High Mas' I [Song]

Uploaded by 321tttrinidadian
HIGH MAS' I
Composed and performed by David Rudder

Give praise children, give praise
Give praise children, yeah, give praise
Give praise children yeah, give praise
Give praise children.

Antiphon:
Call: Our Father who has given use this art so that we can all feel like we are part of this earthly heaven.
Response: Amen.
Call: Forgive us this day our daily weakness as we seek to cast down mortal burdens on your city.
Response: Amen.
Call: Oh, merciful Father, in this bacchanal season when men lose their reason, but most of us just want to wine and have a good time ‘cause we are looking for a lime because we feeling fine, Lord.
Response: Amen.
Call: And as we jump up and down in this crazy town, send us some music for some healing.
Response: Amen.

Chorus:
Everybody hand raise.
Everybody give praise.
Everybody hand raise.
And if you know what ah mean, put up yuh finger
And if you know what ah mean, put up you hand
And if you know what ah mean, put up yuh finger
And if you know what ah mean, then scream...

Oh oh, give Jah His praises
Oh oh, let Jah be praised
Oh, the Father in His mercy
He send a little music to make to make we vibration great.

So Carnival day, everybody come and celebrate, yeah
Every come and celebrate
See de ragamuffins congregate, yeah
Everybody come and celebrate.

And every body say, “Ey ey ey, ey ey ey, ah love mih country”
Let me hear you saying, “Ey ey ey, ey ey ey, ah feeling irie.
Ey ey ey, ey ey ey, ah love mih county.”
Well let me hear you say, “Ey ey ey, ey ey ey, ah feeling irie.”

Antiphon:
Call: Our Father who has given us love so we can all feel a part of your heaven
Response: Amen.
Call: Forgive us today our daily weaknesses as we seek to cast down mortal burdens on Your city
Response: Amen.
Call: On this lovely day when we come out to play and we come out to sway and we breaking away, some will say what they have to say, but only You know the pain we’re feeling.
Response: Amen.
Call: As it was in the beginning of J’Ouvert, good vibes ‘til Carnival Tuesday ending.
Response: Amen

Chorus:
Check it out!
Everybody hand raise.
Everybody give praise.
Everybody hand raise.
And if you know what ah mean, put up yuh finger
And if you know what ah mean, put up you hand
And if you know what ah mean, put up yuh finger
Well if you know what ah mean, then scream...

Oh oh, give Jah His praises
Oh oh, let Jah be praised
Oh oh, the Father in His mercy
He send a little soca to make we vibration great.

So Carnival day, everybody come and celebrate, yeah
Every come and celebrate, yeah
See de ragamuffins congregate, yeah
Everybody come and celebrate

And every body say, “Ey ey ey, ey ey ey, ah love mih country
Let me hear you saying, “Ey ey ey, ey ey ey, ah feeling irie.
Ey ey ey, ey ey ey, ah love mih country.”
So let me hear you singing, “Ey ey ey, ey ey ey, ah feeling irie.”
“Ey ey ey, ey ey ey, ah love mih country”
Let me hear you saying, “Ey ey ey, ey ey ey, ah feeling irie.
"Ey ey ey, ey ey ey, ah love mih country.”
“Ey ey ey, ey ey ey, ah feeling irie.”

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

Carnival Is Bacchanal [Song]

CARNIVAL IS BACCHANAL
By Lord Caresser

Carnival is a bacchanal
So we don’t care!
It’s a creole fete that we can’t forget, doudou
So we don’t care!
We going to start the amusement in the tent
So we don’t care!
Go with mih bottle and spoon when ah play the tune, doudou
We don’t care!
Caresser ent no millionaire
But we don’t care!
I’m a young creole so brave and bold
So we don’t care!

But when a tambu play, yuh going to hear me say
We don’t care!
Some people say it ent no holiday
But we don’t care!
I going to have mih day, I eh working no wey
Oh we doh care!
Drinking mih rum when I’m feeling numb, doudou
We don’t care!
Tumblin’ down, rollin’ around
Oh we don’t care!
With a shouting here and a fighting there, doudou
We don’t care!

