To the companies and organisations
Several calypsonians are now older than I am and are much better known and liked than me. The four I have in this group are close to the end, and for all of us in every country where they performed or lived, they are still loved for their ability to sing, perform and are always willing to keep going.
My friend and the most knowledgeable person in terms of Calypso in the region, helped me. His name is Zeno Obi. What we both would like to see is for the readers to reach out, if possible, to add what could be a final hello for these four. I’ve known them since I was three years old, and now, at 80, I might be with them sooner rather than later.
By Tony Deyal
Jean and Dinah, Rosita, and Clementina
Round de corner posin’
Bet your life is something dey sellin’
But when you catch them broken, you could get dem all for nuttin’
Doh make no row
De Yankee gone and Sparrow take over now.
The Mighty Sparrow
In 1948, three years after I was born, I was on the radio in our house listening to the calypso singers or “calypsonians” trying to win the crown and earn a few bucks. The winner was the Mighty Spoiler, who was the person who made me like the mix of information and humour.
However, eight years after that, in 1956, I heard “Jean and Dinah” by the Mighty Sparrow, who was born in Grenada on the 9th of July 1935 and ended up as a “Trini” (short for Trinidadian). From the time I heard his song, I knew immediately that he would win the crown and, like the calypso went, “The Yankees gone and Sparrow take over now!” Now, at 90, Sparrow is still the supreme serenader. He has the presence, but even more important, the stage was always and still is his and his alone. He also has one more edge that nobody else comes close to-even now, he can sing any type of music in any language.
In fact, he sang in the album, “Sparrow Meets the Bryon Lee in Jamaica” and their version, “Only a Fool Breaks His Own Heart” gave them an international hit in 1961 and a gold disc in 1977. Interestingly, the “King” Sparrow won with “Why do I keep fooling myself/ When I know you love someone else” with the refrain, “Only a fool breaks his own heart.” Well, as everybody knows, that has not happened yet. Sparrow, even recently, is still performing and forever at his best. In fact, only a fool will feel that Sparrow will ever be out of the running.
CALYPSO ROSE
Next in line and, in this case, age, is “Calypso Rose,” the first woman to win the Calypso Monarch. At 85, five years ahead of me, she started writing songs at the age of thirteen. Now, with one thousand songs and more than twenty albums, she was considered the “Mother of Calypso.”
In 1968, she created and sang, “Fire, Fire” and that took everyone with, “Fire Fire/ In me wire papa/ Ay ya yeye/ O yo yoye/ Fire Fire/ Dame mucho agua heat for so.” The Dame could get “lots of water to calm down” or even a hot one, that was her business. My friends and I, with our calypso pan in our village Carnival, did more than Sparrow in the Port-of-Spain Savannah.
We were with Calypso Rose from then on. More, when she sang about leaving Port-of-Spain, the capital of Trinidad, because it was too small for the Carnival and she headed into our southern city, San Fernando we jumped, danced, and even misbehaved a bit when we heard and joined the song: “I going down San Fernando/ Down dey have plenty tempo/ Hatters Steel Orchestra jamming sweet/ We going to join San Fernandians and roll on Coffee Street, So gimme more tempo…”
From then on, she was our Queen and supreme “songstress” of calypso. She gave as good as she got or even more. In fact, I was never close to one of her favourite songs, “I want a young boy, gimme the young boy, gimme the young boys, oh young boy, oh!” And the chorus is, “Who you looking for? Young boy/ You will cry no more. Young boy)” to the end “Who will kiss you in your ear (Young boy)/ and call you my dear (Young boy).
BROTHER VALENTION
I was working for the prime minister of Trinidad as the TV person for the government of Dr Eric Williams and spent a lot of time in the calypso tents out with people, among whom was Brother Valentino. I found out that he was three years older than I was, so that puts him at 84. Yet he is still very clear on what he stands for. I never saw him as a racist but as someone who wanted the people, black especially, to be the best they could be, and to be conscious of who they were, where they came from, and what was expected of them.
But what I loved and still remember about where we grew up and live still, “So the foreigner come for Carnival/ And he telling himself after he had a ball/ Trinidad is nice, Trinidad is a paradise/ Foreigner in La Trinity/ The people have a Carnival mentality/ Trinidad is nice, Trinidad is a paradise/ They are not serious, very few conscious/ So I cannot agree with my own chorus/ Trinidad is nice, Trinidad is a paradise/ But I hear some people talking about revolution day/ Changes on the way.”
LORD NELSON
The fourth runner in this age game (apart from me) is Lord Nelson from Tobago. He ended up in the US army and later, back in Trinidad, he made his debut in 1961 and at 94 years old is still performing. Even now, at this age, he is known for wearing one of his trademark fancy jumpsuits when performing on stage and loves to be referred to as ‘Disco Daddy’ from one of his successful tunes. He was also one of the great humourists, and I want to share the last part of one of his great jokes that I feel is worth more than a pound and even more than a crown, a
“Liar Crown.”
You know de crowd went wild, they couldn’t cool down
Ah say Liar de Lion losing he crown
De judges brought de crowd back to order
And ask de Lion to lie bout a tailor
He said my man is de best, Rolfy is his name
Cutting cloth, making suit is his game
Doh show him de man, my tailor is class
Just show him de corner whey de fella pass
And he go make a suit, dat is tailor.
*Tony Deyal was last seen saying that anyone who believes that calypso is better than before, his response is, “You see lie? That is lie!”
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