List of calypso songs about war

Lord Invader, The Growler, Atilla the Hun and Roaring Lion (1943) - Calypso22

This is a list of Calypso music songs whose lyrics and themes are about war. This type of calypsos derives from the tradition of using this musical form to document and discuss events of interest. ^[1]

This is a dynamic list of songs and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

1900s

• "Boer War" (1900), Duke of Marlborough ^{[2] [3] [4]}

1910s

• "Argos Papers" (1918), Lord Inventor ^{[2] [1] [5]} - The Argos newspaper published an article on allowing carnival again after closure during WWI
• "Kaiser William, Run your Run" (1918), Lord Inventor ^{[1] [6] [5]}

1930s

• "Abyssinian Lament" (1936), King Radio ^{[7] [8]}
• "Advantage Mussolini" (1936), Roaring Lion ^{[1] [9] [10]} - Mussolini's attack on Abyssinia
• "African War Call" - "African War Song" (1938) - Roaring Lion ^{[8] [11] [7]}
• "Carnival Again" (1939), Lord Executor ^[5]
• "Chamberlain Says Peace" (1938), Lord Beginner ^{[1] [5]}
• "Civil War in Spain" (1938), Growling Tiger ^{[12] [11] [7]}
• "Ethiopian War Drums" (1935), Wilmoth Houdini ^{[5] [1] [9]}
• "Germany Invade Poland" (1939), King Radio ^[5]
• "Gold of Africa (The)" (1935), Growling Tiger ^{[1] [5] [13] [4] [2] [6] [14]} - Mussolini's attack on Abyssinia
• "Hitler" (1939), Lord Ziegfield ^[8]
• "Hitler Demands" (1939), Mighty Growler ^[1]
• "Horrors of War (The)" (1938), Atilla the Hun ^{[1] [15] [2] [11] [7]}
• 'How Hitler Invaded Poland' (1939), Lord Ziegfield ^{[6] [16]}
• "Let Them Fight for Ten Thousand Years" - "Let the White People Fight" (1939), Growling Tiger ^{[5] [2] [7]} - Economic consequences of WWII in Trinidad
• "Poppy Day" (1938), Lord Executor ^[1]
• "Selassie Is Held by the Police" (1937), Lord Caresser ^[1] - Mussolini's attack on Abyssinia
• "Two Bad Men in the World" (1939), Lord Executor ^{[8] [5]}

1940s

• "Admiral Graf Spee (The)" (1940), Atilla the Hun ^{[5] [2]}
• "Adolf Hitler" (1941), Mighty Destroyer ^{[5] [3]}
• "Air Raid Shelters" (1943), King Radio ^{[5] [2]}
• "Black Market" (1945), Lord Beginner ^{[8] [14]}
• "Britain Will Never Surrender" (1941), Mighty Growler ^{[8] [2]}
• "Chinese Never Had a V.J. Day" - "Lay Fung Lee" - "Chinese Calypso" - "Chinese Memorial" - "Lai Fook Lee" (1948), Lord Kitchener ^{[12] [5] [17] [6] [18] [14]}
• "Fall of France" (1941), Mighty Growler ^{[1] [5] [6]}
• "Farmer and Breadfruit Tree" (1943), Mighty Growler ^{[1] [11] [2]} - Economic consequences of WWII in Trinidad
• "Hitler Demanded Trinidad" (1940), Lord Invader ^{[8] [7]}
• "Hitler’s Attitude" (1940), Roaring Lion ^{[8] [7]}
• "Hitler's Mistake" (1940), Roaring Lion ^{[8] [7]}
• "Hitler’s Moustache" (1941), Lord Invader ^{[8] [7]}
• "Invasion of Britain" (1941), Atilla the Hun ^{[1] [5] [2]}
• "Invasion of Poland (The)" - "Poland, Poland" (1940), Roaring Lion ^{[7] [1]}
• "Nazi Spy Ring" (1940), Mighty Growler ^[8]
• "Norah the War Is Over" (1946), Lord Beginner ^[5]
• "Ode to Russia" (1944), Atilla the Hun ^{[2] [1]}
• "Red Cross Society (The)" (1941), Atilla the Hun ^{[5] [15]}
• "Reply to Englishman" (1944), Atilla the Hun ^{[1] [19] [2]} - Answer to an Englishman who said Trinidadians did not do enough for the war effort
• "Rise of the British Empire" (1940), Roaring Lion ^{[6] [16]}
• "Rum and Coca-Cola" (1944), Lord Invader ^{[20] [12] [5] [21] [22] [23] [24] [3] [9] [25] [26] [2] [18] [27] [28] [14] [29] [30]} - American soldier's presence in Trinidad
• "Run Your Run Hitler" (1940), Lord Beginner ^{[5] [6] [2] [31]}
• "Send Hitler to St. Helena" (1940), Atilla the Hun ^{[8] [7]}
• "Soldiers Came and Broke Up My Life (The)" (1945), Lord Invader ^{[8] [1] [32] [14]} - American soldier's presence in Trinidad
• "Winston Churchill" (1941), Roaring Lion ^[5]
• "Yankee Harvest Is Over" (1945), Lord Beginner ^[5] - American soldier's presence in Trinidad

