A while back, a fellow Trinbagonian blogger posted something that really made me stop and think. Slacker, over at Slacker's Chronicles had reworked our National Anthem to reflect his appraisal of the current state of Trinidad and Tobago. I read it over and over and moved on in silence but Slacker's version moved on with me and I couldn't stop returning to it in my mind. Eventually I wrote my own version and I will post both.
I invite others to think about it and to write and submit their own versions via e-mail [guanaguanaresings@gmail.com] and I will include them here. Feel free to submit as Anonymous. If there are "problems", I will just ask you to edit or ask your permission to do the editing myself. I don't think that ancestor Castagne will disapprove. Until we can be upstanding in our daily lives as Trinbagonians, please leave this space during the playing of our beautiful National Anthem which is featured first in today's collection:
THE NATIONAL ANTHEM OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
By Patrick Castagne
Forged from the love of liberty,
In the fires of hope and prayer,
With boundless faith in our destiny
We solemnly declare.
Side by side we stand
Islands of the blue Caribbean Sea,
This our native land
We pledge our lives to thee.
Here every creed and race,
Find an equal place,
And may God bless our nation.
Here every creed and race,
Find an equal place,
And may God bless our nation.
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REWORKING #1
Submitted by Slacker
Forged...
A love, a liberty
Fired...
All thoughts of hope and prayer
What boundless faith in destiny?
Will I live another year?
Side by side we stand
On these islands of the Caribbean Sea
Tsk! Our native land
Each day lives are sacrificed in thee
Hear every creed and race fight for an equal place
God!
Please help our nation
Hear every creed and race fight for an equal place
God!
Please help our nation.
--------------------------------------------
REWORKING #2
Submitted by Guanaguanare
What do we know of liberty?
Paralysed by hope and fear
Like slaves to alien destinies
We want to fly from here.
Shipwrecked, still we stand
Staring at these Amerindian seas
This won't be OUR land
Until we learn to see
In every creed and race, the aboriginal face
Of the spirit of this nation
Here, by this Trindian place will we be embraced
When we ALL bless this nation.
--------------------------------------------
AWAITING YOUR REWORKING HERE
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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all.
Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Mweh ka allay!
Be Upstanding, T&T
T&T: The Playground Of The Borg
We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own.
Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."
-- The Borg, Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Best of Both Worlds",1990
It is common knowledge now that one of the wheels upon which the African slave trade ran was the treachery of insiders - African brothers who betrayed their own. Come right on up through the history of many African countries to the present and you will see, if you pay attention, that many horrific massacres and deprivations happened while African hands were shaking the hands of outsiders over deals that were lucrative for both parties but often more so for the outsiders.
Before you know it, outsiders have more power over a people's destiny than the people do. Why? Because the insiders who sell us out were NEVER our brothers to begin with.
The Christ was making precisely this point when he answered that question about who he considered to be his family members, "For whoever DOES the will of God, this one is my brother, and my sister and mother." Mark 3:35. He was telling them that for him, brotherhood was not based on shared DNA or shared ethnic characteristics. Those bases for brotherhood are actually racist/ethnocentric but this is how many of us proceed without questioning.
How many times early on in my travels did I, in my homesickness, make the mistake of looking at the colour of a person's skin and immediately feeling warmer towards that person when the colour resembled that of the majority of my Trinbagonian people. Luckily, with experience and attentiveness came understanding. Skin colour means nothing in the end, I have come to realise. "Race" is a convenient lie. A brother is as a brother does.
Once, there was an elderly man, a complete stranger, who looked nothing like me, who recognised a fellow human being in danger and grabbed my arm from behind just in time. He held on to me with a vise-like grip after I'd tripped and he did not let go for moments while I continued swaying, arms made useless by my not relinquishing a bulky parcel and quite unable to steady myself for what seemed like an eternity at the top of a long and very steep escalator. When I finally regained my balance and he cautiously released his hold on me, I turned to him, shaken and on the brink of tears and thanked him over and over. At that point in time, he was the only brother that I had in all the world. Had it not been for his intervention I would have plunged headlong down this escalator. I was convinced that he had saved my life.
Over the years, I have looked at my own country and found ample proof to confirm that there is a direct correlation between what we allow others to do to us and what we are always prepared to do to our own. We do not love ourselves or consider ourselves worthy so the door is wide open to all comers. That is why outsiders continue to peel us open like a sardine can and you'd better believe that some of our own brothers are bowing and grinning and showing them the best techniques for accomplishing the task. No outside corporation/country/influence gains a exploitative foothold here without the nod of insiders, these traitors whose palms are well greased to ensure that we are primed.
