This composition by Lord Pretender (Aldric Farrell), "God Made Us All," was first performed by him in January of 1943 so it may have been composed in late 1942. It was a hit in Trinidad and Tobago and went on to make its mark overseas. According to the notes from the Smithsonian Folkways album,"Lord Invader: Calypso in New York":
"Lord Pretender, young calypso singer almost 'brought down the house' and created a precedent... on Friday night, before a mixed audience at the Commando Tent on St. Vincent Street, with the song 'God Made Us All'. His rendition of this 'plaint' was sincere, if not particularly 'catchy', and immediately his chorus 'Nobody better than us' - became a hit among back-benchers, earning him special gifts of money." So reported the Sunday Guardian (Trinidad) on 17 January, 1943 (p. 5)."Ode to the Negro Race" (an alternative title) was carried to New York by Invader. Pete Seeger's prefatory remarks take up the story of how the song was introduced to the circle associated with "People's Songs". "God Made Us All" proved so popular that it was published in the July 1946 issue of People's Songs (p. 6)."SOURCE: Notes from the Smithsonian Folkways album "Lord Invader: Calypso in New York." p. 15.
The following is Lord Invader's rendition:
Uploaded by ChanzoG
Composed by Lord Pretender
This version performed by Lord Invader
If you are a Negro you can plainly see,
That you’re bound to suffer misery and tyranny,
If you are a Negro you can plainly see,
That you’re bound to suffer misery and tyranny,
But we all should be race conscious and always be,
Living in unity and tranquility,
For God made us all and in Him we trust,
Nobody in this world is better than us.
We are not against the white people in any way,
For they made us what we are today,
We must offer thanks to Abraham Lincoln,
Queen Victoria and Booker T. Washington,
We are now living in a world of civilization,
And yet there is so much discrimination,
For God made us all and in Him we trust,
Nobody in this world is better than us.
Now listen what I am outlining to you,
Negroes fought in World Wars One and Two,
Some lose their lives, other lose they hand,
We fought gallantly for the United Nation,
So if we Negroes are good enough to fight,
I don’t see why we can’t have our equal rights,
For God made us all and in Him we trust,
Nobody in this world is better than us.
Yes, we ought to unite with one another,
As the scripture say, to love thy neighbour,
If you are a Jew or an Italian,
A Negro, or a subject of Great Britain,
This is what I want you to realize,
Six feet of earth make us all of one size,
For God made us all and in Him we trust,
Nobody in this world is better than us.
Yes, I heard they speaking of democracy,
That is only diplomacy and hypocrisy,
It is about time they should be cut out,
The way they treat the Negroes down South,
In my opinion it is a burning shame,
Like they want to bring back slavery again,
For God made us all and in Him we trust,
Nobody in this world is better than us.
The following verse was added at a later date by Lord Invader, following the acquittal in 1946 of Linwood Shull (Chief of Police in Batesburg, South Carolina) for beating war veteran Isaac Woodward, gouging out his eyes and blinding him for life.
One of the worst atrocities it ever had,
I must state is that of Isaac Woodard,
A Negro soldier who served four years in the army,
He was beaten so mercilessly,
[…] to tell you-
I cannot say why,
He was beaten by a cop, who dug out his eye,
But God made us all and in Him we trust,
Nobody in this world is better than us.
Notes from Rounder Records release "Calypso After Midnight" start that:
"The song was extremely successful, Lord Invader won a contest with it the following year and was apparently awarded a prize of some kind. Back in Trinidad, Lord Pretender, the composer, commented, 'He brought [me] a kinda gold wire tie pin marked 'Pretender,' with the usual promise [i.e., but with no money].' (Donald Hill, Calypso Calaloo: Early Carnival Music in Trinidad, Gainsville: University Press of Florida, 1993, p. 165)." SOURCE
The calypso caught the attention of Lead Belly, an African American folk and blues musician. It is not clear whether he had heard the song from Lancelot, the Duke of Iron or Lord Invader. According to the notes from the Smithsonian Folkways album, "Lord Invader: Calypso in New York", Lead Belly "learned the motif and in songster tradition altered the lyrics to make it his own - "Equality for Negroes" or "Nobody In This World Is Better Than Us" - Lead Belly's Last Sessions (Smithsonian Folkways 40068/71)" SOURCE: Notes from the Smithsonian Folkways album "Lord Invader: Calypso in New York." p. 15.
The following is Lead Belly's rendition of Lord Pretender's calypso: God Made Us All:
Uploaded by kris berwouts
I cannot find a recording online of Lord Pretender singing the complete version of his original composition but thanks to G.B.T.V. CultureShare Archives and Gentle Benjamin, we can share the appreciation of the audience as he sings some verses at the Father's Day Caribbean Show at the Aristocrat Manor, Brooklyn, NY., 20th June 1999.
Uploaded by Gentle Benjamin
GOD MADE US ALL
By Lord Pretender
When you are a negro, it is plain to see
Like you are born to suffer misery and tyranny
As an African, it is plain to see
Like you are born to suffer misery and tyranny
We all should be race conscious and always be
Living in unity and tranquility
For God made us all and in Him we trust
So nobody in the world is better than us.