1950s

• "Housewives" (1950), Lord Beginner ^{[5] [33] [18] [14]} - Economic hardship following WWII
• "Sauerkraut Calypso" (1956), Herbert Howard ^{[12] [8]}
• "Warning to Russia (A)" (1950), Mighty Viking ^{[8] [1]}
• ”Wars of Long Ago” (1958), Mighty Spoiler ^{[7] [8]}
• "Hydrogen Bomb (The)" (1954), Mighty Terror ^{[8] [1] [18]}

1960s

• "Kennedy and Khrushchev" (1963), Mighty Sparrow ^{[1] [22] [34]} - Cold war
• ”Make Love Not War” (1969), The Mighty Duke ^[7]
• "Send Me Instead" (1968), King Fighter ^[1] - Vietnam war

1970s

• "Chinese Love Affair" (1970), Mighty Sparrow ^[12] - Vietnam war, interracial relationship (humour)
• "My Lai Incident (The)" (1970), The Shah ^[1] - Vietnam war

1980s

• "Boots" (1983), Mighty Gabby ^{[17] [27]} - Government resources used for military spending
• "Children World" (1987), Chalkdust ^[16] - General comment on wars
• "Grenada" - "Under Siege" (1984), Mighty Sparrow ^[22]
• "Peace in de World" (1987), Black Stalin
• "War Mongers" (1988), Johnny King ^{[17] [35]}

2000s

• "Stop D War" (2008), Singing Sandra
• "Weapons of Mass Dis-Illusion" (2007), Mighty Sparrow ^[22]

2010s

• War of Worlds" (2018), Ras Commanda ^[35]