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

Play Mas', Doh Play De Ass

By Gene Wilkes

How come we shocked when school children
Partaking in pornography,
When we doh try to regulate
What kids see and hear on TV?
They getting "Sex Education"
From Hugh Hefner and Howard Stern,
Then from Machel and Saucy Wow
Trini wining techniques they learn.
Destra dare man to test she wine,
Suggesting simulated sex,
Den she tun rong and tell schoolgirls
Pornography does get she vex.
We idolise woman bam bam
So all man want to take ah taste,
Adolescents' rite of passage
Is their prowess in throwin' waist.
Dancing for most men is foreplay,
A preview of what's to be done,
And when they find ting getting hard
They mus' get dey satisfaction.
The lyrics of most party songs
Does promote promiscuity,
Then the singers soothe their conscience
Warning we about HIV.
On-stage antics of performers
Does focus on bumsee and crotch,
And wid so mucha flesh exposed
Everybody "Tempted to Touch".
When you rub two sticks together
Ent yuh know yuh could start a flame?
Human frottage eh no different,
It will get you hot all the same.
Education is the answer,
According to the Condom Crew,
As long as you practise safe sex
STDs won't happen to you.
So enjoy yuh carnival, people,
But please play it safe, all you do,
Remember, if you slip you slide,
And de Devil go do for you.
We people of the Trinity
Must humble, pray and seek God's face,
Try to turn from we wicked ways,
If we want Him to heal this place.

© Copyright – Gene Wilkes, Cocoyea.
Posted with the kind permission of the poet.

VIEW ALL WORKS SUBMITTED BY THIS AUTHOR.
.............................................................................................


A Note From The Gull

This poem makes its arguments well. Mr. Wilkes looks at the big picture to consider the simple physics of slippage. Great wheels are set in motion by the removal of little chocks, and often with a runaway speed that leaves us aghast. Like the question asked by Chalkdust, "Wey all dem bandit come from?" in his Bandit Factory and Jeremy Taylor in his Stop the Carnival , "Everywhere, people ask how things have come to this pass, how their beloved country could be turning so ugly…”, Mr. Wilkes opens with,

"How come we shocked when school children
Partaking in pornography,
When we doh try to regulate
What kids see and hear on TV?""

Mr. Wilkes is perplexed by our wide-eyed consternation which laments the present situation without taking responsibility for our contribution. In this poem, the focus is on sexuality and the consequences of the manner in which it is presented in our society, but the underlying criticism of double standards could be applied to all areas of our lives.

Readers will appreciate that Mr. Wilkes is among those who hold fast to some traditional mores which many Trinbagonians have long discarded. The problem, as far as I see, is that at this point in time we are all caught between that process of "the discarding" and "the not knowing" exactly how to proceed from there. While it may be liberating to shake off "the old ways," are we really prepared for life without their stabilizing, some might say, stultifying presence? So while the argument can be made that there is nothing inherently wrong with "dutty wining", and it is in the eye of the prudish or aroused beholder, that the taint is applied, the fact remains that for most of us, old values die hard and even while we are applauding or going-along-to-get-along; taint, rather than glory is what registers. Without clear rules, the terrain of acceptable behaviour has become extremely complicated to negotiate.

Those, like Mr. Wilkes and myself, who try to uphold more conservative values and are convinced that we have, more often than not, proven their underlying logic in our own lives, will look upon these displays with anything from sadness to disgust. The apparent synchronicity between this loss of traditional values and the state of chaos in which we find ourselves, may be shrugged off as mere coincidence by some, but to others it is definite proof that their time honoured beliefs/concerns are vindicated/justified.

