Looking out on the massive fete, you see how the vibe was dead The DJ was pushing out sweet soca music and all you seeing was head Some youths come and lobby the DJ and tell him to change up the plan Well, the DJ push a panic and he dent out the rhythm Now all you seeing is hand !
It's just another, it's just a, another day on Drama Island. Yow wo oh! Just another, just a, another day on Drama Island. Yeah ey yey ey!
Long ago the fete had a promise, a promise of frolic and fun But these days the rhythm kinda angry, the rhythm packing a gun Just gimme the old school melodies to free up mih soul But then again these days the out of control are really in control.
It's just another, it's just a, another day on Drama Island. Woh oh! It's just another, just a, another day on Drama Island. Yow!
Twelve midnight in the heart of the fete, people now start to prance Ten jagabats solve the new world disorder, they ramjack the dance They snatch 'way the mike from the DJ and tell the people make space They say we not responsible when we start to hand grenade we waist.
It's just another, folks, just a, another day on Drama Island. Yow wo oh! Just another, just a, another day on Drama Island. Yeah yey yey yey! Just another, just another day on Drama Island. Wo oh eh he-he-he hey! Just another, just another day on Drama Island. Yeah everybody, everybody body say...
[Tu-tu tu-tu tu-du tu, tu-tu tu-tu tu-du tu] Free falling. [Tu-tu tu-tu tu-du tu. Fire iya] We're free falling. And is [Fire!] down below [Fire!] over so! [Fire!] Look it dey! [Fire!] Run away! [Tu-tu tu-tu tu-du tu, tu-tu tu-tu tu-du tu] Free falling. [Tu-tu tu-tu tu-du tu. Fire iya] We're free falling. [Tu-tu tu-tu tu-du tu, tu-tu tu-tu tu-du tu] Free falling. [Tu-tu tu -tu tu-du tu. Fire iya] People free falling. [Fire!] down below [Fire!] over so! [Fire!] Look it dey! [Fire!] Run away!....
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................
A Note From The Gull
Thank you, David Rudder! The soundtrack for our frenzied world. We're free falling.
"Just gimme the old school melodies to free up mih soul But then again these days the out of control are really in control."
"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.
It is all over the news today that Obama signed a secret Libya order authorizing support for Libyan "rebels". According to US Government officials, this "presidential finding" authorized covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and was signed THREE WEEKS AGO by President Obama.
"WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency has inserted clandestine operatives into Libya to gather intelligence for military airstrikes and make contacts with rebels battling Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces, according to American officials.
While President Obama has insisted that no American ground troops join in the Libyan campaign , small groups of C.I.A. operatives have been working in Libya for several weeks and are part of a shadow force of Westerners that the Obama administration hopes can help set back Colonel Qaddafi’s military, the officials said." SOURCE
According to the Huffington Post, such findings are a principal form of presidential directive used to authorize secret operations by the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA and the White House have declined immediate comment on the disclosure but the allies are now quite openly discussing the possibility of sending arms supplies to Gaddafi's opponents.
The Huffington Post describes these "special operations":
"People familiar with U.S. intelligence procedures said that Presidential covert action "findings" are normally crafted to provide broad authorization for a range of potential U.S. government actions to support a particular covert objective.
In order for specific operations to be carried out under the provisions of such a broad authorization -- for example the delivery of cash or weapons to anti-Gaddafi forces -- the White House also would have to give additional "permission" allowing such activities to proceed.
Former officials say these follow-up authorizations are known in the intelligence world as "'Mother may I' findings." In 2009 Obama gave a similar authorization for the expansion of covert U.S. counter-terrorism actions by the CIA in Yemen. The White House does not normally confirm such orders have been issued." SOURCE
The article refers to an earlier article by Gary Thomas in VOA News of March 4, 2011 where the author explores whether covert action was being undertaken to remove Gadhafi?
Gary Thomas defines US "covert action" as:
"any U.S. government effort to change the economic, military, or political situation overseas in a hidden way. Intelligence professionals consider it to be different than clandestine operations, which cover more traditional espionage and counterintelligence activities. Covert action can encompass many things, including propaganda, covert funding, electoral manipulation, arming and training insurgents, and even encouraging a coup." SOURCE
.............................................................................................................................. "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.
Were you just about to say something about chickens coming home to roost? Bite your tongue! Unless you're going to use those fowl to make more chicken soup for the pampered souls in need of more pampering, just pretend that you are blind, deaf and dumb if you like your life. That was Ward Churchill's mistake. He didn't sugar coat the truth or dismiss it or hide it. Like Malcolm X before him and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, he was punished for this honesty.
Chickens Coming Home To Roost - MALCOLM X Uploaded by antihostile
America's Chickens Come Home to Roost - Rev Jeremiah Wright Uploaded by ugtvonline
"Ward LeRoy Churchill (born October 2, 1947) is an American scholar, author, and political activist.
In January 2005 Ward Churchill was a tenured full professor of American Indian Studies, chair of the Ethnic Studies Department, and the recipient of the University of Colorado’s highest awards for teaching, scholarship and service. Then the right wing stumbled on an old op-ed piece about 9/11 and a media feeding frenzy ensued. Politicians and donors put intense pressure on CU to fire Ward Churchill. The piece was "Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens". In the essay, he claimed that the September 11, 2001 attacks were a natural and unavoidable consequence of what he views as unlawful US policy, and he referred to the "technocratic corps" working in the World Trade Center as "little Eichmanns".
Then the “controversy” broke, University officials launched an investigation of “every word” Ward Churchill had ever published. They knew it was all protected by the First Amendment, but needed time to find some other excuse to fire him. So, first, they tried the case in the media, in violation of all their own rules on confidentiality.
CU had received no complaints about Ward Churchill’s scholarship so, with the help of the Rocky Mountain News, University officials spent months soliciting allegations. Even then, they only had some random allegations but still no actual complaints, so Interim Chancellor Distefano stepped in as “complainant,” using the newspaper stories as the “complaints.”
An Investigative Committee dominated by CU insiders and including no American Indians or Indigenous Studies scholars was appointed. The Committee never told Ward Churchill what standards it was using, and arbitrarily limited his time to respond. It was chaired by a “feminist” who, before even meeting Ward Churchill, had sent out an e-mail comparing him to “male celebrity wrongdoers” like OJ Simpson.
