IsDePanInMe, Jan 11, 2010
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Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest revision- September 8, 2025
This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series about the Calypso song "Boo Boo Man". That song is also known as "Mama Look A BuBu" and is most widely known as "Mama Look A Boo Boo".
This post showcases a YouTube sound file of Lord Melody's 1955 Calypso song "Boo Boo Man" ("Mama Look A Bubu"/ "Mama Look A Boo Boo").
That post also presents information about Lord Melody. Information about and lyrics for Lord Melody's song "Mama Look A BuBu" are also included in this post.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/09/harry-belafonte-mama-look-bubu-retitled.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post showcases a YouTube video of Harry Belafonte singing his version of the Calypso song "Mama Look A Boo Boo" at his 1960 concert in Japan.
That post also presents information about Harry Belafonte as well as information about and the lyrics for Belafonte's version of "Mama Look A Boo Boo".
The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Lord Melody for his musical and cultural legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.
-snip-
The song "Boo Boo Man/"Mama Look A Bubu" which is most often given as "Mama Look A Boo Boo" reminds me of the current (2025) Labubu doll craze.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-labubu-dolls-trend-videos.html for Part I of a three part pancocojams series on Labubu dolls.
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INFORMATION ABOUT LORD MELODY and INFORMATION ABOUT THE SONG MOST WIDELY KNOWN AS "MAMA LOOK A BOO BOO"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Melody
"Lord Melody (1926 – 26 September 1988)[1] was a Trinidadian
calypsonian, best known for singles such as "Boo Boo Man",
"Creature From The Black Lagoon", "Shame & Scandal",
"Jonah and the Bake", "Juanita", and "Rastaman Be
Careful". Melody's career spanned forty years, from the beginnings of
popular calypso music to his embrace of the more dance oriented Soca style by
the late 1970s.[2]
Career
Melody was born Fitzroy Alexander at San Fernando, Trinidad
and Tobago, raised at an orphanage in Port of Spain, and met Alwyn Roberts
(soon to become better known as Lord Kitchener) after moving to Arima while
still in his teens.[1] Roberts took him under his wing and they returned to
Port of Spain, where Lord Kitchener became the leading calypso star, with
Melody one of his main challengers.[1] His popularity increased locally when
Lord Kitchener emigrated to England in 1947.[1] Melody's career started in the
1940s with performances in calypso tents, and he continued to perform in this
and other venues in the Caribbean until the 1960s.[3] His early successes
included "Berlin on a Donkey", mocking Adolf Hitler, and "Boo
Boo Man" first recorded in 1955 and released on several record labels.[4]
His rendition of "Second Spring" won him the Calypso Monarch title in
1954 and he signed with Cook Records in 1956.[1][3]
Career
Melody was born Fitzroy Alexander at San Fernando, Trinidad
and Tobago, raised at an orphanage in Port of Spain, and met Alwyn Roberts
(soon to become better known as Lord Kitchener) after moving to Arima while
still in his teens.[1] Roberts took him under his wing and they returned to
Port of Spain, where Lord Kitchener became the leading calypso star, with
Melody one of his main challengers.[1] His popularity increased locally when
Lord Kitchener emigrated to England in 1947.[1] Melody's career started in the
1940s with performances in calypso tents, and he continued to perform in this
and other venues in the Caribbean until the 1960s.[3] His early successes
included "Berlin on a Donkey", mocking Adolf Hitler, and "Boo
Boo Man" first recorded in 1955 and released on several record labels.[4]
His rendition of "Second Spring" won him the Calypso Monarch title in
1954 and he signed with Cook Records in 1956.[1][3]
[...]
Harry Belafonte recorded Lord Melody's compositions
"Boo Boo Man" (retitled "Mama Look at Bubu" and "Mama
Look at Boo Boo") and "Sweetheart from Venezuela" (aka
"Juanita"), having a top 20 hit in the US with the former in 1957"...
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LYRICS - "BOO BOO MAN, also known as "MAMA LOOK A BUBU" and "MAMA LOOK A BOO BOO"
(composer - Lord Melody)
[Verse 1]
I wonder why nobody don't like me
Or is it the fact that I'm ugly
I wonder why nobody don't like me
Or is it the fact that I'm ugly
I leave my whole house and home
My children don't want me no more
They cursing black is white and thing
And when I talk dey start to sing:
[Chorus]
"Mama, look a boo-boo!" dey shout
Their mother tell dem' shut up your mout'
"That is your daddy." "Oh no
My daddy can't be ugly so"
Shut your mouth go away
Mama look at boo-boo dey
Shut your mouth go away
Mama look at boo-boo dey
[Verse 2]
I couldn't even digest me supper
Due to the children's behavior
"John ("Yes, Pa"), come here a moment
Bring de belt, you're too damn vigilant"
"Daddy, it's Jean who started first"
"No daddy, it's Joyce who started curse"
I drag me belt off me waist
If you see races out de place
[Chorus]
"Mama, look a boo-boo!" dey shout
Their mother tell dem' shut up your mout'
"That is your daddy." "Oh no
My daddy can't be ugly so"
Shut your mouth go away
Mama look at boo-boo dey
Shut your mouth go away
Mama look at boo-boo dey
[Verse 3]
So I took a turn on their mother
"These children ain't got no behavior
I can't rest in peace in me own place
Tell me what is wrong with me damn face?"