Some who have dispensed with these rules, will simply accept any expression in dance for what it is and move on with a smile of appreciation or wonder or amusement. Those among them who are aggressive to begin with and maybe also because they are making value judgments (It wines like a whore so it must be a whore), will jump to the conclusion that that wine is an open invitation. If the woman attracts unwelcome advances or worse as a result of her behaviour, there are those, even among her cohorts, who will say that she looked for it. If a child is seen in public imitating these antics, the outrage or applause is even greater. There are those who will congratulate children on their skill in this area but those who hold more traditional values will see this (and on this I have to agree) as opening the door for trouble. In a society where child abuse is already a problem, we should not allow adults even more opportunities for exploitation whether in fantasy or action. A child's, "No" is more easily ignored than that of an adult.

Whoever told us that it is possible to juggle double standards and a healthy society, also forget to teach us exactly how to accomplish this feat. Some of us have responded by becoming expert at leading double lives, and many of us, especially our young people, do not have the tools to make distinctions between how things are fed to us and the reality for which we are personally responsible.

"Destra dare man to test she wine,
Suggesting simulated sex,
Den she tun rong and tell schoolgirls
Pornography does get she vex."

So while Saucy Wow's titillating gyrations are accepted as low art, or as God's gift to mankind, or yet another aspect of our exotic culture, or as a celebration of female pulchritude, liberation and sexual prowess, or has managed to leave its skid marks on the national consciousness simply by virtue of the persistence of its rubbings, the fact remains that some cheering onlookers, especially among the younger women, forget or simply haven't been told that off the stage, there are still very few places where this behaviour is appropriate, and many more places where it could instead threaten a woman's wellbeing. I don't mean to pick on Saucy. She is just one of many, and not just in Trinbago, who are willing to make spectacles of themselves for attention and gain. Very often these are the same individuals who can casually blame their admirers for being led into temptation, for how they decide to act upon such stimulation. After all, "We big an’ have sense."

"On-stage antics of performers
Does focus on bumsee and crotch,
And wid so mucha flesh exposed
Everybody "Tempted to Touch"."

and

"When you rub two sticks together
Ent yuh know yuh could start a flame?
Human frottage eh no different,
It will get you hot all the same."

I had been thinking about this topic recently, and not because we are in Carnival mode but during and after viewing the music video for "Sumintra". The obvious shyness of the young lady who represents Sumintra, her companions, and Rikki Jai himself, took me back to another time when there was that sensitivity, that code of propriety that governed the way people danced in public. The knees and feet didn't stray too far from each other, the feet weren't raised too high off the ground, elbows often returned to the dancer's sides. Yes, the dancer still danced to and appreciated the rhythm, and it was possible within these boundaries to display skill and share enjoyment. There was a quiet synergy between the dancer and the music. Opportunities for Maticoor Night type displays had always existed but we understood that there was a time and place for them. Now, it often seems that dancers are out to outdo, for everyone to see, the excesses that the guttural songs and music urge.

"Adolescents' rite of passage
Is their prowess in throwin' waist."

The poet concludes,

"We people of the Trinity
Must humble, pray and seek God's face,
Try to turn from we wicked ways,
If we want Him to heal this place."

There are people who might not be comfortable with the concept of a God entity to whom we have recourse, to whom we can pray, and they should simply translate Mr. Wilkes' advice into a call for some honest introspection (God is in us already). Some people might have (or pretend to have) difficulty agreeing on what exactly are "wicked ways" but again, if we are honest, we can judge wickedness by its fruits.

The final "If we want Him to heal this place", says it all. Since God helps those who help themselves, this line with its "If" is of particular significance. The question remains, "Do we really want this place to be healed, or is the present crisis the not surprising outcome of decades of accumulated undervaluing, neglect of and disdain for the wellbeing of Trinbago and its people?

In High Mas I, David Rudder addresses Jah,

"On this lovely day when we come out to play and we come out to sway and we breaking away, some will say what they have to say, but only You know the pain we’re feeling.
Amen."

