The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #53190   Message #3893087
Posted By: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
09-Dec-17 - 08:34 PM
Thread Name: Offensive lyrics- edit?
Subject: RE: Offensive lyrics- edit?
15 year bump. The Baptist Sunday School thread drift was getting out of control.

"...although I admire how clever and how interesting calypsonians can be in the songs they write and sing, I also find that most of those lyrics are not in the best interests of black people, because their songs are always filled with the need to make Europeans laugh at us. They glorify and dig deep into promiscuity, they go into genitalia.... I'd rather sing to the honor and glory of the region, and the beauty and dignity of our women....

...calypsonians here and there disparaged me. But already, my versions, popular as they were, were wending their way back into the Caribbean culture. Eventually, all those very same calypsonians would be singing their songs my way! And the different version they'd sung before would be forgotten.
"

Belafonte, My Song: A Memoir (New York: Knopf, 2011, p.164-5)