell him if mummy’s dead who would look after us and he stopped and watched me but mummy was already on the floor and covered in a pool of blood and my school-clothes were covered in blood.”" Source
I don't know if I would have had the presence of mind to make such an intuitively, intelligent plea. It was the skill, I imagine, that would be expected of a hostage negotiator, yet this was only a young boy trying to break the assailant's blind fixation on venting his fury on his mother, trying desperately to reconnect the unhinged, adult human being with his humanity. This broke my heart and apparently it also touched the assailant because according to the child, upon hearing this plea he paused. The child was telling him that the repercussions of this act would affect more lives than just those of the two adults locked in mortal combat.

It was not enough. The mother of two would eventually succumb to the wounds and die.

The following day, more details emerged. The traumatised child continued to relive the horror of the experience, to recount in vivid detail, all his memories of the event. His maternal grandfather, Pastor Dennis Lalla, filled in the gaps about the abusive relationship to which his daughter had returned in the past but which she had finally recently ended.

However, there was another facet of horror to the story. Her father mentioned that other adult persons were present when his daughter was being brutally assaulted. I have no idea how long the entire incident took from the beginning of the attack to the death of Sabrina Lalla-Mitchell but it was long enough for her murderer to inflict twenty stabs to the upper part of her body. During this time Sabrina and her child were the only ones fighting for her life.

The details are still sketchy and these are just a distraught father's questions about the circumstances surrounding the death of his daughter. I sincerely hope that his fears are proven to be unfounded because if it is revealed that the adults present in that workplace were in the same area where this act was committed, that would be too much to bear.

"Son haunted by mom’s murder. ‘When I try to sleep I see my mother’s face."
By Radhica Sookraj
Trinidad and Tobago Guardian | 28 Oct 2010

"Meanwhile, the children’s grandfather, Pastor Dennis Lalla, questioned why nobody had bothered to save Sabrina-Lalla Mitchell, who was brutally slaughtered in front of a dozen witnesses, including her two children, at Bavarian Motors, San Fernando, on Tuesday afternoon. “Why didn’t anybody save my daughter?” Lalla said, after he witnessed the autopsy at the Forensic Science Centre, Port-of-Spain.

The autopsy revealed that Lalla-Mitchell was stabbed 20 times about the upper body. She died from shock and haemorrhage consistent with multiple wounds. The stabs punctured her left lung and ripped through her heart. The pathologist told Lalla she died about 12 minutes after a main artery to her brain was severed from her neck. Lalla said he saw every stab wound which defaced the body of his child. Saying he had forgiven the killer, Lalla was disappointed no one had intervened during the scuffle. He said: “My daughter put up a fight. While she was on the ground, she tried to brace and the knife cut her hand. Someone could have tried to save her. "


"11 YEARS OF HELL"
By Rhondor Dowlat and Stacy Moore
Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday | Thursday, October 28 2010

"Lalla questioned how the security guards, who were on duty at Bavarian Motors, as well six persons who were on the premises did not do anything to stop the attack on Sabrina.

“The security guards especially are their to protect. How can my grandson have the reaction to attempt to save his mother and those persons could not budge?” he asked."
Perhaps the excerpt below from the text "Introduction to Political Psychology" will provide some explanations for what causes people to hang back when they are needed most, when it is a matter of life and death for another or others. Although I understand the dynamics of it, I cannot excuse such behaviour and I hope that I will have the presence of mind to snap out of the fog of fear if I ever find myself in such a situation. Excuse me if you think I am being sexist but this is how I will see it until I die. Women and children must be defended at all costs and above all others from injury or the threat of injury.

"Seth: “I was watching them from a distance because, I don’t know, I was feeling something was wrong because his face was looking kind of angry but I did not say anything. I was just watching and then I saw him pull out a knife from his pocket,” Seth said. “I run fast from where I was, faster than a jet, I pushed everything that was in my sight. My shoes flung off, I wanted to save mummy so bad but he began to stab her. And I tried pulling him off her but he just continued stabbing and everybody was there in the room.”

"Seth said the man threatened to kill anyone if they got close to him. “Everyone was just so afraid but I wanted to save mummy but he already stabbed her so many times and he left. " Source

--247
BYSTANDERS AND ALTRUISTS

In New York City, one night in 1963, a woman named Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death. Her assailant beat and stabbed her for close to an hour, while dozens of people heard her screams and saw her being attacked, but did nothing. This tragic story is often used to illustrate the bystander phenomenon—when people do nothing to help others. Why does this happen? There is a tendency to blame the bystanders as being apathetic or uncaring. But researchers Latane and Darley (1970) argued that situational factors can explain the lack of

--248
help given to Kitty Genovese. When people are bystanders in an emergency situation, they sometimes experience pluralistic ignorance. They do not know how to respond, so they look to others to see how to respond (much like informational social influence, described in chapter 4). The problem is, everyone is looking at everyone else to figure out how to respond. Unfortunately, the result is that bystanders become paralyzed and do not respond at all. A second situational determinant, which can often explain the lack of help given to those in emergency situations, is diffusion of responsibility. If you were the only person available to help, then you would have 100% of the responsibility to give help. But if just one other person is present, then your sense of responsibility drops to 50%. The more people who are present in a situation, the more diffused is responsibility. This is partly the result of group characteristics. When people are part of a group, there is a diffusion of responsibility, and people feel less compelled to intervene and help. Many analysts believe that the bystander phenomenon is a crucial component in genocide.

