Sereno Say [Song]


Uploaded by TheSocaMann

SERENO SAY
By Gypsy

Ayeee!!
Sai!!! hah!

Man, I know you have your mistletoe
And I know you have your snowman
And I know you have chandeliers hanging high
But dat just doh make me feel blue
Because I have mih own share too
Ah have mih belly full of rum
And a big sky full ah sun
And a West Indian Christmas, a West Indian Christmas
Drink yuh rum until yuh belly bus, bus, bus
Den yuh go cross by yuh neighbour
Say, Nabe come cross by me later
With a old cuatro an ah old guitar singing sereno, sereno, sera

Sereno, sereno, sereno, sera ha
Sereno, sereno, sereno, say rum
Sereno, sereno, sereno, sereno, say rum
Sereno, sereno, gih yuh neighbour some, ay yay.

And you go dashing through the snow
And that’s the way you have fun
To have mine, I go dashing through the sun
You listen as sleighbell ring
I hear calyspsonian sing
I love the songs when parang fill de air
An dat’s a West Indian Christmas, a West Indian Christmas
Drink yuh rum until yuh belly bus, bus, bus
Den yuh go cross by yuh niehgbour
Yuh say, Nabe come cross by me later
With a old cuatro an ah old guitar and is sereno, sera.

Sereno, sereno, sereno, say ham
Sereno, sereno, I don’t give a dam
Sereno, sereno, sereno, say black cake
Sereno, sereno, I makin no mistake. Ah want some!

Have you ever heard a bamboo buss
As we simulate a cannon?
Smell the smell of ham boiling in a pitchoil pan?
The aroma of sweet bread being baked?
Lick de batter stick that beats de cake?
And if you do, then you know it’s no mistake, ay
And dat's a West Indian Christmas, a West Indian Christmas
Drink yuh rum, drink yuh rum until yuh belly bus, bus, bus
Den yuh go cross by yuh neighbour
You say, Nabe come cross by me later
With a old cuatro an ah old guitar and is sereno, sera

Sereno, sereno, say pastelle
Sereno, sereno, I love dat very well
Sereno, sereno, sereno, sereno, say whiskey
Sereno, sereno, please save some for me, I like dat.

Sereno, sereno, sereno, say gingerbeer
Sereno, sereno, you leave de children share
Sereno, sereno, sereno, say sorrel
Sereno sereno, dat gives me such a thrill.

Sereno, sereno, sereno, say rum
Sereno, sereno, gih yuh neigbour some
Sereno, sereno, sereno, say wine
Sereno, sereno, doh let dat blow yuh mine.

Sereno, sereno, sereno
Sereno, say guitar, say cuatro
Sereno, sereno, say chac chac
Sereno, sereno, haya!

Sereno, sereno, sereno, say rum
Sereno, sereno, gih yuh neigbour some
Sereno, sereno, sereno, say wine
Sereno, sereno, doh let it blow yuh mind.

Sereno, sereno...

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Borderline [Song]



BORDERLINE
By 3CANAL

I don't give ah...I don't give ah...
I don't give ah... I don't give ah dam
I don't give ah... I don't give ah...
I don't give ah dam. I don't give ah dam
What dey go do, what dey go say?
What dey go do, what dey go say?
What dey go, what dey go, what dey go, what dey go?

What dey go do, what dey go say
When dey realise that dey can’t push you across the line?
Don’t you go over! Don’t you go over!

I don't really give ah dam what people say
'Cause you know they going to say it anyway
Oye, just between me and you
I’m more concerned with what they do.
And when I say I don't care what people say
I talking about de ole talk and lacouray
Oye, bangarang and ratiray
Every day is another taylaylay.

What dey go do, what dey go say
When dey realise that dey can’t push you across the line?
Don’t you go over! Don’t you go over!
What dey go say when dey realise
That dey can’t push you across the line?
Man Don’t you go over! Don’t you go over!

