A Penny for Your Thoughts
The days of copper pennies are long gone and anyone would be hard pressed to find one today. Yet for some strange reason, I could not get the image of one such penny from my head as I sat in the benches taking in the first offerings of the Johnny Walker Black Ambassadors' Calypso Tent on Wednesday night. I must admit that it was difficult to muster up the enthusiasm that I usually have for attending the calypso tent. That had nothing to do with the tent but rather the lingering malaise that had been part of my entire day. However, once I got there I was quite prepared to enjoy the show.
But just like an old copper penny that had laid forgotten for too long, the offerings on the night lacked the spark that was needed to truly ignite my dormant love for the calypso art form. As I sat there and listened I just wished that the calypsonians had taken the time to polish their songs a little longer. Nobody likes 'Dirty Cups' and I would have loved a chance to jeer and cheer at the expose that would reveal all the dirt that Davis had uncovered. Instead the cups were just left there, still dirty I am afraid, with absolutely no incentive to be clean.
What was most annoying was the fact that some calypsonians did not even do me the courtesy of making a full presentation. Two verses and a chorus does not a calypso make. If two hastily written verses can be put on offering why not three? At least I would think that the calypsonian was genuinely trying to pull a full song together. Just like an old copper penny takes some elbow grease to get it all shiny and new again, a calypso needs to worked on until it right. Stop giving me the same old song, the same old beat, the same old ideas. Shine it! Polish it! Make it new! The rewards will be great because the new shine on an old penny and a calypso can both dazzle you.
I really really want to be dazzled by calypso this year . The discussion on the way home was trying to remember the last year that calypso dazzled me. As far as I could remember it was 1999, the year of the bachelor. Bachelor burst onto the scene and catapulted the entire arena into a frenzy of calypso loving, arm waving joy. All the way to the crown he saw what I did every night and what I did was have a ball as Morgie, Invader, Walleigh and yes Bachelor all 'came good'. Eleven years later where is that spark? Has it died forever? As a calypso fan, I sure hope not. A really good calypso can send shivers up my spine and give me goose pimples...I want my goose pimples back.