Bystanders know, at least implicitly, that something wrong is happening, but they do nothing about it. Bystanders can be a person, a group, an organization, or a country. Indeed, the entire international community knew about the genocide unfolding in Europe, and in Rwanda 50 years later, and did nothing. They engaged in denial. Stanley Cohen (2001) argues that denial “includes cognition (not acknowledging the facts); emotion (not feeling, not being disturbed); morality (not recognizing wrongness or responsibility); and action (not taking steps in response to knowledge)” (p. 9). Milburn and Conrad (1996) argue that, at the individual and social levels, denial is a product of an unwillingness to face a reality that is horrifically painful. This, they argue, stems from childhood denial of punitive parental treatment. Denial is also often a subtle social pressure. Everyone knows and no one admits what is happening. Those who do are condemned or ostracized by the group. To admit that something bad is happening is often threatening to the group's self-image, so avoiding or ignoring information is necessary to maintain the positive self-image, and to be complicit in the general denial. Hence, many Germans could ignore the evidence that Jews and others were being exterminated in death camps, because Germans are good people, and good people do not do such things. For individuals, not to be bystanders in the face of political violence is often difficult. They are often threatened with severe punishment, if not death; they do not know what to do or how to act; and they know that as individuals they have little power to do anything. Yet, some individuals do act, hiding a Jew or a Tutsi, managing to save lives, one at a time.

Denial comes in many forms. People deny that they inflicted pain (“It was an accident”), that an injury occurred (“No one was really hurt”), that the victim is a victim (“He deserved it”), or that they had no knowledge about atrocities. Denial also comes in degrees, from knowing about but refusing to believe information, to knowing but maintaining only a vague awareness of the facts, to knowing, being aware, and choosing to do nothing (Cohen, 2001). For example, arguments abound to this day as to how much ordinary Germans knew about the Holocaust, and those arguments will inevitably continue, because many Germans did not then, and cannot now, recognize the extent to which they knew, but did not attend to information about the extermination of Jews and others. As Laqueur (1980) wrote, “It is, in fact, quite likely that while many Germans thought that the Jews were no longer alive, they did not necessarily believe that they were dead” (p. 201).

The likelihood that people will engage in denial, and will refuse to help victims of violence, is augmented when there are many people involved (as in a crowd surrounding an accident victim), when the situation is ambiguous, and when people are fearful of the reaction of others. People are also influenced by the belief in a just world. They believe that the world is benevolent, and that bad things only happen to bad people. Therefore, if someone is hauled off by the SS, they must have done something wrong. This belief comforts people by letting them

--249
think that the world is stable, certain, and predictable (Cohen, 2001; Staub, 1989;). These patterns can be seen in Germany and in Argentina, where bystanders abounded. In both cases, the information was, for many, very ambiguous. In both cases, there was no free press that provided concrete and undeniable information that atrocities were occurring. To speak out against regime policies was dangerous and deadly and was certainly discouraged by others, who did not want to rock the boat. And, as in so many cases of genocide and state terror, there was pride in a civilization that led people to believe that nothing so horrible could happen here.

In cases of state terror and genocide, there are always some people who help others and who speak out. The Madres de la Plaza de Mayo are an example. In Europe during the Holocaust, 90% of the Jewish population in Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Hungary died. But 90% survived in Denmark, and, in Belgium, where there was resistance to German dictates for rounding up Jews, 53% survived (Staub, 1989). Studies of rescuers or altruists, as these brave people are called, have found that one central characteristic is an ability to empathize with others, to imagine themselves suffering in the same way (Beck, 1999; Cohen, 2001). Empathy is defined as “an'other centered' emotion which is produced by observing another individual in need and taking that individual's perspective” (Batson, 1991; Rumble, 2003, p. 8). Rumble (2003) cites numerous studies of empathy and notes that the evidence indicates that people will be empathetic when they see another person in need and when they can adopt that person's perspective. In addition, rescuers tend to have an ability to identify with humanity at large, rather than only with their families, local community, or country. Oliner and Oliner (1988) found, in a study of 406 people who attempted to rescue Jews during the Holocaust, that they also had a strong sense of personal responsibility. Finally, Cohen (2001) notes that “these people reacted instinctively: they did not look for accounts or neutralizations for why not to help” (p. 263)." Source: Introduction to Political Psychology. By Martha Cottam, Beth Dietz-Uhler, Elena Mastors, and Thomas Preston, Mahwah, NJ. : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004.
As the details emerge, this tragic story may prove to be yet another example of what the authors called "altruistic inertia" - when people do nothing to help others.

How does knowing how to describe this phenomenon help us to move on from here? Where do we learn to be afraid? It is natural for the individual to want to preserve his/her own life but we live in society, or so I am told, for a reason. We cannot survive as individuals. We need each other. We need community. Sabrina Lalla-Mitchell's story did not begin where it ended. She was raised in a family. The man who murdered her was also raised in a family. Where did they learn to be victim and aggressor? And even if they may have wished to abandon these roles, where could they have gone for help and support? They didn't need rescuers and heroes just at the end but at any point(s) along the trajectories that brought them to this horrific conclusion of their relationship.

We are alone when we use community only to supply our selfish needs. We are alone when we stand side by side, amazingly in sync, to protect our individual hides. Someone has to step forward to break the tyranny of the herd. Someone has to step out alone to break the aloneness, to move beyond the comfort zone of fear. We need to find the heroes in ourselves.

This story is not over. Pastor Lalla Dennis Lalla has promised to be a rescuer and hero to his two grandsons. He is fully aware of the possible repercussions of the trauma and has stated that he will make professional counselling available to his grandchildren. Seth especially should not be allowed to think for one second that he did not do enough to save his mother. He should know that he went above and beyond the strength of his little body and the responsibilities of his years, to try to intervene on her behalf, to be her hero. It is not over. We can all start paying close attention to the writing on the wall regarding all types of dysfunctionality. The interventions required are smaller, the earlier we offer them. As they say, that ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

My wish is for healing for all involved, the two individuals, their families, the witnesses, but not before we learn the lessons. We are meant to watch over each other. It is the only way that we will survive together.

PASTOR Dennis Lalla, father of murder victim Sabrina Lalla-Mitchell: “Seth looked at me and asked, ‘Who will watch over me now? Who will make me feel better? Because my mummy always hugged me and kissed me to make me feel better.’ I was so heart broken that I told him not to worry that I will watch over him and Shayden...” Source


HERO By Skillet

..............................................................................................................................
"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

Try Again [Song]


...Perseverance

Listen to "Try Again" courtesy we7. [Link will open in new window.]