I don't think that he is condoning vulgarity but if there had to be an apology for our actions, I would borrow his words, since I believe that very often dissipation is a symptom of and temporary fix for underlying emptiness and pain. Why else would we be hell bent on 'breaking away'(breaking away from what?), 'freeing up' (freeing ourselves from what?), "waving like we just don't care" (don't care about what?) What is this discomfort, this pain that we must deny/defy/defuse? Is resorting to this exaggerated expression an attempt to flaunt in the face of our impotence, and against all the odds, a most potent aspect of our humanity? Is this the straw which we throw to our drowning selves? Is this how we prove to all detractors, ourselves included, that we are still here and very much alive? Is the preoccupation with sex and public displays of our sexuality a symptom of our upheaval and the loss of control over other aspects of our lives? Do we suspect that partying, sex and violence are the only arenas left to us in which we can give free expression to our creativity/frustration?

OR.....Why Guanaguanare doh just shut he big trap and leh people play deyself out here?! Tinginniki, tinginikki....De more dey try to do we bad is de harder we go wine in Trinidad?...

Thank you, Gene Wilkes.

"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

Sando City Still Stink [Poem]

SANDO CITY STILL STINK By Gene Wilkes

Every year, and I donno why,
We does celebrate City Week
When a healthy, cleaner city
Is what we really ought to seek.
Sixteen years now I saying
That I find San Fernando stink,
Now, tell me, when you walk the streets,
How you does feel and what you think?
Ras Kommanda tell we in song
"We bringing back Sando Alive"
The Industrial Capital
Go be where Art and Culture thrive.
We had a mayor who, some say,
Was a man quite unorthodox,
But that was just because he was
Inclined to think outside the box.
Many of his good intentions
Languished from lack of approval,
Ideas that may not come to pass
With his unexplained removal.
His experiments with traffic,
Like the High Street pedestrian mall,
Failed because the big store owners
Didn't want street vending at all.
He move vendors from Gulf City,
Break down they bridge over a drain,
But drag racing at Cross Crossing
And the PH drivers remain.
He talked of plans for Skinner Park
Multipurpose Facility,
Which, as a sportsman, would have been
His most outstanding legacy.
But he get huff by Patos,
Who reorder priorities,
Building the Tarouba Stadium
For World Cup Cricket if you please.
But shouldn't we pay attention
To problems we face every day,
Affecting all the citizens
As we move about, work and play?
We have a dutty promenade
Dat eh have a single park bench,
And it eh have enough Fabreze
To get rid ah de awful stench.
We need parks and open spaces
That eh filthy and stinka pee,
The children's playground shouldn't be
Just the arcade in Gulf City.
The San Fernando waterfront
Is enough to move you to tears,
But we hearing bout plans for the wharf
For more than twentysomething years.
Must Sando be, as Denyse say,
Where vagrants does drink from a drain,
While politicians promising
The same things again and again?
Let us stop constructing houses
And start building communities,
We doh really need more ghettoes
Lacking basic amenities.
We get a brand new Mayor now,
And hope that with him we will get
A new scale of priorities
With much less emphasis on fete.
He talk bout vendors and traffick,
Long standing problems we all know,
But I hear some people saying
They hear better cock dan he crow.

© Copyright – Gene Wilkes, Cocoyea.
Posted with the kind permission of the poet.

VIEW ALL WORKS SUBMITTED BY THIS AUTHOR.

Sumintra [Song]

Uploaded by mdemon69
SUMINTRA
Performed by Rikki Jai (1989)
Composed by Gregory Ballantyne

Bindiya chamkegi [Give me soca, aha aha]
Bindiya chamkegi [Boy give me soca, aha aha]
[Give me soca, aha-aha]
[Boy, give me soca, aha aha.]

Sumintra born in a shack in Debe and she parents from Indian Walk
This pretty girl have me tracking whole day filling me with she fancy talk
Is for years I sooting she, and she blushing back at me
But when I send my letter, she don't send no answer
So I hit the record shops, Indian records I buy up
When I reach by the girl she say, “Stop, Rikki, stop!”