Say, Mister Short Fuse and ready to trip
Take a deep breath, relax it
You got to centre yuhself boy, focus yuhself boy
Organize yuhself to redeem yuhself
Talk to yuhself then talk to the Lord
Talk to yuhself again trust in the Lord
With Jah as yuh counsel, who could provoke yuh?
Jah as yuh guider, who could frustrate yuh?

What dey go do, what dey go say
When dey realise that dey can’t push you across the line?
Boy, don’t you go over! Don’t you go over!
What dey say when dey realise
That dey can’t push you across the line?
Boy, don’t you go over! Don’t you go over!

I don't give ah... I don't give ah...
I don't give ah….
What dey go do, what dey go say?
What dey go do, what dey go say?
What dey go, what dey go, what dey go, what dey go?

Although some times there are some people in this life
Who want to fill your heart with strife
But don’t you go over!… Hmm
And yes, I know the situation in this world
Could make you want to lose control
But don’t you go over! Don’t you go over!

What you go do, what you go say
When you realise that dey done push you across the line?
Boy, don’t you go over! Don’t you go over!
What you go say when you realise
That dey done push you across the line?
Boy, don’t you go over! Don’t you go over!

I don't really give ah dam what people say
Cause you know they going to say it anyway
Oye, just between me and you
I’m more concerned with what they do.
And when I say I don't care what people say
I talking ‘bout de ole talk and lacouray
Oye, bangarang and ratiray
Every day is another taylaylay.

What dey go do, what dey go say
When dey realise that dey can’t push you across the line?
Man, don’t you go over! Don’t you go over!
What dey say when dey realise that dey can’t push you across the line?
Man, don’t you go over! No, don’t you go over!

I don't give ah... I don't give ah...
I don't give ah... I don't give ah dam…
What dey go do, what dey go say?
What dey go do, what dey go say?
What dey go, what dey go, what dey go, what dey go?
I don't give ah…

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


Feeling stressed by society’s demands, expectations, provocations, whether real or imagined? This song is about the traps into which we allow ourselves to walk. Perhaps influenced heavily by the backdrop of violent crime among other things, the scene that immediately came to mind when I first listened to the lyrics was one where one party was provoking another to physical violence. The song’s repeated message (and you can almost hear the incoming flurry of Guardian Angel’s wings) “Boy/Man, don’t you go over! No, don’t you go over!” is not just a call to avert disaster but also a challenge to reclaim control over one’s destiny.

This song leads me to think about so much more.

Most of us have never crossed that line to physically hurt another human being but we might have hurt each other in other ways. Even more inexplicable when you consider a human being’s natural instinct for self preservation, is the frequency with which we cross the line to harm ourselves because we feel that we are being pressured by others into conforming. We think we have no choice, or we know that there is a choice but the path of least resistance is so much easier.

It is easier to suppress by whatever means, or to ignore the nagging unease that tells us that someone or something else is living our lives. We are not our own men and women. All around us our peers are being refashioned in the image of whatever god is in season and some of us fall in line so that we will fit in.

And so, how do we go about arriving at the point where we can, like the singer, also not give a dam about things that in the end are really not worth a damn? And even more importantly, how do we arrive at this state on our own two legs and without the assistance of alcohol, drugs, hidebound institutions and other stupefying excesses?

Well I think we should meditate upon a dizzying conundrum which we know to be the reality:

The same society that impacts on us, is the one that we create by our actions (or inaction).

Or you could say it this way:

There is an inverse proportion between the positive activism that you undertake in your own life and the negative pressure that society can impose on your real self.

Borderline is telling us that there is a point at which we all arrive in our lives where we are challenged to take a stand. The consequences of going along to get along are often not as obvious as in the case of Mister Short Fuse with the smoking gun running away from the scene of a murder. It is something that can come to you at any minute of the day, the realization that you have betrayed yourself. The song asks:

What you go do, what you go say
When you realise that dey done push you across the line?

Be honest with yourself, and if you can accept the responsibility for whatever you did or didn't do, you will more readily admit that in the end “dey” were just the ones who dangled the hook. You, however, took the bite.

Thank you, 3CANAL!

"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

Canada So Cold [Song]

CANADA SO COLD
By Lord Melody (1959)

Between Canada and de North Pole
Ah wonder which more cold?
Canada and de North Pole,
Ah wonder which more cold?
Ah nearly dead in Canada
The intention was to hold it further
But after freezing from head to toe
I write mih mother and she told me, No
Oh lawd!

Chorus:
Canada had me so cold, I need some sunshine
I’m going back to the land I left behind
Ah regret the day ah pay mih dollar
And say ah was going to Canada
Is cold, cold, cold, oh mih lawd!
So ah walk back to Trinidad.

Oh ya
Ten o’ clock in de morning
The Lord still trembling
Man, I frighten to go for coffee
Ah fraid de cold kill me
Montreal is just like Paradise
But Papa de cold ent eating nice
De boys at de hotel give me a line
In only in summer de sun does shine.
Oh ya!

Chorus:
Canada had me so cold, I need some sunshine
I’m going back to the land I left behind
Ah regret the day ah pay mih dollar
And say ah was going to Canada
Is cold, cold, cold, oh mih lawd!
So ah walk back to Trinidad.

O lawd!
Speaking in term of menu
No crab, no calalloo
---------- pork chop and chilli
Dat crap isn’t for me
De Canadian woman a little shy
But the French Canadian will let yuh try
Believe me boys, I am proud and glad
To be back here in Trinidad.
Oh lawd!

Chorus:
Canada had me so cold, I need some sunshine
I am going back to the land I left behind
Ah regret the day ah pay mih dollar
And say ah was going to Canada
Is cold, cold, cold, oh mih lawd!
So ah walk back to 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!
..............................................................................................................................


A Note From The Gull

On so many levels, Lord Melody, you have hit the nail on the head. I will write more on this at a later time.

"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

Experience The Songs Online

If reading the lyrics of these songs has sparked your interest in hearing the audio, you can listen to many of these and more on the Internet at the sources listed below. Have a listen and you might just decide that they are worth a visit to your music store around the corner or online, to add to your collection.

New! Melodycenta.com

If you want to listen to samples and perhaps buy some of our older music, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is a great place to start. Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution, the national museum of the United States. The revenue received from sales and institutional subscriptions supports the creation of new educational content and is shared with archival partners, who in turn pass on a portion of those revenues for the benefit of artists and their communities.

YouTube is always my first stop when I am looking for songs to transcribe. You will find that many lovers and sharers of our music - too numerous to mention here - have been introducing the world to Trinbagonian treasures which they might not have encountered otherwise. I acknowledge them below every song that is embedded on this blog. Apart from YouTube, the following sites are also repositories:

Obi's Favourite Kaisos (calypsos)
Island Events.com Music
Island Events.com Soca Layout
Irwin Chusid's Muriel's Treasure: Calypso and soca
The Root's Music Listening Room
Toronto Lime Soca Music Jukebox
Trini Jungle Juice.com Soca Music
we7

My Land [Song]


Uploaded by TriniBeautydotcom
MY LAND
By Roger George
(Sweet Voices Riddim)

My land, my land, my land, my land….

Back to the stomach of my land [Please take me back Caribbean]
Back to the bosom of my soul [Please take me back Caribbean]
Back to the place where I was born [Please take me back Caribbean]
Where my navel string will carry on [Please take me back Caribbean]

Back to the place where I call home
Back to where we are free to roam
Where you could be with family
Uncle, Aunty, Granny and Pappy
Any hour you could lime
Kick back and have a real good time
Hear de rooster in yuh head
In de oven Gramma makin’ bread.

Running around de Savannah
Drinking coconut water
Snow cone in any flavour
Cyah ask for nothing better
On de beach where fresh breeze blow
Crystal waters down below
Please don’t think that this is all
Come -------

My land, my land, my land, my land….