TRY AGAIN
By The Mighty Sparrow

In the beginning, if you do not succeed
Don't feel your efforts were all in vain
A lil more determination is all you may need
Success only comes after heavy strain
Sometimes we have to do it over and over again
Before we begin to see the light
Difficulties are ever present, just like the sun and the rain
One day we go learn to do it right.

Chorus:
Til then, we must try, try again
Try not to complain, learn to bear the strain
Trials and tribulation is there for everyone
The problems that we face each day
We should never let them stay
Don't let complacency block your way
I say try, try again, never give in
No pain, no gain
Life could be complicated and you could get damn frustrated,
But then hold steadfast, a little time will pass
Try again, you will succeed at last.

Though not exclusively but especially the young
They want easy answers for everything
But when the preachers and the teachers having it hard in this town
Oh, what a job they have explaining
Showing the young people how they must persevere more and more
Convincing them life is hard but it sweet
Self-discipline and application is the key to be sure
Before they could relax on Easy Street

Chorus:
Til then, they must try, try again
Try not to complain, learn to bear the strain
Life is what you make of it
Stop telling me you can't do it
Destiny is in your hand, totally at your command
The only thing now is you to understand
You must try, try again, never give in
No pain, no gain
Stand up erect, don't falter
Like the Rock of Gibraltar
So be courageous, show your fortitude and trust
In the end you will succeed at last.

Children today, some of them does boast, some does blag
They going to school merely to have fun
Well, some of them ent even have a book in their bag
Security guard catching them with gun
Serious violence has increased and is now out of hand
No respect from father, no love from son
Girl children showing a weird sense of pride in the evil they done
Praising who had the most abortion.

Chorus:
You got to try, try again
Try not to complain, learn to bear the strain
To yourself you must be honest
Then you could find happiness
United, ----------------
And ----------------
A mind is a terrible thing to waste
You must try, try again, never give in
No pain, no gain
Going to school with weapon could only bring self-destruction
Without no reward, you might be a great warlord
But the pen is mightier than the sword.

So get up and get, be responsible to yourself
Stop acting like the world owe you a living
Your quality of life depends upon you, no one else
Integrity comes from deep within
The disadvantages you may have had as a youth growing up
Makes you feel that you must play tit for tat
But whether was child abuse, mental cruelty or what, it must stop
You can't spite others because of that.

Chorus:
You got to try, try again
Try not to complain, learn to bear the strain
None of us have to suffer
We could control we future
For whatever the mind perceive, surely it can be achieved
Stop doubting yourself and say, "I believe.
I go try, try again, never give in
No pain, no gain.
"
Show them your full potential ent limited to Carnival
For whenever the steelband pass and we finish play we mas
Still we must have success within our grasp.

Try, you gotta try
Try, you gotta try
Try again.

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 Sparrow for this wonderfully inspiring song! This is pure love.

"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 Music Lesson [Song]


THE MUSIC LESSON
By The Duke of Iron

I had a serious adventure with a musical teacher
Oh lord, I had a serious adventure with a musical teacher
The first thing she taught me was proper fingering
With the rhythm and the technique how to swing
But the highlight of everything
Was every night I had to jive on she mandolin.

She was a dangerous instructor
When it came to the crotchet and the quaver
But in the flat and the sharp keys
Don't talk how I handled them with ease
In the minor she had me trembling
But in the major, boy, I had her grumbling
And so the highlights of everything
Was every night I had to jive on she mandolin.

Now, I found she was drastic
I don't know why she kept me from the classic
When I put my hand on the keyboard
I always touched an augmented chord
I, for example, was strictly musical
But she meant romance in general
And so the highlights of everything
Was every night I had to jive on she mandolin.

Now she said to me, "Duke of Iron,
Let us try another progression.
"
She said, "I'll teach you a duet.
And this is one you can't forget."

She went so fast that I couldn't remember
If I was playing in major or minor
She said, "You'll be soon graduating,
Because you really lay your jive on mih mandolin
."

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

Patricia Gone With Millicent, and The Fig Man [Song]


Uploaded by edward spencer

PATRICIA GONE WITH MILLICENT
By The Mighty Terror

Patricia has left me
You would be shocked to hear who replace me
My Patricia has left me
You would be shocked to hear who replace me
Days upon days, I sits down and cry
You may want to ask me the reason why
But the thing that is hurting me
She is gone to live with a young lady.

Chorus:
Could you tell me where my Patricia went? [She gone with Millicent]
I cannot believe, not for one moment [She gone with Millicent]

Ah, I always noticing Milicent pays Patricia a visit
But I never study no funny move with these two young ladies
But anyhow I turn I can always see
Pat and Millicent always on a spree
And when you hear the crash, well that was the case
Millicent move Patricia out my place.

Chorus:
Could you tell me where my Patricia went? [She gone with Millicent]
I cannot believe, not for one moment [She gone with Millicent]

Yes, I found where they living
I called Patricia and started begging
Darling, please come back to Terror
She told me, No, Millicent would beat her
I ask her why but she would not say
Then Millicent came and pull her away
Gave her a slap and then close the door
And shouted, "Don't speak to Terror no more!"

Chorus:
Could you tell me where my Patricia went? [She gone with Millicent]
I cannot believe, not for one moment [She gone with Millicent]

Yes, I'm warning you young men
When you got your girlfriends, you better watch them
Keep your girlfriends away from girlfriend
Because these girlfriends does cause a sad end
You may think I am jocular
But this really happened in Manchester
I felt so ashamed, my friends laughed at me
I had to take a train for London city.

Chorus:
Could you tell me where my Patricia went? [She gone with Millicent]
I cannot believe, not for one moment [She gone with Millicent]

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, for sharing the details of what some say is a true story. 

The Mighty Terror was not afraid to address the subject of same sex relationships. The Fig Man below is another calypso in which he repels the advances of a male. This calypso's equanimity is way ahead of its time. The Mighty Terror is rejecting Mister Jack's same sex advances but without any of the acrimony or moralising you might have expected at that time. While he acknowledges that others may be that way inclined, he simply has no personal interest in what Mister Jack is offering. I find this song engaging and amusing because of the sustained and well-developed double entendre. This subject is not easily addressed in any society because opinions are divided so he uses the double meaning to lessen the risk of offending listeners on both sides of the fence.

In Trinidad and Tobago, apart from the phallic overtones employed in this song, the word fig is also used to mean banana, the fruit of the cultivated species of the genus Musa. So you will find Trinbagonians using the names of the different varieties of banana to qualify the word fig. You can expect to hear Lacatan fig instead of Lacatan banana, Silk fig, Plantain fig, Sucrier fig, Gros Michel fig and so on. To my knowledge the common fig [Ficus genus] is not grown in Trinidad and Tobago and I cannot explain how the word, fig, came to be synonymous with banana.


Uploaded by kaiso22

FIG MAN
By Mighty Terror

What's wrong with Jack? I want to know.
What's wrong with Jack? What's wrong with Jack?
Why this man always feeling up my back? Ah-ah!
I don't like that! No, Mister Jack!
Don't get me vex, don't feel me, I am not the female sex!
He said he have plenty land, he have a big fig plantation
But he don't employ woman. All he want is a nice man.
He said, "Terror, you would do."
I say, "What? Who the hell you talking to?
I ent leaving my profession to join in your fig man gang. Not me!"

Chorus:
I can't tote no load at all on my back, Mister Jack! Let me warn you!
Go and look for some young boy to do that, Mister Jack!
Not because I looking strong, not because my back look round
Not because my back look fat
I ent toting no fig on that! Not me!

My big sister said, "Listen Terror,
Fig business have plenty money so don't refuse the offer. Oh no!"
She said to me, "Terror, I guarantee
As soon as you done work, open your hand, you getting money.
That business is right on top
Every day fig men going to him for work.
So he want to employ me in the fig man company
But my back so old and hard
This fat back business go drive me mad
He said, "The work ent hard and it clean
Grease your back with some Vaseline," but not me!

Chorus:
I can't tote no load at all on my back, Mister Jack! Let me warn you!
Go and look for some young boy to do that, Mister Jack!
Not because I looking strong, not because my back look round
Not because my back look fat
I ent toting no fig on that! [Not me!]

I always heard since I was small - Work is no disgrace
Don't mind what kind of work it is at all. Oh yes!
And that is true, I am not misled
The Good Book said, "By the sweat of thy brow,
So man shall eat bread."
So Mister Jack, that ----- man
Always have fig well pack up on a stand
He is always ploughing land
He have work for any hard working man
But I am no hard working man
So from me Jack wouldn't get no production
But I could recommend Mr Suite,
He living on Buller Street. But not me!

Chorus:
I can't tote no load at all on my back, Mister Jack! Let me warn you!
Go and look for some young boy to do that, Mister Jack!
Not because I looking strong, not because my back look round
Not because my back look fat
Not a damn fig ent going on that! Not me!

Just recently I got to know
That Mister Jack is a fig man that was born in Tobago. Oh yes!
He planting fig since he was small
So now he come a big man, he cannot stop doing that at all
But if he think he catching me to break my back, I sorry for he!
I ent toting fig at all, big, medium-size, not even small
Toting fig is not my line
Look for Mighty Power, he strong behind
Or why not try Explainer, he toting from plantain to banana. But not me!

Chorus:
I can't tote no load at all on my back, Mister Jack! Let me warn you!
Go and look for some young boy to do that, Mister Jack!
Not because I looking strong, not because my back look round
Not because my back look fat
Not a damn fig ent going on that! Not me!

I can't tote no load at all on my back, Mister Jack! Let me warn you!
Go and look for some young boy to do that, Mister Jack!
Not because I looking strong, not because my back look round
Not because my back look fat
I ent toting no fig on that! Not me!....

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
 

Mama Man [Song]


Uploaded by roger ramirez

MAMA MAN
By Mighty Bomber

Cock up yuh ears if you want to hear
Mama men confusion in Woodford Square
Cock yuh ears and listen, you go get your share
Mama men zantaying in Woodford Square
Well, if you hear the filthy expression
Them Mama men cussing fuh calypsonian
I never hear rope talk so since ah born
Especially by a he-she name Sarah Vaughn.

Hear the damsel...

"Yeah what happen to you Pounding Patsy?
Since I was a little chick I fren'ing with Lord Shorty
Look mih cross, though besides I never hear more
Shorty does always tell me pass him through mih back door."

I wouldn't lie, I was feeling shame
When I hear them calling calypsonians' name
So I hide behind a fountain, man, how you mean
Because I fix up mih body was to take the scene
Well, up came a fat, red policeman
I say, well, he go lock them up in the station
Not knowing, can't tell that is really true
The policeman was a red hot mama man too.

And if you hear him...

"Is a long time I join up the police service
Quite in the square allyuh talking out mih business
But no blankety blinking calypsonian
Could ever blinkety blank this macomere man."

Well, if you hear how them Mama men
Cackling in the square like some sitting hen
Tina Bunch say, "Listen you, Donna Lee
Is a long time you want to take the dougla from me."
Mrs. Robinson tell Georgina,
"Me ent business with you, my straight man is Clipper."
Rachel jump up and say, "Look allyuh ent know.
My man is the high and mighty Sparrow."

Hear Michelle...

"Me ent business with no calypsonian
They nice but I find out they too mauvais langue
Is only Lord Cypher I did really love
But he pull out on me when push come to shove."

Well, if you see them Mama men fight
They scratching, they pinching and they pelting bite
A lingay one they call Tina Blues
Beat up Chinee Linda with a high-heeled shoes
And when they finish make they confusion
They shaking up deyself and talking like woman
Ah nearly drop dead when I hear one say
Look mih boyfriend Bomber coming down dey.

"Eh Bomber, darling, whey going on?
It look like you come to check out Sarah Vaughn?"
It does happen for true but is very rare
Mama men confusion in Woodford Square.

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! ..............................................................................................................................


Note From The Gull

Thank you,  Mighty Bomber.

