Hold On, T&T.... Hold On To The Balance-Wheel.[Song]


Uploaded by ScorpioPetey
BALANCE WHEEL
By Calypso Rose

Hold on to the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Eric was the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Who can’t hear they got to feel [Hold on!]
So get to the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Now that Eric Williams gone
I know you all miss this son
Don't think that the days are done
He gone
Eric Williams say, "Hold on!"

Hold on to the balance [Hold on!]
You better gimme the balance [Hold on!]
You better find them gimme [Hold on!]
You better bring them gimme [Hold on!]
You better gimme, gimme, gimme. [Hold on!]

Hold on to the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Chambers is the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Watch out Trinidadian [Hold on!]
For them crooked politician [Hold on!]
But I know my lips are sealed
Is so much I can’t reveal
Eric tell me, “Peace, be still.
He gone.
Eric Williams say, "Hold on!"

Hold on, baby!

Hold on! Hold on to the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Oh gimme the balance wheel [Hold on!]
You better find them gimme [Hold on!]
You better find them gimme [Hold on!]
You better bring them gimme [Hold on!]
You better gimme, gimme, gimme. [Hold on!] Oy!

Eric Williams was the boss [Hold on!]
Oh what a great man we lost [Hold on!]
His spirit still have a force [Hold on!]
I want you to feel remorse [Hold on!]
Eric was the balance-wheel
Trinidadians make him screel
He standing behind a wheel
He gone.
Eric Williams say, "Hold on!"

Hold on! Hold on to the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
You better find them gimme [Hold on!]
You better find them gimme [Hold on!]
You better bring them gimme [Hold on!]
You better gimme, gimme, gimme. [Hold on!]

I saw Eric in mih dream [Hold on!]
Still holding the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
He say, "Rosie, tell Chamber [Hold on!]
Call election November.
[Hold on!]
And tell Chambers that I say
Give the Baptists a holiday
And tell the nation doh mourn
Ah gone.
"
Eric Williams say, "Hold on!"

Hold on to the balance [Hold on!]
Hold on to the balance [Hold on!]
Hold on to the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Gimme the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Gimme the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Chambers is the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Rosie is the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Shadow is the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Straker is the balance-wheel [Hold on!] Oy!

Hold on [to the balance-wheel]
Hold on [to the balance-wheel]
Hold on [to the balance-wheel]
Hold on [to the balance-wheel]
Hold on to the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
You better find them gimme [Hold on!]
You better find them gimme [Hold on!]
You better bring them gimme [Hold on!]
You better gimme, gimme, gimme. [Hold on!]

Chambers is the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Straker is the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Rosie is the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Frankie is the balance-wheel [Hold on!] Oy! Gimme!
Hold on to the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Chambers is the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Jesus is the balance-wheel [Hold on!]
Eric was the balance-wheel [Hold on!] I know!

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!
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A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Calypso Rose, for this invigorating and comforting song. I find powerful inspiration in the musical genius of my people.

Everything that I have learned about the spiritual significance of the balance-wheel makes me conclude that it is one of our most beautiful symbols. According to Louis Regis in "Reflections of a Legend":
"In Spiritual Baptist iconography, the balance wheel which graces all Spiritual Baptist churches, is a wheel which is suspended horizontally from the ceiling and which contains holders for lighted candles. This wheel symbolizes the equilibrium that Spiritual Baptists are encouraged to aspire to in their daily lives; the candles represent spirituality."
Some of us have relinquished our hold on the balance-wheels upon which our ancestors relied. Although it is sometimes necessary to let go of the old to find more relevant tools, the search can lead us to a challenging sojourn in the desert and a dark night of the soul. For some this drifting will be temporary but remember the plight of our fellow Trinbagonians who find themselves permanently separated from this balance-wheel.

What is our nation's balance wheel? I don't think that it can or should be a leader or a political party, even though these two can work towards providing a national environment that is conducive to seeking and finding this balance for all its citizens. I don't think that it even has to be ONE balance wheel. We are all different and like the wheels within wheels of many cogs working for and not against each other, our various balance-wheels that ground us as individuals will facilitate our cooperation as citizens of this nation.

What and where is my balance-wheel? Even if I feel that my hand has not been in contact with it for the longest while, I know that there is an indirect connection with it through those who love me, those who pray for me, those who reach me through their positive thoughts and actions and creations. They are holding on to their balance wheels and because they are also holding on to me, they become my conduits of peace.

Hold on to the balance-wheel and don't ever let go of our brothers and sisters. Trinidad and Tobago, you are my balance-wheel.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

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