Friday, July 31, 2009

"A Lovely Day for Cricket"

In 1972, a calypso emerged out of Trinidad and Tobago, sung by Lord Relator, centered around Sunil Gavaskar. Look at the way he brings in the entire Indian cricket team and the lambasting his own West Indies team gets:

A Lovely Day for Cricket

Blue skies and gentle breeze
The Indians are awaiting now
To play the West Indies
A signal from the umpire
The match is going to start
The cricketers come on the field
They all look very smart ...

Erapalli Prasanna
Jeejeebhoy and Wadekar
Krishnamurthy and Vishnoo Mankad
Them boys could real play cricket
On any kinda wicket
They make the West Indies team look so bad
We was in all kinda trouble
Joey Carew pull a muscle
Clive Lloyd get 'bout three run out
We was in trouble without a doubt

It was Gavaskar
De real masterJust like a wall
We couldn't out Gavaskar at all, not at all
You know the West Indies couldn't out Gavaskar at all

Ven-kat-a-ra-ghavan
Bedi, in a turbanVijay Jaisimha, Jayantilal
They help to win the series
Against the West Indies
At Sabina Park and Queen's Park Oval
A hundred and fifty-eight by Kanhai
Really sent our hopes up high
Noriega nine for ninety-five
The Indian team they still survive

It was Gavaskar

De real master
Just like a wall
We couldn't out Gavaskar at all, not at all
You know the West Indies couldn't out Gavaskar at all

Govindraj and Durani
Solkar, Abid Ali
Dilip Sardesai and Viswanath
They make West Indies bowlers
Look like second raters
When those fellas came out here to bat
West Indies tried Holder and Keith Boyce
They had no other choice
They even try with Uton Dowe
But ah sure that they sorry they bring him now

It was Gavaskar

De real master
Just like a wall
We couldn't out Gavaskar at all, not at all
You know the West Indies couldn't out Gavaskar at all

Little Desmond Lewis
Also Charlie Davis
Dey take a little shame from out we face
But Sobers as the captain
He want plenty coachin'
Before we cricket end up in a disgrace
Bedi hear that he became a father
So he catch out Holford in the covers
But when Sobers hear he too had a son
He make duck and went back in the pavilion

It was Gavaskar
De real master
Just like a wall
We couldn't out Gavaskar at all, not at all
You know the West Indies couldn't out Gavaskar at all

...and here you can see Lord Relator perform the calypso, in an appropriately grainy video from the 1970s:



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