"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 Driving [Song]


Uploaded by Clynton Mann

GOOD DRIVING
By Luta

They say he was too vindictive and wicked, he had vengeance against Trini
Abu Bakr should kill him, July 1990
Only thinking about Tobago, he ent deserve to be alive
So we kick him out and tell him go, singing the driver can't drive.

But now, the driver driving good [the driver driving]
The country moving smooth [the country moving]
The driver renovate the kitchen for 1.6 million
Advertise the face on TV for only 400 grand.
Boy, the driver driving good [the driver driving]
The country moving smooth [the country moving]
You better take your separation and don't call it retrenchment
It's rightsizing operation from the people's government.
I tell you, the driver driving good [the driver driving]
The country moving smooth [the country moving].

The dragon spitting fire, look how them five little children drown
Explosion in Camp Omega, so the driver took the dragon down
But then thirteen people dead in St. Ann's, up to now I still feeling shame
After thorough investigations, they can't even find a dove to blame.

Fus the driver driving good [the driver driving]
The country moving smooth [the country moving]
Eric Williams died since '81, and this everybody know
Yet the driver say he just holding on and is Eric running the show.
I tell you, the driver driving good [the driver driving]
The country moving smooth [the country moving]
A fella borrowed 12 million dollars, with bad planning, he lost everything
But the driver take him and make him Minister of Planning
The driver good [the driver driving]
The country moving smooth [the country moving].

I am not so stupid to oppose them, this is PNM country
Robinson was the problem; praise God we get rid of he
Since we send him back to Castara, poor people ent poor again
No more armed robberies and murder, no more vagrants in Port of Spain.

That's because the driver driving good [the driver driving]
The country moving smooth [the country moving]
And there was no devaluation, the dollar just float in town
That's the way to fight inflation, this year food price coming down.
Why? The driver driving good [the driver driving]
The country moving smooth [the country moving]
You paying too much tax already and this is a caring government
So the exorbitant transfer fee is not a tax, that's a punishment.
The driver driving good [the driver driving]
The country moving smooth [the country moving].

Don't ever think the driver is stupid because he ent explain yet
Why he think it is valid to put more Indians in Cabinet
And when it comes to making Budget, what an outstanding human being
Oil is thirteen dollars on the market but he sure we go get nineteen.

The driver driving good [the driver driving]
The country moving smooth [the country moving]
The driver went and tell Bill Clinton, he want to catch some drug traffickers
But if he ent get assistance, all ah we go be drug pushers
The driver driving good [the driver driving]
The country moving smooth [the country moving]
They used to call Eric "deafy", Robinson, they say was heartless
I and all thought Chambers duncee but this fella is the best.
The driver driving good [the driver driving]
The country moving smooth [the country moving].

The driver driving goooood, the country moving smooooth
The driver driving goooood, the country moving smooooth...

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, Luta.

"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

Gay Young Lad From Trinidad [Song]


Uploaded by John Doe

DE GAY YOUNG LAD FROM TRINIDAD
By Ruth Wallis

De gay young lad from Trinidad
Oh, what a time I almost had
He was as gay as he could be
But he was much too gay for me.

I always knew they grew palm trees
Bananas they always had
But you can imagine my surprise
I found a pansy in Trinidad.

Oh, yes, he was very authentic
As described  in the geography
Had his accent on the wrong syllable
And his lingo was queer as can be.

De gay young lad from Trinidad
Oh, what a time I almost had
I might have sowed a few wild oats
But he preferred banana boats.

Oh, I took him down by the ocean
It was romantic as it could be
The waves, they were swishing against the shore
Like the waves swished, so did he.

I wanted to teach him to love me
But he seemed to be awfully shy
And the things I was trying to teach him
I found him learning from some other guy.

Two gay young lads from Trinidad
Oh, what a time I never had 
My girlfriends were jealous 'cause they never knew
They had no fellas and they thought I had two.

He was crazy right from the beginning
You never know what is wearing a suit
So if you make dates with nuts, girls
You make just wind up with a fruit.

Oh, we really are quite a threesome
Two guys and me, heavens above!
Now nobody knows I'm the lookout
And those other two are in love.

Two gay young lads from Trinidad
Oh, what a time I never had
And while they're walking hand in hand
Say, I'm still looking for a man
And while they're walking hand in hand
Say, I'm still looking for a man
I'm still looking for a man.

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

My Experience On The Reperbahn [Song]


Uploaded by Jordan Whelchel

MY EXPERIENCE ON THE REPERBAHN
By Lord Invader [1959]

Yes, Paris is joke to Hamburg, Germany
My experience on St. Pauli shocked my modesty
Paris is joke to Hamburg, Germany
My experience on St. Pauli shocked my modesty
For if you go nightclubbing and you out to get
A nice blonde, a redhead or brunette
Make sure someone introduce a real fraulein to you
Otherwise you'll never know who is who.

Man dancing with man
You cannot tell a man from a woman
I caught myself walking hand in hand
With a man dressed in woman on the Reeperbahn.

My first night of arrival I went to the Gold Coast Bar
Menties, Pegal and Blauer Peter
To have some fun that night was my intention
So I decided to plan an invasion
At Blue Peter I felt groovy so I took a chance
I held on to an object and started to dance
After the dance, the leader of the band
Said, "Lord Invader, you was dancing with a man."

Man dancing with man
You can't tell a man from a woman
I caught myself walking hand in hand
With a man dressed in woman on the Reeperbahn.

Believe me, that physical statue had me hypnotized
I felt a sudden thrill when it gaze in my eyes
For the way that it walk with such prominence
And spoke with such feminine eloquence
I introduced myself as Lord Invader
The object said, "My name is Madame Eriker."
Surprisingly it turned out to be
That the object was of the same specie as me.

Man dancing with man
You cannot tell a man from a woman
I caught myself walking hand in hand
With a man dressed in woman on the Reeperbahn.

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, Lord Invader.

