Word: houdini
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...Wilmoth Houdini (real name: Edgar Leon St.-Clair) calls himself King of Calypso, a title sought after by rivals with such imposing titles as The Lord Executor, The Lord Invader (Rum & Coca-Cola), The Senior Inventor, King Radio, Attila the Hun, The Growler and The Caresser. All of them are old hands at dashing off musical comments on world affairs and local scandals, in Latin-African rhythms as insistent as radio commercials, and in the oddly distorted British accent of the British West Indies...
...Houdini claims to have won every Calypso "war" since 1920. The Calypso Carnival held on the two days before Ash Wednesday is now a major tourist attraction in Port-of-Spain, with each of the rival kings setting up headquarters in bamboo tents, and challenging each other to sing-downs composed on the spur of the moment...
...Houdini's method is to rile his opponent by musical insults. He won his first war by being so insulting to two opponents at the same time that, after 45 minutes, they stopped to congratulate him on his virtuosity. His toughest battle was against the old Master, