Personally, I have NO ISSUES with THE APPROACH!!! You do what you have to do to ACHIEVE SUCCESS.

During the MARK MCGUIRE and BARRY BONDS era of STEROIDS, there was a BASEBALL PLAYER from the OAKLAND A's who got transferred or free agented to the NEW YORK YANKEES (I cannot remember his name -- JASON GIAMBI) and then got busted for USING STEROIDS.

But his response to his crime will go to my grave with me when he said:: "It's not as if you just TAKE THE STEROIDS and start hitting HOME RUNS automatically -- you still HAVE TO PRACTICE." In other words, you have to BRING SOME TALENT and DEDICATION and AMBITION TO THE GAME to become successful!!!

That line BLEW ME AWAY because of its REALNESS -- as they say in the AMERICAN GHETTO.

So I am not trying to DIMINISH the talent of the MIGHTY SPARROW. He was a VISIONARY and EXTREMELY TALENTED PERFORMER and he made his mark around THE WORLD. But he was also an EXPLOITER (read the book that Winsford Devine wrote exposing that) and I could add personal interviews that I have had with both CALYPSO ROSE and Reginald "PIGGY" Joseph (with tears in their eyes as they spoke) about the SPARROW EXPLOITATION.

I just happen to be biased from the start. Because as a little schoolboy growing up in TRINIDAD there was a gossip in the schoolyard that SPARROW did not write JEAN AND DINAH and that it was written by LORD BLAKIE when they were both in PRISON IN TRINIDAD in the FIFTIES. And SPARROW got out of prison first and stole the song and sang it TAKING ALL THE CREDIT!!!

Ah doh know if that story is true or not -- but it jaundiced my view of SPARROW from a very early age. So as I grew older in AMERICA and understood the AMBULANCE CHASER CONCEPT it was not hard for me to REDEFINE THE MIGHTY SPARROW in a more cliched CONTEXT.

After all, I am a CALYPSO LOVER!!!

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  • Somebody sang a calypso, back in the day; with the punchline - "The day Nelson Katon and Rocky McCollin dead, dem imposters go beg dey bread.

    I always wondered about the back stories.

  • This is one of my favourite "Sparrow Calypsos" but I have to tell you all a little story about THIS CALYPSO.

    As a CALYPSO LOVER, I have always liked the INTROSPECTION of this CALYPSO -- particularly!!! So one time SPARROW came out here to perform and I was driving him around and ting and I asked him what mood he had to get into to write such an introspective CALYPSO.

    His response was that he has written so many CALYPSOS that he cannot really remember what mood inspired him to write that song. Of course, I did now quite buy the response because I knew that anybody who wrote that CALYPSO had to get into a  REAL MOOD.

    Years later, when I read Winsford Devine's book and saw him listing "WE KINDA MUSIC" as his composition I got my VALIDATION. As allyuh know, NOBODY cyar come on NO BOAT and fool me about TRINIDAD. A contentious point that I have made on THIS FORUM for years because I am a REAL TRINIDADIAN -- ask MERCER RAMDOO!!!.

    Anyway, LISTEN AND ENJOY one of my FAVOURITE CALYPSOS: WE KINDA MUSIC ... CALYPSO MUSIC is MY KINDA MUSIC and I wish that DUVONE STEWART would play CALYPSO MUSIC in his 2020 PANORAMA MUSIC!!! That is ah next pet peeve of mine!!!

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