After combing through more than 4,000 pages and 12,000 footnotes of Ward Churchill’s publications, CU found only a handful of minor points to dispute. CU called them “fraud” and “plagiarism” but they were really questions of historical interpretation and claimed deviation from unspecified “standards.”
Many people have been fooled by the heft of the Investigative Committee’s 124-page Report. In fact, most of the allegations were dropped. The charges boiled down to:
- 4 questions of interpretation of sources concerning smallpox epidemics or “blood quantum” laws. - 3 charges of ghostwriting and attribution of authorship, under “standards” the Committee never could identify. The author whose work was supposedly plagiarized never accused Ward Churchill of doing so.
Qualified American Indian studies scholars who examined the charges and the evidence have concluded that Ward Churchill did NOT engage in research misconduct. Legal scholars have noted that the investigation was pretextual and that even if the charges were true, these are not acts for which tenured professors are fired.
Because pressure from donors and politicians is more important to the University of Colorado than teaching, scholarship, service, or the Constitution. SOURCE: Ward Churchill Solidarity Network
"The battle continues as on Jan. 10, 2011. Ward Churchill's attorneys filed a petition today asking the Colorado Supreme Court to review the decision of the court of appeals because:
(1) the jury should have been allowed to decide whether CU's 2005 investigation into "every word" Ward Churchill published or spoke publicly violated his First Amendment rights;
(2) CU & its Regents should not have absolute immunity from suit when they fire a tenured professor in violation of the U.S. Constitution; and
(3) Ward Churchill should have been reinstated after the jury decided unanimously that he was fired for speech protected by First Amendment, not for alleged research misconduct." SOURCE:Ward Churchill Solidarity Network
Freespeech TV documentary on Ward Churchill
"Embattled Professor Ward Churchill speaks on the controversy over his essay, his treatment by the media and the people calling for his firing, and even execution, for 'treason'. In this hour-long program, Prof. Churchill invites FSTV into his home to tell the side of the story told nowhere else on American television: his side."
When They Came for Churchill - Freespeech TV
Farrakhan warns, advises Obama on Libya. Uploaded by FCNN
And Like That, Blink, A New War - Mumia Abu Jamal Uploaded by nickglais
.............................................................................................................................. "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.
Scroll down the page for the original "Going to Bocas" by Walter "Gavitt" Ferguson
I learned recently that a Literary Festival is being launched this year in Trinidad and Tobago. From the 28th April to the 1st May, 2011, books, writing, and writers will be celebrated in my country. I was filled with a rush of excitement and joy. To be honest, although I do appreciate most of my country's cultural expressions...ehemm...the positive ones, I have not ever felt this giddy over any existing festival. I sincerely regret that I will not be there and even more, that I am not a part of it in any way. This post is my way of pretending that I am part of that literary Cherry Blossom Time.
According to the Festival's website:
"The Bocas Lit Fest, based in Trinidad and Tobago, is an annual celebration of books, writing, and writers. Launching in April 2011, the Bocas Lit Fest is an exciting new addition to the Caribbean’s literary calendar. The centrepiece of the festival will be the award ceremony for the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, a major new award for Caribbean writers of poetry, fiction, and literary non-fiction." SOURCE
As I read the explanation below for how the Festival organisers had arrived at their choice of Bocas, many thoughts and memories to mind:
"Boca is the Spanish word for mouth — the organ of speech and song and storytelling. And the Bocas del Dragón — the Dragon’s Mouths — are the narrow straits off Trinidad’s northwest peninsula, which connect the sheltered Gulf of Paria to the open Caribbean Sea. For centuries, the Bocas were the gateways connecting Trinidad to the Caribbean and the Atlantic. The Bocas Lit Fest invites readers from around the world to enter through the Dragon’s Mouths and celebrate with us the rich literary heritage of Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean." SOURCE
The Bocas: Where are the writers whose language named the Bocas. I looked at the participants and although it was not specified where the individuals are based, I guessed that they were mainly located in the Caribbean and North America...maybe Europe? Cannot tell. But I don't see participants from the Hispanic Caribbean and wider South American Caribbean. Have we no writers from the Spanish Caribbean diaspora?
It is not just because of my Spanish heritage that I continue to call our attention to the seasonings that they add to our culture. They are too near to be ignored. They are right in our midst, literally [literary-ly] in our blood. Most immediately, the Bocas constitute a water bridge to South America and a huge reminder of our First Nations and Spanish heritage. The traffic and cultural exchange is still going both ways. For some of our ancestors and probably even today, crossing the Bocas to Trinidad and Tobago and vice versa is either a push from trouble in one place or the pull towards the hope for a better life for opportunity seekers.
They are in fact part of our wider Caribbean so I do not agree with Eric Williams, who in 1975 dropped that sarcastic [now amusing] comment meant to scoff at Venezuela's dreaming that it was part of the Caribbean. I don't have the exact quote but it went something like this, "If Venezuela is made part of the Caribbean, I expect next to hear that Tierrra del Fuego is."
Well apart from the geographic FACTS that we are actually part of Venezuela and Venezuela has coastline on the Caribbean Sea and is definitely to be included in Caribbean South America, I tend to want to be warmer towards them. I think of my ancestors from Venezuela, of the Venezuelan diaspora in T&T and the T&T diaspora in Venezuela and all the souls who, for good or for bad, are making legal and illegal crossings every day between the two places, over the same Bocas after which we are naming our Festival.
The song "Going To Bocas" which I included at the start of the post is not the original version. It is an interpretation sung by Manuel Monestel of the Costa Rican band "Cantoamerica." The original song was in fact composed by their countryman, the Costa Rican calypsonian from Cahuita, Walter "Gavitt" Ferguson. I have included Walter Ferguson's original song at the bottom of this post with the lyrics. He sings in the distinctive style of the old school Caribbean calypsonian as recorded on his CD "Dr. Bombodee". I am not sure if Walter's Bocas is our Bocas or the Panamanian but it works as well for the situation which he describes.
Other Memories: "Boca Chimes" and "Legends Of The Bocas"
Many of us know the song based on the poem, "Boca Chimes." It is a beautiful song filled with enchantment and mystery. It is based on the poem written by A.D. Russell, First Puisne Judge, Trinidad and Tobago, and included in his book published in 1922 "Legends of the Bocas" [Available here as pdf file.] I cannot remember if we were ever told who put it to music. My mind inserts Pat Castagne or Marjorie Padmore but I might be wrong. I won't volunteer to record myself singing it here although I have been told that I possess a rather mellifluous voice, but a performance of it may add historical/cultural depth to the proceedings.
