"Our laid-back approach to food production is what bothers me most. There is much talk but little action. If government diverts 10 per cent of the resources it has put in its chase for a new POS skyline into agriculture, we could increase food production to a level where it dampens inflation. If we join hands in the Caribbean, embrace our brethren in South and Central America where land space is not a problem, then food inflation would subside." ---Raffique Shah "Vision and visionaries to steer us through crisis" Sunday, October 5th 2008.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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.
We have no opposition in the House of Parliament
So politically is we who have to comment 'bout this government
But the tune you chanting is wrong yet you keep singing along
Like you join the bunch of the wrong and strong...well, sing your song
But if you check where kaiso come from
Was the black man's cry of protest
Now Panorama and Dimanche Gras have their heads in a mess...what a mess
Since in the days of Atilla, kaiso showed its true colour
I wonder if you people know the importance of kaiso?
As sure as calypso is the culture of this land
The calypsonian is the only true opposition.
So open your mouths my brothers and speak with a righteous tongue
Instead of putting the people on a merry go round...and round
You are not saying the right things and so much things happening
Yet you only want to keep them people dancing...prancing
But I know this is their last chance
So let them prance if they want to prance
Such was the joy, shall be the sorrow after they dance...so let them prance
Brothers, you are worth your weight in gold
Yet your precious talent people control
You're are being used for the wrong purpose
Folks are just trying to full their purse
As sure as calypso is going through this exploitation
The calypsonian in the only true opposition.
It seem as though you don't know the precious talent you possess
It's a gift more valuable than all the rest...oh yes
The attention that you gain from this nation is beyond any politician
So don't forget you are the true, true opposition...in this land
Yet you feeding the people minds with the same set of backside jive
And the real vintage kaiso struggling to survive...that is jive
Man get up and do your duty, you will be rewarded much more highly
We have a purpose and a reason so we should should all sing in unison
It is we who really got, ey!, the voice of the land
The calypsonian is the only true opposition.
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are 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
"You are not saying the right things and so much things happening Yet you only want to keep them people dancing...prancing"
Thank you Bother Valentino. What has happened/is happening with calypso is a reflection of what has happened/is happening in the nation.
"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 sun rises slowly over the hills, Everywhere is golden sunlight but still Most nights with sad tales are crowded Their days with dark clouds are shrouded They don't smile and they never will, Only vultures get their fill. Empty promises is what they hear No running water from year to year Hearts that know one desire - That if there is a Messiah, Someday He'd hear their whispered prayer.
Cupboard always bare and scanty Ten people in a one-bedroom shanty Forced to sell on the pavement No vacancies, no employment Can't tell firecracker from gunshot Blood does flow when things get hot Ah 'fraid to look out mih window To hear voices from the ghetto...
[Crying,] crying [crying] ay Lord, Lord [crying] crying, voices from the ghetto [Crying,] crying [crying] Lord, Lord, Lord [crying] aye ay, voices from the ghetto Help us Father! Oh, Lord!
Mothers does just hold their head and bawl And them woman stronger than a wall A big pusher eyeing she daughter, Son in jail for manslaughter Too bad for he, he ain't named Brad Boyce, No bail, that's the black man's choice Like Shadow say, "Poverty is Hell", She little girl child belly start to swell Some say life is a cycle But don't draw she no circle Where will it all end, only time could tell.
Outside the siren keep howling, Inside your belly real growling Police raid very often, Simpson's measuring a coffin One night in bed you sleeping, Next night is a wake that you keeping So you praying to win the Lotto, Not to hear voices from the ghetto...
[Crying,] crying [crying] ay, crying, crying, crying, voices from the ghetto [Crying,] crying [crying] Lord, hear them pleading [crying] ay, ay, ay, voices from the ghetto Stretch forth a hand to us, Lord! We are not a forgotten people. Hear our cry.
With dented pride they soldier on Revolutions' base, politicians' pawn And often their tragic story brings a journalist glory No wonder they view the world with scorn From since the day they born Some call them rebels without a cause, These social victims of unjust laws But yet they christen their heroes, "Renegades," "Desperados" Forever knocking on Heaven's doors...Hear me!
Steelband music shatters the silence, Harmony to conquer the violence Big men run when cops approach, Fighting for scraps with the cockroach Young turks, their turf protecting, Almost every young girl expecting So tomorrow, beg, steal or borrow, There will be another voice from the ghetto...
[Crying,] Lord [crying] oh, oh, oh [crying] ay, ay, voices from the ghetto [Crying,] Oh----- Mama [crying] Oh ----- Papa [crying] voices from the ghetto.
Social amenities, Lord, Heaven knows Opportunities, well them always closed Can't get work once it white collar So if you can't stretch your dollar Is later for you, crapaud smoke yuh pipe You sure to dead from gripe Life does rape dignity and pride 'Til there's only bitterness left inside And everyday is a hustle, Arguments are settled with muscle 'Til you six feet deep by three feet wide.
Children through life keep on drifting Is something they smoking or sniffing Maybe they trying to forget This life of misery and regret No one to come to their rescue Except Cableton and Buju So their boom boxes they leggo To drown out voices from the ghetto...
[Crying] crying [crying] yeah, Lord, lord, lord [crying] ay, ay, voices from the ghetto [Crying,] crying crying [crying] crying, crying [crying] crying, yeah eh, voices from the ghetto [Crying,] I was born and bred in the ghetto [crying] I know what I talking about, you know [crying] ay, ay, I from the ghetto [Crying] crying....
N.B. The following verse was sung at Singing Sandra's 1999 Dimanche Gras performance.
As parents struggle to provide Children are neglected and deprived Illiteracy on the rampage Some parents never reach college So ---- the child must ---- If he want to stay alive The dropout rate does come out trump As their big truck skid and hit life's bump Dem can't relate education To their daily life of starvation So they take their chances in the dump
Every day garbage truck they hopping Is old junk and metal they scrapping To get a jump start on them corbeaux Some does get squash like mosquito So next time you passing the Beetham In your fancy car, air-conditioned Just above the hum of your motor You might hear a voice from the ghetto.
Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are 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, Singing Sandra. I bow low.
"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