Chorus:
She say, “Hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Tickle me with a lavway, soca me till I sesay
But hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha.”

Sumintra charge me for being racist and tell me don't take them chance with she
Don't let me catch you in that foolishness, trying to reach the Indian in me
Like you into politics, boy, you coming on that tricks
Boy, I'm Trinbagonian, I like soca action
Take your Mohammed Rafi and bring Scrunter or Bally
Only then you’d be talking to me. Yes, Rikki.

Chorus:
She say, “Hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Tickle me with a lavway, soca me till I sesay
But hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Tickle me with a lavway, soca me till I sesay
And hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha.

[Give me soca, aha aha]
Bindiya chamkegi, [Boy give me soca, aha-aha]
Bindiya chamkegi, [Give me soca, aha-aha]
[Boy, give me soca, aha aha.]

Aha-aha, aha-aha

Sumintra back me into a corner, she really catch me offside that night
For so much years was the village joker
I don't know since when she get so bright
Must be University or them trips to Miami
That make she draw a border between roots and culture
She's a liberated soul, Trinbago in she passport..
I feel small like a quart
She say, “ Sport, you come short”

Chorus:
Just hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Please tickle me with a lavway, soca me till I sesay
But hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha.

I still believe the best gift is music ’cause music is the food of love
But now I had to come up with new tricks for Sumintra to get involve
Was November 28th, I say “Kaiso ent release yet”
Boy, like I get she more hot, is kaiso in she thoughts
Man you really out a line, treating calypso like wine
Oh lord, you bring dem tune, all is wine. Leh we wine.

Chorus:
She say, Hold de Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Tickle me with a lavway, man, soca me till I sesay
But hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Please tickle me with a lavway, man, soca me till I sesay
But hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
Hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha aha
Tickle me with a lavway, man, soca me till I sesay
But hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha
[Hold the Lata Mangeskkar, give me soca, aha-aha]
[Hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha]

Is soca yuh want eh?
I go give you what you want.
Lavway! Sesay!
[Hold the Lata Mangeskkar, give me soca, aha-aha]
[Hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha]...

.............................................................................................





A Note From The Gull

Eighteen years after its composition and execution, I am taking the opportunity to applaud Gregory Ballantyne and Rikki Jai for this amazing work, “Sumintra.” I came across it while trawling for Trinbagonian music on the Internet and in addition to taking a very pleasant trip down memory lane, I found myself being amazed by the treasures it contains.

At the time when the song was first released, having only just discovered Lata Mangeshkar myself, I remember being puzzled by Sumintra’s dismissal of the glory that for me is Lata. At that time, I would have said, “Hold de soca, give me Lata, aha-aha.” I think I must have dismissed Sumintra (the song) because I cannot recall noticing at that time just how clever it is. Reading and re-reading the lyrics now, I find myself again and again silently congratulating Mr. Ballantyne on his insights.

Sumintra, the composition, is an earlier example of Trinbagonian songs which reflect the meeting and merging of ethnic groups, specifically the African and East Indian groups. These songs have been produced by African, dougla and East Indian performers and more recently co-performed by members of the two groups.

Sumintra, the young woman, represents natural evolution that wants to be allowed the space and the freedom to select the best from the new environment which ever-present change constantly guarantees us. In this ever-new environment, whether pre or post arrival, pre or post independence, pre or post emancipation, pre or post industrialization, pre or post boom, the one constant is that we inhabitants continually seek to find ways to survive and prosper.

Sumintra’s protest draws attention to the ties that attempt to bind and shape us, and not necessarily in ways that encourage our arriving at the most fruitful syntheses.

Having been born in a shack in Debe and with parents from Indian Walk, the scene is set for us to expect an East Indian female who will, according to the stereotype, partake only of things associated with her ethnic group. But Sumintra is “Trinbagonian” and “a liberated soul.” Did the composer associate the two conditions? Was he saying that to be able to claim to be a real Trinbagonian, one must be liberated…from ethnic roots? Whatever the reason, Sumintra has “drawn a border between roots and culture.” How did this amazing thing happen? The composer concludes that it must have been the mind-broadening influences of her university education or the trips to Miami.

