A forgotten cricket calypso
Chorus Verse III Chorus Verse IV
Chorus.”
From 18A
Seeing Hassett make no mistake.
The crowd started to shout,
When Rammie was knocked out.
I sat down and cried,
To see how Hassett made Ram a child.
Ram is a magic bowler,
He said he climbed rope all up in India. Christiani is known as Mandrake,
And Worrell dressed up like fruit cake. Poor Fergie can’t get a bowl,
He ‘s asking how wickets will fall. We can’t win a match,
We only dropping the people catch.
The tourists in this family,
Are Denis, John Trim and Sammy.
They played a match up in Queensland,
And they are booked for one in New Zealand. As tourists we failed to click,
Every innings Ram getting stick.
I had a big laugh,
When Ram asked to join the groundstaff.
So that’s Guillen’s calypso, carefully documented some 70-odd years ago. It was probably never recorded for West Indies cricket fans to savour (I am still searching to confirm that). In his autobiography, “The Sam Guillen Story Calypso Kiwi” (2005), Guillen confirmed penning the song in a solitary line: “This is a calypso I made, which we all sang during the tour of Australia.” The song is reproduced in its entirety at the end of Chapter Five, ‘The New Zealand Leg.’
Guillen, from all accounts, was quite an inimitable character, who possessed that ‘Trini’ trait of finding humour in the most difficult of circumstances. There he was, with the West Indies down 0 – 2 in the series, tearing the great Ram, his fellow countryman and teammate, apart. Guillen likely penned this calypso after the Second Test, during which the Australian Captain Lindsay Hassett, 132, and Miller, 129, had plundered the West Indies attack. Despite posting 362 after being asked to bat first, the West Indies lost by seven wickets. Ramadhin had been pummelled into submission. In the first innings, his 41 overs, with seven maidens, cost 143 runs for no wicket. In the second innings, his figures read: 12.3 – 1 – 53 – 1. In the First Test at Brisbane, which Australia won by three wickets, Ram’s returns were decent: 24 – 5 – 75 – 1; 40 – 9 – 90 – 5.
Guillen appeared to have ‘borrowed’ his chorus from another calypso, “Ramadhin on the ball” (1951), which had been written by King Radio, the calypsonian sobriquet of Norman Spann. Radio had previously composed “Bodyline” in 1936. The eight-line stanzas adopted by Radio and Guillen seemed to be the standard of the time. Miller and Whitington were obviously unaware of Radio’s composition and made no mention of it. Guillen did not reference Radio either.
Here is the first verse and chorus of King Radio’s composition.
Ramadhin on the ball (1951)
We enjoyed a grand celebration
To our governor’s instructions
We enjoyed a grand celebration
To our governor’s instructions
He said enjoy yourselves in the best o’ way And remember it’s Ramadhin’s day
That was bacchanal
We played Carnival for that festival
We want Ramadhin on de ball We want Ramadhin on de ball We want Ramadhin on de ball Bring him on de ball
In an hour all the wicket will fall
Year
1939 1941 1955 1960 1962
Title The cover of “Straight Hit!” by Keith Miller and R S Whitington, the first source of the calypso “Hassett and Ramadhin”
There were two other calypsoes composed for that fateful 1951/52 Tour of Australia. “Australia versus West Indies” by Lord Beginner (1952) and “Why the West Indies Lost the Rubber in Australia” by Lord Pretender (1952). In the latter, Pretender waylaid the Australian umpires and the tour arrangements.
There is a hilarious video of the 1975/76 West Indies team to Australia making a television commercial for Brut Shampoo. The lead singers appear to be Trinidadian Bernard Julien and Guyanese Len Baichan. The several takes of the team’s attempt at singing harmony often erupted in hopeless giggling. The over-50 folks will remember the combo of Richie Richardson on guitar and Curtly Ambrose on vocals celebrating another series triumph surrounded by jubilant teammates in the mid1990s. The younger generation can instantly source online videos of the 2012 and 2016 T20 World Cup winning squads singing and dancing at the presentation ceremonies, or Dwayne Bravo belting out his “Champion” composition.
Music, calypso especially, will always be part of West Indies cricket.
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Missing lyrics
Despite Nasser Khan’s gallant efforts he was unable to unearth the lyrics for some known cricket calypsoes. Perhaps someone else will stumble on them. “Learie Constantine”
“We want a body line in Trinidad” “Cricket Calamity”
“Garfield Sobers”
“Learie Constantine”
Singer
Lord Caresser/Rufus Callender Lord Pretender
King Fighter (Guyana)
Lord Pretender
Black Stalin/Leroy Calliste