Roaring Lion--Sacred 78's-Handy, Dandy, and Very Cool Calypso!!

Years ago I thought that Calypso was merely cheesy tourist music, inconsequential. But that was my exposure to the music, novelty songs in old movies and cameos on shows like the Love Boat, or Fantasy Island. When I was in College, one weekend a steel drum band was performing in the school pub. My friends and I were punks mostly and this seemed to be some more bland stuff booked by the Madras wearing preppy types that were on the entertainment committee at school. I mean, they hated us and would never book us there. And they tried to do it while avoiding confrontation of course. So they left us hanging for weeks with no definitive answer.

Of All The Islands In The West
Trinidad's The One That's Loved The Best

But the steel drum music was different than what I had expected. The musicians were very talented and we really enjoyed what they were doing. I did not realize that steel drums were literally 55 gallon barrels converted into instruments! The Trinidadians brilliantly came up with this and I was really impressed with their inventiveness. We even went up and chatted with the band after they completed their set. We actually caught them by surprise and they were on their guard. Once we complimented them on their set, they relaxed a bit. They had not been well received by the crowd that night. No doubt the alcohol consumption did not help. The band members in fact commented that there seemed to be a lot of assholes at our school. As I recall some drunk even poured beer on one of the musicians. They said that they had played other campuses and were treated well. I had no ready explanation for the boorish behavior that weekend. But I personally discovered that night that there was a lot more to Caribbean music than Reggae and Ska.

I don't know a lot about Calypso, but every once in a while I managed to buy a few discs. There was a company called Ice Records (run by Eddy "Electric Avenue" Grant) that put out a bunch of anthologies in the 1990's of Calypso legends. Roaring Lion was one of the original Calypso stars and I was immediately captivated by the elegance and swagger of his classic singles. A few of the songs were recognizable, as they had been discovered by American performers in the 30's and 40's, and his songs were hit recordings in the US made by others. The overall quality of music on Sacred 78's is so excellent that it should not be a big surprise that people would want to latch onto a good thing.

Like other musical styles, Calypso is a vehicle for expression, so there is a great variation in subject matter and quality. There are lots of double entendres in the music, both sexual and political, which seem more charming than daring today. Calypso artists generally have cool names--Attila The Hun, Lord Kitchener, Mighty Sparrow, much like rappers and old school punk rockers. If there was no royalty on the island they created their own. And they took the big band orchestra sound and created something that was distinctly Trinidad, a music so infectious that you can't help but enjoy it.

Roaring Lion was one of the great icons of Calypso--when he sang people listened. Some of the songs on this collection are public service announcements, like Lovely Trinidad, Love Thy Neighbor, and Wash Your Hands. The latter is particularly interesting, as it is a song about the importance of good hygiene. Some of the songs are novelty songs, but mostly the music is just fantastic. One of my favorites is the dynamic J'ouvert Barrio, which was recorded in the 1930's but sounds decades ahead of it time. Another amazing cut is the song Suzi Q with Lion's truly hip cadencing.There are recognizable songs like Mary Ann (All Day, All Night), The Blue Tail Fly, and of course the song Ugly Woman, which offers the advice "never make a pretty woman your wife." Like the old Abbott and Costello routine. Another international classic is the elegant ballad Cheek To Cheek, another personal favorite.

The Lion is definitely a sharp slick guy. A lovable rascal who always comported himself with class. He seems to know about everything going on around town. He waxes political on songs like Advantage Mussolini and Royal Tour. He portrays himself as ladies man and boast that he can "make more love than Romeo."

I can quote more love verses than Byron and Scott
I quote Shakespeare and Longfellow to get the girls head hot
Off and on, gazing at them with my deep blue eyes,
Displaying a most enchanted style to get them hypnotized.

Sounds like proto rap lyrics. He definitely has a way with words and his cadences are skillful and inventive.
He comments on society and the foibles of human nature. People gossiping, people getting to other peoples business.

We have some suggestion here and there in Calypso
We add a little smut to give it flavour
But the public always spoils it with a heap of black pepper.

Some songs are meant to be funny like Miss Tina, where Roaring Lion sympathizes with a love lorn woman, but she is so ugly, he can't marry her (face like a walking dead, English horse, etc). Sitcom humor. The Weatherman is a poke at weather forecasters, they are always wrong so do the opposite of whatever they do. There are plenty of "nudge,nudge, wink, wink" tunes, like I Ain't Gonna Do It No More and Bananas. Another tune with some sexual sub context is Concertina, which is a Caribbean precursor to The Who song Squeezebox.

I can't get enough of Roaring Lion. He reminds me a little bit of Louis Jordan as a performer. These are definitely classic recordings that any music fan should treasure.