ABOUT THIS BLOG

Acknowledgments
El Guanaguanare
Submission Guidelines

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Guanaguanare: the laughing gull bows low in gratitude to the spirits, living in the here or hereafter, whose works are posted on this blog. They have felt and thought deeply enough about this nation of Trinidad and Tobago to use their time and effort and creative talents to give expression to various perspectives and opinions.

Covering the gamut of approaches, from unfettered pride, thoughtful appraisal through concern and admonition to frustration, cynicism and alarm, what they all have in common is LOVE - conditional, unconditional, unrequited, serious tabanca, but love all the same, for this place we call home.

The blog's sidebar includes a listing of websites/blogs maintained by natives and non-natives of Trinidad and Tobago. Some of them focus on issues relevant to Trinidad and Tobago and I am pleased to include them also here and thank them for their voices.

Special, special, special thanks to the many persons, including TriniDesi, IsDePanInMe, izatrini, 0trini0, cool4rocknroll, kaiso22, Trinnilicious4life, wongkee83 and baidawi who upload the treasures that I link to on YouTube. Thank you for sharing Trinbago's gifts with the world.

Thanks to the photographers, including Gary Gibson and Maximilian Forte for kindly permitting the use of some of their images on this blog.

Thanks to Dr. Roi Guanapo Ankhkara Kwabena and Louis Sellier, whose generous spirits always accompany El Guanaguanare.

Last, but not least, thanks to the persons who drop by and take the time to leave comments. Your encouragement means a lot to me.

Thank You All.
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EL GUANAGUANARE

El Guanaguanare | Composed and performed by by Jesús "Chu" Ávila [1930-2012] | Uploaded by keysalmo

Who is the Laughing Gull?

Guanaguanare, the happy, non-threatening seagull hovers over this blog. This seagull symbolises something of the resilient though besieged natural spirit of the islands and many of its inhabitants...an aboriginal presence...a retiring, gentler spirit that does not seek heavy baggage and leaves a light footprint. The name Guanaguanare (most commonly pronounced "Wanna-wannare") is an Amerindian word for the laughing gull and you probably know that it was also used by the Amerindian cacique -Cacique Guanaguanare, who gave the Spanish the land on which they were to establish San Jose de Oruna or St. Joseph, the first capital of Trinidad.

From resources on Island Carib language, I created the site's rallying call:

Ahakutuwatiwa, alëlekatiwa, akuyawatiwa!
We awake, we laugh, we return!

It is meant to give hope to all people who are mourning the loss of a better quality of life. On another level, it is also addresses people with Amerindian ancestry who do and do not publicly identify with this connection. We are still here, sleeping maybe, but not extinct. Apart from its use to disprove the fact of a continuing Amerindian presence among us and in our veins, the extinction myth is also used to suppress so many other possibilities, to nip life itself in the bud. Someone decided that Hope is Extinct and people are despairing because they are beginning to believe the myths, that human kindness is dead, that the option of a simpler, less punishing lifestyle is a lost cause, that Trinidad and Tobago is going down the tubes, that law breakers and inconvenient human foetuses are better off dead, that all efforts to reverse the tailspin will amount to nothing.

The site belongs to everyone, all the spirits who fly through to contemplate or to leave their contributions to this conversation about Trinidad and Tobago. Even if you do not submit works, please visit to listen, to read, to reflect and, if you wish, to leave your comments. Looking forward to meeting you! Many blessings! ................................................................................................................................................................ SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Greetings prospective contributor
,

The purpose of this not-for-profit blog is to collect songs (audio files welcomed), lyrics, poems, short essays and maybe even graphics which portray the creator's impressions of Trinidad and Tobago. I am looking for works which focus on the broader topic of Trinidad or Tobago or which refer to Trinbago but I will post materials which fall outside of this description. Please visit the Index to get an idea of what has been posted so far: It would be a tremendous honour and pleasure to have your spirit join us here.