References

1. Hill, Errol G. (1989). "Calypso and War". Black American Literature Forum. 23 (1): 61–88. doi:10.2307/2903988. JSTOR   2903988.
2. Quevedo, Raymond (1983). Attila's kaiso: A short history of Trinidad Calypso. St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago, West Indies : University of the West Indies, Dept. of Extra Mural Studies.
3. Liverpool, Hollis (Mighty Chalkdust) (February 1, 2001). Rituals of Power and Rebellion - The Carnival Tradition in Trinidad & Tobago (1763 - 1962). Research Associates School Times. p. 518. ISBN   0948390808.
4. Boyce Davies, Carole (1985). "The Africa Theme in Trinidad calypso". Caribbean Quarterly. 31 (2): 67–86. doi:10.1080/00086495.1985.11829400. JSTOR   23050404.
5. Cowley, John Houlston (April 1992). MUSIC & MIGRATION: Aspects of Black Music in the British Caribbean, the United States, and Britain, before the Independence of Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago (PhD). University of Warwick. Retrieved January 11, 2021.
6. Charles, C.N. (November 22, 2016). "Calypso music : identity and social influence : the Trinidadian experience ". Universiteit Leiden.
7. Emrit, Ronald. "Calypsography". Best of Trinidad. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
8. Gibbs, Craig Martin (April 30, 2015). Calypso and Other Music of Trinidad 1912-1962. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. p. 384. ISBN   978-0786478514.
9. Pouchet Paquet, Sandra; Saunders, Patricia; Stuempfle, Stephen (September 28, 2007). Music. Memory. Resistance: Calypso and the Caribbean Literary Imagination. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers. p. 352. ISBN   978-976-637-290-3.
10. Unknown (1985). "The golden age of Calypso". Musical traditions, number 4. Retrieved December 2, 2023.
11. Bowles, Paul (1940). "Calypso - Music of the Antilles" (PDF). Modern Music, 17/3 154-159. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
12. Winer, Lise (1986). "Socio-Cultural Change and the Language of Calypso". Nieuwe West-Indische Gids / New West Indian Guide. 60 (3/4): 113–148. doi: 10.1163/13822373-90002057 . JSTOR   41849251.
13. Calypsos from Trinidad - Politics, Intrigue & Violence in the 1930s (CD). Arhoolie Prod., Inc. 1991.
14. Cowley, John (1985). "West Indian Gramophone Records in Britain: 1927-1950" (PDF). Occasional Papers in Ethnic Relations, No. L, Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, Coventry.
15. Unknown. "Discography of American Historical Recording". UC Santa Barbara Library. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
16. Emrit, Ronald. "Calypsonians 1900 - 2018". Best of Trinidad. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
17. Pierre, Giselle M. (2016). Calypso Chronicles: History Through Calypso I. Amazon.ca. p. 208. ISBN   9781508436201.
18. Cowley, John (1990). "London is the Place: Caribbean Music in the Context of Empire 1900-60" (PDF). Paul Oliver, ed. Black Music in Britain: Essays on the Afro Asian Contribution to Popular Music, Milton Keynes, Open University Press: 57–76.
19. Rahim, Jennifer (2005). "(Not) Knowing the difference: Calypso overseas and the sound of belonging in selected narratives of migration". Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal. 3 (2): 12. doi: 10.33596/ANTH.56 . S2CID   84176814.
20. Lowe, Agatha (1993). "Themes of War, Politics and Health Education in Calypso Music". Caribbean Quarterly. 39 (2): 56–72. doi:10.1080/00086495.1993.11671784. JSTOR   40653847.
21. Maharaj, George. "Top 100 Calypsos of the 20th Century" (PDF). Retrieved February 9, 2021.
22. Unknown. "A chronology of selected songs by Mighty Sparrow that address social, political and topical themes" (PDF). Retrieved January 4, 2021.
23. Liverpool, Hollis (Mighty Chalkdust) (1994). "Researching Steelband and Calypso Music in the British Caribbean and the U. S. Virgin Islands". Center for Black Music Research - Columbia College Chicago and University of Illinois Press. 14 (2): 179–201. doi:10.2307/779483. JSTOR   779483.
24. Sylvester, Meagan (2019). "Narratives of Resistance in Trinidad's Calypso and Soca Music". Caribbean Pelau - the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus. 11 (3): 105–116. doi: 10.18733/cpi29507 . S2CID   210972715.
25. Calypso - Musical Poetry in the Caribbean - 1955 - 69 (CD). Soul Jazz records. 2014.
26. Morgan, Paula (2005). "With a Tassa Blending: Calypso and Cultural Identity in Indo-Caribbean Fiction". Anthurium. 3 (2): 10. doi: 10.33596/anth.54 .
27. Jacob, Debbie (January 2011). "What calypso means to the Caribbean". Caribbean Beat Magazine. Retrieved July 14, 2024.
28. Funk, Ray (2005). "In the Battle for Emergent Independence: Calypsos of Decolonization". Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal. 3 (2): 4. doi:10.33596/ANTH.48. S2CID   141694758.
29. Phillips, Everard Mark (2005). "Recognising the language of calypso as 'symbolic action' in resolving conflict in the republic of Trinidad and Tobago" (PDF). The London School of Economics and Political Science.
30. Seymour, Roger (21 January 2024). "A forgotten cricket calypso". Stabroek News. Retrieved April 14, 2025.
31. Unknown. "Calypso/Soca road march". When Steel Talks. Retrieved June 21, 2024.
32. Naipaul, V.S. (1959). Miguel Street. Penguin Books Ltd. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England. p. 172.
33. Cowley, John (1985). "Cultural 'Fusions': Aspects of British West Indian Music in the USA and Britain 1918-51". Cambridge University Press. 5: 81–96. JSTOR   853284.
34. Warner, Keith Q. (January 1, 1982). Kaiso! The Trinidad Calypso - A study of the calypso as oral literature. Washington D.C.: Three Continents Press. p. 153. ISBN   0-89410-025-4.
35. Pierre, Giselle M. (May 20, 2022). Calypso Chronicles: History Through Calypso II. Independently published. p. 203. ISBN   979-8548539021.

