Dave's Notebook

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Where Have You Gone, Calypso Gene?

Most of you no doubt remember the mid-1960s British invasion of American pop music. But, do you recall, a decade earlier when pop music was influenced by another invasion, the Caribbean invasion? There was a bongo fad and a limbo craze and songs prominently featuring steel drums in something called Calypso.

Calypso is "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afro-Caribbean_ music" \o "Afro-Caribbean music" African-Caribbean music which originated in"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinidad_and_Tobago" \o "Trinidad and Tobago" Trinidad and Tobago. The core population of the islands consists in large part of descendants of African slaves. Calypso became a way of passing along news. It often spoke out against political life, and the British had it censored.

Rafael de Leon in his 1986 book "Calypso from France to Trinidad, 800 Years of History," claimed Calypso had its roots in the medieval French troubadour tradition. Who can say?

Originally the word was Kalypso. Kalypso was a goddess in Greek Mythology, the daughter of Atlas. Jacques Cousteau, the famed French explorer and oceanographer named his ship "Calypso." Singer John Denver paid tribute to Cousteau in a song entitled "Calypso."

But that happened later. The original Calypso craze hit the states about 1953, peaking in 1956 with a recording of a song that became very popular, "Banana Boat Song," best known for the rhythmic use of the word, "Day-o!"

"Come, Mister tally man, tally me banana

Daylight come and me wan' go home."

There'd been earlier Calypso hits going back as far as 1912. In 1944, the Andrews Sisters recorded a great song called "Rum and Coca-Cola." But the Jamaican folk song, "Banana Boat Song" was the most popular Calypso recording ever. My personal favorite, which was recorded in 1957, was "Mary Ann." It was recorded by an artist who'd become famous for another craze, the Twist. He was, of course, Ernest Evans, better known as Chubby Checker.

Calypso music caught on and Hollywood released several Calypso-themed movies hoping to cash in on the craze. In 1957, a Calypso musical, "Jamaica," opened on Broadway.

A number of Calypso singers and songs had brief moments on the American pop charts during the fad. Which is why I brought up this topic in the first place, for one of those singers was a talented, handsome, young wannabe with a good voice who started out performing in Boston using the stage name "The Charmer." He jumped into the Calypso craze and changed his name to "Calypso Gene." His biggest hit was "Is She Is, Or Is She Ain't?"

He was Louis Eugene Walcott, and he was born in the Bronx May 11, 1933. His last name was different than his father's, Percival Clarke, a Jamaican cab driver. His mother Sarah Mae Manning was a domestic worker who came to America from the West Indies. Clarke apparently had little to do with his son's upbringing, Walcott moved with his mother to the Roxbury section of Boston.

As a youth he was active in the Episcopal St. Cyprian's Church, where he sang in the choir. He was an honors student in high school, ran track, and played the violin. He was an accomplished violinist. He won various contests and appeared on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour TV program.

He attended Winston-Salem Teachers College, where he met a young woman with the improbable name Betsy Ross. She became pregnant with his child. They married and he dropped out of college after two years.

In 1955, Walcott was the headliner at a calypso stage show touring in Chicago, when he went with a saxophonist friend to a Saviors' Day service addressed by Elijah Poole, the son of a Georgia Baptist preacher, who'd converted to a different religion and was using the name Elijah Muhammad.

Walcott joined Muhammad's Nation of Islam, adopting the name Louis X, with X signifying an unknown surname, a replacement for his alleged slave name. He later changed his name again to Louis Farrakhan.

His wife changed her name, too. She became known as Khadijah Farrakhan. The couple has nine children. One of their grandsons plays on the University of Virginia's basketball team.

Farrakhan worked for a while with Malcolm X, but they eventually parted ways with bad blood between them.

After Muhammad's death in 1975, Farrakhan eventually assumed leadership of the Nation of Islam in 1978. He has steadfastly preached anti-Semitism and hatred of whites.

Farrakhan has said he has gotten financial support from, among others, entrepreneur Richard Simmons, one of the wealthiest hip-hop producers and creator of a fashion line, figured to be worth an estimated $340 million; Barry Hankerson, also a wealthy record producer and manager, who was once married to Gladys Knight; Steve Harvey, a TV performer, actor, and comedian.

Farrakhan is a staunch supporter of President Barack Obama and once called him "the Messiah." Obama has rejected Farrakhan's support. Interestingly, Farrakhan has recently been palling around with Obama's former, long-time minister, Jeremiah Wright.

Dave Morris is a staff reporter for The Randolph County Herald?Tribune. His column appears weekly.