Internal imperialism is accomplished by those who are secure in the knowledge that we are creatures of habit more than intelligence. They know that we will postpone thought/discussion/collaborative efforts to seek the comfort of mind-numbing pursuits. They know that participation is most attractive if it involves dissipation. They know that we have the attention span of nits. They only need to know our weaknesses because we have never displayed our strengths.
I have never "played Mas" so that must be the reason for my not understanding why we cannot for just one year, walk away from it as a sign of respect. Does it mean nothing to us that we will be slipping and sliding in the blood of our fellow Trinbagonians as we wuk it up around town? And ladies, when you have donned your flimsy but expensive costumes and are standing with your backs to your mirrors, glancing over your shoulders and well pleased with the way those thongs disappear into your cracks and fondly noting how the strands of shiny beads roll teasingly across your buttocks, will it cross your minds, if only for a nanosecond, that hundreds of your fellow Trinbagonians who were alive and breathing last Carnival, are now lying in marked and unmarked graves or unburied and unceremoniously decomposing under this year's Carnival sky?
Once in a blue moon, extraordinary manna will fall unprovoked from the sky but the intelligence to know what to do with manna when it comes and more important, the intelligence to know what to do while it does not come and how to maximise the ordinary manna which surrounds us, this intelligence blooms only after generations of sustained and thoughtful cultivation. How does our garden grow?
..............................................................................................................................
"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 "Coronation"
Obama's inauguration will cost £110 million? This figure was quoted by Paul Thompson at The Mail Online on 14th January 2009. Oh noooooooo, Mister Thompson! I refuse to believe it. Our change seeker, Obama, would never have allowed such ridiculous expenditure. Like The Christ, who I am sure he prays to every night, he would have gladly settled for entering Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey, not so? He must have said to his advisers,
"Lllllooookkk..... WE... are the change that we have been waiting for! Let us see how many of our fellow Americans' homes we can save with this money. Now is the time for Washington to change its way of doing business. We will do it by lottery so that there will be no accusations of unfair selection but at this time of severe economic crisis, I want this money to go to the people! That they have put their trust in me, is their gift to me. Let this act of charity be my inauguration gift to them."I just know that that is what he would have said. I think that they've been keeping him in the dark, these people around him who are starting already to try to prove that he's just another vain and selfish leader. Bad, bad, bad people!
The Obamamobile: The first official photograph of Obama's new armoured limo, which he will ride in for part of the swearing-in parade, and which can withstand rocket and chemical attacks.
Eat your heart out Ratzinger!
A Synopsis Of The Israel/Palestine Conflict
I found this pamphlet recently and I am reproducing it here for those fellow Trinbagonians who might find the subject confusing and might have an interest in knowing the facts. For those who want more, "The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict." by If Americans Knew is a much more detailed account and I also found the UN's brochure "The Question of Palestine & The United Nations" informative.
A SYNOPSIS OF THE ISRAEL/PALESTINE CONFLICT
For centuries there was no such conflict. In the 19th century the land of Palestine was inhabited by a multicultural population – approximately 86 percent Muslim, 10 percent Christian, and 4 percent Jewish – living in peace.
ZIONISM
In the late 1800s a group in Europe decided to colonize this land. Known as Zionists, they represented an extremist minority of the Jewish population. Their goal was to create a Jewish homeland, and they considered locations in Africa and the Americas, before settling on Palestine.
At first, this immigration created no problems. However, as more and more Zionists immigrated to Palestine – many with the express wish of taking over the land for a Jewish state – the indigenous population became increasingly alarmed. Eventually, fighting broke out, with escalating waves of violence. Hitler's rise to power, combined with Zionist activities to sabotage efforts to place Jewish refugees in western countries, led to increased Jewish immigration to Palestine, and conflict grew.
UN PARTITION PLAN
Finally, in 1947 the United Nations decided to intervene. However, rather than adhering to the principle of “self-determination of peoples,” in which the people themselves create their own state and system of government, the UN chose to revert to the medieval strategy whereby an outside power divides up other people’s land.
Under considerable Zionist pressure, the UN recommended giving away 55% of Palestine to a Jewish state – despite the fact that this group represented only about 30% of the total population, and owned under 7% of the land.
1947-1949 WAR
While it is widely reported that the resulting war eventually included five Arab armies, less well known is the fact that throughout this war Zionist forces outnumbered all Arab and Palestinian combatants combined – often by a factor of two to three. Moreover, Arab armies did not invade Israel – virtually all battles were fought on land that was to have been the Palestinian state.