Sources

Books

• Abrahams, Roger D. (1983). The Man-of-words in the West Indies: Performance and the Emergence of Creole Culture. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN   9780801828386.
• Attaway, William (2011). Calypso Song Book: Authentic Folk Music Of The Caribbean. Literary Licensing, LLC. ISBN   978-1258122133.
• Balliger, Robin (2000). Noisy Spaces: Popular Music Consumption, Social Fragmentation, and the Cultural Politics of Globalization in Trinidad. Stanford University. ISBN   9780493085357.
• Bilby, Kenneth M. (1985). The Caribbean as a Musical Region. Latin American Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
• Dudley, Shannon (2004). Carnival music in Trinidad : Experiencing music, expressing culture. New York. ISBN   0-19-513833-3. OCLC   51607410.
• Gibbs, Craig Martin (2015). Calypso and other music of Trinidad, 1912-1962 : An annotated discography. Jefferson, North Carolina. ISBN   978-1-4766-1931-6. OCLC   908763141.
• Liverpool, First1=Hollis (Mighty Chalkdust) (June 1, 1987). Calypsonians to remember. Virgin Islands Commission. ISBN   0937421022.
• Liverpool, Hollis (2003). From the horse's mouth : An analysis of certain significant aspects in the development of the calypso and society as gleaned from personal communication with some outstanding calypsonians. Diego Martin, Trinidad: Juba Publications. ISBN   976-8194-13-8. OCLC   53795321.
• Liverpool, Hollis (1986). Kaiso and society. Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, V.I.: Virgin Islands Commission on Youth. OCLC   19282261.
• Luis, Robert (1960). Authentic Calypso, the Song, the Music, the Dance. Latin American Institute Press.
• Maharaj, George D. (2004). The roots of calypso, volume 1 - A short passage into the world of calypso. [Toronto]: G.D. Maharaj. ISBN   0-9734904-0-3. OCLC   57405250.
• Maharaj, George D. (2007). The Roots of Calypso, Volume 2 - Another passage into the world of calypso. Trinidad and Tobago Hi Tech Printers Inc. Ltd.
• Mighty Sparrow (1963). One hundred and Twenty Calypsos to remember. Caribbean Printers.
• Nurse (2007). Unheard voices : The rise of steelband and calypso in the Caribbean and North America. New York: iUniverse. ISBN   978-0-595-40153-6. OCLC   137751788.
• Pierre, Giselle (2016). Calypso chronicles: history through calypso I. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN   9781508436201.
• Pierre, Giselle (2021). Calypso chronicles: history through calypso II. Independently Published. ISBN   979-8548539021.
• Quevedo, Raymond (Atilla the Hun) (1983). Attila's kaiso: A short history of Trinidad Calypso. St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago, West Indies: University of the West Indies, Dept. of Extra Mural Studies.
• Rohlehr, Gordon (1990). Calypso & society in pre-independence Trinidad. Port of Spain, Trinidad. ISBN   976-8012-52-8. OCLC   23928095.
• Warner, Keith Q. (1982). Kaiso! The Trinidad calypso: A study of the calypso as oral literature. Washington, D.C. ISBN   0-89410-025-4. OCLC   8762968.