My Guarantees
The Laughing Gull guarantees that:
  • Your work will never become the property of this blog. You retain all rights to your work and full credit will be given to you. This will be stated clearly and displayed in any format that you require.
  • You decide for how long you wish your work to be displayed on the blog. Upon your request, your work can be removed promptly, no questions asked.
  • Contributors preferring anonymity will be accommodated and are equally welcomed.
  • Any edits that you wish to be made to your work will either be done by me following your directions, or upon receipt of an edited file.
  • As a courtesy, I will also provide, at your request, any links back to your websites or announcements about your publications/performances.
  • Finally, your work will be in the company of other works that are not hateful or violently obscene, or that obviously are intended to disrespect the rights of others.
..................................................................................................................................................................... "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
 

Shortcut Society [Song]


Uploaded by IsDePanInMe

SHORTCUT SOCIETY
By Mighty Chalkdust (2001)

When I was a little fellow, and mih mother send me to the shop
For me to hurry home quickly, you know, she would tell me take the shortcut
But when I grew up I felt real sad, I found mihself in a funny spot
Cause I notice throughout Trinidad, all man and woman taking shortcut
To get a passport, everybody taking a shortcut
They don't want to line up, they refuse to stand up
To get a US visa, they telling you plainly
Chalkie, do you know somebody? I got plenty money
And to get a diplomatic passport they going through a shortcut
Just hug up Mister Panday and kiss his tender spot
And you don't need no real election to rule the people
The shortcut is possible, just lie down and sleep with the Devil.

We living in Shortcut Country,
Trinidad is a shortcut society... Ah lie?

When I was a little fellow, taking shortcut was the Golden Rule
We had a special shortcut to follow to take us quickly from home to school
To get a job later on was sorrow, if Daddy didn't know Mister ----
I would be a vagrant all now so, if wasn't for shortcut, boy, I dead
Women used to dolls up their hair to go out on a jig
Now is shortcut hairdressing, they just dash on a wig
Children ent learning tables again like those of yesteryear
They have a shortcut teacher, he name calculator
And the shortest way to be a UNC senator
Forget Panday and stay in little Jack Horner's corner
And if you can't get Duprey to give you 2.5 million election dollars
The shortcut, fellahs, is to burn down Police Headquarters.

We living in Shortcut Country, you see,
Trinidad is a shortcut society.

When I was a little fellow and about to make mih shortcut
Mih grandmother used to warn me, you know, not all shortcut does full up your pot
So when Robinson ban them seven losers, he reminded me 'bout mih grandmother
'Cause Robbie told those seven losers plainly, there's no shortcut to democracy
But still, if you want to get kicked out of NAR and UNC
De shortcut is easy, tell the police they duncey
And if you want to throw 'way money like if it ent exist
There's a shortcut to do this, call a man pseudo racist
And vagrants say the shortest way to get more charity
Is to beg for money in a UNC jersey
And mih partner, Gypsy, jump on a helicopter from the Savannah
He now join the Ministry, he looking for shortcuts already.

We living in Shortcut Country, yes,
Trinidad is a shortcut society.

When I was a little fellow, mih neighbour name Compere Robert
He taking shortcut all where he go till we used to call him Shortcut Robert
Well, Shortcut Robert does remind me of Ramesh Maharaj, the AG
For Ramesh try a shortcut to cut down Robbie
And use a shortcut to hang Dole Chadee...Ah lie?
But still, if you want to get rid of NAR and UNC
The shortcut is easy, tell the police they duncey
Young men ent taking out girls again for dinner exclusively
The shortcut too easy - a breast and thigh from KFC
And Shadow wait thirty years to be the top soca ------
Now Bunji Garlin where he lost, he want to try shortcut
And when I see this beautiful car here, and I can't even afford one
I make a shortcut and make dis kaiso for competition...You see?

We living in Shortcut Country, you see,
Trinidad is a shortcut society... Ah lie?