Anyway, here are the lyrics that we used to sing:
"In the air there is a chiming, stealing far from out the west,
Where the crimson sun is sinking, o'er the mountains to his rest.
Oft, at eve, I hear that chiming, solemn, silvery, dying fast, dying fast;
'Tis as from some chapel hidden 'mid these Bocas wild and vast.
Hmm Hmm Hmm Hmm Hmm Hmm Hmm Hmm [We used to hum here to simulate chiming]
God is Eternity, the world is Time!"
I was only about seven or eight when I was taught this song but that line, "God is Eternity, the world is Time" contained the most awe-inspiring words that had ever been entrusted to my young heart.
The poem "Boca Chimes" continues:
Oft, at eve, I've sought that chiming ; sought it by the lone sea shore,
'Mong the islets and the reaches, where the seabird hovers o'er ;
'Mid the ebb- and 'mid the flow-tide, 'mid the remous' rune-like moan.
Till my heart is sick with longing, and my eyes are weary grown.
Chime, chime, chime! God is Eternity, the world is Time!
Somewhere, somewhere that fair Chapel hidden lies from mortal ken.
In an elder world of wonder, for a race of sinless men;
And they kneel in the old arches, young and old, and evermore
Rises up the rich, undoubting, simple faith of days of yore.
Chime, chime, chime! God is Eternity, the world is Time !
Might I find it, might I enter, kneel within its hallowed shrine,
Lave me at its mossy fountain, it might calm this heart of mine ;
Still the anguish, still the grieving, heal all sorrow, cleanse all sin. .
But the Way is deep in shadow, and the Light is all within.
Chime, chime, chime I God is Eternity, the world is Time!
Anyhoo, all that aside, I am overjoyed that this has finally been started. I think it's a fantastic idea and I congratulate Marina Salandy-Brown for her vision and all the others involved who will help her to make it a reality. See the Programme of Events.
Like Walter Gavitt Ferguson, I seriously studying now to buy a pass, packing up my things and going to Bocas.
GOING TO BOCAS
By Walter "Gavitt" Ferguson [Costa Rica] Album:Dr. Bombodee
Then the young girl claim that she do not want me no more
Then I notice she start to dash mih things outta door
She say she going to a foreign land, she going to kill the calypsonian
Going to buy a pass, packing up my things and go to Bocas
I say, I going to buy a pass, packing up my things and go to Bocas.
Believe me say the young girl declare that she do not want me no more
I discover she start to dash mih things outta door
She say she want me to understand, she will not support a calypsonian
Going to buy a pass, packing up my things and go to Bocas
I say, I going to buy a pass, packing up my things and go to Bocas.
Believe me say the young girl claim that she do not want me no more
She tell she friend dem, "Segundo too bloody poor!"
And when she want to get she money, she only live in ah misery
Going to buy a pass, packing up my things and go to Bocas
I say, I going to buy a pass, packing up my things and going to Bocas.
Believe me say the young girl declare that she do not want me no more
I discover she start to dash mih things outta door
She say she want me to understand, she will not support a calypsonian
Going to buy a pass, packing up my things and go to Bocas
I say, I going to buy a pass, packing up my things and go to Bocas
Uhmmm, I going to buy a pass, packing up my things and go to Bocas.
Muchas gracias, Walter "Gavitt" Ferguson!
...........................................................................................
"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.
LIFE By Gypsy Arranged by Frankie McIntosh Album: Life - MRS | T&T 1988
Life, oh life! What is life, I would like to know Seems like only woe, sorrow, While so few happy and so many have to suffer so The rich man oppress the poor man while living a happy life The poor man still on the corner catching he backside to survive Nobody cares, nobody hear his cry Because life is a struggle with too much ah trouble That sometimes I feel like I could die. But mih heart keep beating and mih blood keep flowing And that's just what keeps me moving on, and on, and on, and on In this life of torment and confusion. Oh, Life!
Crime, yes crime. Crime keeps on rising all the time Good gosh, tell me who - me, she, he or you Going to stick our necks out to see humanity through? When the law that we put to protect crime, they indulge in it just the same Our leaders indulging corruption and so bring our world to a shame Nobody cares, where do we go from here? My gosh, life is a struggle with too much ah trouble That sometimes I feel like I could die But mih heart keep beating and mih blood keep flowing And that's just what keeps me moving on, and on, and on, and on In this life of torment and confusion. Oh, Life!
Love and peace and justice are all fictitious things of the past Seems like cruelty, inhumanity and injustice to one another is what is here to last The pusher man 'round the corner have dope users like puppets on strings Prostitution and homosexuality is an everyday thing If that is life, what are means to survive My gosh, life is a struggle with too much ah trouble That sometimes I feel like I could die. But mih old heart keep beating and mih blood keep flowing And that's just what keeps me moving on, and on, and on, and on In this life of torment and confusion. Oh, Life!
You, yes, you and I could make a big difference if we try Try and do our best, and in this process One day this whole wide world going to find true happiness When the things we do for humanity, we do from within our hearts Greed, selfishness and enmity could never stand in our path And so we stroll on to a better world Til then life is a struggle with too much ah trouble That sometimes I feel like I could die. But mih heart keep beating and mih blood keep flowing And that's just what keeps me moving on, and on, and on, and on In this life of torment and confusion. Oh, yeah!
Life! Oh why? Oh why? Tell me why?
Why, oh why? Why, oh why? Tell me why? Why, oh why? Why do we know hate? Why, oh why? Why, oh why? When would it end? Why, oh why? Why can't we all be friend? Tell me why? Why, oh why? why when you watch my skin Why, oh why? You can't see deep within? Oh ho, tell me why Why, oh why? Why can't we live at ease? Why, oh why? Why can't this world know peace? Tell me why? Why, oh why? Why, oh why? Why? Tell me why? Why, oh why? We got to find a way to change this life! Why, oh why? We got to find a way to change this life! Oh, yes, oh ho, tell me why? Why, oh why? How long could we proceed? Why, oh why? With so much pain, envy and greed. Oh yes, tell me why? Why, oh why? Why don't you look within? Why, oh why? Instead of looking at the colour of my skin? Oh yes, tell me why? Why, oh why? Why can't we be friend? Why, oh why? This friendship should never end. Oh why?