"They're playin' with you", me wife declared
"You should be proud of dem, me dear
These children were taught too bloomin' slack"
They ain't no kind'a joke to crack
[Chorus]
"Mama, look a boo-boo!" dey shout
Their mother tell dem' shut up your mout'
"That is your daddy." "Oh no
My daddy can't be ugly so"
Shut your mouth go away
Mama look at boo-boo dey
Shut your mouth go away
Mama look at boo-boo dey
[Verse 4]
So, me wife and I had a big disturbance
Owing to the constant annoyance
In order to live peaceful and happy
She send de children in the country
Comin' home a day after working very hard
A woman see me and she faint 'way in me yard
The neighbor ran and pick she up
She recover but de woman wouldn't stop
[Chorus]
"Neighbor, I see boo-boo, oh Lord
Walkin' in de backyard, oh Lord!"
I ran to assist her, she bawl
"Oh Lord, look de boo-boo still in de yard!"
Shut your mouth, go away
Mama look at boo-boo dey!
Shut your mouth, go away
Mama, look at boo-boo dey
Online source -
-snip-
"Melody sang several calypsos poking fun at his reputed lack
of good looks, and, of course, his rivals made this the butt of many of their
songs."
-snip-
My guess is that the word "bubu" in Lord Melody's song "Boo Boo Man" ("Mama Look A Bubu"/"Mama Look A Boo Boo") means someone or something grossly ugly".
That guess is supported by this quote that refers to Harry Belafonte's version of that Calypso song:
"mercanucaribe, 2006, https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/harry-belafonte-jamaican-song-whats-it-mean.1844053/ What does "Mama look a boo boo day mean?
"A boo boo is probably a ghost, a ghoul, or a goblin.
"Day" means "there". So they are saying that Harry
Belafonte is a ghastly goblin and he's over there."
Update- September 8, 2025
However, maybe the ghoul and goblin connection is more than a person's physical appearance. Read this section immediately below.
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THE MEANING OF "BOO" IN THE CALYPSO SONG "BOO MAN" (ALSO KNOWN AS "MAMA LOOK A BUBU" ("MAMA LOOK A BOO BOO") Added September 8, 2025
From https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/504982/why-do-ghosts-say-%E2%80%98boo%E2%80%99 By Lucas Reilly, Oct 2, 2024
"People have screamed “boo,” or at least some version of it, to startle others since the mid-16th century. (One of the earliest examples documented by the Oxford English Dictionary appeared in that 1560s poetic thriller, Smyth Whych that Forged Hym a New Dame.) But ghosts? They’ve only been using the word boo for less than two centuries.
[...]
In 18th century Scotland, bo, boo, and bu would latch onto plenty of words describing things that went bump in the night. According to the Dictionary of the Scots Language, the term bu-kow applied to hobgoblins and “anything frightful,” such as scarecrows. The word bogey, for “evil one,” would evolve into bogeyman. And there’s bu-man, or boo-man, a terrifying goblin that haunted man:"...
-snip-
Here's some information from Wikipedia about the term "bogeyman" (also given as "boogeyman" and "boo man":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogeyman
"The bogeyman, also spelled or known as bogyman,[1] bogy,[1] bogey,[1] and, in US English, also boogeyman)[1] is a mythical creature typically used to frighten children into good behavior. Bogeymen have no specific appearances, and conceptions vary drastically by household and culture, but they are most commonly depicted as masculine, androgynous or even feminine monsters that punish children for misbehavior.[2] The bogeyman, and conceptually similar monsters, can be found in many cultures around the world. Bogeymen may target a specific act or general misbehavior, depending on the purpose of invoking the figure, often on the basis of a warning from an authority figure to a child. The term is sometimes used as a non-specific personification of, or metonym for, terror – and sometimes the Devil.[3]
Etymology
The word bogeyman, used to describe a monster in English, may have derived from Middle English bugge or bogge, which means 'frightening specter', 'terror', or 'scarecrow'. It relates to boggart, bugbear (from bug, meaning 'goblin' or 'scarecrow' and bear) an imaginary demon in the form of a bear that ate small children. It was also used to mean a general object of dread. The word bugaboo, with a similar pair of meanings, may have arisen as an alteration of bugbear.[4] Bogeyman itself is known from the 15th century, though bogeyman stories are likely to be much older.[5]"...
-snip-
Thus, in the Calypso song "Mama Look A Boo Boo", perhaps the children were doing more than saying that their father was ugly. Maybe they were saying he looked like the bogeyman. However, this may not be the case, since those children didn't appear to be frightened of their father like they likely would be of the bogeyman.
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This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams series.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
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