Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post provides information about Calypsonian Neville Marcano ("Growling Tiger.")
This post also showcases a sound file of Growling Tiger's song The lyrics to that song are also included in this post.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Neville Marcano (Growling Tiger) for his musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.
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I don't know when this sound file was recorded. If you know that information, please share it in the comment section below. Thanks!
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE CALYPSONIAN "GROWLING TIGER"
From https://www.allmusic.com/artist/growling-tiger-mn0000650889
"Artist Biography by AllMusic
b. Neville Marcano, 1915, Siparia, Trinidad, West Indies, d.
13 May 1993.
Marcano took up boxing as a teenager (he was known as the
Siparia Tiger), winning the flyweight championship of Trinidad in 1929. In 1934
he started to perform calypsos as a way of supporting himself. Taking the name
Growling Tiger, he was soon winning calypso competitions with his witty
socially concerned compositions. Although the youngest of the calypsonians who
emerged in the 30s, Tiger’s style harked back to calypso’s African, French and
Spanish roots (although he was also influenced by pop crooners of the day such
as Bing Crosby and Maurice Chevalier). He recorded 46 songs for the Decca
Records calypso series, as well as recording duets with fellow calypsonians
like Atilla The Hun and King Radio. Growling Tiger retained his popularity
throughout the 40s and 50s. However, by the early 60s his fortunes were on the
wane. This was in part owing to the rise of young modern sounding artists such
as the Mighty Sparrow and Lord Kitchener, but also because of a calypso Tiger
had performed at the 1959 Carnival, that was critical of the private life of
the President of Trinidad. This led to a campaign of intimidation against
Tiger.
In 1962 he was the only calypsonian to be recorded by the renowned ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax during his Caribbean field trip of that year. These recordings, on Neville Marcano - The Growling Tiger Of Calypso, are a valuable document of an earlier age of calypso music, with their rambling, story-telling lyrics and string band instrumentation (featuring violin, flute, guitar and percussion). Tiger continued to make occasional live appearances, wrote for other singers and also published songbooks. In 1966 he appeared at the Newport Folk Festival, where he made a further recording with Lomax (two tracks from which can also be found on Neville Marcano - the Growling Tiger Of Calypso)."...
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This excerpt is re-formatted for this post to enhance its
readability.
(by The Growling Tiger)
If a man has money today
People do not care if he has cocobay [A skin disease]
If a man has money today
People do not care if he has cocobay
He can commit murder and get off free
And live in the Governor’s company
But if you are poor, people will tell you “Shoo!”
And a dog is better than you.
If you have money to buy in his store
The boss will shake your hands at the door
Call ten clerks to take down everything
Whiskey, cloth, earring and diamond ring
He may send them to your home on a motorbike
You can pay the bills whenever you like
Not a soul will ask you a thing
They know very well that money is king
A man with a collar and tie and waistcoat
Ask the Chinee man to trust him accra and float
“Me no trus’ am!” bawl out de Chinee man
“And you better move on from me frying pan.
You’re a college man. Me no know ABC
You want am accra, gi am penny.”
The worms start to jump in the man's belly
And he cried out, “A dog is better than me!”
A dog can walk about and take up bone
Fowl head, stale bread, fish tail and pone
If it’s a good breed and not too wild
Some people will take it and mind as a child
But when a hungry man goes out to beg
They will set a bulldog behind his leg
Forty policeman may chuck him down too
You see where a dog is better than you.
If you have money and things going nice
Any woman would call you honey and spice
If you can't give her dress or a new pair of shoe
She'll say she have no uses for you
When you try to caress her, she will tell you stop
"I can't carry love in the Chinee shop."
I'm sure most of you will agree that it's true
If you haven't money dog is better than you.
The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe, I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!"
-online source: http://guanaguanaresingsat.blogspot.com/2010/10/money-is-king.html
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