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!
Boy, you always giving me old talk
How you like my smile and my walk
How the two ah we going to marry
But I have a man, so just leave me.
Chorus:
Go so nah, go so nah, go so nah!
Rock so nah, rock so nah, man, move nah!
Go so nah, go so nah, go so nah!
Rock so nah, rock so nah, man, move nah!
Spoken:Yeah, this is the girl, Sally Sagram, and the band XTREME in the Maha Studios!
You say I does look like KFC
Spicy, tender and oh, so juicy
You say I does look like KFC
Spicy, tender and oh, so juicy
For me you does get real tabanca
Only me you want for your lover
You go mind mih man and mih father.
Chorus:
Go so nah, go so nah, go so nah!
Rock so nah, rock so nah, man, move nah!
Go so nah, go so nah, go so nah!
Rock so nah, rock so nah, man, move nah!
Spoken:Gosh man! The man like a real pest! He following me all over the place, boy! Oh god!
I sing in Couva in a cooking
You know the man was up dey and he waiting
I sing in Couva in a cooking
You know the man was up dey and he waiting
If he doh see me, he does cry
How I is de apple of he eye
Even in guava season, he ent lie.
Chorus:
Go so nah, go so nah, go so nah!
Rock so nah, rock so nah, man, move nah!
Go so nah, go so nah, go so nah!
Rock so nah, rock so nah, man, move nah!
Spoken:This man have never ending lryics, ah set ah old talk! [Go so nah!] You know... you know when they always talking in yuh head? [Man, move nah!]
He say I's de channa in he doubles
And he go never give me trouble
He say I's de channa in he doubles
And he go never give me trouble
Look how he want a big family
He go cook and wash and clean for me
'Cause I is the froth in he mauby.
Chorus:
Go so nah, go so nah, go so nah!
Rock so nah, rock so nah, man, move nah!
Go so nah, go so nah, go so nah!
Rock so nah, rock so nah, man, move nah!
Boy, you always giving me old talk
How you like my smile and my walk
How the two ah we going to marry
But I have a man, so just leave me.
Chorus:
Go so nah, go so nah, go so nah!
Rock so nah, rock so nah, man, move nah!
Go so nah, go so nah, go so nah!
Rock so nah, rock so nah, man, move nah!
Spoken:Boy, me ent know what does wrong with dem fellas and dem these days nah? I really ent know...steupppppsssss!
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!
Thank you, Sally! Allyuh could keep "Advantage" and the "White Oak and Water", I running with "Go So Nah". Can't get this song's chorus out of my head.
Yeah, Sally, ah hear yuh, gyul. It had a time when dey used to real check fuh me too. Dem days gone! I does have to check fuh myself now! De number of pests [or pestesses] in yuh tail is directly proportional to yuh good looks and nature. I lorse all dat real fas in dis graveyard place. Yuh know how long I ent even get a sweet eye self?
Beauty, enjoy your youth and your talent!
"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.
The way the world is going on, all who up start to fall back down
This might sound like fallacy, '79 prove this to me
I sure you'll remember the fall of many world leaders
Rulers of oppression overthrown by the oppressed man.
The table turning, sah [Round and round]
All dem oppressor [Falling down]
The table turning, sah [Round and round]
Now the oppressor is the oppressed one.
[Round and round, falling down. Falling down, round and round]
March the 13th of '79, --------- came to mind
Bishop overthrow Gairy backed by the People's Army
Well, look at Somoza moved by the Sandinistas
Idi up in Uganda and Emperor Bokassa.
The table turning, sah [Round and round]
All dem oppressor [Falling down]
Table turning, sah [Round and round]
Now the oppressor is the oppressed one.
[Round and round, falling down. Falling down, round and round]
The world's a wheel, the Bible say, that keep spinning every day.
Today you rule a kingdom, tomorrow you in the opposite position
The Shah control Iran with everything at his command
Ayatollah took his position, now the Shah leave Iran and run.
The table turning, sah [Round and round]
All dem oppressor [Falling down]
The table turning, sah [Round and round]
Now the oppressor is the oppressed one.
[Round and round, falling down. Falling down, round and round]
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.
THINK WELL By Black Stalin
Album: Moving Up, 1988
Arranged By Emanuel Ector
Mister Decision Maker, leh we all get together and for once discuss a serious matter
For when making decision for we youth man and woman
This is one thing I think we must understand
Them same youths for who we planning, is them future, them ent joking
So we must do some serious thinking
For if we leave them a world with problem to deal with as men and women
This is what we could always expect from them.
Plenty lightning and thunder, brimstone and fire
If we don't plan well, I say, for we children future
They would never forgive we, as we did them before we
Because we know we parents never had the opportunity
But we got it now for a fact, so we got to clean up we act
'Cause the men and women of tomorrow ent taking that.
Every day we keep hearing how parents keep complaining
The generation gap widening
Today daughter cussing mother, son fighting with father
No way could the young and old get together
But if you make your children, grow and educate them
And later on in life you start getting problem
You must stop, look up and look down, make a sound evaluation
And find out exactly where you went wrong.
Otherwise is lightning and thunder, brimstone and fire
If we don't plan well, I say, for we children future
They would never forgive we, as we did them before we
Because we know we parents never had the opportunity
But we got it now for a fact, so we got to clean up we act
'Cause the men and women of tomorrow not taking that.
Look around and see evidence, even babies in their innocence
Like if they born with their own intelligence
But the things they used to teach we when we reach the age of twenty
The eight year-old done know that already
Even five year-old and under, today playing with computer
So we must see it's a serious matter
For if we don't take stock with what we doing
Then that answer for which we looking
As they say, would be revealed unto babes and sucklings.
And then it goin' be lightning and thunder, brimstone and fire
If we don't plan well, I say, for we children future
They would never forgive we, as we did them before we
Because we know we parents never had the opportunity
But we got it now for a fact, so we got to clean up we act
'Cause the men and women of tomorrow not taking that.
Go ahead and blame your leader as the reason for your failure
And tell yourself you out the hot water
You don't have to convince me about your sincerity
Is your children and them who would write your history
So you just keep mamguying, tell yourself the youths ent looking
And later on find they misbehaving
Is the inheritors of tomorrow is the ones who got to make you know
Whether your life would be happiness or sorrow.