Back to the stomach of my land [Please take me back Caribbean]
Back to the bosom of my soul [Please take me back Caribbean]
Back to the place where I was born [Please take me back Caribbean]
Where my navel string will carry on [Please take me back Caribbean]

Back to the home of my steelband
Back to the birth of the oil drum
Back to where pan is royalty
The symbol of my country
Where we salute calypsonian
For sharing the news of the nation
And doh talk 'bout comedy
Like mangoes, down here we have plenty.

Songs of David Rudder
Remembering Lord Kitchener
The spirit of Andre Tanker
Will be with us forever
Steelband, mas, calypso
Is down here in Trinbago
Please don’t think that these are lies
My island is paradise.

My land, my land, my land, my land…

Back to the stomach of my land [Please take me back Caribbean]
Back to the bosom of my soul [Please take me back Caribbean]
Back to the place where I was born [Please take me back Caribbean]
Where my navel string will carry on [Please take me back Caribbean]
Back to the stomach of my land [Please take me back Caribbean]
Back to the bosom of my soul [Please take me back Caribbean]
Back to the place where I was born [Please take me back Caribbean]
Where my navel string will carry on [Please take me back Caribbean]

My land…sweet home…my land

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!..............................................................................................................................

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Hello People

HELLO PEOPLE
By The Mighty Sparrow (1973)

Earth to me is like a bubble
Sailing in the universe now
If man wants to end his trouble
He must turn to Jesus Christ first.

Hello people, maybe you don’t know
You are going to reap whatever you sow.

No one wants to help his brother
Judging from the ones I’ve met now
Though great things he may discover
Man has peace to conquer yet.

Hello people, maybe you don’t know
You are going to reap whatever you sow.

There was a time to die for mankind
Jesus did it all alone now
In his teachings somewhere you’ll find
Happiness is yours to hold.

Hello people, maybe you don’t know
You are going to reap whatever you sow.

Good Lord, my Lord
Good Lord, my Lord...

Yeah yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah yeah...

Reincarnation [Song]


Uploaded by Lord Invader - Topic

REINCARNATION
Composed by Spoiler [Theophilus Phillip] (1953)
Performed by Lord Invader

Yes, I heard when you die after burial
You got to come back as some insect or animal
Yes, I heard when you die after burial
You got to come back as some insect or animal
Well if is so, I don’t want to be a monkey
Neither a sheep, a goat or donkey
My brother said he want to come back a hog
But not Invader, I want to be a bedbug.

Just because I want to bite them young ladies, partner
Like a hot dog or a hamburger
If you know you’re thin, don’t be in a fright
Is only big, fat women I want to bite.

"Now, what you want to be?" I ask Mr. Ross
He say he’ll ask the Devil to turn him a horse
I ask another fella they call Lawrence
He say he want to be a big black wood ant.
They too foolish. When you turn a horse
You got to carry people load, get licks from your boss
And like a wood ant, is old wood you have to eat
But as a bedbug, I'll be biting the human meat.

And that is why I want to bite them young ladies, partner
Like a hot dog or a hamburger
And if you know you’re thin, don’t be in a fright
Is only big, fat women I want to bite.

Now, I want you believe me, so help me bless
I’ll be a different kind of bedbug from all the rest
I ent biting no ordinary people
They got to be quite social and respectable
Such as female doctors and barristers
Duchesses, princesses with nice figures
And when ah bite them, I'm going 'bout and boast
And ah calling myself King Bedbug the First.

That's why I want to bite them young ladies, partner
Like a hot dog or a hamburger
If you know you’re thin, don’t be in a fright
Is only big fat women I want to bite.

I know how some husbands are fast and fresh
They will be waiting for this bedbug to bite their flesh
But I wouldn’t bite a man if they kill me dead
As long as the opposite sex on the bed
Biting a man, I might break my teeth
To a bedbug, men skin harder than concrete
And when a bug bite a man, the result is bad
Men foot have too much hairs and dey legs too hard.

That's why I want to bite them young ladies, partner
Like a hot dog or a hamburger
If you know you’re thin, don’t be in a fright
Is only big, fat women that I going to bite.

