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Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Orlando Octave - "Darkie" (2008 hit Trinidad/Tobago song)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post quotes a review of Orlando Octave's 2008 hit Trinidadian/Tobagan song "Darkie" that was included in the 2011 blog post "In the Castle of Our Skins: Darkies, Brownings and Red Woman" by soyluv (Soyini Ayanna).

A YouTube video of that Reggae song is also included in this pancocojams post along with one comment from that video's discussion thread. In addition, this post includes my attempt to transcribe some lyrics of Orlando Octave's song "Darkie", in addition to those that are included in soyluv's abovementioned post. (Additions and corrections to my "partial transcription" are welcome.)

The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Orlando Octave for his musical legacy. Thanks also to soyluv (Soyini Ayanna), the writer of the blog post that is quoted here, and thanks to all others who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/07/two-reprints-of-non-pancocojams.html for a closely related pancocojams post entitled "Two Reprints Of Non-Pancocojams Internet Posts About Racial Descriptors In The Caribbean".

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SHOWCASE YOUTUBE VIDEO - ORLANDO OCTAVE official Music video



Colin 'RevolutionEyz' De Freitas, Published on Jul 3, 2010

The Official Music Video_A Cinderella story- Ode to all Women of color- Brown skin where yuh from?
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Statistics as of July 23, 2019 at 11:11 AM EST
total # of views: 89,762
total # of likes: 521
total # of dislikes: 11
total # of comments- 26
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It's interesting that the publisher refers to this song as "a Cinderella story", an "ode to all women of color", and then quotes the line "Brown skin where yuh from". In that record, the line "brown girl where yuh from" is only sung two times (around 1:12 in this video). The title of the song and the skin color referent that is most often used in this record is "darkie" (a Trinidadian referent for a dark skinned Black girl). I wonder if the reason why the publisher of this YouTube sound file didn't correctly describe this record in that summary was because of the negative connotations for the word "darkie" in the United States and in many other nations outside of the Caribbean (and also within the Caribbean such as the Dominican Republic).
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Here's a comment from this video's discussion thread:
bubblez barbie, 2012
"THIS SONG GO'S OUT TO ALL THE GOOD LOOKING BLACK AND LIGHT SKIN WOMEN WE KNOW WE PRETTY"

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BLOG POST EXCERPT ABOUT ORLANDO OCTAVE'S SONG "DARKIE"
From https://soyluv.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/darkies-brownings-and-red-woman/
"In the Castle of Our Skins: Darkies, Brownings and Red Woman" by soyluv (Soyini Ayanna)
..."In 2008, Orlando Octave Jr.’s hugely popular reggae love song “Darkie,” rode a wave of popularity on the airwaves in Trinidad and Tobago and throughout the region with its sweet melody, verbal play and recognizable hook of “darkie, whey yuh from?—a long time me a call you but yuh never wah come.” Paying homage to the lovely dark-skinned female who is “a helluva girl” with “de face and de figure,” Octave’s darkie is desirable, beautiful and elusive. Her elusiveness is embodied by Octave’s constant quest to know “whey yuh from” and Octave is careful to distinguish exactly what kind of dark-skinned beauty this is, lest listeners make presumptions. Similarly, he is personally invested in unpacking some of his darkie’s attributes, both internal and external, while being acutely aware of the responsibility behind the creation of this anthem for darkies.

Thus, his darkie “went tuh school and she came out a scholar,” is a “leader of de pack, rest ah girls have tuh follow.” She is “from down South” though she is liming/espied or visiting “on de Beetham”[6]. Similarly, she is fittingly “nuh gold digger / When yuh come to she / Yuh better come to she proper / ‘Cause, say, she got all she need in life / And, she doh need a boyfriend fi survive.” Most significantly, he asserts that “most of all gyul / I’m in love with yuh color.” In an interview in Abstract magazine, Octave explained his intention behind the song noting, “I sang about darkies because darkies don’t have a song,” added to the fact that “red woman always get the ‘rate-up’ ” (“Orlando Octave”). Somewhat ironically, when asked in the same interview about his own preference for women, Octave admits with a “blush” that “actually I go for red-skinned girls but complexion does not really matter” (“Orlando Octave”).

Still, for many dark-skinned women and most significantly, the young girls who tune into new popular music in droves and are especially susceptible to the images within, the message in song was widely appreciated. In a continuously media driven world, where pop cultural images in music and media assault us from every angle, West Indian women of every shade may grapple with self-identity and beauty issues. It is imperative that we all continue to contextualize, challenge and deconstruct these long-held notions of beauty and desirability with regard to skin shade. “Darkie” then, by its mere existence as a construct within the lexicon, as well as through its semantic power of implied endearing meaning, helps us to do so. It does so through its direct simplicity, its self-affirming implication of beauty and desirability and its locale, deep within a dark skin tone."

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ADDITIONAL LYRICS FROM & MY NOTES ABOUT ORLANDO OCTAVE'S SONG "DARKIE"
Unfortunately, I've not been able to find any lyrics for Orlando Octave's 2008 song "Darkie" other than the partial lyrics that are included in soyluv's 2011 blog post "In the Castle of Our Skins: Darkies, Brownings and Red Woman" (cited and quoted above).

My notes below are my attempt to add to those lyrics. I refer to these as "notes" instead of even a "partial transcription" because I'm just writing down some of the lyrics from the songs that I can decipher.

Additions and corrections are REALLY welcome. I believe that this song is too culturally significant not to have its lyrics documented online.

Overall summation- This is a love song in praise of a dark skin young woman who the singer refers to as "darkie". The fact that this is a complementary referent in the culture (Trinidad/Tobago) where the singer is from is indicated by the words of the song. That fact is also indicated by the video skit where the young women are shown listening to a radio announcer say that the singer is going to do a live appearance in that city and wants to choose someone to play the part of the "darkie" who is being serenaded. In that skit the The girls fight each other over which one of them will compete to play that role.

These lyric portions are given in sequential order up to the end of the song.

One line - "She’s a hell of a girl".

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Another two lines - "I’m in love with your color
so when you see the rude boy please holla"

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At 1:12 in this song the singer says "brown skin where you from" before switching back to "darkie where you from"

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Another portion of the song:
I never cheat on you...
I want to be a part of your life
‘cause you’re the one for me
'cause you and me could start a family
girl, anything that you say
I get it right away

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spelling portion of the song begins at 2:23 to around 2:50 [I'm really unsure about the accuracy of some of these "transcriptions", particularly the ones given in italics.]

S.i.n o.m.e rough call the p.o.l.i.c.e
Walk up and down the o.a.g
Girl it’s w.r.o.n.g
b.a.d. r.o.u.n.d
every guy she meets she wanna u.s.e.
That is not the right thing it’s i. n. g
It’s not like the right one it’s s.h.e

beginning at 3:12:
I wanna l.o.v.e love ya
I wanna k.i.s.s kiss ya
I wanna h.u.g hug ya
cause I love ya love ya
I wanna l.o.v.e love ya
I wanna k.i.s.s kiss ya
l.o.v.e love ya love ya”


This is the end of my attempted "transcription". Please help document this song by sharing its correct lyrics. Thanks!

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