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

Someday I want to spend some time thinking about emigration as the final "shortcut." It is a difficult subject, especially because there are hundreds of reasons why people feel moved to leave and I would have to put myself under the dissecting knife as well. Some of us left our homeland reluctantly and find ourselves continually asking the question, "Could I have done better for my country by staying?" Is our asking this question a symptom of some misplaced, messianic streak? It is an important question. Having decided that it would be easier [safer] to leapfrog over Trinbago's growth pains into enjoying the fruits of various host countries' more stable environments, we've been leaving in droves for decades and very often among us are the ones who benefited the most from the education system, scholarships and opportunities in our own country.

This observation is absolutely not intended to accuse, or make light of the experiences of, departees who left and are still leaving because of threats of injury or because they are so completely traumatised by actual horrendous injuries suffered in our homeland. For them, staying would be like a shortcut to death. And it is not meant to question any individual's right to go to wherever s/he need to go to to develop her or his talents or live her or his life in peace and safety. It is just a question that not many people want to discuss, neither the ones who leave nor the ones who choose, or have no choice but, to stay.

Thank you, Mighty Chalkdust, for staying.

"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

Minnie From Trinidad [Song]


Uploaded by IHEARTTHEWIZARDOFOZ

MINNIE FROM TRINIDAD
Sung by Judy Garland
From the film "Ziegfeld Girl" (1941)

Aye, aye, aye [La-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la]
Aye, aye, aye [La-la-la, la-la-la , la-la-la]
Aye, aye, aye [Aye, aye, aye]
Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye

I'm going to tell you a story
And there's no moral to be made
But don't forget when you're dancing
That somehow the piper must be paid...

Down on an island in the southern seas
There lives a lassie named Minnie Breeze
And all the natives agree that she's
The hottest thing in Trinidad
When Minnie dances I guarantee
With every move of her vertebrae
The temperature jump up ten degree
In Trinidad that isn't bad.

Chorus:
Aye, aye, aye, they call her Minnie from Trinidad
Aye, aye, aye, they all love Minnie from Trinidad
Aye, aye, aye, and all the natives would be so sad
If Minnie ever left Trinidad.

Although the natives loved Minnie so
Minnie had herself a steady beau
A fellow known as Calypso Joe
And Minnie swore they'd never part
But they stepped in only as they could
Min' won a contest for dancing good
So she went away to Hollywood
When Joe heard that, it broke his heart.

Chorus:
Aye, aye, aye, they call her Minnie from Trinidad
Aye, aye, aye, she wasn't good but she wasn't bad
Aye, aye, aye, Calypso Joe was so very sad
When Minnie up and left Trinidad.

In Hollywood Minnie traveled far
They changed her name to Minnie Lamar
And pretty soon she became a star
The siren of the picture show
But one day Minnie got awful mad
A guy got fresh and she said, "You cad!"
"My heart belongs to my Trinidad
My Trinidad Calypso Joe
."

Chorus:
Aye, aye, aye, they call her Minnie from Trinidad
Aye, aye, aye, in Hollywood Minnie met her cad
Aye, aye, aye, but there is only one native lad
Gets chinny with Minnie from Trinidad

So Minnie gave up her dough and fame
And she went back to from where she came
But when she got there she heard with shame
That her Calypso Joe was dead
When Minnie heard that, she almost died
She took a gun to try suicide
But as she started to shoot, she cried,
"I think I'd rather live instead!"

Chorus:
Aye, aye, aye, they call her Minnie from Trinidad
Aye, aye, aye, she went away and they were so sad
Aye, aye, aye, but now the natives are mighty glad
'Cause Minnie came back to Trinidad!
Aye, aye, aye, they call her Minnie from Trinidad
Aye, aye, aye, they all love Minnie from Trinidad
Aye, aye, aye, and all the natives will be so glad
If Minnie, Minnie came back to Trinidad

Aye, aye, aye [Aye, aye, aye]
Aye, aye, aye [Aye, aye, aye]
Aye, aye, aye [Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye]
For Minnie [Minnie, for Minnie, for Minnie]
Minnie [Come home you Minnie, poor Minnie]
Minnie, came 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

How did these songs escape me? Growing up, my aunt was the family griot when it came to American pop music. She could dish out the appropriate ditty for any occasion (complete with credible accent) but how was it that Rum and Coca Cola was the only calypso sung by Americans that she passed on to me? Was it that she found the calypso-inspired compositions too familiar, too close to home to be committed to memory? Who knows. It is never too late to learn and I am enjoying discovering these gems.

