-
- (Zeno Obi Constance is by far the best in the Caribbean and beyond. This article is part of an attempt to reach, teach and increase our knowledge and commitment to our development.)
By Tony Deyal
We are a fast-developing nation
Bomber get to know
After viewing the situation
In Trinidad and Tobago
You see the cost of living rising
Guerillas organizing
Upliftment of high sublime
More children more schools more limers more fools
And a steady increase in crime
The crime wave – Ah say me dear people
The crime wave – Ah say too much trouble
The old and the young in the country and town
The crime wave – Only looting and shooting down
The crime wave – Too much sorrow
The crime wave – Ah say think about tomorrow
It shameful it sad
And it looking so bad
The crime wave in Trinidad
(Crime Wave – Bomber 1971)
While the great Mighty Bomber (Clifton Ryan) was a Grenadian-born calypsonian, he ended up in Trinidad and Tobago. There he realised that the “Crime Wave” was almost totally in Trinidad and getting much worse:
There is a high percentage of murders
Highway robberies and violence
And ah hear that some top notch offenders
Hiding behind the law as defense
So is raping and seduction illegal abortion
Homosex and lesbianity
Good lord put a hand to save our land from blood shed and cruelty
(Crime Wave – Bomber 1971)
Now, as we have reached May 2026, there is an attempt to remember the great calypsonians and their views of what we now see as “Police,” “Thief,” and, as many of my colleagues add, “Both Together. Again, we think about the early days, between 1959 and 1960, when the great Mighty Sparrow (Slinger Francisco) sang “Gunslingers” about the rise of violent “Bad Johns” (street gangsters) in Trinidad, often influenced by American Western movies.
Ah selling guns nowadays
That what really pays
Sparrow selling guns nowadays
That what really pays
Nearly every young man is a gunslinger
With his razor and steel knuckle on his finger
Doh mind they dress in suit and bow tie
All of them looking for guns to buy
We young and strong
We eh fraid a soul in town
Who think they bad
To meet them we more than glad
We got we gun and partner we aint making fun
If you smart clear the way
And if you think you bad make you play
(Gunslingers- Sparrow)
While I followed Sparrow as 1959-1960 and “setting guns”, he didn’t realise that the “Police and Prisoner” hit the road in 1961 like a two for the price of one. Looking back at now when we have “MORE POLICE GUNS DO MISSING”, “Guns Missing from Penitence Street Municipal Police Office”, “Lawy, relatives tide up in home invasion”, and all part of Trinidad (much, much more in Tobago if at all) ranks at the top for crime among the English-speaking Caribbean, with a high crime index driven by gang-related violence, kidnappings, and home invasions. Like the Police and Prisoner sang,
Is ah shame Is ah shame on the Police force
Trinidad going from bad to worse
Is ah shame on the Police force
Trinidad going from bad to worse
I am sure you read the collusion
It took place at the Police station
Despite the laws in the book
I think every policeman is a crook
CHORUS:
Ah woman was arrested and charged
With obscene language drunk and disorderly
Taken to the station and sabotaged assaulted, and treated cruelly
Ah fraid to fall in the hands of the law
Cause ah dont know what they go do
Them women police they bad like beast
They may do me the same thing too
(POLICE AND PRISONER)
Now, as I sit here worrying about what would happen if any of my family, children, and I leave the house or worse, having some coming into our house to get all we have and worse, I’m wondering that we already have a violent crime with over 122 murders recorded by mid-March this year. The crimes gang violence, targeted killings, and brazen attacks in public spaces. In ending this article, the best person is Lord Caruso (Emmanuel Pierre) with his 1959 Road March-winning hit, “Run the Gunslingers.”
My father told me long time wasn’t so
You could of walk in peace anywhere that you had to go
Whether day or night
They never had fight
And nobody never used to be in fright
But nowadays well it aint so
They would knock you down for a green mango
And when they do these things then they go around
And call themselves famous men in town
(Run the Gunslingers by Lord Caruso)
*Tony Deyal just heard that “Cops kill 4 in home invasion” and believes maybe there will be less “famous men” in town.