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Thursday, March 21, 2024

Colin Lucas - "Dollar Wine" (Part I: video, lyrics, article excerpt, & YouTube comments about the history of Caribbean music)


KVj Scobie Trinidad, Jun 27, 2016

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series on Colin Lucas' 1991 classic Trinidadian and Tobagan Soca song "Dollar Wine".

This post showcases a video of Colin Lucas' original recording of "Dollar Wine" and includes that song's lyrics as well as an article excerpt about that song. Selected comments from a YouTube video's discussion thread are also included in this post. 

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/03/five-video-examples-of-dollar-wine-one.html  for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post showcases five YouTube videos of the song "Dollar Wine" or its cover recordings "One Cent, Five Cents, Ten Cents, Dollar"..

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural and entertainment purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Colin Lucas for his musical legacy and thanks to all those who are featured in these videos. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

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LYRICS - DOLLAR WINE
(Colin Lucas)

She love how ah moving meh body

When ah sing Oye

Oh yoye

You got to teach me Mister Trini How to get that swing Oye wo yoye

With a cent piece in your left pocket

5 cent in your right

10 cent in yuh back pocket

Simply out a sight

In front under yuh vest Stick a dollar

Now count if yuh want to learn I explain to her

 

Cent, five cent, ten cent, dollar

Cent, five cent, ten cent dollar

Come again Cent, five cent, ten cent dollar

Cent, five cent, ten cent dollar

She say she doh like de pace

We going too slow

So she want me wok up me waist

And raise de tempo

 

Cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, dollar

Cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, dollar

Cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, dollar

Cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, dollar

 

When I thought she had enough and she Ciah stand de grind

She bawl Forget de small change

Gi me Big money wine

Dollar, dollar, dollar, dollar Dollar, dollar, dollar, dollar
Dollar, dollar, dollar, dollar Dollar, dollar, dollar, dollar
Gime dollar, gime dollar Gime dollar, gime dollar
Gime dollar, gime dollar Gime dollar, gime dollar
Gime dollar, gime dollar Gime dollar, gime dollar
Gime dollar, gime dollar Gime dollar, dollar

Ah watch you whole night in de party

She said to me Oye, wo yoye

All de time you moving you body

Sweet and sexy Oye, wo yoye

Ah hear that your hip movement is Really call a wine

Ah doh mess wit' alcohol But that wine is fine

Ah love the way you sing

Throwing waist like rain

Right now, ah want to learn So show me again

 

Cent, five cent, ten cent, dollar

Cent, five cent, ten cent dollar, come again

Cent, five cent, ten cent dollar, hm hmm

Cent, five cent, ten cent dollar

She say she ciah take de pace

We going too slow

So she want me wuk up me waist

And raise de tempo

 

Cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, dollar!

Cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, dollar!

Cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, dollar!

Cent, 5 cent, 10 cent, dollar!

 

When I thought ah showing off and she Ciah stand de grind

She bawl Forget de small change, gi' me Big money wine
Dollar, dollar, dollar, dollar Dollar,
dollar, dollar, dollar Dollar, dollar, dollar, dollar
Dollar, dollar, dollar, dollar
Gime dollar, gime dollar Gime dollar, gime dollar
Gime dollar, gime dollar
Gime dollar, gime dollar Gime dollar, gime dollar
 Gime dollar, gime dollar Gime dollar, gime dollar
Gime dollar, dollar Dollar, dollar, dollar, dollar
Dollar, dollar, dollar, dollar
Dollar, dollar, dollar, dollar
Dollar, dollar, dollar, dollar

https://genius.com/Colin-lucas-dollar-wine-lyrics

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ARTICLE EXCERPT
https://www.largeup.com/2011/11/10/throwback-thursdays-dj-autograph-on-colin-lucas-dollar-wine/

Throwback Thursdays: DJ Autograph on Colin Lucas’ “Dollar Wine”

November 10, 2011

Words by DJ Autograph

"The year was 1991. A pre-pubescent DJ Autograph, thinking it would be fun, convinced his mom to let him participate in Jamaica Junior Carnival. All my friends were doing it so, naturally, at that age I didn’t want to be left out. Come road march day I was decked out in bicycle shorts, headdress—all the trimmings. I was never really into soca or calypso music but I had to become familiar with the hits of the year, especially since I’d be marching to them (and dancing to them with females, I hoped). While I only remember a couple songs from that year, among the most notable was “Dollar Wine” by Colin Lucas, a song that is still among the best-known and widely-played soca songs two decades later. The tune is itself a dance tutorial, as Trinidadian singer Lucas instructs the listener to “put a cent piece in yuh left pocket, five cent in yuh right, 10 cent in yuh back pocket…under yuh belt stick a dollar.” Watching the video below of Lucas performing “Dollar Wine” live (particularly the women’s reaction) one may see why a pre-pubescent boy would remember this song. The suggestive nature of the song coupled with the dance made the “Dollar Wine” Colin’s biggest hit.”…

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM A YOUTUBE VIDEO DISCUSSION THREAD

From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTYwDP6tEzc

Collin Lucas - Dollar Wine (1991) CLASSIC [sound file]
SocaDon TV, Jan 27, 2011

[Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.]