"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

Calypso Dance (The right way)


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A Note From The Gull


Nota bene, Saucy Wow. Women dancing to calypso must have their boobs, bellies, bums and limbs covered. Their hands must hang demurely at the ends of their relaxed, dangling arms and they must be able to show their passion and dexterity without stepping out of the prescribed beat and the square footage assigned to them. All unauthorized dingolays, jooks and wining will result in instant disqualification. Males, on pain of death, may not enter these spaces and desecrate women's business.

Thank you, Helen and Nita for sharing our culture. Rock on, sisters!

"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

High Society Calypso [Song]


Uploaded by ARMYMan92

HIGH SOCIETY
Sung by Louis Armstrong
Music and lyrics by Cole Porter
Premiered in the movie "High Society" (1956)

ARMSTRONG:
Just dig that scenery floating by.
We're now approaching Newport, Rhode Isle.
We've been for years in Variety.
Cholly Knickerbocker, now we're going to be...

In high, high so-, high so-ci, high society.

I wanna play for my former pal
He runs the local jazz festival.
His name is Dexter and he's good news,
But something kinda tells me that boy is nursing the blues...

ALL:
In high, high so-, high so-ci, high society.
High society
High, high so-, high so-ci, high society.


ARMSTRONG:
He's got the blues 'cause his former wife
Begins tomorrow a brand new life.
She started lately a new affair
And now the silly chick is gonna marry a square...

ALL:
High, high so-, high so-ci, high society,
High, high so-, high so-ci, high society.

ARMSTRONG:
But, Brother Dexter, just trust your Satch,
To stop that wedding and kill that match.
I'll toot my trumpet to start the fun,
And play in such a way that she'll come back to you, son...

ALL:
In high, high so-, high so-ci, in high so-ci-ety.

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

What would we do without YouTube? I would have never known about this calypso inspired song and the movie by the same name.

Thank you, YouTube! Is that like saying "Thank You" to an ATM? Well, I do that too!

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

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

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

The Benjamin Calypso



The Benjamin Calypso - A musical segment from the film Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat featuring Donny Osmond, Richard Attenborough and Joan Collins. This clip features Joseph, the narrator, Maria Freidman, and the brothers

Brothers:
Oh no! Not he!
How you can accuse him is a mystery
Save him! Take me!
Benjamin is straighter than the tall palm tree

Judah:
I hear the steel drums sing their song
They're singing, "Man, you know you've got it wrong"
I hear the voice of the yellow bird
Singing in the tree, "This is quite absurd!"

Oh yes! [Oh yes!] It's true! [It's true!]
Benjamin is straighter than the big bamboo
No if's [No if's] No but's [No but's]
Benjamin is honest as coconuts

Sure as the tide wash the golden sand
Benjamin is an innocent man
Sure as bananas need the sun
We are the criminal, guilty ones

Oh no! [Oh no!] Not he! [Not he!]
How you can accuse him is a mystery
Save him! [Save him!] Take me! [Take me!]
Benjamin is straighter than the tall palm tree

La la la la la la la

Oh no! Not he!
How can you accuse him is a mystery
Save him! Take me!
Benjamin is straighter than the tall palm tree

Judah:
Sure as the tide wash the golden sand
Benjamin is an innocent man
Sure as bananas need the sun
We are the criminal, guilty ones.

Oh no! [Oh no!] Not he! [Not he!]
How you can accuse him is a mystery
Save him! [Save him!] Take me! [Take me!]
Benjamin is straighter than the tall palm tree.

La la la la la la la

Oh no! Not he!
How you can accuse him is a mystery
Save him! Take me!
Benjamin is straighter than the tall palm tree

Each of the brothers fell to his knees
Show him some mercy, oh mighty one, please
He would not do this, he must have been framed
Jail us and beat us, we should be blamed.
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A Note From The Gull

With this I begin collecting calypso inspired foreign compositions. This song sounds very much like "Island in the Sun" which was popularised by Harry Belafonte.

"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

Calypso On The Island [Song]


Uploaded by Lomonye

CALYPSO ON THE ISLAND
By Stanley & the Turbines (1999)

In this island of Trinidad
The tune they play is very strong
Especially the music calypso
The tune they play is very strong

Calypso, calypso, calypso! Ey!

De English want it [calypso]
De German want it [calypso]
De Japanese want it [calypso]
De American want it [calypso]
Canadian want it [calypso]
Jamaican want it [calypso]
All night long [calypso]
Everybody want it [calypso]
Indian want it [calypso]
De African want it. Huh!

Calypso, calypso, calypso!

Now listen to this delightful rendition by the children below:


Uploaded by beckayewonk

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

This song, "Calypso In the Island" is included in Jamaican Stanley & the Turbines' 1999, Charly UK label release of the CD album "Big Bamboo". There is also a Jamaican release of this by GG Records. Stanley Beckford is no longer with us. We lost him last year, in 2007, at the age of 65.

Thank you for the music, Stanley!

"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

Robert Mitchum Sings Calypso??



Robert Mitchum's version of the 1934 original "Ugly Woman" by Roaring Lion

If you want to be happy living a king's life
Never make a pretty woman your wife
If you want to be happy living a king's life
Never make a pretty woman your wife
Now all you have to do is just what I say
And then you may be jolly, merry and gay
Therefore, from a logical point of view
Better marry a woman uglier than you
[From a logical point of view
Always marry a woman uglier than you]

A pretty woman make her husband look small
And very often cause his downfall
Soon as she marry, there and then she'll start
To do the things that will break your heart
And when you think that she is belonging to you
She's calling somebody else dou dou
Man, from a logical point of view
Better marry a woman uglier than you
[From a logical point of view
Always marry a woman uglier than you.]

But if you make an ugly woman your wife,
You can be sure you will be happy in all your life
She will never do things in a funny way
To allow the neighbour have their things to say
She wouldn't disregard her husband at all
By exhibiting herself to Peter and Paul
Man, from a logical point of view
Better marry a woman uglier than you
[From a logical point of view
Always marry a woman uglier than you.]

An ugly woman give you your meals on time
And try to make you comfortable in mind
At time when you lie sick in your cozy bed
She will both caress you and scratch your head
And as ah mean it in the night will she leave you alone?
It seem she want to melt the cold from your bone
Man, from a logical point of view
Better marry a woman uglier than you
[From a logical point of view
Always marry a woman uglier than you.]

If a man that's not your friend say that you have no taste
Marry an ugly woman above disgrace
One who is cute looking, barbarous and rough
With skin like alligator, humpy and tough
Pigeon toe, bow-leg, a cross in her eye
She got two lip that look like a big bow tie
Boy, from a logical point of view
Better marry a woman uglier than you
From a logical point of view
Always marry a woman uglier than you
From a logical point of view
Always marry a woman uglier than you.
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A Note From The Gull


"Surprised that Robert Mitchum sings Calypso? It would be stranger if he couldn't. Fact is, he was learning the fascinating language of Calypso long before it became the rage in the U.S.A. And he was learning it in its true home, Trinidad"...Read more

You can listen to some samples from his album "Calypso, Is Like So" which was issued first in 1957 and has now been remastered and back in release through Caroline records in 1995.

Wikipedia covers this lesser know aspect of Mitchum's career, "After hearing traditional calypso music and meeting artists such as Mighty Sparrow and Lord Invader while filming "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison" in the Caribbean island of Tobago, he recorded "Calypso — Is Like So..." in March of 1957. On the original album, released through Capitol Records, he emulated the calypso sound and style, even adopting the style's unique pronunciations and slang."