"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 Scapefox [Song]


Uploaded by edward spencer

THE SCAPEFOX
The Mighty Chalkdust (1987)

You filled his hands with power until it overflow
You gave him authority and machine guns for so
You gave him the right to search any man's bungalow
You gave him the right to kill prisoner, friend or foe
You made him judge and jury, hangman and boucanier
You laughed when the grieved ones shed a tear, you ent care
Despite all the evidence that the people disclose
You wait thirty years to hold Burroughs. Why?

After the horse bolt you looking to close the stable
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?
You made him a god, now you calling him a devil
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?
The Flying Squad killed so many innocent people
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?

Who killed Kenneth Tenia? [Police]
Joel de Masia? [Police]
Buried Guy Harewood bones? [Police]
Who killed Beverly Jones? [Police]
All these people died, not a word, you just close your eyes
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?
It have plenty more who does play jigsaw with the law
You done know the score, what you holding the damn man for?

You refuse to hold inquest when police kill people
You kept silent when they beat others in a squabble
You knew the policeman who used to trade in ganja
You knew those who used to deal in coke from Colombia
You were warned by Interpol 'bout drugs in your backyard
You knew the drug holes in Trinidad...it is sad
So many big men committed crime are still at large
Why is only Burroughs who's being charged. Eh?

Look how nice you treat Mister Creed and Dennis Ramdwar
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?
You let them resign with their big, full pension after
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?
Albert Peters left the police force without a scar
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?

Whose gun killed John Beddoe? [Police]
And Patrick Revello? [Police]
Who blast Terry Walker? [Police]
Wilbur Mike Hollister? [Police]
All this massacre, you ent even lift a finger
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?
It have plenty more who does play seesaw with the law
Ah say you done know the score, what you holding the damn man for?

You knew all the cocaine men who used to flap their wing
Yet you charging Burroughs for some little minor thing
You knew is police who ---------- Clive Blondell
Brian Jeffers, Mervyn Belgrave and Sydney Daniels
You ------------ when they kill Christopher Jack
When Garraway died, it was Kojak - it's a fact
You laugh when they make the soldier kneel down in Couva
And make him say the "Our Father." Uhmm?

After the house fall, you looking for nail and lumber
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?
So much men get kill after Daly ---------- surrender
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?
So much false charges you put on Ome and Daaga
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?

Who butchered ------ John [Police]
Who throw 'way Randolph gun [Police]
Who ------- at Rudy John [Police]
And Nelson Cato son [Police]
They laugh ---------------------------
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?
It have plenty more pushing coke all over San Juan
Ah say you done know the score, what you holding the damn man for?

You made him Commissioner to keep you in power
When the Black Power men were threatening to take over
You made him train policemen with hand grenades and ----
So that they will hit and wipe out all them NJAC men
You made him pay criminals as police informer
Then made him Trinity Cross holder like Butler
You worshipped his machine gun, all his deeds you endorse
Now you want to nail him to the cross. Why?

Such hypocrisy, the nation must never endure
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?
You just breaking up the police service more and more
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?
Police men now see that you are a blooming traitor
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?

Who killed white man, Des Vignes [Police]
Brian Greene in his field [Police]
Andrew Cowie, I know [Police]
Was killed in Tobago [Police]
While these men drop dead, you were kissing Burroughs' bald head
You done know the score, what you hold the man for?
He was no angel but respect the post that he held
Ah say you done know the score, what you holding the damn man for?

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 Chalkdust.

"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

Jagabat Woman [Song]

 
 Uploaded by Glenroy Joseph

JAGABAT WOMAN
By Mighty Bomber

You could never trust them, them jagabat women
I said, never, never trust one, a jagabat woman
They will be head over heels in love with you
As they see John Thomas, they love he too
Before you say Jack, well how, you don't know
Jones done make a mile with ------------.

Let me tell you...

Just as how a birdie flies from tree to tree
The same way a ship does sail on the open sea
Just as how a dollar move from hand to hand
That's the way the jagabat women and dem does snatch up a man.

Some do it for luxury, others again too tricky
Take on wedding business for you to call them mistress
But if a fella just walk them down the aisle
As they fix up that, they start running wild
So you see, you now in for bacchanal
The jail, the courthouse and the hospital.

Let me tell you...

Just as how a fella will search for a job
The same way the girls does climb in search of a bob
Like a bodysnatcher you will understand
That's the way the jagabat women and dem does snatch up dey man.

You could give a mansion backed by half a million
Treat them like a princess, dem jagabats worthless
I know a lot of men will not believe
They say whey eyes ent see, heart does never grieve
But it's vice versa, take it from me
What heart ent believe, eyes may never see.

Let me tell you...

Like a flying saucer will move in a flash
The same way the girls does do anything for cash
You know how a sailor doesn't pass he hand
That's the way the jagabat women and dem ent passing a man.

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 Bomber.

You braver than me. With these observations you are begging for them to tell you to check your privilege, your toxic masculinity and benevolent sexism and call you a misogynistic, patriarchical-masculinist-androcentric, jagabat-shamer for displaying your ignorance of intersectionality and trying to co-opt your audience into denying jagabats their agency. Poor jagabats just trying to close the wage-gap and, oh yes, #hatersgonnahate.

Gardé misseur mweh! 

"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

Mud Madness [Song]


Uploaded by 3CanalVEVO

MUD MADNESS
By 3 CANAL

Is mud, [Mud!] mud and more mud [Mud and more mud!]

This is not a fête in here, [No!] this is not a fête in here [No way!]
This is not a fête in here, this is mud, mud, mud.

This is a mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud,  mud [Mud!] madness, [Mud madness!] mud madness.

Nana na na na-nah na-na, na na-nah na nah na-nah
Nana na na na-nah na-na, na na-nah na nah na-nah.

Everything is mud, from mud then back to mud again
Everything is mud, from Creation to J'Ouvert morning
Yuh listening?
Everything is mud, from mud then back to mud again
Everything is mud, from Creation to J'Ouvert morning.

This is a J'Ouvert sensation, it is a living vibration
J'Ouvert morning, children running, tell dem is mud we playing
[Is mud] To free up we heart and soul
[Is mud] To leggo and to lose control
[Is mud] Free up and take you high,
[Is mud] Is madness under the sky.

