Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar

Subject: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 10:22 PM

Does anyone have the lyrics to this song by Lord Invader in which he is telling a girl named Mahalia that he wants his dollar back?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 21 Apr 11 - 12:04 AM

Does no-one have an idea? If this can help, all I can figure out from the iTunes sample is "You can't cross Invader, Mahalia, I want back my dollar, Mahalia."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 11 May 11 - 02:14 AM

So, no one has the lyrics?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 May 11 - 03:45 PM

I think you can hear the entire song here, but I find it difficult to understand beyond the first verse:

http://www.myspace.com/557862277/music/songs/mahalia-i-want-back-my-dollar-47419174

I want back my dollar (Mahalia)
Want back my dollar (Mahalia)
I took you out dancing (Mahalia)
For a good evening (Mahalia)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 12 May 11 - 04:21 PM

Thanks, Jim but that link is invalid.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 May 11 - 04:37 PM

The link works for me. Of course, once you get to that page, you have to click on the little triangle to make the music play.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 12 May 11 - 10:57 PM

Never mind, I found it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 21 Jun 11 - 10:07 PM

Listened to it and could make out a few words... "They say you's a good woman.. with a (?) constitution... Now you is a nice girl, you really love bacchanal."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 22 Jun 11 - 04:12 AM

Refresh. Why does Invader want Mahalia to give him back his money anyway?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 23 Jun 11 - 06:57 AM

Refresh.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 15 Jul 11 - 09:55 AM

The lyrics of one verse (I think)

"You can't fight Invader(Mahalia),
And my nice dollar (Mahalia),
Set if you're settin' (Mahalia)
Move if you're movin' (Mahalia)

What dress that I bought you (Mahalia)
I don't really miss(?) you, (Mahalia)
They say you's a good woman (Mahalia)
With a big constitution (Mahalia)"

Link for anyone still interested- I still want the full lyrics.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 15 Jul 11 - 10:02 AM

Something else- this theme of a man- usually a man, I don't know why, maybe it sounds more powerful from a male perspective- asking a woman for his money back seems to be present in traditional songs as well. I know of a Jamaican mento song called "Gimme Back Me Shilling" with the chorus "Gimme back me shilling wid de lion 'pon 'i' " (the lion as a symbol of the British crown) and I (think) there's a Barbadian song on the same theme as well.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 12 Aug 11 - 08:50 AM

Anyone else interested in "Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar?" I would still *love* the lyrics.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: Charley Noble
Date: 12 Aug 11 - 08:24 PM

Hang in there. It's a busy season but someone may be willing to give it a listen. Lord knows, we've managed to decode some really difficult songs on this forum.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: SINSULL
Date: 12 Aug 11 - 08:31 PM

Give me back me shillin' is a line in Danger Waters. See other thread.

Subject: Lyr Add: MAHALIA, I WANT BACK MY DOLLAR
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Aug 11 - 08:55 PM

Try this on for size. I signed up for a trial subscription to Rhapsody to hear this.

MAHALIA, I WANT BACK MY DOLLAR
As sung by Lord Invader

I want back my dollar. (Mahalia)
Want back my dollar. (Mahalia)
I took you out dancing (Mahalia)
For a good evening. (Mahalia)

You can't like Invader. (Mahalia)
I'm a nice fellow. (Mahalia),
Shake if you're shakin'. (Mahalia)
Move if you're movin'. (Mahalia)

What's that said about you? (Mahalia)
I don't believe it's true. (Mahalia)
They say you's a good woman (Mahalia)
With a big constitution. (Mahalia)

You're early for ...(?) (Mahalia)
You have the vitality. (Mahalia)
Truck if you're truckin'. (Mahalia)
Swim if you're swimmin'. (Mahalia)

Now you is a nice girl. (Mahalia)
You really loves bacchanal. (Mahalia)
I am really having fun. (Mahalia)
Let's go out all over London. (Mahalia)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 01:07 AM

Anyone have an idea why this theme of "give me back my money" is used in folk songs? Was it once common for people in romantic relationships or who were rejecting their boyfriend/girlfriend (though I know that's not the case in this song)to ask for their money back? Either that, or the singer (Lord Invader) lent Mahalia money for some unspecified reason.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 02:29 AM

Oh, and why is it a dollar instead of a shilling? Although I suppose "Mahalia, I Want Back My Shilling" doesn't have the same feel. This song was probably one of Lord Invader's original London compositions. There are no references to it in any books about Trinidad calypsos. Not that I can find on Google Books, at least.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 06:40 AM

Anyone else interested in *discussing* this song, now we have the lyrics?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 08:50 AM

"give me back my money"?

I just take it as a marker for the end of a romantic relationship, or at least a potential romantic relationship from the perspective of a suitor.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 08:56 AM

But Charley, that doesn't fit with this song, because he (the singer) isn't going to break up with the girl. He's just asking her for his dollar back-- if he *isn't* going to break up with her, why does he want it back?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: JeffB
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 09:29 AM

Perhaps he paid for them to go to a dance, hoped for more than a bit of fun, but she turned out to be a big tease (shake if you're shaking ....). So he feels entitled to getting his dollar back.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 09:59 AM

Generally one doesn't ask for one's money back unless the relationship is going nowhere interesting. And one can ask but usually it's downhill after that.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 02:01 PM

What's the problem?
He spent a whole dollar on the gal and got no satisfaction.
In the end he still asks her to go out all over London.
The guy is stupid!