Finally, it is significant to note that Arab armies entered the conflict only after Zionist forces had committed 16 massacres, including the grisly massacre of over 100 men, women, and children at Deir Yassin. Future Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, head of one of the Jewish terrorist groups, described this as “splendid,” and stated: “As in Deir Yassin, so everywhere, we will attack and smite the enemy. God, God, Thou has chosen us for conquest.” Zionist forces committed 33 massacres altogether.
By the end of the war, Israel had conquered 78 percent of Palestine; three-quarters of a million Palestinians had been made refugees; over 500 towns and villages had been obliterated; and a new map was drawn up, in which every city, river and hillock received a new, Hebrew name, as all vestiges of the Palestinian culture were to be erased. For decades Israel denied the existence of this population, former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir once saying: “There is no such thing as a Palestinian.”
1967 WAR & USS LIBERTY
In 1967, Israel conquered still more land. Following the Six Day War, in which Israeli forces launched a highly successful surprise attack on Egypt, Israel occupied the final 22% of Palestine that had eluded it in 1948 – the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Since, according to international law it is inadmissible to acquire territory by war, these are occupied territories and do not belong to Israel. It also occupied parts of Egypt (since returned) and Syria (which remain under occupation).
Also during the Six Day War, Israel attacked a US Navy ship, the USS Liberty, killing and injuring over 200 American servicemen. President Lyndon Johnson recalled rescue flights, saying that he did not want to "embarrass an ally." (In 2004 a high-level commission chaired by Admiral Thomas Moorer, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, found this attack to be “an act of war against the United States,” a fact few news media have reported.)
CURRENT CONFLICT
There are two primary issues at the core of this continuing conflict. First, there is the inevitably destabilizing effect of trying to maintain an ethnically preferential state, particularly when it is largely of foreign origin. The original population of what is now Israel was 96 percent Muslim and Christian, yet, these refugees are prohibited from returning to their homes in the self-described Jewish state (and those within Israel are subjected to systematic discrimination).
Second, Israel's continued military occupation and confiscation of privately owned land in the West Bank, and control over Gaza, are extremely oppressive, with Palestinians having minimal control over their lives. Over 10,000 Palestinian men, women, and children are held in Israeli prisons. Few of them have had a legitimate trial; Physical abuse and torture are frequent. Palestinian borders (even internal ones) are controlled by Israeli forces. Periodically men, women, and children are strip searched; people are beaten; women in labor are prevented from reaching hospitals (at times resulting in death); food and medicine are blocked from entering Gaza, producing an escalating humanitarian crises. Israeli forces invade almost daily, injuring, kidnapping, and sometimes killing inhabitants.
According to the Oslo peace accords of 1993, these territories were supposed to finally become a Palestinian state. However, after years of Israel continuing to confiscate land and conditions steadily worsening, the Palestinian population rebelled. (The Barak offer, widely reputed to be generous, was anything but.) This uprising, called the "Intifada" (Arabic for "shaking off") began at the end of September 2000.
U.S. INVOLVEMENT
Largely due to special-interest lobbying, U.S. taxpayers give Israel an average of $7 million per day, and since its creation have given more U.S. funds to Israel than to any other nation. As Americans learn about how Israel is using our tax dollars, many are calling for an end to this expenditure.
Israelis and Palestinians killed: September 29, 2000 - December 31, 2007
Recommended Reading: "The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict."
Silver Lining [Song]
Uploaded by cool4rocknroll
SILVER LINING
By Merchant
Arranged by Leston Paul
Album: Innervisions, T&T 1989
When everything seem to be gone
The worst thing to do is sit down and mourn
Don't let frustration get the better of you
And make you do things you should never do
You got to keep the faith, you can't surrender
You never know, tomorrow may be brighter.
Behind every dark cloud there's a silver lining
So don't give up hope now, we got to keep on trying... oh lord
We got to keep on going... ah ha
We got to keep on moving on.
As long as you have health and strength
Reaching your goal, nothing should prevent
Every time you fall, get up again
Don't sit down there like that and complain
You got to stand up and continue fighting
Don't give up! Keep courage, you must win...don't you know
Behind every dark cloud there's a silver lining
So don't give up hope now, we got to keep on trying... oh lord
We got to keep on going... ah ha
We got to keep on moving on.
Obstacles will get in the way
Stumbling blocks to hinder your day
But you can't afford to let them stop you
No matter how hard it is to go through
You got to stand up and continue fighting
Endurance shall win in the ending...don't you know
Behind every dark cloud there's a silver lining
So don't give up hope now, we got to keep on trying... oh lord
We got to keep on going... ah ha
We got to keep on moving on.