Hmm. Many of us didn’t have to wait that long. Having had to see our faces in the mirror every day was at least one of the catalysts towards enlightenment for sure. Growing up, I saw a chimera, a thing that could not be defined and the product of amalgamation of immigrants from at least five ethnic groups from three contintents and the Amerindians that they met here, each fading in and out. People didn’t know what I was and I found myself revelling in the freedom to choose anything which that past and my present location offered me. Most Trinabgonians, even if not ethnically mixed, but simply by virtue of the wealth of our cultural influences, find themselves in the same situation of “transcendence” and often without the influences of tertiary education and travel.

But Sumintra makes some powerful statements. She accuses her admirer of the following:
Being racist: She could have said also that he was seeing her as a stereotype, or locking her into the past of her ethnic origin. The same type of categorization that encourages cultural ghettoization, where, for example, East Indians should only want to play East Indian instruments and people of African descent must naturally be drawn to the steel pan.

Being into politics: “Like you into politics, boy, you comin' on that tricks…/Don't let me catch you in that foolishness/Trying to reach the Indian in me.”

Right on Mister Ballantyne!!! But that tactic of trying to reach or pander to some particular aspect of an individual or a particular segment of the population is not the preserve of politicians. It is resorted to universally when there is a need to quickly (often unscrupulously) harness a person or persons to a particular cause. Rikki wants to quickly capture Sumintra’s affection and he attempts to awaken a resonance in this East Indian woman by plying her with East Indian music. This is the bait and the hook. Sumintra, however, is having none of it. While she may personally be familiar with and enjoy Lata Mangeshkar’s music, she resents the stereotyping which reduces her to a one dimensional entity. She also loves soca music and this is what she would prefer to share with Rikki.

“Boy, I'm Trinbagonian, I like soca action
Take your Mohammed Rafi and bring Scrunter or Bally
Only then you’d be talking to me, yes, Rikki”

“Please tickle me with a lavway, man, soca me till I sesay
But hold the Lata Mangeshkar, give me soca, aha-aha.”

While this speaking to difference may be excused, or even essential in less open societies, here in Trinbago, it is often quickly seen for what it is – a ploy, and often a divisive one that pits one “group” against another, whether these be distinguished by religion, ethnicity, gender, class, political affiliation. We identify the trickery by recognizing that we are being flattened, simplified, categorized, reduced to one dimensionality. We defend our multi-dimensionality by asking ourselves the questions, “Why am I not being addressed as an individual and a human being and a man or woman or child and a Trinbagonian? What aspect or aspects of my being and my life in this country am I expected to neglect, to betray? Why are these artificial distinctions being solidified?” Whether the object(s) of these strategies choose, like Sumintra, to protest, or to play along, depends on if there is the perception of benefits to be received. We are entitled always it would seem, to sell ourselves to the highest bidder.

Thank you Gregory Ballantyne and Rikki Jai.

"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

Prophet Of Doom [Song]

Uploaded by caribbeancvibes2
PROPHET OF DOOM
By Mighty Sparrow (1983)

If you happen to see and know when politics going wrong
With facts and figures prepared to show, it’s better to bite yuh tongue
To them political boss, who the people trust and get double cross
You're an obstacle to be removed at any cost. Oh oh
A social conscience is really very dangerous to your health
The awesome strength of the powers that be most certainly will be felt
To tell them that their priorities and performance is under par
It's poetic to hear them describe to you who you are.

First of all, you’re a megalomaniac, a power seeker,
A crazy ----, a trouble maker
And if you tell them that the economy is no longer in full bloom
Then you become a prophet of doom and gloom.

