SOCA: Soul calypso and the Mighty Sparrow

Some early progenitors of today’s rap and hip-hop were scat singing and jive talk from Fats Waller through Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, and many jazz singers. In the Caribbean islands, calypso singers sang songs with political and socio-economic messages combined with scat-type beats and lyrics.

Readers may go online and listen to Joseph Spence sing On the Rolling Sea and you’ll hear what I mean. My personal favorite is the Mighty Sparrow, SOCA (soul/calypso) King of Carnival on Trinidad and Tobago for many years. He has written over 50 songs and recorded 70 albums. In 1987 he received an honorary Doctor of Letters (D. Litt) and in 2015 was awarded an OBE Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. He lives in Queens, NY and recorded a new album with full orchestra, Live at 85, in 2020. His song, Interdependence, was recorded in 1979.

Interdependence

Sung by the Mighty Sparrow

Independence, who is totally independent

Freedom, is there absolute freedom

Like the sunshine needs rainy weather we all need one another

It really shouldn’t matter what’s a person’s color creed or race

I believe in equal opportunity for everyone and equal place

Dependence on each other for freedom and survival are unmistakably

and essentially vital, in other words, ‘

(chorus)

I need you, you need me.

Together we can be happy, sometimes I may not show it and you may

not know it, but without me there’s no you and vice versa, so the very

essence of our Interdependence is peace, love discipline and tolerance.

On commitment, can man long afford non-involvement

A neighbor’s crisis we pretend is none of we business

But whatever happens around you has a direct effect upon you

If you should see your neighbors house afire no matter whatever the

cause, try and help him put it out at the same time with yours

Yes very often we see for we own security its necessary to assist with

enemy, may I repeat:

(chorus)

I need you, you need me…

Financial aid we must give or get and we must trade

Foodstuff seems man could never produce enough

Scientific breakthrough in medicine is for improved health in

every person. Penicillin was one of those that disease we can control

an accidental discovery by man for man throughout the world

Judicial protection, spiritual instruction must be rendered by man

to save man. May I repeat

(chorus)

I need you, you need me.

The very essence of our interdependence is peace, love, discipline, and tolerance.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Joey aka “Pepe Batbon” Connolly is a retired educator who taught in the CNMI, NOLA, and LVNV. He is the Poet Laureate of Tinian and enjoys stargazing.