Be of a strong positive mind
Negative thoughts, leave them behind
We got to go forward in sure certainty
Let no element humbug that possibility
But if you give up, you have no way of kowing
If next day would have brought good tidings...don't you know
Behind every dark cloud there's a silver lining
So don't give up hope now, we got to keep on trying... oh lord
We got to keep on going... ah ha
We got to keep on moving on.
Behind every dark cloud there's a silver lining
So don't give up hope now, we got to keep on trying
We got to keep on going
We got to keep on moving on.
We know it's a long and winding road
And we got a heavy load
But we have to hold the show
Get up, get up and try again because....
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, Merchant. I really, really needed this message today. You have helped to lift the enervating pall that's been dragging me down.
"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
Reaching Out
Uploaded by cool4rocknroll
REACHING OUT
By Merchant
Arranged by Leston Paul
Album: Innervisions, T&T 1989
Do a good turn as you go on your way
Help someone have a brighter day
Give shelter, make a friend
You'll be rewarded handsomely.
And what you doing is reaching out... wohohwoho
Helping somebody to live
What we doing is reaching out... wohohwoho
Don't refuse if you could give.
Ah say, you got to reach out an help somebody
Come on, reach out and help somebody
Come on, come on, come on
Reach out and help somebody
Come on, reach out and help somebody.
Share with your neighbour if he hasn't got
One small gesture could mean a lot
Don't turn away when you could lend a hand
Try being a good Samaritan.
And what you doing is reaching out... wohohwoho
Helping somebody to live... woyo
What we doing is reaching out... wohohwoho
Don't refuse if you could give.
Ah say, you got to reach out and help somebody
Reach out and help somebody
Come on, reach out and help somebody
Come on, Reach out an help somebody.
Clothe the naked and feed the hungry mouth
Don't let them go along without
Be of a good heart and do something nice
Pass on a brotherly advice...Ey!
And what you doing is reaching out... wohohwoho
Helping somebody to live... woyo
What we doing is reaching out... wohohwoho
Don't refuse if you could give.
Ah say, you got to reach out an help somebody
Come on, reach out and help somebody
Come on, come on, come on
Reach out and help somebody
Come on, reach out an help somebody...Ey!
Live and let live, is what it ought to be
Practice some generousity
Bring out the best in you for Heaven's sake
A little concern is all it takes.
And what you doing is reaching out... wohohwoho
Helping somebody to live... woyo
What we doing is reaching out... wohohwoho
Don't refuse if you could give.
Ah say, you got to reach out an help somebody
Come on, reach out and help somebody
Do it now, reach out and help somebody
Come on, reach out an help somebody...Ey!
Source:
N.B. 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, Merchant. This message in your song is what we need to hear and act upon immediately....if we haven't been doing so all along.
Today, we are facing so many crises on so many fronts.
A reaction could be to allow ourselves to become overwhelmed but your advice is the cure.
A kind act that might seem as insignificant as a small pebble being dropped into a pond can generate ripples beyond our expectations and WILL go on to affect people that you don't even know.
Reach out and help somebody.
"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
For Brother Guanapo (Roi Kwabena)
Celebrating Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena
Last session shared with us: 23/7/1956 - 9/1/2008
Dear Roi,
I think that you will like this song. It was composed by Paul Nabor, the elderly parandero and buyei (spirit medium and healer) who has his Garifuna temple in the coastal town of Punta Gorda in southern Belize. I hope he doesn't mind that I am sharing it. I think that he would have wanted to sing it for you.
NAGUYA NEI (I AM MOVING ON)
By Paul Nabor
(Click on first file in Box.net player, lower right sidebar)
Nati nuguya merumayatina
Wanwa nuguya merumayatina
Balabada naru tura nigabana nay
Lau nuragu le hadan hara familia
Balabada naru tura nigabana nay
Lau nuragu le hadan hara familia
Ayanuhayatina hama namulenu
Ayanuhayatina hama namulenu
Dame le gia nowen wanwa
Lauba la banda habunana
Lauba la banda habunana
Lauba la banda habunana...
Hawagu namulenu naritagua
Hawagu nisanigu naritagua
Dame le gia nowen wanwa
Lauba la banda habunana
Lauba la banda habunana
Lauba la banda habunana...
Nati nuguya merumayatina
Wanwa nuguya merumayatina
Balabada naru tura nigabana nay
Lau nuragu le hadan hara familia
Balabada naru tura nigabana nay
Lau nuragu le hadan hara familia
Ayanuhayatina hama namulenu
Ayanuhayatina hama namulenu
Dame le gia nowen wanwa
Lauba la banda habunana
Lauba la banda habunana
Lauba la banda habunana...