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, Spoiler and Lord Invader,    

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Too Much Holidays [Song]

 
Uploaded by kaiso22

TOO MUCH HOLIDAYS

By Lord Kitchener (1993)

Everyday is gossip, how de country hard
But I know what causing the hardship in Tobago and Trinidad
Everyday is gossip, how de country hard
But I know what causing the hardship in Tobago and Trinidad
They don’t even have a clue, they blind, they can’t see
The amount of revenue they lose annually
After considering, the grandmaster go let them know
One of the reasons why the country suffering so.

This is why the country suffering [Too much holidays]
We believe in too much skylarking [Too much holidays]
Holidays are really crippling [Too much holidays]
Plenty going out, nothing coming in [Too much holidays]
Too much holidays in a country [Too much holidays]
Signifies a poor economy [Too much holidays]
The economy must be falling [Too much holidays]
You paying people for not working [Too much holidays]

Take for instance England and the USA
Every man and woman have to work on a Whit Monday
All them other country looking for means and ways
The possibility to minimize on their holidays
A country that likes to laze, it poses a threat
The more public holidays, the poorer you get.
So when you really think of it, it may well be
Excessive holidays that destroying we economy.

McLeod say he want all he money [Too much holidays]
Holidays is no excuse for he [Too much holidays]
And if he eh get all he money [Too much holidays]
He intend to shut down the country [Too much holidays]
Garcia like a parrot making row [Too much holidays]
Say he want he money now for now [Too much holidays]
And if he eh get all he money [Too much holidays]
School children go pay the penalty [Too much holidays]

You can’t blame the PM or the President
For a foolish system which they cannot prevent
It is just a pity we must pay the cake
For those who previously made a sad mistake
Anyone can see it clear, to fete is we craze
Just imagine in one year, sixteen holidays
You can’t have your cake and eat it, the old people phrase
Is either your economy or your holidays.

When them other countries labouring [Too much holidays]
Trini by the sea holidaying [Too much holidays]
Fete in the morning, fete in the evening [Too much holidays]
Who cares how the country running [Too much holidays]
Ministers and all in the party [Too much holidays]
Forgetting 'bout the economy [Too much holidays]
But take a tip from the grandmaster [Too much holidays]
Holidays go bring we a pauper [Too much holidays]

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


Grandmaster, I don’t know. I think that Trinis are on to a good thing. I am surprised that we haven’t experimented yet with a four-day work week for instance. And I am not talking about compressed work schedules where 40 hours are crammed into four days. I am saying that we should be working less hours. The truth is that if you add up all the time we spend making preparations for ourselves and others to accommodate our work schedules, the time we spend travelling to and from work, the times we are required to work overtime, the times when we take our work home, we realise that we actually surrender a great deal more than forty hours every week.

Who knows how or when they came up with the arbitary 40-hour week but if we stop and really think about it we might come to the conclusion that this is yet another unnecessary constraint that we’ve allowed others to place on us. As it is now, we’re harrassed, it is taking a toll on our physical and emotional health, we don’t have enough time to spend with our families and other people, to take up leisure and creative activities like hobbies, community activities or just to have down time to think and assess things. We are constantly on the run like rats in our wheels...but that is how the system likes us, too busy to think or too busy to notice that we are not thinking and too busy to do anything about it even when we do notice.

It's been so long that we have been lamenting the poor work ethic in Trinidad and Tobago. I'd be more interested in questioning how and why we work and what it is we are working at? Could it be that there is a mismatch between the natural and best inclinations of our people and the unyielding round holes into which our protesting square-peg selves are being hammered?

"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

Song Of Peace [Song]

Peace Globe #181 submitted to the Peace Globe Gallery in 2006.


Uploaded by When Steel Talks

SONG OF PEACE
By Roaring Lion
Performed by NYU Steel
Directed by Josh Quillen 

Mankind has become so mean and depraved
Whose sole aim is killing but never to save
Day after day he is declaring war
Without even knowing what he’s fighting for.