Others might disagree, but I think he did a great job and it shows that he really listened to and loved calypso. One reviewer notes that some might find the way in which he imitated our "broken English" to be distasteful. Apart from the fact that our English isn't broken, Trinbagonians return the favour all the time and it's refreshing for a change to see imitation going the other way. Anyway, there is a big difference between imitation as flattery where the one imitating genuinely wants to adopt something that he finds admirable; and imitation as mockery, where the one imitating does so to deride and denigrate. Robert Mitchum's efforts fall into the former category and I remain impressed.

See the original lyrics by The Roaring Lion (1934)

"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

Coconut Water [Song]


By Fred, Jojo, Manux and Lou as guest

This is a home made version of Coconut Water (Based on the Robert Mitchum version below on the album "Calypso, is like so") I know this song as "Gin and Coconut Water" by Wilmoth Houdini and it follows.


Uploaded by
TheRealDJGIBS TheRealDJGIBS


Uploaded by MusicForYourFunk

COCONUT WATER [Gin and Coconut Water]

Honey, come and go with me,
Back to the West Indies,
Baby can't you see I'm loosing me pep and me energy.
What you need is...

Drink the coconut water (De jelly)
Drink the coconut water (Yes, it is a builder)
Drink the coconut water
I cannot get in America, (What is the tonic man)
Drink the coconut water (De Jelly)
Drink the coconut water (Yes, it is a builder)
Drink the coconut water
I cannot get in America...

At the medical center, what you think
De doctors told me I have to drink
They said, take this advice from me
Buddy and go back to the West Indies
What you need is...

Drink the coconut water (De jelly)
Drink the coconut water (Yes, it is a builder)
Drink the coconut water
I cannot get in America (What is the tonic man)
Drink the coconut water
Drink the coconut water
Drink the coconut water
I cannot get in America.

I remember when I was young
I was husky and very strong
Now I am so feeble and weak
Me knees keep knocking when I walk the street
What I need is...

Drink the coconut water
Drink the coconut water
Drink the coconut water
I cannot get in America (What is the tonic man)
Drink the coconut water (De jelly)
Drink the coconut water (Yes, it is a builder)
Drink the coconut water
I cannot get in America...

My friends I would be glad
The day I get back to Trinidad
I know my people would be glad to see me
Like a monkey climb up in a coconut tree
What I need is...

Drink the coconut water
Drink the coconut water
Drink the coconut water
I cannot get in America (What is the tonic man)
Drink the coconut water (De jelly
Drink the coconut water (Yes, it is a builder)
Drink the coconut water
I cannot get in America.


Uploaded by CornAndTheColonels


Nina & Frederik. Uploaded by IrinaFvR

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

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

Trinidad Lady [Song]


Uploaded by bolingbroke70

TRINIDAD LADY
Performed by Rita Hayworth
From the film "Affair In Trinidad" (1952)

A chic-a-chic boom chic boom
A chic-a-chic boom chic boom
Announces you're in the room with the Trinidad lady
A chic-a-chic boom chic boom
A chic-a-chic boom chic boom
Your ticker goes boom, boom, boom for the Trinidad lady

It's only that I do what I love and love what I do
Can't help the mad desire that's deep inside of you
You realise the fault isn't mine, that you are to blame
You want what you can't have and you're all the same

A chic-a-chic boom chic boom
A chic-a-chic boom chic boom
It's dangerous to presume with the Trinidad lady
So chalk up one more escapade you never had
De one you dreamed up wid de lady from Trinidad.

It's only that I do what I love and love what I do
Can't help the mad desire that's deep inside of you
You realise the fault isn't mine, that you are to blame
You want what you can't have and you're all the same

A chic-a-chic boom chic boom
A chic-a-chic boom chic boom
It's the Trinidad lady!
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A Note From The Gull

With Rita Hayworth's "Trinidad Lady" I begin to collect songs that includes a reference to Trinidad and Tobago. These items will be listed in the Index to Miscellanea.