Hawagu namulenu naritagua
Hawagu nisanigu naritagua
Dame le gia nowen wanwa
Lauba la banda habunana
Lauba la banda habunana
Lauba la banda habunana...
TRANSLATION
Brother, I am ill
Dear Brother, I am ill
I have tossed and turned in my bed
With this ailment in the presence of my family
I have spoken with my children
Dear Brother when I pass away
They must have a band at my funeral
It is my little ones I'm worried about.
Roi, as always, you will make your trails happy ones!
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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all.
Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.
Mweh ka allay!
Remembering Le Roi
23/7/1956 (Trinbago) - 9/1/2008 (England)
CASCADURA
By Dr. Roi Kwabena
so though i didn’t relish the mountain-dew
when laced with scorpion an’ centipede
nor tasted the cayman
singh did cook for me
i did enjoy the cascadura
and yes I wish in Trinidad to end my days
if i may
Refrain:
curry cascadu,
ah really love meh cascadura,
stew cascadu
ah really love meh cascadu
best village competition
tapia yard in st augustine
hosay nor ramleela
wont be banned, if i have my way
Refrain
staring at island homes
nelson, carrera
an chacacahacare
in this way..
pepper sauce on the highway
soft coconut water round the queen's park savannah
hot doubles in san juan
traffic in the croissee
Refrain
mincing fresh chive from sant d’eau
black mud in moruga, parang in
santa cruz or lopinot
divali in palo seco,
a lime in the north stand
for panorama, breadfruit oil-down
with saltfish in diego..
a curry cookup at caura or camelita
Refrain
steel drums hammered in point a pierre
downtown carnival parade
bottle ‘n spoon in snake valley, laventille
elderly indian women in
carapichima secretly teaching
a bride how to wine
Refrain
politicians exposed in the mirror
muslim brothers guarding their border
liming on harris promenade
a dip in blue-basin or
la brea sulphur springs
me pelting mangoes in the mang…
shark n bake down chagville
a rude male breeze in
the middle of town, blowing up
sandra’s pretty dress
Refrain
no one supports
stealing leather-back turtle eggs
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A Note From The Gull
Wanwa nuguya merumayatina
Balabada naru tura nigabana nay
Lau nuragu le hadan hara familia
Ayanuhayatina hama namulenu (x2)
Dame le gia nowen wanwa
Lauba la banda habunana
Hawagu namulenu naritagua
Hawagu nisanigu naritagua
----------------------------------------
Brother, I am ill
Dear Brother, I am ill
I have tossed and turned in my bed
With this ailment in the presence of my family
I have spoken with my children
Dear Brother when I pass away
They must have a band at my funeral
It is my little ones I'm worried about
It is my children I'm worried about.
"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
Dat Is Bad [Song]
Uploaded by cool4rocknroll
DAT IS BAD
By Shadow
Album: Moods of the Shadow, T&T 1993
What is good and what is bad?
The answer for this rather hard
A beautiful soul in the human race
Trapped in a body with an ugly face
That is bad! Me say, "Bad!", me say "Bad...bad!"
The beautiful ladies will pass him straight
Busy, busy, busy like they running late
They don't want to talk to this ugly beast
But that brother in the body is a hidden priest
That is bad. Me say, "Bad!", me say "Bad...bad!"
Yea, that is bad! Me say, "Bad!", me say, "Bad...bad!"
The heart can feel what the eyes can see
But the eyes don't see what the heart conceal
It's easy to fall for a nice skin teeth
But all skin teeth ent no laughing teeth
Yea, dat is bat, dat is bad, dat is bad!
[Bad]
What is good and what is bad?
The answer for this rather hard
To be living in a body that don't look too right
Is like living in a world where there is only night
That is bad! Me say, "Bad!", me say, "Bad...bad!"
Nobody want to see you for who you are
They blaming you for ugly and they staying far
They act as though you ugly up yourself for spite
Some people in this world they ent thinking right
That is bad! Me say, "Bad!", me say, "Bad...bad!"
Yea, that is bad! Me say, "Bad!", me say, "Bad...bad!"
The heart can feel what the eyes can see
But the eyes don't see what the heart conceal
It's easy to fall for a nice skin teeth
But all skin teeth ent no laughing teeth
Yea, dat is bad, dat is bad, dat is bad!
Dat is bad! [Me say, me say, me say, "Bad!"]
Dat is bad, dat is bad, dat is bad!
Dat is bad! [Me say, me say, me say, "Bad!"]