Journals

• Austin, Roy. "Understanding Calypso Content: A Critique and an Alternative Explanation". Caribbean Quarterly 22, no. 2/3 (1976): 74–83.
• Bilby, Kenneth. "Calypso as a world music". Newsletter - Institute for Studies in American Music; Brooklyn; Vol. XXXIV; Issue 1 (Fall 2004): 4–5.
• Boxill, Ian. "The two faces of Caribbean music". Social and Economic Studies, Vol. 43, No. 2 (JUNE 1994), pp. 33–56 (24 pages). Published By: Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies.
• Brown, Ernest. "Carnival, Calypso, and Steelband in Trinidad.". The Black Perspective in Music 18, no. 1/2 (1990): 81–100.
• Charles, C. N. (2016, November 22). Calypso music : identity and social influence : the Trinidadian experience. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/45260.
• Cowley, John. "Cultural 'Fusions': Aspects of British West Indian Music in the USA and Britain 1918-51.". Cambridge University Press, Popular Music, Vol.5, Continuity and Change, pp. 81–96 (1985).
• Cowley, John Houston. "Music & migration: Aspects of black music in the British Caribbean, the United States, and Britain, before the independence of Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago". University of Warwick (April 1992).
• Cowley, John Houston. "West Indian Gramophone Records in Britain: 1927-1950". Occasional Papers In Ethnic Relations, No. l, Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, Coventry (April 1985).
• Crowley, Daniel. "Towards a definition of calypso (Part II)." Ethnomusicology, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Sep 1959), pp. 117–124 (8 pages). Published by: University of Illinois Press.
• Floyd, Samuel A. "Black music in the Circum-Caribbean". University of Illinois Press, 1999, volume 17, number 1, pages 1–38.
• Liverpool, Hollis (Mighty Chalkdust). "Researching steelband and calypso music in the British Caribbean and the U. S. Virgin Islands". Black Music Research Journal (1994).
• Rampaul, Giselle. "Shakespeare, Empire, and the Trinidad Calypso". Borrowers and Lenders: The Journal of Shakespeare and Appropriation (2015), Volume 9, number 2.
• Regis, Louis "Gordon Rohlehr's forty years in calypso". Caribbean Journal of Cultural studies. Volume 2, number 1 (October 2013). The University of the West Indies.

Articles

• Bowles, Paul. "Calypso - Music of the Antilles". Modern Music, 1940, 17/3 154–159
• Brown Boy in the ring. "Carnival culture: Lord Kitchener to Machel Montano". March 22, 2007
• Dowrich-Phillips, Laura. "7 calypsoes that kept us entertained with hot topics of the day".
• Jacob, Debbie. "What calypso means to the Caribbean" Caribbean Beat Magazine, January 2011.
• Unknown. "'A chronology of selected songs by Mighty Sparrow that address social, political and topical themes".
• Unknown. "Celebrating our Calypso monarchs 1939–1980 T&T - History through the eyes of calypso". Trinidad & Tobago government, 2015/07.
• Unknown. "The golden age of Calypso". Musical Traditions, number 4, 1985.

Audio

• Calypso Breakaway (Record). Rounder Records Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1990.
• Calypso Dreams (CD). In for a penny, in for a pound, LLC. Ice Music, Ltd. 2009.
• Calypso - Musical poetry in the Caribbean (1955 - 69) (CD). Soul Jazz records. 2014.
• Calypsos from Trinidad - Politics, intrigue & violence in the 1930s (CD). Arhoolie Prod., Inc. 1991.

External links

• Calypso Monarchs Hall of Fame
• Calypsography
• Calypsonians 1900 - 2018
• Top 100 Calypsos of the 20th Century
• Trinidad & Tobago Calypsonians
• War song