1. @rustee2007, 2011
"Big Money Wine dollar, dollar dollar dollar.......tuuuuune"

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2. @lileithwhyte5032, 2016
"GIMMIE DOLLARS"

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3. @aminahshabazz9905, 2016
"Hello! Ah reading allyuh comments and it true! De Soca Boys and other copy cats did their versions from other countries, Jamaica, Bahamas, etc. But REAL Soca Lovers KNOW this is ah Trinidadian original tune and Colin is a Trini Man who mash up de world with Dollar Wine! De other versions will never compare to de Trini fire and tempo! It's nice other countries remade it, but sad cuz as a Trini we don't redo other countries songs just for we to like them. It's clear dat TnT will always be de leaders of Calypso and Soca Music! Trinidad did create it afterall! Respect!"
-snip-
The Bahamian group The Soca Boys' released their cover of Colin Lucas' "Dollar Wine" in 1998. That song, entitled "One Cent Five Cents, Dollar", is more popular than Colin Lucas' original song. Click  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cehv7TTFM6Q for a YouTube sound file of the Soca Boys' version of this song. 

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Reply
4. @viewmaster2027, 2016
"Negative Trinidad did not solely created Calypso/Soca, it's the Biggest LIE ever....

Soca/Calypso derived from Mento and Kaiso music forms and each Island added a piece of their own ethnic sounds to the genre from Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Bahamas. In the late 1950's when Trinidad Oil Explorations began taking off, the oil barrels were now used as melodic synthesizers which played a major difference to it's sound....

Mento was a catalysts for Calypso music, as it was the oldest pure form of music from slavery, taken from Jonkonnu music, which the same base beat used in calypso that subsequently evolved into Soca.

Indians brought Chutney from Guyana which was also a major addition to the sound of both Calypso and Soca...

Trinidad claimed of Calypso being their music created solely by them in the 1950's caused a huge backlash from the above listed countries included Jamaica who contested the early melodies of the genre derived from Mento.

Bajans were even more outrage, because it was them who had help coined the term "Soca" an off shoot from Calypso and were left out of the creation process.

The earliest recording Calypso music were all recorded in Jamaica, because that's were the first studios within the Anglo-Caribbean were located. Meanwhile that's where Jamaican-America Harry Belafonte became the first Calypso and only singer of that genre to sold platinum albums.

Jamaica saw what was going on the 1950's with Trinidad claims and began to feverishly worked to create new genres of music for themselves like Dub, Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae and Dancehall which influenced the creation Hip Hop music, EDM Punk Rock, Reggaeton etc.

Calypso and Soca are the collective efforts of the entire West Indies."

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Reply
5. @wonderlust856, 2018
"well a trini person sang this one originally"

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Reply
6. @Gazacommandment, 2018
"@viewmaster2027  Lord Kitchener sang the first Mento"

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Reply
7. @viewmaster2027, 2018
"@Gazacommandment  Sir Mento is Jamaica Folk Music created by runaway slaves mainly maroons in the early 1700's.... The first recording studios in the English Speaking Caribbean were all in Jamaica, as most early Calypso Songs by Trinis were recorded and arranged in Kingston ......."

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Reply
8. @lorenzoabbott1442, 2019
"@viewmaster2027  stop talk sh-t* Trinidad is the creators and the foundation of calypso, soca, and carnival...any major platform will attest to that, and calypso was the first musical art form in the Caribbean before mento.... Mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It is a fusion of African rhythmic elements and European elements, which reached his peak popularity in the 1940s and 1950s...Calypso music was developed in Trinidad in the 17th century from the West African Kaiso and canboulay music brought by African slaves imported to that Caribbean island to work on sugar plantations. ... They used calypso to mock the slave masters and to communicate with each other... do your history the other islands only added their own twist to it... you can't and could never prove what you're saying, because it's not true."
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this comment.

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Reply
9. @lorenzoabbott1442, 2019
"Everyone is trying to take that away from Trinidad history...but the broader world already knows it history its recorded, I even heard someone saying the steeldrums wasn't originated from Trinidad smh....we are all black African slaves that where brought to the Caribbean through slavery and we are all known for our own unique traditions and Trinidad is the known foundation for calypso, kaiso, limbo, steel drum, soca and carnival....and this is not pride talking its facts. Prove wrong then!"

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Reply
10. @bojean9855,2024
"@viewmaster2027 Lies, you're talking nonsense with no foundation or proof. Calypso was created in the '10s, more precisely in 1912, and evolved into the Sokah created by calypsonian Garfield BLACKMAN.

In the early days of calypso, Jamaica had nothing musically - no mento, no ska, no rocksteady, no reggae - but listened to a lot of calypso imported from T&T."

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11. @rosegee465, 2017
"First time I'm listening to the original and I automatically love it more that Soca Boys version. This one is so much better."

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Reply
12. @dazzT.O.
"Original....definitely"

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Reply
13. @roseanncampbell7294, 2022
"original is always the best sisteran! Xx"

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14. 
@gerardhernandez1416,2019
"this mega dance hit by colin Lucas  and taxi,took tnt by storm carnival 1991,came 2nd in the road March behind supa blue's'get something and wave',I remember the late gene Anthony's ray,who played Leroy in the film and tv series fame,came on,trinis would remember fondly community dateline in late 91,saying how he loves the song he even did the dollar wine in studio.great memories."

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Reply
15. @shalonc1116, 2022
"I had forgotten about get something and wave"

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16. @Msbeautifulll, 2022
"I haven’t heard this song since I was 8 years old until today 98.7 played it this morning !!! Makes me feel so good and happy!! Caribana2022"

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This concludes Part I of this pancocojams series.

Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

 


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