What is good and what is bad?
The answer for this rather hard
Some people really suffer for the way they look
Most people watch the cover, they don't read the book
That is bad! Me say, "Bad!", me say, "Bad...bad!"
In places of employment your chances slim
It's really hard to compete with the good-looking
You looking strong and healthy and your papers fine
You first in the line but you last in mind
That is bad! Me say, "Bad!", me say, "Bad...bad!"
That is bad! Me say, "Bad!", me say, "Bad...bad!"
The heart can feel what the eyes can see
But the eyes don't see what the heart conceal
It's easy to fall for a nice skin teeth
But all skin teeth ent no laughing teeth...oh no, no, no!
Yea, dat is bad, dat is bad, dat is bad...bad!
[Me say, me say, me say, "Bad!"]
Dat is bad, dat is bad, dat is bad...bad!
[Me say, me say, me say, "Bad!"]
[Me say, me say, me say, "Bad!"]
[Me say, me say, me say, "Bad!"]....
A Note From The Gull
"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
Who Foolin' Who? [Song]
Uploaded by cool4rocknroll
WHO FOOLIN' WHO?
By Shadow
Album: "Moods of the Shadow", T&T 1993
"Stoop to conquer" could never be all right
If you really want to conquer, you've got to learn to fight
Stooping in a corner, like little Jack Horner
Sucking up your finger, you waiting to conquer
They had mih grandfather waiting
For those good things that comes to those who wait
But he wind up in a coffin, poor like a church rat
He found out too late.
Somebody keeps fooling somebody... oh yea yea yea...
Somebody keeps fooling somebody... yea yea yea yea yea
William Shakespeare say, "Who steal my purse, steal trash."
But the Shadow say, "That thief was looking for some cash."
So much trash bags on the pavement
If you really want to steal, you don't need any consent
Just pull up with your wheels
If I catch you inside my pocket looking for trash inside my wallet
Run away from there! Danger could be near.
My name is not Shakespeare
And somebody keeps fooling somebody... oh yea yea yea...
Somebody keeps fooling somebody... oh yea yea yea yea yea
"The truth shall set you free." So the saying goes
It's so far from reality, only Heaven knows
You telling a police man you cut off a man hand
You toss it in the canal, he never had a funeral
And then you expect the truth to save you
But the jury don't know it so
You are going to be free after custody,
When you are ninety-three.
Somebody keeps fooling somebody... oh yea yea yea yea yea yea...
Somebody keeps fooling somebody... oh yea yea yea yea yea
Somebody keeps fooling somebody... oh yea yea yea yea yea....
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, Shadow. I think that you are a national treasure.
"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 Money For Dat [Song]
By Mighty Sparrow
Arranged by Art DeCoteau
Album: "Vanessa" - T&T 1985
The reason why you can't get no foodstuff to buy, the Minister say
No more foreign exchange
We cannot afford to import goods from abroad, no money to pay
No more foreign exchange
All the money in the Treasury done
Nobody ent know wey you spend it on
But money went out for everything except for what people really need
Priorities really mixed up indeed.
Sugar and flour [No money for dat]
Split peas and butter [No money for dat]
Oil and vinegar [No money for dat]
A million that they could throw way at ISCOTT [Money dey for dat]
The royalties from the petroleum industries dwindling away
I pa fini l'argent
So is six percent we offer dem civil servants, is all we could pay
Beta, paisa na gaa
Presently we need more money than Dumas
That's why we go raise on your income tax
We have the Hall of Justice and the Financial Complex we building for you
Don't forget to pay Inland Revenue.
Medicare attention [No money for dat]
And old age pension [No money for dat]
School feeding programme [No money for dat]
Sodeteg, Higgs and Hill and Wimpey [Money dey for dat]
[The money done. No money. The money done. No money]
The DEWD workers now have to be digging horrors, you cut down their pay
Pressure without warning
And when the country depended on the lil subsidy, you took it away
Oh lord, people bawling
Electricity, phones and water rate
Gone so high, poor people straining to pay
Then the hospital is no better although you impose a health surcharge
Casualty like PTSC garage.
Nurses and doctor [No money for dat]
Street lights and water [No money for dat]
Houses for the poor [No money for dat]
Two hundred million for horse in the country [Money dey for dat]
Your ------- and your household appliances cannot be replaced
No fuss, buy spare parts
I hear the latest news is for Christmas we own local foods we go get to taste
-------------- Old Oak and Vat
Still with all ah that the money is strong
The only thing is that you spending it wrong
Wastage is evidently displayed on land, in the sea and air
We complaining but nobody ent care.