Otherwise is lightning and thunder, brimstone and fire
If you don't plan well, I say, for your children future
They would never forgive we, as we did them before we
Because we know we parents never had the opportunity
But we got it now for a fact, so we got to clean up we act
'Cause the men and women of tomorrow not taking that.
[Think well. We ent taking that!
Think well. We ent taking that!
Think well. We ent taking that!
Think well. We ent taking that!...]
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.
DON'T HATE By Colin Lucas Arranged by Colin Lucas Album: One-Foot Man | Coral | T&T 1995
"You damn coolie! Yes, yuh dutty nigger!" Cruel words of hate propelled by deep-rooted anger "You son of a slave!" and "You from indentured labour!" Statements of fact and yet not cause to despise your neighbour. We might be different, it's true, many creeds and races Forged together right here from many different places But now we got to chart a new course before it's too late I say, we got to love one another. Don't hate.
So if Ramsingh house up in the air because he start a business there [Don't hate] Say, "Well done!" [Congratulate] If when the profits start to soar, he buy the property next door [Don't hate] Do just like he. [Emulate] And if he want to chop he big daughter because she love a nigger Still [Don't hate] Show him that he wrong. [Educate] I say, "Don't hate." [Educate.]
Divide and rule, schemed the old slave master It was his ace in the hole, his tool to control our lives But now he gone, we jump from the pot to the fire 'Cause under the guise of Independence, colonialism still thrives Beware the new vanguard, I say, with their evil ambition Clutching the reins of power with a racist tension But we must expose and derail their plans to segregate Fight back with the power of love. Don't hate.
So if Wong Ping, the next door Chinee, open up he fifth laundry [Don't hate] Say, "Great job!" [Congratulate] And if he save he last penny to send he kids university [Don't hate] Learn from him. [Emulate] And if he want to gamble 'way he life, lost he house and he wife Still [Don't hate] Pull him aside. [Educate] I say, "Don't hate." What to do? [Educate] You now talking!
They say that hate consumes the hater While the hated and pure of heart moves blissfully on Expel that hate from your heart right now, not later Or you will soon become just an evil pawn Come, let us unite Trinbago, build a stronger nation With discipline, tolerance and production And in the process of bonding, we will demonstrate The full potential of love, not hate.
So if Joe, the blackest boy in school come first in test, prove he ent no fool [Don't hate] Say, "Yeah, man!" [Congratulate] And if added to that great report, he could play music and he tops in sport [Don't hate] Do just like he. [Emulate] But if instead of that, the young fella hooked on marijuana Still [Don't hate] Set him right. [Educate] I say, "Don't hate." Sing it. [Educate] Yeah!
Spoken lines:Too much hate in the world. How you could just watch a man and because he's a indian or a negro or a white man or a chinee just hate him, just so? Nah man, don't hate at all. Keep your heart full of love. Trinidad and Tobago, the West Indies, the world, only love could keep us going on the right track. Keep it tight, keep it tight! Respect!
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................
A Note From The Gull
Thank you, Colin Lucas, for a disturbing glimpse into a reality which inspired this song. It wasn't my reality though. My parents never displayed the slightest inclination to envy or to hate anyone for success of any kind, and there were always others around us who had much, much more than we could afford when we were growing up.
We were always taught that material wealth, for example, was there for the making, whether by honest or dishonest means, the latter route involving vigorous "pulling of the Devil's tail" according to my very religious parents. Unless you had inherited all your wealth, it was going to be hard work whichever road you chose. If you were not prepared to do the hard honest work or the hard dishonest work, then you should not envy the people who were so inclined. My mother would say, "Don't envy anyone. You don't know what people have to do and to go through to be where they are."
Of course, the fact that we never went hungry a day in our lives, and were sheltered, clothed, educated, loved and prayed over ever single day by two parents who had no intention, come hell or high water, as God was their witness, to ever abandon each other or their children, played no small part in making us feel that we were richer than most.
But if I imagine what it is like to stand in the shoes of brothers and sisters who lack the basic necessities, some through no fault of their own or even through the greed of others, I can see how despair can sometimes lead to envy and resentment and hatred.
Violence often springs out of an inequality which is perceived to be unjust.
It might sound strange that I am implying that there are inequalities that can be perceived as just, but if you think about it, many people support inequalities like monarchies and the benefits which are directed towards persons/institutions which are traditionally regarded as somehow deserving of a larger share of wealth. If you live in a society, for example, which is based on a religion which supports a caste system, as long as you are a believer, you will accept your lot in life as just, even if you are barely clinging to the lowest rung. The impulse behind colonialism and imperialism is fueled by the conviction that the world is its oyster and it is just that all others bend to accommodate its ambitions. The targets with the slavish mentalities accept and often facilitate their machinations as inevitable and part of Nature's plan. Over time, many of these slaves have occupied leadership positions in our country.
Democracy should allow us all to have a say in making the decisions that have far reaching impacts on our lives. We expect free and fair elections, we expect that there will be opportunities for our active participation in the civic and political spheres; we take as a given the rule of law and we anticipate that all the laws and procedures will apply equally to us all, and as citizens, we are confident that our rights as human beings will be protected.
Unjust inequality is the kind that is not democratically agreed upon. I did not agree that if the blue collar criminal commits a crime, he or she will be punished but not the platinum collar criminal. I did not agree that my government should make decisions that cause harm to one section of the population to enrich another section. While I agree that our creativity should be encouraged, I did not agree that exorbitant prizes should be heaped on entertainers while the citizens who have been making the more urgently needed contributions to their society are going unrecognised and unrewarded.
Most recently in the USA, Congress was bypassed in a decision to engage in a war that the country cannot afford on so many levels. This is not the "democracy" that I want for citizens anywhere but there are minds in our country that are clearly in shocking phototropic lockstep with the policies that are enforced there. This never fails to cause me deep disappointment but as I am not in the majority, I can only continue to fervently pray for my country's awakening.
"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.
I want to invoke the Doctor and then write him a letter
I want to ask him a question, if he knew what was going on
The other day I was passing, I hear people complaining
He is the man with the answer but he quite over yonder.
They saying snake in the balisier, snake in the balisier
Snake in the balisier and they biting hard
Snake in the balisier, I sorry for Trinidad.
Big snakes in the country, man, they worse than mapepire
When they making they racket, they does dress up in nice jacket
Some big fat macajuel drain out the oil in the oil well
I don't know how they found the key but I hear they empty the Treasury.