"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

From Naipaul to Shame [Song]


Uploaded by IsDePanInMe

FROM NAIPAUL TO SHAME
By Mighty Chalkdust

Mister Chairman, I thank thee for this grand Nobel prize
I am Sir Vidia Naipaul and I think you chose wise
Though my parents gave me a sad and dull ancestry
I am proud of my English aristocracy.
But them old East Indians in Trinidad and Tobago
They want me big up St. James and San Fernando
They vex with my cockney accent and my Englishness
Since I turn mih back on these areas of darkness
You think I want the world to know that I'm from Trinidad,
Where Ali Baba and his gang working in my backyard?
You think I want the world take me for thieves in Petrotrin?
Dem men there so boldface, dey tiefin' wind.
You think I want the world link me with them airport contracts,
Where all them contractors and them get nice juicy kickbacks?
So before all you embarrass me, leave me as I am,
Lord Vidia Naipaul, the Count of Birmingham.

Mister Chairman, I thank thee for this grand Nobel Prize
I am Vidia Naipaul from England, where my heart lies
Though I grew up on dahl and rice, baigan and roti
I prefer baked beans, toast, jelly and English tea...we say "tai"
But them East Indians in Chaguanas,------- and Couva
They want me change my English suit and put on a kapra
They want me trade my English loo and toilet paper
For a latrine pit with a bottle of water
You think I want the world say I friendly with Gopiesingh?
Next thing police searching my house for medicine and linen
I don't care if they say Naipaul hate Trinidad beef
But nobody could say Naipaul is a thief.
You think I want them say that the fifty thousand missing
I use it to stop Ramesh from selling out to Manning?
So before all you call me and Ramesh neemakaram
Leave me as I am, the Count of Birmingham.

Mister Chairman, I thank thee for this grand Nobel prize
But don't associate me with them Trinidad guys
Cause I don't rip off my people in big, broad daylight
Especially when their cars stop at a traffic light
And I don't want people say I resemble Dhanraj Singh,
Tim Gopiesingh, Ganga Singh, and Carlos John-singh
And say like them the palm of mih hand ent have no hair
And Duprey might even tell me what kind of drawers to wear
You think I want the world say Lord Naipaul ent have no class,
Cause like Panday, I does call people 'criminals', 'corbeaux' and 'jackass'?
You think I want them say we election is a waste,
'Cause we don't vote on issues, we voting race?
You think I want them say that we election is a waste,
'Cause like Panday, he might send his daughters in England home by me?
So before I have to shoot that soldier who feel he is a ram
Leave me as I am, the Count of Birmingham.

Spoken:
So I called Lord Naipaul, and I spoke to Lord Naipaul, and this is what he told me:

Mister Chalkie, I'm glad I won this grand Nobel prize
But with Trinidad and Tobago, I want NO ties
Trinidad is a funny place, I must confess
Their Catholic priests must tell little children to have sex...What a mess!
And how could I go and boast and say I'm a Trini?
When your police men does act so damn carelessly
They does park their cars on the highway just to wee-wee
And bandit does run 'way with their cars and their CB
You think I want the world associate me with UWI?
Where medical students does break down house and thief whiskey
And because all ah them are big pappy sons
Believe me, my friend, they wouldn't touch none
Look, the Vidia Naipaul family home down in St. James
I left it there as a museum, government say, in my name
Now I hear rat and cockroach running 'bout the place, I shame
I prefer England, where I am the Count of Birmingham.
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A Note From The Gull


Thank you Mighty Chalkdust!! When you are finished, not a man is left standing. If you think this bard is targeting just one person or group of people, you soon find yourself doing a double take.

"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

Informational Pathologies Of Policy Making

In their book, "The Pathology of Public Policy", Hogwood and Peters (1985:63-86) developed the metaphor first used by Deutsch (1963) in his book "The Nerves of Government" and outlined what they saw as the pathological features which processes of information collection by governments can exhibit. These provided a tidy summary of the problems that information policy should address and with which the very process of information policy formulation will be stricken. This medical metaphor becomes particularly appropriate if we take a systems approach to organization whether at the level of the individual, the society or government.