To help agriculture [No money for dat]
And airport run proper [No money for dat]
A deep water harbour [No money for dat]
But to pay Immigration to deport Grenadians [Money dey for dat]
[The money done. No money. The money done. No money...]
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, Mighty Sparrow!
Such is the insidious witchery of our music. The Mighty Sparrow saw nothing incongruous in discussing matters of grave import to a beat that is so sweet, so deliciously infectious that it can, with its little finger, raise your troubled self smiling to your dancing feet.
The year is 1985 and I believe that the complaint has not lost its relevance. He complains of mixed-up priorities and I agree though I don't think that the problem is unique to Trinbago, as all over the world access to money or credit has encouraged cultivating unsustainable lifestyles and economies. Even if we think that we have an unlimited supply of money, we still need to focus on the things that in a crisis, money would not be able to buy in the short term. These include, among many others, the following:
- a well supported, highly valued and defended food production system with crops always awaiting harvest and an initiative to make tree crops, for example, freely available to citizens via subsidised plantings on remote and urban state lands. In Trinbago, we are blessed to have growing conditions that favour the growth of a wide variety of food crops.
- a population with realistic/sensible expectations and approach to life - a culture of respect for the environment
- a culture of reverence for life and especially the lives that are most vulnerable - a well supported, highly valued and defended health system with a holistic approach to the maintenance and restoration of good health
- a well supported, highly valued and defended system of arts and crafts promotion and support - a completely reconsidered approach to educating our children and their educators
- a peacekeeping/civil order service with more demanding/sophisticated recruitment requirements and enhanced remuneration scheme that will eventually supplant the existing system of policing
- an emergency response service that can be deployed internally as well as to other countries requiring aid and a system of warehousing emergency supplies including food, water, medical and temporary shelter supplies
- an efficient mass transit system that will reduce the need for private transport and all the serious complications for human health and safety and the environment arising from the number of vehicles now on the roads.
- an intelligence and feedback processing service that actively monitors how the various sectors are being managed, that solicits and welcomes feedback from managers and citizens on all problems being encountered. This service also functions as a referral centre, directing complaints/suggestions to the relevant managers and always with the documentation to provide evidence that managers were informed and were well aware of problems in their jurisdictions.
Have you noticed that most of these do not involve the erection of ostentatious structures but are more about realising our potential by developing minds and attitudes? I can think of many more but if you have additional ideas, why not add them in your comments?
"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
Ay, Ay , Maria! [Song]
Uploaded by Clynton Mann
AY AY, MARIA
By Singing Francine
Mother of our first born King conceived her first offspring
Gave birth in Holy Land to this giant of a man
This is how she played her part by giving us a start
History books will all now show how much to her we owe.
Chorus:
Ay, Ay, Maria! Ay, Ay, Maria!
Sing Hosanna for our King in the highest, let us sing
Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria! He is our Saviour
Let's anoint His head with oil and serenade our first born boy.
With some frankincense and myrrh, the Wise Men went to her
Then departed their own way, avoiding Herod, as they say
Then Mary flee the land to Egypt, child in hand
Avoiding Herod all the way, who destroyed children as they play.
Chorus:
Ay, Ay, Maria! Ay, Ay, Maria!
Sing Hosanna for our King in the highest, let us sing
Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria! He is our Saviour
Let's anoint His head with oil and serenade our first born boy.
Now this story goes to show the hardship mothers undergo
By preserving her first born, her light she also shone
Even to the very end, a mother's love she lend
And now all is said and done, gave her only begotten son
Chorus:
Ay, Ay, Maria! Ay, Ay, Maria!
Sing Hosanna for our King in the highest, let us sing
Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria! He is our Saviour
Let's anoint His head with oil and serenade our first born boy.
Spoken words:
Yeah, don't forget! It's very important. No matter what you do in this world, you got to remember the first born boy. In this time, more than ever, we should give praises and thanks to the man, most high. Oh yeah!
Chorus:
Ay, Ay, Maria! Ay, Ay, Maria!
Sing Hosanna for our King in the highest, let us sing
Maria, Maria, Maria, Maria! He is our Saviour
Let's anoint His head with oil and serenade our first born boy.
A Note From The Gull"Now this story goes to show the hardship mothers undergo
By preserving her first born, her light she also shone
Even to the very end, a mother's love she lend
And now all is said and done, gave her only begotten son."
"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
Warmongers
Uploaded by nycgp
WARMONGERS
By Gypsy (Winston Peters)
All nations try to make the best of what they've got
To make a living
All nations try to keep their head above water
Only to keep existing
While they can't protect their own borders
Some have to sell their souls
You see that might is right and strength is power
That's what "The Man" say
But how can we as small nations be expected to go on this way?