Snake in the balisier, snake in the balisier
Snake in the balisier and they biting hard
Snake in the balisier, destroying Trinidad.
I want to question the hunters who does hunt down the squatters
They does cut down your hammock, they don't care if you sleep on rock
While them snakes in the country only fulling their belly
I want to ask what causing that but I 'fraid they shoot off mih hat.
I telling yuh, snakes in the balisier, snake in the balisier
Snake in the balisier and they biting hard
Snake in the balisier, I sorry for Trinidad.
Them snake have no feelings, they does bite up anything
I hear they bite up the money and have the country in jeopardy
They bite up the pipeline, no water for the swine
I don't know what they would do next, they bite up a whole racing complex.
Snake in the balisier, snake in the balisier
Snake in the balisier and they biting hard
Snake in the balisier, I sorry for Trinidad.
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.
"Morality then is said to wait on men, with only a fourth part of itself remaining
And Markandeya said: Listen, O monarch, to all that has been seen and heard by me, and to all, O king of kings, that hath been known to me by intuition from the grace of the God of gods! O bull of the Bharata race, listen to me as I narrate the future history of the world during the sinful age. O bull of the Bharata race, in the Krita age, everything was free from deceit and guile and avarice and covetousness; and morality like a bull was among men, with all the four legs complete. In the Treta age sin took away one of these legs and morality had three legs. In the Dwapara, sin and morality are mixed half and half, and accordingly morality is said to have two legs only. In the dark age (of Kali), O thou best of the Bharata race, morality mixed with three parts of sin liveth by the side of men. Accordingly morality then is said to wait on men, with only a fourth part of itself remaining. Know, O Yudhishthira that the period of life, the energy, intellect and the physical strength of men decrease in every Yuga!
Wedded to avarice and wrath and ignorance and lust, men will entertain animosities towards one another, desiring to take one another’s lives.
O Pandava, the Brahmanas (Brahmins) and Kshatriyas and Vaisyas and Sudras, (in the Kali age) will practise morality and virtue deceitfully and men in general will deceive their fellows by spreading the net of virtue. And men with false reputation of learning will, by their acts, cause Truth to be contracted and concealed. And in consequence of the shortness of their lives, they will not be able to acquire much knowledge. And in consequence of the littleness of their knowledge, they will have no wisdom. And for this, covetousness and avarice will overwhelm them all. And wedded to avarice and wrath and ignorance and lust, men will entertain animosities towards one another, desiring to take one another’s lives.
And Brahmanas and Kshatriyas and Vaisyas with their virtue contracted and divested of asceticism and truth will all be reduced to an equality with the Sudras. And the lowest orders of men will rise to the position of the intermediate ones, and those in intermediate stations will without doubt, descend to the level of the lowest ones. Even such, O Yudhishthira, will become the state of the world at the end of the Yuga." ---From The Mahabharata. Vana Parva, Section CLXXXIX.Translated by Sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli
"In consequence of these and other indications of wicked conduct and the reversal of their former nature, I shall not, O chief of the gods, dwell among them (Danavas) any longer. There, where I reside, the seven other goddesses with Jaya for their eighth, who love me, who are inseparably associated with me, and who depend upon me, desire to live. They are Hope, Faith, Intelligence, Contentment, Victory, Advancement, and Forgiveness. She who forms the eighth, viz., Jaya, occupies the foremost place amongst them. All of them and myself, having deserted the Asuras (demons) have come to thy domains. We shall henceforth reside among the deities who are devoted to righteousness and faith." ---The Mahabharata. Santi Parva, Section CCXXVIII. Translated by Sri Kisari Mohan Ganguli
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A Note From The Gull
This is the world's insanity and I want no front row seat.
"O Solitude", Z 406 - H. Purcell. Performed by Gérard Lesne. Uploaded by civileso
O SOLITUDE
O solitude, my sweetest choice! O solitude, O solitude, my sweetest, sweetest choice! Places devoted to the night, remote from tumult and from noise, how ye my restless thoughts delight!
O solitude, O solitude, my sweetest, sweetest choice! O heavens, what content is mine, to see these trees which have appeared from the nativity of time, and which all ages have revered; to look today as fresh and green, to look today as fresh and green as when their beauties first were seen.
O, O, how agreeable a sight, these hanging mountains do appear, which the unhappy would invite to finish all their sorrows here, when their hard, their hard fate makes them endure such woes, such woes as only Death can cure.
O, O, how I solitude adore! O, O, how I solitude adore! That element of noblest wit, where I have learnt, where I have learnt Apollo's lore without the pains, the pains to study it. For thy sake, I in love am grown with what thy fancy, thy fancy doth pursue. But when I think upon my own, I hate it, I hate it for that reason too, because it needs must hinder me from seeing, from seeing and from serving thee.
O solitude, O how I solitude adore!
"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.
Warning: ;) Contains thought-provoking material. Recommended for minds that can still accommodate and process more than tweet length messages. Viewer discretion is advised.
WE Arundhati Roy [Full Film] Length: 1 hr 4 min .............................................................................................................................. "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.
Obstacles in your way retarding your progress You'll find them every day in your struggle to achieve success So, come on, move on, push on! Kneel when the going gets too rough Even though you feel that you have had enough Fight, make your dream a reality No achievement comes easy.
No work, no money. No joke, it ent easy Fighting starvation, frustration Living like a feather, watching every dollar Fighting starvation, frustration Pray to your Maker, He go ease this pressure of starvation, frustration.
Out there is a jungle and if you must survive You got to keep up the struggle, it's the only way to stay alive So, come on, move on, push on! Search deep within your soul and seek out the strength To find your pot of gold Come, don't just sit down there and mope Wherever there's life, there's hope
No work, no money. No joke, it ent easy Fighting starvation, frustration Living like a feather, light, light, watching every dollar Fighting starvation, frustration Pray to the Maker, He go ease this pressure of starvation, frustration.
Every story of success carries scars of frustration You got to be stronger than the rest Or the evil of failure has won. So, come on, move on, push on! Meditate, free your mind of all the strain Then communicate with your spirit once again Pray, pray relentlessly every day And you will surely find the way.
No work, no money. No joke, it ent easy Fighting starvation, frustration Living like a feather, light, light, watching every dollar Fighting starvation, frustration Pray to the Man, He have the solution for starvation, frustration. Starvation, frustration The only way is sacrifice, be prepared to pay the price Of starvation, frustration....