(This is London, but in BWI, English, American and the local currencies are all understood and equally acceptable. Jamaica's coinage has been based on their own dollar since 1969; the BWI dollar dates from 1935; the East Caribbean dollar from 1965; the Trinidad& Tobago dollar from 1964 (Tobago had its own dollar for a while); Belize adopted a US dollar based currency in 1885, the old Spanish dollar, etc., etc. A money-changer's paradise!)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: Charley Noble
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 02:10 PM

"They say you's a good woman (Mahalia)
With a big constitution."

Now that's a line I never thought to use.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: GUEST,Gda music
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 02:33 PM

Charley your assertion regarding money back is correct. The Mighty Sparrow for one certainly agrees and gave his reasons in song with
his early calypso *Teresa*. http://youtu.be/7dfikWhf5g0

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: JeffB
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 05:04 PM

Shake if you're shaking, truck if you're trucking, move if you're moving, swim if you're swimming - if you're going to give me what I want, gimme gimme now. But you can't like me, or you would. They say you're a good woman - I don't believe it's true.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 05:37 PM

So, the singer spent his money on the girl with the expectation that she would give him what he wanted? Isn't that more than a bit manipulative and creepy?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 06:10 PM

Due to the fact that this song is from a male perspective, it's possible that to the singer, she was teasing him while she didn't think she was. After all, the only perspective the audience gets is the singer's, Mahalia may have considered the situation quite differently.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Aug 11 - 06:28 PM

Lord Messam sang a song about wanting his money back, "Poun' Paper."
When a date doesn't go a expected, he tries unsuccessfully to get his pound paper (pound note) back from the girl.
(Note at mentomusic.com)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: JeffB
Date: 14 Aug 11 - 10:08 AM

Manipulative and creepy - men, eh?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: Charley Noble
Date: 14 Aug 11 - 10:25 AM

"So, the singer spent his money on the girl with the expectation that she would give him what he wanted? Isn't that more than a bit manipulative and creepy?"

Yes. What else is new?

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 14 Aug 11 - 01:23 PM

Seeking value for money.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 14 Aug 11 - 06:23 PM

The only thing is, it's rarely the *girl* who asks for her money back. I mean if I had a boyfriend and I didn't think it would work out, *I'd* ask for my money back, but why is it always men who do this in songs?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 14 Aug 11 - 06:24 PM

Except for "Danger Waters", but the narrator of that is dying, not complaining about a failed romance.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 17 Aug 11 - 05:09 PM

Refresh.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 17 Aug 11 - 11:03 PM

Can anyone tell me why this thread went down the list when I refreshed it?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 17 Aug 11 - 11:04 PM

Refresh.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 31 Aug 11 - 06:36 AM

Refresh again. Anyone want to discuss this?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: JeffB
Date: 31 Aug 11 - 09:17 PM

Don't think I've got anything else to add Morwen.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 01 Sep 11 - 12:04 AM

I wonder why this song is not mentioned in books about calypso history? Maybe James Fryer can add something?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: James Fryer
Date: 01 Sep 11 - 05:19 AM

I don't really have much to add. It's interesting as it's from that period where calypso was the main West Indian music in London (basically the 50s), but other than that it's not a particularly significant calypso which is probably why you haven't seen any reference to it. As mentioned above there is a precursor in the Jamaican song "Gimme back me shilling": "Gimme back my shilling with the lion 'pon it (3x)/Girl you shouldn't take me for a fool."

I would think the tune of Mahalia is recycled too although I can't recall hearing another song with this tune.

Why don't you try rewriting it: bring it up to date, maybe reverse the genders, see what you can do with it?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 01 Sep 11 - 06:50 AM

I *will* try that, after the long holidays, revison and HSC- I've got exam revision right now.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 01 Sep 11 - 04:48 PM

BTW, is recycling tunes still done in modern calypso?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 02 Sep 11 - 02:05 AM

Refresh.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: James Fryer
Date: 02 Sep 11 - 04:16 AM

Very much so. If you listen to the recent Trinidad calypsos on Youtube then you can often hear the old melodies being reused. Usually though they are given some new twist. Also it seems that calypsonians have tunes that they favour, so they'll reuse those.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: James Fryer
Date: 02 Sep 11 - 04:25 AM

I also just remembered Roaring Lion had a song that went:

If you can't stand the diggin'
Gimme back me shilling

I thought it was "Netty Netty":

Singing Netty Netty,
Gimme the thing you got in your belly

but it must be something else as that line does not appear in the song...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHXJRx31_tc

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 02 Sep 11 - 04:39 AM

thanks! Now all I really have to do is think up some lyrics

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: MorwenEdhelwen1
Date: 18 Sep 11 - 03:29 AM

BTW, is "Netty Netty" about abortion?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: GUEST,999
Date: 18 Sep 11 - 11:59 PM

'His [Rafael de Leon's] "Netty Netty," the song of a prostitute who left town to have an abortion operation, shocked not only Trinidad and Tobago, but in neighboring countries such as Grenada, where he was banned for a while.'

From Mr Google and Wikipedia.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: James Fryer
Date: 19 Sep 11 - 03:09 AM

Yes I hadn't realised it but according to Wikipedia it was about abortion. I couldn't tell from the lyrics, but there is one verse in patois and I don't have a translation.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Mahalia, I Want Back My Dollar
From: GUEST,999
Date: 19 Sep 11 - 04:19 PM

It may take me a week or so, but recently I met the husband of an old friend who was heavily involved with mento in NYC back in the day. He and I have a few friends and influences in common, although our musics are very different. I'll do my best, but no promises.

Later.