Where is the peace, freedom and peace?
We conquered facism but still have no peace
Where is the peace, freedom and peace?
We all fought for victory but still have no peace.

We were told that for freedom, peace and liberty
We must fight to the death to gain victory
So we fought like the Trojans who defended Troy
Believing thereafter true peace we‘ll enjoy

Where is the peace, freedom and peace?
We all fought for victory but still have no peace
Where is the peace, freedom and peace?
We all fought for victory but still have no peace

Signs and wonders were predicted before
The nations ‘gainst nations, rumours of war
Starvation, diseases and heinous crimes
Murdering babies, all signs of the time

Where is the peace, freedom and peace?
We all fought for victory but still have no peace
Where is the peace, freedom and peace?
We all fought for victory but still have no peace

Mankind had lost all contact with the Lord
The rulers of this earth do things they abhorred
But now is the time to sheathe thy sword
Repent, confess, and make peace with the Lord

Where is the peace, freedom and peace?
We all fought for victory but still have no peace
Where is the peace, freedom and peace?
We all fought for victory but still have no peace.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Doctor Ent Dey [Song]

DOCTOR ENT DEY
Blakie (1965)

Doctor, please take this warning
Am giving you, and you better do something
I tired put this thing in your brain
But all I try is the bloody same
Me and you sit down and draft a plan
How easy we go trap these hooligans
But since the riot start back in the place
From that day I can't see the Doctor face.

Chorus:
Every day I ring where he living
The Doctor ent dey
I ring Governor House in the evening
The Doctor ent dey
Then I ring the White House
His secretary come to explain,
"I'm sorry, Blakie, the Doctor left this morning by plane."

Doctor, I find you getting on funny
I talking mih mind, believe the Lord Blakie
I believe is 'fraid you 'fraid
Of San Juan All Stars and Renegades
But remember, you is the leader
All you got to do is to pass an order
Before you see about your territory
You chartering plane and flying from country to country.

Dr Williams, take Lord Blakie advice
If you want Trinidad to be really nice
To stifle my conscience, that I can't do
Trinidad and Tobago depend on you
I doh want when I watch the daily paper
You talking and smiling with Nkrumah
Nk smiling... Why? He have cause
He seeing 'bout he country, you see 'bout yours.

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A Note From The Gull

After conspicuously evading public debate on the issue of the proposed smelter plants the Government finally noticed that things were "getting out of hand" and decided to respond. Better late than never, that's what I say, and with guarded optimism, I welcome the announcement made yesterday that there will be a public symposium on the issue.

Chatham residents believe that they have good reason for continued caution and will stay on alert.

Putting all grains of salt and cynicism aside, I want to believe that our Government will now seriously consider the concerns of the people.

On the matter of things getting out of hand, that has got to be the understatement of the century. Wasn't it the disregard for the citizenry that was getting out of hand and what of all the other runaway ills. We'd be lucky if proposed smelters were the only problems requiring urgent attention. Turn the spotlight also on all the existing manufacturing plants and business places pumping poison into the air and flushing untreated waste into our waterways. Turn the spotlight also on all the farmers who are quietly continuing to douse our food with chemicals. Turn the spotlight also on all the brutalized people who don’t have a clue about how to rescue themselves, and are transferring it all to the children. Things are certainly getting out of hand, but most Trinidadians still care. We still fighting here.

So...
Doh out de flambeau
Doh leggo de bois
Fight on for prevention
Doh settle for cure.
---Guanaguanare

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Thank you Blakie.

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

One Day [Song]


Uploaded by cool4rocknroll

ONE DAY
Performed by Natasha Wilson
Arranged by Leston Paul
Introducing Miss Natasha Wilson
T&T 1987

This love affair we had for the summer
Things ent the same way like when we start
Because of your neglectful behaviour
The time has come now for we to part...ah-ah
You shoulda never let the ways of evil
Dominate your soul and rule your mind
You must always remember when people treat you gentle
You don't treat them unkind, boy...

