It is almost impossible to express how much the great Slinger Francisco, The Mighty Sparrow, influenced me. The news of his passing has come as a bell toll. The end of an era. But what Sparrow has left behind is not just music, but a bold Caribbean identity; head up, intelligence forward, witty and humourous, a master of our language.

Caribbean identity is a very complex thing, not as simple as the identities of cultures thousands of years old, but Sparrow understood it, and Sparrow expressed it and he was proud of it. And I am grateful for the light he shone throughout his life.

My father was also a Grenadian in Trinidad and partly for this reason, my mother loved Sparrow. He was her Calypsonian of choice, and so his music always played in our house. Sparrow in the 1970s was to me the Caribbean’s very own Shaft, our Sydney Poitier, our Paul Robeson. He was dashing, debonair and sharp. He sang about politics, parties, women (shhh), and of being Caribbean. And his words were the sweetest Caribbean expressions.

Who could have lived without Jean and Dinah or Drunk and Disorderly? What would life have been if Sparrow hadn’t beaten that murder rap with Ten to One is Murder? Double entendre and saucy lyrics? My generation had to get to a certain age before we understood why the adults laughed when he sang, Teacher Mildred or Saltfish Stew. And oh, the irreverence of Congo man, and Phillip My Dear, what would life have been without that? And then there were the political songs like Federation, singing about independence, No, Doctor, No about the cost of living. And through it all was the folklore of the Caribbean, and the feeling of the Caribbean and it quieted the yearning for other things.

Sparrow was part of the scaffolding of my writing and allowed me to set up characters like Neville (from The Bushman) whose unfortunate situation was all based off of Obeah Wedding and Mr Walker. Or Sasa with Sa Sa Yea singing in my ear.

Sparrow was political, controversial, charming and transparently Caribbean.
River-Stories Hails the King.
The Kind is dead
LONG LIVE THE KING

The links are all there, you can fill your day with Sparrow.