Edited by Azizi Powell
This is the first in a multi-post pancocojams series on the name "Dorothy" in Calypso songs.
This post includes an excerpt of a pdf on Caribbean music that provides information about how women with the name "Dorothy" were usually portrayed in Calypso songs.
This pancocojams post also includes a transcription of the 1938 song "My Troubles With Dorothy" by the Lord Executor as well as YouTube sound file of that song.
Click the tag "the name Dorothy in Calypso music" for additional posts in this series.
The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Philip Garcia (Lord Executor) for his musical legacy*. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to GUEST,Tony for his transcription of "My Troubles With Dorothy" and thirteen other old Calypso songs on the Mudcat folk music forum discussion thread whose link is given in this pancocojams post. Thanks also to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.
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It's important to me that I make it clear that I don't agree with or condone the anti-women lyrics of many of Calypso songs with or without the name "Dorothy".
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THE CHARACTERIZATION OF FEMALES NAMED "DOROTHY" IN CALYPSO SONGS
From http://genderlinks.org.za/wp-content/uploads/imported/articles/attachments/historical_culture_of_gender_hetersexual_violence_maude_dikobe.pdf "Historical Culture of Gender and Hetero/Sexual Violence in Calypso in Trinidad: Treat ‘Em Rough" By Maude Dikobe [in] GENDER & MEDIA DIVERSITY JOURNAL [page 117-125] (2007?)
..."Calypso’s overwhelming endorsement of violence against women cannot be overstated. Stereotypical representation in calypso of women as sexually forward, cheats, unhygienic, and so on, helps to control them. One has only to recall “Dorothy” a sexual archetype about whom countless calypsos have been written:2 Dorothy personifies many of the worst stereotypes about women in Trinidad: She is “a stuckup slut whose only positive aspect is her seductive availability.” Given her immodesty and deceitfulness, she deserves to be “controlled.” ..
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/01/excerpt-from-pdf-entitled-historical.html for a pancocojams post entitled "Excerpts From The Pdf Entitled "Historical Culture of Gender and Hetero/Sexual Violence in Calypso in Trinidad: Treat ‘Em Rough".
That post includes more excerpts of this pdf.
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LYRICS: "MY TROUBLES WITH DOROTHY"
My Troubles with Dorothy by Philip Garcia, aka Lord Executor (rec Port-of-Spain 2/26/38)
I was weak an' broken down,
all my nerve shattered an' gone.
Who cause dat cruelty to me,
nobody but de woman called Dorothy.
Now, Dorothy, a nice high brown,
weighing two hundred and sixteen pound,
An' I, the Executor, the feather-weight,
she made me tremble like an earthquake.
Now Dorothy would sit on my knee,
an' feed me wid de vitamins of quality,
An' all the time she would say to me,
"Executor, you losing vitality."
De D an' de O an' de R an' de A,
and de T an' de H an' de Y, dey say.
Now, Dorothy darling, you made me tame.
You wan' Executor to lose his name.
She had a habit an' a way to sit on my back,
to ride me as a race-horse upon de track,
Leavin' me in sorrow, pain an' disgrace,
jus' like Campbell riding a race.
I met her, it was in T rou Macacq.
In translated word means the monkey track.
It was there I tol' her ____ ____,
an' she tol' me, "_____ _____ you're imbecile."
She tol' me "Executor, you mus' stay with me,
brutalize me, you can even beat me.
Do what you like, you can tear up me clothes.
But, you know, I'm a woman dat love your blows."
-transcription by GUEST, Tony 05 Jul 14 in https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=154911 Lyr Add: Woopsin - The Lion (calypso)
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This guest shared this transcription and thirteen other transcriptions of old Calypso songs-including another song that featured the name "Dorothy". He added this comment to his "post":
"Here's my entire collection of Calypso lyrics, full of mistakes, in case it's of any use to you or to anyone else reading your posts."
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SHOWCASE SOUND FILE: Lord Executor - My Troubles With Dorothy
Arnaud Future, Nov 30, 2014
From My Intention Is War : Trinidad Calypsos 1928-1948
Mississippi Records – MRP-079
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