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.
See live performance below following the lyrics WATCH OUT MY CHILDREN
By Ras Shorty I
Spoken:This song is dedicated to all my sons and daughters through the four corners of the earth.
My sons and my daughters, to you I plead
Watch, don't get no horrors but please take heed
I know you don't want no sermon
But my admonition is to guard you against all the evils of life
That create strife and destroy life.
Walk cautiously, children, be alert
Because you have an enemy that's roaming the earth
I know you're young and restless but you don't have to be careless
You see, sober thinking leads unto righteousness
To happiness, spiritual bliss.
That's why I tell you this...
Watch out my children! Watch out my children!
It have a fellow called Lucifer with a bag of white powder
And he don't want to powder your face
But to bring shame and disgrace to the human race.
Leh we sing it again...
Watch out my children! Watch out my children!
It have a fellow called Lucifer with a bag of white powder
And he don't want to powder your face
But to bring shame and disgrace to the human race.
I give you my counsel because I want to see
All you, young people, live righteously
What you feed your mind with forms your characteristics
And shape the path that you must walk tomorrow -
Darkness or glow, joy or sorrow.
That's why I am concerned...
So, Watch out my children! Watch out my children!
It have a fellow called Lucifer with a bag of white powder
And he don't want to powder your face
But to bring shame and disgrace to the human race.
To all my sons and daughters in Germany:
----------- meine Kinder! --------- meine Kinder!
Es ist ein Kerl namens Luzifer mit einer Tüte weißes Pulver
[Your kind assistance needed with translation.]
You are young and your future is ahead of you
Right or wrong, sweet or sour, depends on what you do
Taking the wrong direction will drain your constitution
And promote mental chaos and confusion
Then corruption to the inner man
And that is not God's plan.
To my Spanish children:
¡Cuidado mis hijos!¡Cuidado mis hijos!
Ha un hombre que se llama Lucifer, con una bolsa de polvo blanco
Y él no quiere empolvar tu cara
Pero para traer pena y desgracia para la raza humana.
To my French children:
Attention mes enfants! Attention mes enfants!
Il ya quelqu'un appelé Lucifer avec un sachet de poudre blanche
Et il ne veux pas se poudrer votre visage
Mais apporter honte et disgrace à la race humaine.
To my East Indian children:
[Your kind assistance needed with translation.]
Watch out my children! Watch out my children!
It have a fellow called Lucifer with a bag of white powder
And he don't want to powder your face
But to bring shame and disgrace to the human race.
G.B.T.V. CultureShare ARCHIVES 1995:
RAS SHORTY I & THE LOVE CIRCLE "Watch out my children"
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!
I have been reading the article "ALL IN THE FAMILY" It was published in Issue No. 70 - November/December 2004 of Caribbean Beat magazine. The excerpt below is taken from this article and gives us some information about this song:
"Any doubts that might have remained about the significance of the Love Circle were dispelled in 1989, with the release of Watch Out My Children, the stirring anti-drugs anthem which remains the group’s best known piece. “It came about when Shorty I went into Port of Spain one day,” Claudette says. “He came home that evening and said, ‘I don’t know what this place coming to.’ He’d seen some young boys just sitting around looking like their life had been wasted. He called one of the young guys and started speaking to him. And they couldn’t explain their life, they couldn’t say what they were even doing tomorrow. And when he looked at them, he realised they were on cocaine.
The Love Circle knew the song was special, and audience reactions bore that out. “We would look at the audience, and it was heart-breaking,” Claudette says. “We would see people with tears coming out their eyes. Because everybody had a situation where they had a young person on drugs of some nature.”
A music video was produced by Banyan in 1989, and in 2002 Watch Out My Children was chosen by the United Nations International Drug Control Programme as its theme song. Ras Shorty I did not live to see its second incarnation, however, for in 2000 he succumbed to bone cancer and died. He was 58. At a massive funeral at Trinity Cathedral in Port of Spain he was hailed as a visionary and cultural pioneer."
Reading about how Ras Shorty I turned his back on many of the things and pursuits that had consumed his attention in his life before, I wondered how many of us dream of doing the same thing but feel trapped by the soul-deadening routines to which we have become enslaved.
This has been my dream ever since I was a child. Don't know why it was that way with me but I recoiled from most of what I encountered in the "developed world" as it is called. Ras Shorty I's transformation was considered "odd" because according to his wife:
"Casting off the flashy clothes she could understand. “But he took off his gold . . . He just started flinging it about the place, by the seaside and elsewhere. That’s why people said he went off. He just wanted to get rid of all that. Bondage, he called it.” She was concerned, too, about his hair, which he had stopped combing — a dramatic political statement by a once meticulously-groomed man. She sat her husband down and counseled him to “take it down a bit . . . be careful you’re not taking up some kind of extremist type of attitude.”" SOURCE
I find absolutely nothing odd at all about throwing away gold. I consider it odd that people actually lust after that crap. I find it odd also that so much that is unnecessary and even toxic is presented to us as essential for our well being and progress...and we swallow the lies, hook, line and sinker.
If you love the song "Castles In The Air" by Don McClean, then you are a kindred spirit, and I hope that we all find that place we've been dreaming about. Instead of a failed relationship with a girl, I think about my failed relationship with the status quo. Ras Shorty I had a dream and he made it a reality. Such courage is rare.
CASTLES IN THE AIR
By Don McClean
And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you
That I'm tired of castles in the air,
I've got a dream I want the world to share,
And castle walls just lead me to despair.
Hills of forest green where the mountains touch the sky,
A dream come true, I'll live there till I die,
I'm asking you to say my last goodbye,
The love we knew ain't worth another try.
Save me from all the trouble and the pain
I know I'm weak but I can't face that girl again
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain
Perhaps she'll understand, if you tell it to her plain
But how can words express the feel of sunlight in the morning
In the hills, away from city strife,
I need a country woman for my wife,
I'm city born, but I love the country life.
For I will not be part of her cocktail generation,
Partners waltz, devoid of all romance
The music plays and everyone must dance,
I'm bowing out, I need a second chance.
Save me from all the trouble and the pain
I know I'm weak but I can't face that girl again
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain
Perhaps she'll understand, if you tell it to her plain
And if she asks you why, you can tell her that I told you
That I'm tired of castles in the air,
I've got a dream I want the world to share
And castle walls just lead me to despair.
