Calypsonian explains meaning and inspiration behind song
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IT is fast becoming one of this Carnival Season’s most popular songs and the catchphrase ‘Stay in you lane’ is ringing not only on local radio stations but also on the Federation’s streets.
Penned and performed by calypsonian ‘Rock-a-fella’, who is legally known as Cecil Rock, he indicated that inspiration for the song came while he was “vacationing at Her Majesty’s Prison as a debtor”.
“I was relaxing at Her Majesty’s Prison, and while I was there I thought this would be a good topic and I decided to come with this song this year,” he told SKNVibes in an exclusive interview.
According to the calypsonian – a confessed supporter of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party – there are those persons who have used his incarceration as a political gimmick to hurt the Labour Party, and his advice to them is simply “stay in you lane”.
Referring to someone he calls Tango, Rock-a-fella told this media house, “I said he is me friend and he could have come and help me instead of playing politics with it. Some people want to get at the Labour Party and they don’t know how to get at Dougie because Dougie could defend himself, or anybody from the Labour Party could defend themselves. They don’t have to use me…They are using the incident that happened with me.
“Don’t try to make politics out of nothing. So you hold your lane and I will hold mine. If you come out of your lane you will get in an accident or something will happen to you. If you are driving on the left side, you can’t come over on the right side just like that. You have to hold your lane.”
While he tells others to stay in their lane, Rock-a-fella, who entered the local calypso arena in 1960, told this publication that his incarceration and the talk which surrounds it has taught him that he too must stay in his lane.
“The fact remains I never give the Labour Party no money to put up for me, I never gave Dougie no money to put up for me, I never give Sam no money to put up for me or anybody in the party. But at least, if they want to give me assistance, they would have. I would have welcomed it. As far as I know I did not receive assistance from anyone in the Labour Party.
“…Sometimes you think you have friends and you have people that will help you, but they turn their backs on you. So, you just stay in your lane. I am staying in my lane.”
Rock-a-fella performs with the LIME Proud Sounds Calypso tent and, according to him, he did not write or perform his song to “make anyone unhappy or make anyone displeased about what is going on or anything”.
“If you are driving through the land and you are not holding your lane, and you get into an accident, anything can happen. You can get paralysed, you can be dead…you can be anything. Hol’ you lane! It is not a threat; it’s calypso. That is calypso. It is just advice I am giving to the people out there.”
Should he be successful in advancing to a later round of the Calypso Monarch 2011/2012 Competition, Rock explained that he would be releasing two other songs entitled ‘Injustice’ and ‘Criminal Lawyers’.
He promised that these two would pack a more powerful punch than his current tune.
