Lyrics, please

Songs are being written solely with air play and Road March in mind. Nothing is wrong with that but cliches unfortunately abound.

Let me provide some examples and you can feel free to fill in the titles and names of the performers you think sang them. Many people mistake a line from the repetitive chorus as the title. Sometimes this is true but often it is not.

One song about patriotism and loving your country starts “Open the gate.” The theme is interjected with,

“Jump on the left, jump on the right, jumping, waving, dancing to one beat.”

Another unity song calls for people to show their love is everlasting by throwing their hands in the air, and “come and let we jump, come and take we rag, let it fling, in the air.” Such words make the unity theme superficial.

Several songs focusing on partying and having a good time are receiving a lot of air play. They attempt to capture the vibrancy and fun of Carnival whether it is in the fete of dancing in the streets.

However, these songs are the worst culprits for repetition and stringing together all the usual cliches.

Example 1: ”Jump and give me one more, wave and give me one more, one more bacchanal, one more festival.”

Example 2: “All my crew coming through, raise yuh hand, raise yuh hand..wine yuh waist in the place...I don’t give a damn I come to wine my bam bam.”

Example 3: “When the rhythm start we jumping up. When the rhythm start we waving up. When the rhythm start we waving up.”

Example 4: “Soca in my veins, Soca in my blood, Soca in your veins..No more fuss and fight. Let’s find love...Everybody jump. Jump up now, love up now, free up now.”

Example 5: “Take a jump, take a jump.....It’s Carnival we go jump and make a bacchanal.”

Example 6: “Everybody rags up, flags up (repeat) everybody hands up. Let me see you fling it up. Let me see you swing it up...Higher than high—I..I. We jumping up, we waving up, we don’t want no sympathy, nobody could fete like we.”

Example 7: “Everybody jump, jump, jump up. Wave up, wave up, wave and wine up, wine up..This is Carnival bacchanal, this is Carnival bacchanal.”

These are the tunes masqueraders will be jumping to and it won’t matter because masqueraders will not be taxing their brain cells while dancing and following the pied piper of music.

Carnival has a vibe which really cannot be fully recreated at any other time of the year which is why some of the songs which evoke a frenzy during the season have a very lacklustre response in the months to follow. These songs are like the Carnival costumes quickly discarded after Tuesday.

People are surprised soca music is still alien to people around the globe. The answer is in the lyrics. Can you imagine a foreigner never exposed to Carnival listening to some of the lyrics above? They may very well wonder what all the jumping and waving is about.

Outside of Carnival season how much appeal do some of the lyrics have? How marketable are the songs? Some people try and get away from singing about jump and wave and try and use other words. They provide welcome variation although their themes do not really inspire.

All is not lost though. There are songs that will last beyond the jump and wave season and go on to become classics, even if a jump and wave tune will no doubt be among them.

There are some very catchy tunes this year. “One more time”—Machel; Peter Ram and Shurwayne, “I need a woman by my side”, “Sugar Boy”-Patrice Roberts, “Nah Going Home”—Biggie Irie, “Seduction”—Terry Seales with Michelle Sylvester, Michelle Xavier, “What I want” —Fireball, “My Land”— Kes with Nadia Batson; “Turn Around”— Chucky.