This is a mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud [Mud!] madness, [Mud madness!] mud madness!
This is a mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud [Mud!] madness, [Mud madness!] mud madness!

Nana na na na-nah na-na, na na-nah na nah na-nah
Nana na na na-nah na-na, na na-nah na nah na-nah.

Dig in the dirt, reconnect to your birth
Trapped inside, feel the vibe coming straight from the tribe
It's a suspension of earth with an injection of water
Mother, father, sister, daughter, everybody come together.
It's liberation and renewal of this madness potential
This rhythm detrimental, it is exponential
It go cause an infection in the whole of your system
Bringing 'bout resurrection,
It go leave you in a mess!

This is a mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud [Mud!] madness, [Mud madness!] mud madness!
This is a mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud [Mud!] madness, [Mud madness!] mud madness!

Mud! Everything is mud, [Mud and more mud!] Mud and more mud.

I hearing a rumbling, I feeling a tumbling
The whole world vibrating, a madness erupting
I hearing a rumbling, I feeling a tumbling
The whole world vibrating, a madness erupting.

This is not a fête in here, [No!] this is not a fête in here [No way!]
This is not a fête in here, this is mud, mud, mud.

This is a mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud [Mud!] madness, [Mud madness!] mud madness!
This is a mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud [Mud!] madness, [Mud madness!] mud madness!

Nana na na na-nah na-na, na na-nah na nah na-nah
Nana na na na-nah na-na, na na-nah na nah na-nah.

----- lord, have mercy. This mud, it driving me crazy
Jeesan ages, oh mih lard, this mud, it driving me mad
Mud mas invading the city, thousands of revelers, no mercy
Mud up! Get on crazy. Mud madness taking the city.

[Mud madness] Take the city, drive them crazy, bawl out for mercy
[Mud madness] Gripping the city, ---- dem boys ---- all dem crazy,
Dem boys dem crazy, crazy, crazy
And all dem crazy. Dem boys dem crazy, crazy, crazy.

This is a mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, [Mud!] madness, [Mud madness!] mud madness!
This is a mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud [Mud!] madness, [Mud madness!] mud madness!

Nana na na na-nah na-na, na na-nah na nah na-nah
Nana na na na-nah na-na, na na-nah na nah na-nah.

Everything is mud, [Mud and more mud!] mud and more mud.

Mud madness...

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, 3CANAL.

"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 Club Scandal [Song]



Uploaded by #DeRoaring70s

COUNTRY CLUB SCANDAL
By King Radio [1933]
Performed by Brian Honore

Scandal, big bacchanal
That take place at the country club carnival
Scandal, big bacchanal
That take place at the country club carnival
The sweet man and the lady went to spend the day
But the husband find out the lacouray
He meet he wife naked as she born
And the sweet man without a uniform.

[Naked you come, naked you go]
The husband tell she in calypso
[Naked you come, naked you go]
But the sweet man knock him down with a poui.
[Naked you come, naked you go]
[Naked you come, naked you go]

The president of the tennis court
Intervene was to stop the wrath
They grab on to he jacket
And they beat him with the tennis racket
The husband call the sweet man a fool
The sweet man throw him in the swimming pool
And while the white people having fun
I catch the corporal tiefing the rum.

[Naked you come, naked you go]
No woman can't do that to Radio
[Naked you come, naked you go]
I woulda pack she back to Palo Seco.
[Naked you come, naked you go]
[Naked you come, naked you go]

The husband now getting wild
But the wife only watching him with a smile
She grinning like a Cheshire Cat,
He slap she with a alpagat
"Darling, I don't believe what I see
I meant to say, you never do that to me."
She turn and tell she husband with scorn
"My Boy Blue have a better horn."

[Naked you come, naked you go]
What the sweet man name, allyuh want to know?
[Naked you come, naked you go]
Allyuh want Centipede to lock up Radio?
[Naked you come, naked you go]
Sing it out, boys!
[Naked you come, naked you go]
This is the King Radio!

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, King Radio and Brian Honore.

"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

Police doing it too [Song]


Uploaded by mightysparrowaz

POLICE DOING IT TOO
By Young Killer [1963]

Well, my wife she want a divorce
If I join up the police force
She say they getting on bad
And she watching national guards
Nowadays is big competition
Between the police force and civilian
Because anything these hooligans do,
The police doing them too.

And don't doubt...

Who you think kill the man in Savannah? [Is a policeman]
Who you think they hold in Bonanza? [Is a policeman]
Who stab he wife Diego Martin? [Is a policeman]
Who accuse poor Cadogan and then get away smiling. [Is a policeman].

-------------for security and harassing anybody
When they have their guns at their side
For safety, best you run and hide
For they go wait patiently until you pass
Shoot at you, and say you had a cutlass
But if the shot catch you in your back
Then they go say is renegades can attack.

And don't doubt...

Who accuse ---------------- Chaguaramas?
And the ham by Hi Lo just last year Christmas?  [Is a policeman].
Who tief the black cow in Erin?  [Is a policeman].
Who you think does tief in dey canteen?  [Is a policeman].

They start with they long time thing
From in the days of Charlie King
Ah fus Charlie was so bad
They burn him alive in Fyzabad
They cease for a while but start again
People 'fraid to walk through Port of Spain
If they arrest you, you  cannot talk
Man, is licks from Elephant Walk.

Who you think kill he wife up in Morvant? [Is a policeman].
Who hang heself Tunapuna? [Is a policeman].
In the trade fair, they catch him hiding like a mouse? [Is a policeman].
Who you think kill heself by the White House? [Is a policeman].

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, Young Killer.    

"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

I remember [Song]


Uploaded by edward spencer

I REMEMBER
By Nap Hepburn

No more fighting, no more steelband clash
No more badjohn with dey big cutlass
Everybody out to have some fun
I am so happy that them days are gone
I remember, yes, the days when the bands used to clash.
Was bottle and stone, big mango wood, bullpistle and cutlass.
Nowadays who drinking, stay in the drinking section
Who smoking, stay in the smoking section
You could do your thing in your own way
Leh we jump and be merry on Carnival Day.

