Before the Internet there was Calypso! Serving traditionally as a musical tradition to convey news, reviews, and culture, you can really learn what people were thinking about during various eras by hearing their songs. To continue my recent post about the tune "Spy Dust," I want to spotlight another song by Mighty Sparrow, this time from 1958. Sparrow (Slinger Francisco) is a Trinidadian who started his career out as a kid (then called "Little Sparrow") and found success by the mid-1950s. And as far as I can tell he's still going at 83! Where some calypsonians celebrated pop culture events (check out my past posts about Goldfinger songs), Sparrow has tended to focus on commentary about current events and concerns. After the Soviets launched Sputnik 2 -right on the heels of the first Sputnik satellite in space- international outrage was pouring in as backlash to the news that a dog named Laika had been launched into space as part of the Soviet project to send a living creature into orbit. Sparrow added his voice to the protest with his song "Russian Satellite." The tune (video and sample lyrics below) came out on Sparrow's 1958 7" record Calypso Carnival, as well as an album released under the same name that year. Fans of Bob Dylan's Theme-Time Radio may have heard it featured in the episode about Dogs. Animal cruelty wasn't the only aspect of Laika's project that was making waves during the Cold War; Sputnik 2 also raised concerns about the military implications of the Space Race and placing technology into orbit. More about Laika at The New Yorkerand Smithsonian Magazine. A brief history of animals in space here. "Poor little puppy" indeed! With the Russian satellite They should be all sent to prison For the dog that they poison In the Russian satellite Two Sputniks in the sky Had everybody hypnotize Now I am very sorry For the poor little puppy In the Russian satellite
Before the Internet there was Calypso! Serving traditionally as a musical tradition to convey news, reviews, and culture, you can really learn what people were thinking about during various eras by hearing their songs. As I wound up the fall semester with our annual art show, I found my own curiosity returning to the topic of roots music. Maybe not as fantasy-fun as movie soundtracks, but interesting in terms of how music reflects society and expresses real human experience. I've been a doing a deep-dive into Bob Dylan's work, as well as other artists who came up through the folk and blues scene in the early 1960s. I even got to see Peter & Paul (of Peter, Paul & Mary) perform recently and was really struck by the authenticity, heart, and investment in seeing humanity come together. Coincidentally, Smithsonian Folkways is about to release a new set aptly titled The Social Power of Music. Refreshing in our era of auto-tune confections of sound and image. But back to Calypso! Spy Vibers might recall my many posts in the past about Calypso and Ska songs in the 1960s that addressed the Spy Boom in pop culture. Recently I came across an interesting piece about actual espionage by Mighty Sparrow. Sparrow (Slinger Francisco) is a Trinidadian who started out as a kid (then called "Little Sparrow") and found success by the mid-1950s. And as far as I can tell he's still going at 83! In the mid-1980s he recorded a song that responded to news that the KGB was using what became known as "Spy Dust" (Nitrophenyl pentadienal, NPPD, nitrophenylpentadienal), an invisible powder to track people. Although it had been detected in the early 1970s, it wasn't until the mid-1980s that KGB defectors provided more info about it. In 1985, when Might Sparrow released his song "Spy Dust" (A Touch of Class/B's Records BSR-SP-041), the US State Department protested the use of the chemical due to fears about its potential health impacts. Sparrow must have scanned the newspapers, like any great Calypso man would, and used his song to forward international anxieties to his listeners about how this Cold War Spy Dust might cause cancer and other maladies. Apparently it was later determined there was no real threat health-wise, but Mighty Sparrow's track remains an interesting time capsule. Check it out below. I'll post another Sparrow tune next. Spy Vibers, I also have a new book out (over 700 pages!) about one of America's great cartoonists. On other creative fronts, folks might not know that I began exhibiting as a fine art photographer in the late 1980s. I haven't shared that part of my life here much, but readers might like to see some of my work on Instagram. Enjoy!
Caribbean music really embraced the spy boom in the 1960s, picking up themes from movies, tv programs, and real Cold War events. Spy Vibe has looked at many recordings by calypso, ska, and rock steady artists over the past months. Today we feature the great Lee "king" Perry and his 1965 recording, Pussy Galore. Where Young Growler's calypso, Pussy Galore, celebrated the excitement of seeing the movie, Goldfinger, and the impressive qualities of Honor Blackman's character (especially the name!), Perry used the theme as a cautionary tale to men who might lose their bachelor life-style (and wallet!) to a beautiful woman. As the tune went, "Every man loves Pussy Galore. If you are rich and want to get poor, just fall in love with Pussy Galore. And one thing that I am sure, you won't be rich anymore. She's got charms! Lovely arms!... You want to know what I'm speaking about: Goldfinger! Goldfinger!...A woman can change a man to a child a cramp his style. Wanna know what I am speaking about: Goldfinger!, Goldfinger! Goldfinger! So beware of Pussy Galore. Pussy Galore will leave you poor. Wanna know what I am speaking about: Goldfinger!, Goldfinger! Goldfinger!" Enjoy!