One day, ah tell you, one day,
One day you’re going to call [Not certain about this word]
One day, ah tell you, one day,
One day you’re going to fall
One day you’re going to cry
"My God, the well run dry!"
You took me for granted, now we are parted
Like the old people say, "You go pay for it one day."

You haunted now like a fish out of water
Broken to tief, you ent have a dime
The dollar only work out to a Yankee quarter
Because you never learn to be thrifty at no time...ay-ay
There was a time when money was no problem
You had no reason to neglect me so
You listen to your crooked partners and them
Spend, spend, spend, spend
Easy come, easy go, boy...

One day, ah tell you, one day,
One day you going to fall
One day, ah tell you, one day,
One day you going to fall
One day when all is lost through no fault of yours, of course
You will remember I tried to warn you
But like the old people say, "You go pay for it one day."

I give you my undivided attention
Anytime you call, I never say Nay...ay-ay
On top of that I give you so much affection
I stood beside you every step of the way...ah-ah
If anyone at all had told me that you
Would ever be so mean as now I see
I woulda tell them straight and plain, "That ent true.
No, not my dou-dou." but now they laughing at me.

Boy, one day, ah tell you, one day,
One day you going to call
One day, ah tell you, one day,
One day you going to fall
One day when love is gone and you're left there all alone
The evil that you do comes back to haunt you
Like the old people say, "You have to pay for it one day."

In the beginning you were a treasure
I couldn't find no fault with you at all
Now you jealous, wicked and spiteful as ever
Ah hope you see the writing on the wall...ah-ah
You better learn to practice what you preaching
If you want to be held in high esteem
Honesty and truth --------- teaching
Put more interest in and forget your evil scheme.

So, one day, ah tell you, one day...oy-oy-oy
One day you going to call
Boy, one day, ah tell you, one day,
One day you going to fall
One day you're going to find you can't get me off your mind
That's when you'll wake up, too late to make up
Like the old people say, "You have to pay for it one day."

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
..............................................................................................................................
"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Universal Aboriginality


Cuban petroglyph

To say that I have aboriginal ancestry is to proclaim that I belong to the human race. Every single one of us is descended from an aboriginal. On the physical level, DNA markers are obsessive recorders and guardians of our genetic roots and meanderings. If, for my survival, due to the introduction of competition or threat, I must lay claim to a particular geographic location or cultural identity, I must also admit to myself that this aboriginality as location is also temporary, not written in stone, not bequeathed for eternity.

Most of us originally came from elsewhere. If the centre of human genesis as we know it thus far, was located in Africa, then according to our logic, African peoples who still occupy their lands are the only genuine aboriginals. Even so, the connection to land, although a source of real comfort and rootedness, does not lock us into infinitely attaching ourselves to one location. There are many original peoples who have over time made voluntary and epic migrations from their “aboriginal” lands. We tend to think of diaspora in terms of specific ethnicities and geographic points. More interesting to me is the psychic diaspora which is part of man's experience over time and for many is remembered only as a bridge irreparably burnt.

I speak of this in order to delink and liberate the concept of aboriginality from physical location. I myself, own no land and feel no desire to reclaim the specific lands that were “taken” from my ancestors. It does not mean that I do not feel the loss but this comes NOT from my not having access to the land of my ancestors. It comes simply from not having access to any land which I feel is the right of every human being who is a citizen of this earth. I do not believe that land should be owned privately and in perpetuity by anyone and that includes myself. I will return to the topic of rights to land at a later point but I mention it here only because that is often the starting point for discussions about aboriginality.

I instead want to put aboriginality before land. I want to put it before everything else by which we allow ourselves to be distracted. Long after religion and philosophy had been trying to convince us of the brotherhood of man, science confirmed that we did in fact all come from the same place, that we had the same parents. That this discovery was not met with greater universal rejoicing is an indication of our amnesia. I want to go back to the Guacara, to remember the place where there was no doubt that we were ONE.