People complaining everyday, the cost of living too high
Still they take all the subsidies away, so man could suffer and die
The situation is much too rough for anyone to ignore
And I know that the people cyah take it anymore.
But, to show you really and truly care is often misunderstood
To express an abiding love for here seldom does any good
The system is far from perfect and most certainly must improve
But to tell them that is a very dangerous move.

'Cause you become wicked and nefarious, counter-revolutionary
Disciple of the Judas, enemy of the country
You’re branded as an imposter, masquerading in borrowed bloom
But everybody know you’re a prophet of doom and gloom.

"The feteing is over, back to work", that's what the leader says
But we hearing giggling and plenty jokes, music blasting upstairs
Every day is power outage, unhappy workers on the rampage
And all the foodstuff you have spoiling in yuh fridge
Tell me, when will we have dependable services from T&TEC
And when will Telco and WASA be able to fix the roads that they wreck
Don’t try to rock the ship of state with them stupid questions so
Accept the status quo and don't play hero.

You’re a nation of complainers, not at all enterprising
Just a set of belly achers, unjustly criticising
BWee, ISCOTT and the MV Tobago is in great shape, we must presume
If you say it isn’t so, you’re a prophet of doom and gloom.

Questionable deals made in haste continue to grow and grow
Blatant refusals have replaced the people’s right to know
Predictions are made daily to rule for a next century
And all indications are that it may well be.
But retrenchment and redundancy beginning to strangle we
Inflation and low productivity done take over already
The Integrity Commission Plan is a next project also ran
Every move they make now is to ensure re-election.

In this land of steady power failures, people houses in darkness
And every tree round the Savannah displays vociferous politics
You have to ask which is worse between a schizophrenic baboon,
A megalomaniac and a prophet of doom and gloom?

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

Too Much Hurt and Frustration [Hymn]

TOO MUCH HURT AND FRUSTRATION
Pearl Yvonne Mulrain

Too much hurt and frustration,
Too much fraud and corruption,
And the world we live in is turning
In the fires of sin and shame.
What we need is a shaking;
Yes, we need an awakening,
Give it, Lord, You can set our hearts aflame.

Chorus:
Oh yes, we want a youthquake to shake the nation;
Send it, Lord, on this generation;
Turn us all inside out for You.
Come on strong, no reserve, I say
Rumble-tumble like Judgment Day!
Shake! shake! shake! shake! I say.

Gambling, stealing and raping,
Lusting, smoking and drinking;
These are just a few of the evils
That are present with us each day.
Moral standards decaying,
Truth and right disappearing –
We ask You, Lord, to come today.

Chorus:
Oh yes, we want a youthquake to shake the nation;
Send it, Lord, on this generation;
Turn us all inside out for You.
Come on strong, no reserve, I say
Rumble-tumble like Judgment Day!
Shake! shake! shake! shake! I say.

Youth can conquer the nation,
Youth can dispel damnation;
And today we say we are willing,
We will let You have Your way.
We no more will be shirking,
We're all set to be working
With You, Lord; we ask You to come today.

Chorus:
Oh yes, we want a youthquake to shake the nation;
Send it, Lord, on this generation;
Turn us all inside out for You.
Come on strong, no reserve, I say
Rumble-tumble like Judgment Day!
Shake! shake! shake! shake! I say.

Source: Caribbean Worship and Song. Prepared by the Liturgical Commission, Archdiocese of Port of Spain, 1982. p. 122

..............................................................................................................................


A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Pearl Mulrain. This is one of the few Catholic hymns of which I am aware, that recognise and summon the energy and optimism of youth. The lyrics on their own are powerful enough but the music is also rousing. I especially love the chorus and that resounding "Shake! shake! shake! shake! I say." This is a marching hymn. This is a hymn for people who are on the move, for people who are optimistic and are aware of their power. There is nothing moribund or morose about this hymn and a choir or congregation would have to be a pack of ripe zombies to make it sound as depressing as many of the other hymns that we sing. For all of these reasons, it is not a typical Catholic hymn. For all of these reasons, I think we should get into the aisles and dance together when it is sung.

"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