1. White Man Wife - Lord Superior  |
This is the official theme song of Dirty Jim's Swizzle Club.
Written by Lord Viper, the song describes the place 's easy virtues : « lf that' the
new way of friendship in life / I sure this white man minding that white man wife » |
| 2. Shame and Scandal in the Family - Relator |
Composed by Lord melody in 1940, this calypso gives a humorous account of a man looking for a woman to marry, but who always ends up meeting one of his father's illegitimate children ,until his mother solves the problem with a starting revelation. This song has been recorded and adapted by various artists,including Sacha Distel, Joe Dassin, The Surfs and even Bob Marley & the Wailers. |
| 3. Ugly Woman - Bomber |
In this amusing 1934 calypso, Roaring Lion explains to the world at large that,"If you want to be happy living a king 's life// never make a pretty woman hour wife/all you got to do is just as I say .../(......)Always marry a woman uglier than you". |
| 4. Rum and Coca Cola - Calypso Rose |
In september 1943,an american comedian named Morey Amsterdam, who was just passing through Trinidad,heard Lord Invader singing this lively calypso. The visitor painstakingly jotted the words down a notepad and , back to U.S quickly registered the lirics under his own name;after modifying some of the line to make them less "offensive",since the original version described the fate of mothers and daughters who sold their "services" to american soldiers in order to survive. The followling year, the Andew Sister hit the jackpot,selling millons of copies of their own version of "Rum & Coca Cola"? Lord Invader went to the States to claim compensation from the American courts and was successful, but only after a legal battle that raged for several years. Here Calypso Rose starts off singing the first few stanzas of theAndrew Sisters version,then continues with the original. |
| 5. Interlude |
| 6. Jean and Dinah - Lord Superior |
Sparrow originally wrote this calypso as promotional jingle for a local shop. But the shop owner didn't like this tune. So Sparrow recycled it,using new lyrics that celebrate the departure of the americans: " It's the glamour boys again/ we are going to rule Port of Spain/ no more yankee to spoil the fete/ Dorothy got to take what she get/ (...) yankees gone and Sparrow take over now ".
With this song, sparrow was crowned king of calypso of the 1956 Carnival . |
| 7. Bam Bam - Bomber |
| The only song on the album thatwas not originally a calypso, this jamaican mento composed in 1968 by Toots and The Maytals resurfaced in 1994,sung by Pliers,with huge success. Recording the album's version was quite a feat, due to the fierce rivalry between trinidadienand jamaicans. |
| 8. Nora - Relator |
| This calypso,recorded in england,expresses Lord Kitchener's homesikcness : "she started a crying when she heard kitchie was leaving/ these are the things that the lady promise me, a Rolls Royce car,her father property/ but I told her Darling money nor love doesn't mean anything/(...) I want to go home and see my grandmother ".
Nora is reputed to have been the most famous calypso of 1950,its popularity stretching from the caribbean all the way to West Africa. |
| 9. Interlude |
| 10. Life in London - Mighty Terror |
| Written by Terror during his stay in England,this calypso draws an idyllic picture of singer's life in London (especially in light of the reception given to the first immigrantsfrom her Majesty's colonies). I am going to stay here in Great Britain, to better my position/ and in case they should tell me go bet your life I'm telling them no/ Because Britain is the motherland..." This vibrant song to the mother country earned Terror england's 1957 calypso king tittle - but I didn't stop him from packing up his bags and going home a few years later ! |
| 11. Matilda - Relator |
This is one of the calypsos best known to rhe general public, thank to the versions recorded in the 1950s by Harry Belafonte and Robert Mitchum.
lt tells the story of an unfaithful woman who cleans out her husband' s pockets
before running off with their Venezuelan neighbour. lt previously brought fame to
its composer , King Radio , when it became the first song to win the Road March
competition three years in a row , in 1938 1939 and 1940 . |
| 12. Doctor Kitch - Bomber |
| This calypso , sung for the first time by Lord Kitchener in 1963,
is a perfect example of what Trinidadians mean by "double entente":lyrics full of bawdy allusions that require reading between the lines . " I am not a qualified physician/ and I don't want to give this injection/ Dorothy is beggin for trouble,she insists I give her this needle/ (....) I push it in / she push it out / I push it back / She start to shout / Dr. Kitch, it's terrible / I can't stand the size of your needle..." |
| 13. Never Ever Worry - Lord Superior |
| Lord Pretender's most famous Calypso.He liked to remind people that,in life,you should "Never ever worry/ (...) Always remember sombody suffering more than you". |
| 14. Memories - Mighty Sparrow |
| Composed in 1973, this is the album's most recent song, a calypso tinged with melancholy. As he follows the carnaval trucks, Sparrow thinks of the friends he has lost, reminiscing about all of the good times they have spent toghether. Though not Sparrow 's most famous calypso,it is certainly the one that best reflects this musical project's nostalgia and the joy of rediscovery. |
| 15. Rum & Coca Cola - Instrumental |
Calypso history
