Post #471819 by bigbrotiki on Sun, Jul 26, 2009 11:12 AM

Even though Calypso can not be called "Tiki music" like Exotica, Hapa Haole and Surf, it had a distinctly tropical vibe, and did fit in well with many pre-Tiki tropical hideaways in the 30s, 40s, and 50s.

The sly folk wisdom of the lyrics, and especially the sexual double entendre humor of some of the songs (like "Don't Touch Me Tomato") made them preferred material for the mid-century rumpus room.

I used the example of the Calypso classic "The Big Bamboo" in Tiki Modern:

...showing the interior of the Big Bamboo club in Nassau, Bahamas, and the suggestive record cover from the club's album.

http://www.hipwax.com/music/calyp_ba.html
Originally written by the Duke of iron, the song was brought to further prominence by the Mighty Sparrow, the "King of Calypso":

Here he is wearing his crown, in the mid-50s

The Big Bamboo's influence reached into Tiki culture, by becoming a cocktail on the Mai Kai menu...

...and a legendary dive bar in Orlando, Florida, which I had the pleasure to visit before it burned down:

Here is a clean-sounding rendition of the original lyrics, perhaps not authentically Calypso in its sound,
but affording the listener a clear understanding of the words!:
http://bizarrerecords.com/blog/calypso/LCbamboo.mp3

..and here the wonderful cover of the performer, Lord Creator :) :

And now, the China man version modernized by the Mighty Sparrow (as mentioned in the link above),
performed by Lord Antics:
http://bizarrerecords.com/blog/calypso/LAnticBamboo.mp3

Ahem. Well, why am I telling you all this? Look at the B&W photo above, and imagine my surprise when an old friend of mine who organizes the yearly "Wassermusik" festival at the Berlin "House of World Cultures" told me that he had booked the Mighty Sparrow for a concert. THE Mighty Sparrow? Alive AND still performing!!?

Yes he was, and did!:

Excuse me please...this man is 74 years old! Amazing is an understatement here. Give me some of HIS Voodoo!

Now, the old Calypso style has evolved to the more "danceable" Soca style, so it did not sound like 40s Calypso
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7HO1hHRiEc&feature=related ), but Sparrow gave a great rendition of his cannibal song "Congo Man", during which he interviewed his band and audience if they ever had tasted any "white meat". He also performed his hit "Jean & Dinah", which was covered some 50 years ago by Robert Mitchum on his cult Calypso album:

"Well the girls in town feeling bad
No more Yankees in Trinidad
They going to close down the base for good...
...Things bad is to hear them cry
Not a sailor in town, the night clubs dry....
Don't make no row,
the yankees gone, Sparrow take over now..."

Here is a modern ode to Calypso by our favorite, Shag, depicting Calypso popularizers Bob Mitchum and Harry Belafonte:

This one is entitled "Mighty Sparrow -Old, Rich and Decadent":

I would be!

My Mighty Sparrow concert took place in the amazing 1958 Berlin Congress Hall, now the House of World Cultures:

(Now these are not stock photos, I snapped them :) )

I also got to see two movies: The documentary "At Dirty Jim's Swizzle Club" that is sort of the "Buena Vista Social Club" of Calypso:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YacCu7F5c4s

The place had gotten its name from its house cocktail, of course, the Dirty Jim's Swizzle. Who knows the recipe?

And I also saw for the first time the 1943 classic "I walked with Zombie", which features a scene where a Calypso singer expounds on the "Shame and Scandal in the family" of the protagonists. The film also has this dialog that reminds us of yet another Carribean connection to Tiki:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_RomNq3ZCA&feature=PlayList&p=707B07D7381B7F83&index=2

DR. MAXWELL
(explains)
I knew Jessica. We were friends.
Sometimes it's better for a doctor to
laugh than pull a long face when things
are hopeless.

BETSY
Yes, I know. But I don't know about
zombies, Doctor. Just what is a zombie?

DR. MAXWELL
A ghost, the living dead. It's also a drink.

BETSY
Yes, I tried one once. But there wasn't
anything dead about it.

Sir Lancelot performs his song around 2 min. 40 secs into the clip.

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2009-07-26 12:08 ]