Faulty Receptors: More often than not, government becomes aware of problems too late to act upon them in the optimal way. While the feeling of the general public may be that the government does not wish to have this information because it does not wish to act, this is the situation which exists, whatever the reason, and it must be addressed by the information policy. The failure to design aggressive information collection procedures in advance leads to inadequate information, or more than adequate disinformation or an overload of undigested information, being available when problems reach a head.

Failures in Communicating Information to Decision Makers: Much of the information that is in fact collected never reaches the parts of the organization which would find it useful, either because these parts and even the hosts of the information are not aware of the existence of the information or it is not in a format which is readily accessible.

Lack of a Unitary Brain in the Policy Process: There is a high degree of sectorization throughout government departments and this results in unsatisfactory decision-making. It is only when there is a conflict of a clear-cut kind that integrative decision-making mechanisms tend to come into play and when they need to get a particular issue off the agenda.

Faulty Nerve Signals to Muscles: Decisions are not self-implementing. They have to be communicated in operationable form to those who will be responsible for carrying out the necessary tasks. There is no system in place to ensure that decisions will be implemented in the way that they were intended, if they are in fact implemented. There is faulty flow between the decision-makers and implementors and information failures in reaching policy targets.

Learning Disabilities: The ability to secure feedback about the effects of policies is crucial to the whole operation of delivering effective policies over time. It is only through feedback that the organization can learn how its policies are affecting society and whether these should be continued, altered or terminated.

Failures of Memory: Devising means of ensuring access to policy-relevant information about the past is particularly difficult. Even in cases where an organization is considering a policy parallel to one it has operated in the past, memory will fail completely. Such failures lead to duplication of effort and repetition of mistakes because appropriate lessons from the past are not drawn and/or not remembered.

There is either a lack of recognition, or a deliberate refusal to respond to the need to search for records of possible relevant experience. Hogwood and Peters (1985: 84) see this problem being compounded by the fact that raw data from the past may be available in a format that is not readily accessible, for example, it may not have been summarized. Finally they list another type of memory failure as the failure to recognize that there is a memory. Very often policy-makers set out with an artificial tabula rasa hoping to start all over again for the first time.

There is a bottomless pit into which time and money and patience and countless resources disappear without a trace or requiem . I call it the graveyard of reinvented wheels.

DEUTSCH, Karl Wolfgang (1963). The nerves of government. N.Y. : Free Press.
HOGWOOD, Brian W. & PETERS, b. Guy (1985). The pathology of public policy. Oxford: Clarendon.
..............................................................................................................................

"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

Ugly Woman (The Original) [Song]


Uploaded by Nicolas Elias


UGLY WOMAN

By The Roaring Lion (1934)

If you want to be happy and live a king's life
Never make a pretty woman your wife
If you want to be happy and live a king's life
Never make a pretty woman your wife
All you gotta do is just as I say
And then you would be jolly, merry and gay
That's from a logical point of view
Always love a woman uglier than you.

A pretty woman makes her husband look small
Ah mean, and very often cause his downfall
As soon as she marry, there and then she'll start
To do the things that would break his heart
When you think that she's belonging to you
She's calling somebody else doudou too
Therefore from a logical point of view
Always love a woman uglier than you.

But if you make an ugly woman your wife,
You can be sure you'll be happy in all your life
For she would never do things in a funny way
To allow the neighbours to have anything to say
And she wouldn't disregard her husband at all
By exhibiting herself to Peter and Paul
So from a logical point of view
Always love a woman uglier than you.

An ugly woman gives you your meals on time
And always try to make you happy in mind
At nights when you lay up on your cozy bed
She will coax, caress you and scratch your head
And like a bird, call you nice names as "silver beak",
"Toy", "chick" or even "sucrier martinique"
So from a logical point of view
Always love a woman uglier than you.

Matters not your friends might say that you have no taste
But love an ugly woman about this place
One who is cute looking, barbarous and rough
With a skin like alligator, bumpy and tough
Yampee mud all into her eye
And around her lips a Confirmation bow tie
So from a logical point of view
Always love a woman uglier than you.

Listen to other versions

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

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