With these set of warmongers keep satisfying their war hunger
For one reason or another, they messing up the world
These set of warmongers only fulfilling their war hunger
And they feel it makes them stronger
They messing up the world
Selah, selah, selah.....
United only among themselves, there is an exclusion,
An exclusion of small nations
Who only have a voice to say, "Yes"
To their whims, their fancies and their notions
While a once proud people now live in caves
And are forced to fight against the mighty
Who make rules but don't abide by them
What a shame, what a shame, what a pity!
With the wave of a pen an elected leader ----
Yet they boast and they toast of democracy.
Warmongers, only fulfilling their war hunger
And they feel it makes them stronger, they messing up the world
These set of warmongers and they not making anything better
All they doing is causing disasters
And they messing up the world
Selah, selah, selah.....
Ah these warmongers, only fulfilling their war hunger
And they not making anything better...no, no, no!
They messing up the world
These set of warmongers only satisfying their war hunger
And they not making things better
They messing up the world
Selah, selah, selah.....
Source:
N.B. 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
Final Solution For Palestine?
Translated into today's general language the Hebrew word "Selah" means: think about it. In this song, Gypsy is asking us to reflect upon the folly of war.
"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
Mr. World [Song]
Uploaded by cool4rocknroll
MR. WORLD
By Natasha Wilson
Arranged by Leston Paul
"Introducing Miss Natasha Wilson"
T&T 1987
Recession, over-population
Political exploitation, repression of conversation
Mental delusion, moral dissipation
Material illusion, cultural and racial segregation.
Oh Mr. World, have pity on poor man
Try and behold his life of frustration
Get to understand, "A hungry man is an angry man."
Social revolution is the only solution
For this civilization.
Who helpless exist under duress
In the fight for wealth and success
The jobless in utter distress
In a world like this, there is no forgiveness
Mostly greediness, selfishness, injustice and craziness.
Oh Mr. World, have pity on poor man
Try and behold his life of frustration
Get to understand, "A hungry man is an angry man."
Social revolution is the only solution
For this civilization.
Detainment, unlawful arraignment
Argument and disagreement, accident and disappointment
Crime and punishment, violent excitement
Sums up discontentment
Detriment to guilty and innocent.
Oh Mr. World, have mercy on poor man
Try and behold his tears of frustration
Get to understand, "A hungry man is an angry man."
Social reconstruction is the only salvation
For the new generation.
Source:
N.B. 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, Natasha.
I find Natasha's "Oh, Mr. World" so relevant...a plea for sanity.
"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
Sweet, Sweet T&T [Song]
Uploaded by cool4rocknroll
SWEET, SWEET T&T
By Iwer George
I could remember long time ago
People used to flock Trinbago for so
People come from all over the world
They invaded here, say we have black gold
And pass small, small money and get citizenship easy,
Get work, big, big work, seats in parliament and all
Fix up their business, because we facing little crisis
They running, see them running
But I want to tell them something...
Sweet, sweet T&T is the sweetest place to be right now...can't you see?
Sweet, sweet T&T is the sweetest place for we right now
I never hear a storm pass and leave us hungry
I never hear weather get too cold for we
Sweet, sweet T&T, oh yes man, is the place to be
Trinbago, the promised land of my birth
They say we don't have money, I sure we have worth
Things are not the way things used to be
Let us all not cry down our country...I'll tell you why
We are still fortunate to have ----- valuable state
With steelband, calypso, we even have a pitch lake also
So doh dig nothing man, the table is turning and
You know, I know, there is no place like Trinbago.
Man is weet, sweet T&T is the sweetest place to be right now
Sweet, sweet T&T is the sweetest place for we right now
I never hear a storm pass and leave us hungry
I never hear the weather get too cold for we...no time!
Sweet, sweet T&T is the place to be
I love my country, I love it bad
I'll do anything to help Trinidad and Tobago
Yes, the time is hard but still it not bad...no, no!
Or you could plant a garden in your backyard
All yuh could plant up some ochro, dasheen and tomato
Real tannia, cassava, plant ah head a yam brother
Try a little fishing, go and do some hunting
Look, you know, I know, we have a living in Trinbago...saying
Sweet, sweet T&T is the sweetest place to be right now...can't you see
Sweet, sweet T&T is the sweetest place for we right now
What we facing is a worldwide crisis
And anywhere you run to go is the same crisis...yes man!
Sweet, sweet T&T is the place to be.
Source:
N.B. 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, Iwer Geroge.
"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