"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.
I would really like to know what is our musical culture? Is it calypso or is it soul music from America? I ask this because I know foreign music has take over my country, And my calypso is being suppressed and not used to uplift my dignity. Some say our music is calypso but we ent sure Because if this was really so, Of our calypsonians and calypso we should know more How terrible, of one's culture to know so little.
Chorus: So I'm asking, Where is our dignity? Oh lord, where is our pride? Perhaps it leave the country and gone for a ride Who was Lord Executor? No one know the answer. Yet everyone of us here know the life story of Louis Armstrong Satchmo.
A radio announcer say, "Calypso is loved only by the old. The youths of today appreciate no other music but soul." But I know that this could not be so, how can his conception be the truth, When our calypso is being played few and far between like Grandma tooth? Even our Prime Minister quoting foreign songs He said, "I want to retire. Like a bridge over troubled water, I am going to lay me down." Man that ent fair, he should say, "Let me get to hell outta here!"
Chorus: It makes me wonder, Where is our dignity? Oh lord, where is our pride? Why must we appreciate more the things from outside? Foreign music is being entertained, my calypso is going down the drain We speak of cultural consciousness and they themself who preach, doing stupidness.
Calypso music is sweet and lyrically soul expression This rhythmic beat is undoubtedly truly Trinidadian But we allow other countries to claim our calypso as theirs The authorities have simply neglected our art down through the years Go to Jamaica, you would hear reggae from dawn til dawn I don't blame them in any way, I only hope that some good day We too will catch on And leave foreign things alone and appreciate what's our own.
Chorus: Please tell me, Where is our dignity? Oh lord, where is our pride? Why must we appreciate more the things from outside? It is time that we should learn, what belongs to us, we should show concern Every country thinks of their own, so to Trinidadians this I will condone.
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.
Spoken word: Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him and show My salvation. ---Psalms 91:14-16
The workers of iniquity dig a pit for me, Now they waiting for me to fall in. Trying to take my bread and butter With lies and propaganda, But they fooling, they only fooling. I will not be afraid of what man can do to me, Man, you see, is only vanity.
Chorus: You see, who God bless, no man curse. He shall never hunger or thirst Who God bless, no man shall ever curse He shall be first, he shall be first.
All these years of toil, burning the midnight oil Creating something from nothing. Now it reach maturity and gain popularity Some of them claiming is their own thing But as sure as Truth always prevails finally So the death of lies and deceit is a certainty.
Chorus: You see, who God bless, no man curse. He shall never hunger or thirst Who God bless, no man shall ever curse He shall be first, he shall be first.
All this envy and jealousy is causing disharmony It's appalling and frustrating But whosoever diggeth a pit, they shall fall in it What they sowing, they shall be reaping. But my house is strong and no one can put it down The foundation is from now till Thy Kingdom come.
Chorus: You see, who God bless, no man curse. He shall never hunger or thirst Who God bless, no man shall ever curse He shall be first, he shall be first. Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................
A Note From The Gull
Thank you, Ras Shorty I. I am now consciously seeking out your messages. Yesterday I was really down and this dark verse from Hosea kept coming to me:
"They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind. The stalks of grain wither and produce nothing to eat. And even if there is any grain, foreigners will eat it."---Hosea 8:7 The Bible, New Living Translation, 2007
Fortunately, everything is only for a time, even my sadness. Today the saying, "Naked we came and naked we will go." is bringing me much satisfaction.
I will not give up. I will follow as witness, whether silent or outspoken. I will follow my country down the road. No one and nothing can break the blessing that is upon this land.
"But as sure as Truth always prevails finally So the death of lies and deceit is a certainty."
"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.
Ley la ley la ley la, ley la ley la ley la Ley la ley la ley la, ley la ley la ley la
Since them cane fields, them slum yards Them highways and them ghettos that come between you and me And all them wayward children searching In darkness without guidance for their ancestry I see the rich, I see the poor on the land In a ball of confusion they living, The old ent caring, the young ent listening...
Gone are them days when we loved each other Gone are them times when we were together No more smiling face, no more warm embrace In my home I'm like a stranger.
Ley la ley la ley la, ley la ley la ley la Ley la ley la ley la, ley la ley la ley la
They are memories of instant graveyards Though you tend to turn your sleeping eyes further away From the protesting voice of the people Leading a justified struggle to find a better way I see the weak, I see the strong on the land One man, one history, one culture in conflict with one another...
Gone are them days when we loved each other Gone are them times when we were together No more smiling face, no more warm embrace In my home I'm like a stranger.
Ley la ley la ley la, ley la ley la ley la Ley la ley la ley la
Brother, sister, friend and neighbour I see them walking down the same old road with problems on their minds And though thousands of people walking by, thousands of distressed voices cry And the whole world remain blind But I am a man and I must go on on the land I'll pretend that there is no burden though I'm all alone and forgotten...
Gone are them days when we loved each other Gone are them times when we were together No more smiling face, no more warm embrace In my home I'm like a stranger.
Ley la ley la ley la....
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................
A Note From The Gull
Thank you, Ras Shorty I. For me this is a crossroads song. I couldn't have come across it at a better time but that is often the way with spirit guides and their little gifts.
I am sad. Maybe I am also paranoid because chills ran through and through my body when I read this headline yesterday in the Trinidad Express:
I swear that I heard the sound of a door banging shut. A realization and a sadness came down upon me like a ton of bricks and is still with me tonight. I feel that I have lost my country. T&T has turned another corner and as I stand here and watch it going down the road, something is telling me that this time is not like the other times. Where in the world is my home?
"Gone are them days when we loved each other Gone are them times when we were together No more smiling face, no more warm embrace In my home I'm like a stranger."
"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.
Lord, Please walk beside me through this day. Clear the heavy air with the lightness of Your Presence. Guide my hands and steady my heart that I may give comfort when I cannot give hope, that I may give relief when I do not have a cure, and that I may radiate Your healing peace when the limits of science, time, and the human body overwhelm us all. Amen
Source
Sáncte Míchael Archángele, defénde nos in proélio, cóntra nequítiam et insídias diáboli ésto præsídium. Ímperet ílli Déus, súpplices deprecámur: tuque, prínceps milítiæ cæléstis, Sátanam aliósque spíritus malígnos, qui ad perditiónem animárum pervagántur in múndo, divína virtúte, in inférnum detrúde. Ámen