I'm not against the white people in any way
They have helped to make the world what it is today
But if I am forced to say what is right
They kept us in the darkness but now we see the light
So they didn't have no right to live happily
And we in tyrannical poverty
For God made us all and in Him we trust
So nobody in the world is better than us.
For you can be a duke, a king or a lord
You can have money as Henry Ford
You can be a president or an emperor
A baron, a count or a dictator
As Moses or Solomon you can be wise
But six feet of earth makes us all of one size
For God made us all and in Him we trust
Nobody in the world is better than us.
Some people believe that the Negro race
Were descended from monkeys and apes
And if they had the power, they would waste no time
To wipe us out from the ranks of mankind
But man were born with created equality
The pursuit of life, happiness and liberty
For God made us all and in Him we trust
So nobody in the world is better than us.
Extempo Verses follow:
Well, ladies and gents, I'm putting it to you
You see what the lady and gentleman do
They treat me quite splendid
It's obvious you should do just what they did
Me ent begging anybody
You know that I have the ability
Me ent killing nobody, I'll tell you as friend
You could give me a twenty, even a ten.
Class is class, you bound to agree
I like what these people doing to me
I must make you to understand
Put it in the box or put it in mih hand
Me ent care where you put money
As longst you give it to the great Preddie.
So come right away, let me feel as man
Somebody put a hundred note in mih hand.
I like the way you go
But I have to continue with the calypso
So after this verse, I'll tell you as man
I'll prove I'm a true, true calypsonian
I'll go back to the song immediately
So sit down kindly and listen to me
I love you, believe me, I don't want to bawl
All ah we know that God made us all.
A little less than two years after this performance, on January 22nd 2002, our Lord Pretender passed away from this life. His obituary published in the Guardian (UK) follows:
By Peter Mason | The Guardian, Saturday 26 January 2002 01.55 GMT"Even when he began singing in the calypso tents of Trinidad and Tobago before the second world war, Lord Pretender, who has died aged 84, stood out as a master of extempo, then regarded as the highest form of calypso, in which performers make up verses about subjects shouted from the audience. As a new generation of calypsonians began to drop this exhilarating art in favour of more structured stage performances, he emerged as its greatest exponent, and virtually sole guardian.Until cancer of the larynx prevented him from singing, Pretender was loved for his insistence on improvising new verses when called back for encores. He never entered the annual extempo competition, instituted in the hope of reviving the discipline in Trinidad, because, by general consent, he would have spoiled the party for everyone else. No one could match his ability to conjure up humorous, and perfectly scanned, verses from nowhere.Born Aldric Farrell, in Tobago, he made his first appearance in 1929, at the age of 12, at the Redhead Sailor in Corbeaux Town. He sang a calypso of his own composition about the ghost of a young girl named Jane - and never looked back. After a five-week tour with the calypsonian Executor, for which he was paid 60 cents and two bags of oranges, his profile began to rise significantly in the mid-1930s.Though initially tagged "the Boy Wonder", he soon went by his schoolyard nickname of Pretender, which he had given himself as a dramatic sobriquet while pitching marbles. His early popularity as a singer did not, however, impress his grandmother, who brought him up in Trinidad after his mother abandoned him for the United States.In the early days, mindful of the scandalous reputation of calypsonians, she would often stride into a tent and haul him off stage. "I'd get two clouts in the face," he once said. "My grandmother would say: 'You disgracing the family.'"Preddie, as Pretender was affectionately known, won his first competition with the rousing and popular wartime calypso, Ode To The Negro Race, the refrain of which ran: "God made us all and in him we trust/ So nobody in the world is better than us." But it was his happy-go-lucky postwar compositions that won him most acclaim. One of them, Que Sera Sera, helped him win the calypso monarch competition - the highest achievement for any calypsonian - in 1957.His most famous song, Never Ever Worry, is often cited as one of the classic calypsos of all time. A neat summary of his philosophy - Don't mind how you suffering bad/ What I say is true/ Always consider: somebody suffering more than you - it was frequently updated after its first recording in 1961, and featured in the US road movie, Cadillac Ranch (1996).Athough awarded his country's Humming Bird medal in 1994, Pretender's financial returns from his career were meagre. He lived, as a single man with no children, in a public housing scheme in Port of Spain, and was given some relief shortly before his death when the government allowed him to stay there rent free. During his later years, he survived on a pension from his time as a dock worker.His great passion outside calypso was horse racing, and he could be seen regularly at Trinidad's Santa Rosa Park racecourse with fellow calypsonian and horse-owner Lord Kitchener, sometimes leading Kitch's horses into the winning enclosure.Pretender appeared onstage until the mid-1990s, and died at the height of the build-up to the 2002 carnival season, still nurturing a hope that he would be well enough to show off his unrivalled extempo skills in public once more.· Aldric Farrell (Lord Pretender), calypsonian, born September 8 1917; died January 22 2002." SOURCE
Thank you, Lord Pretender. I am bowing low.
For musicians interested in locating the chords for this song, here is one source.
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.
Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
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