No more pointing at a steelband man
No more calling him names like hooligan
So much talent used to go to waste
Just being a panman was a big disgrace
But now, I remember, yes, the days when the bands used to clash
Was bottle and stone, big mango wood, bullpistle and cutlass.
Nowadays who streaking, stay in the streaking section
Who freaking, stay in the freaking section
You could do your thing in your own way
Leh we jump and be merry on Carnival Day.

I remember Carnival '79
No Panorama - a certain band break the line
In the fifties, that was licks for sure
It would have been bloodshed, worse than the Third World War
Now, I remember, yes, the days when the bands used to clash
Was bottle and stone, big mango wood, bullpistle and cutlass
Nowadays who necking, stay in the necking section
Who loving, stay in the loving section
You could do your thing in your own way
Leh we jump and be merry on Carnival Day.

Jamming, ramming, rocking, jumping.

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, Nap Hepburn.

Live and let live:

"Nowadays who streaking, stay in the streaking section
Who freaking, stay in the freaking section
You could do your thing in your own way
Leh we jump and be merry on Carnival Day."

"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

Mrs. Harriman [Song]


Uploaded by Lord Kitchener - Topic

MRS. HARRIMAN
By Lord Kitchener

I don't know how to tell Miss Harriman
I don't how to make she understand
I don't know how to tell Miss Harriman
I don't how to make she understand
If she want to play mas', we cater for one class
It is quite legal to hug up anybody for Carnival.

Just so the woman start to get on with her scandal
I go say my part, hear whey cause the bacchanal
She parade in front of Kitchener
Well, as man he make he manima
Then she start to watch me in a way
Like she vex because I dingolay
If you feel you grand and nobody should touch your hand
Why the france you come in the band, Mrs. Harriman?

At three o' clock we leave the Savannah
Making we way to Green Corner
Doudou when we reach to Tragarete
Mamamyo she wining on the street
I myself catch chaleur, I start moving --------
She shout angrily, "Mister, wine yuh wine but doh wine on me!"

Just so the woman start to get on with her scandal
I go say my part, hear whey cause the bacchanal
She parade in front of Kitchener
Well, as man he make he manima
Then she start to watch me in a way
Like she vex because I dingolay
If you feel you grand and nobody should touch your hand
Why the france you come in the band, Mrs. Harriman?

This I could remember perfectly
It happen in the heart of the city
She started jumping 'bout the place
I decide to hold she round the waist
Mih hand must be drop low
The girl nearly explode
"Mister, move your hand before I kick you out the band!"

Just so the woman start to get on with her scandal
I go say my part, hear whey cause the bacchanal
She parade in front of Kitchener
Well, as man he make he manima
Then she start to watch me in a way
Like she vex because I dingolay
If you feel you grand and nobody should touch your hand
Why the france you come in the band, Mrs. Harriman?

When you really come to think of it
The woman is a right down hypocrite
Whole day she jumping shamelessly with a little, tiny bikini
And she bawling, "Bite me!" and wiggling she body
Every time I move, she swell up she face and she disapprove.

Just so the woman start to get on with her scandal
I go say my part, hear whey cause the bacchanal
She parade in front of Kitchener
Well, as man he make he manima
Then she start to watch me in a way
Like she vex because I dingolay
If you feel you grand and nobody should touch your hand
Why the france you come in the band, Mrs. Harriman?

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, Lord Kitchener.  

"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 Crime, No Law [Song]

 
Uploaded by grjoseph

NO CRIME, NO LAW
 By Lord Commander

The government of every country
Should pay a criminal a big salary
And when they commit a crime,
The law shouldn't give them any long time
A police should be glad when one twist a jaw
Lock a neck, buss a face, or break open a store
They should be merry when somebody violate the law
Because that is what the government is paying them for.    

Chorus:
For if somebody don't buss somebody face
How the police man going to make a case?
And if somebody don't dig out somebody eye
The magistrate wouldn't have nobody to try
And if somebody don't kill somebody dead
All the judges got to beg their bread
So when somebody cut off somebody head
Instead of hanging, they should pay them money instead!

A thief give the whole force a promotion
From a police to a Commissioner
And is the Commissioner that living in the big mansion
And the man who promote him down Carrera
And if somebody don't crack somebody skull plate
We wouldn't have no jail, courthouse or magistrate
Still, when a man cut open somebody belly
Is custody and the cat o' nine tails for he.    

Chorus:
And if somebody don't buss somebody face
How the police man going to make a case?
And if somebody don't dig out somebody eye
The magistrate wouldn't have nobody to try
And if somebody don't kill somebody dead
All the judges got to beg their bread
So when somebody cut off somebody head
Instead of hanging, they should pay them money instead!

If a man don't lick out a woman teeth
Or she don't part he face with a poui
Or saw off one of he hand with a saw
What the government going to pay men of the law for?
Because you kick me and I break your ankle
Men of the law becoming honourable
And still when you do them things
They send you straight in jail
And from the time they hold you, is without no bail    

Chorus:
And if somebody don't buss somebody face
How the police man going to make a case?
And if somebody don't dig out somebody eye
The magistrate wouldn't have nobody to try
And if somebody don't kill somebody dead
All the judges got to beg their bread
So when somebody cut off somebody head
Instead of hanging, they should pay them money instead!

Don't doubt me, is true, on the criminal
Men of the law becoming social
And living of high society
And associating with big company
A lawyer should kiss a criminal anyway
For is off of them they making their money everyday
You know this calypso is true, some of them may vex
But the fall of one is rising of the next.    

Chorus:
For if somebody don't buss somebody face
How the police man going to get a case?
And if somebody don't dig out somebody eye
The magistrate wouldn't have nobody to try
And if somebody don't kill somebody dead
All the judges got to beg their bread
So when a man kill, instead of swinging he head
They should make him Governor General instead!



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, Lord Commander.

"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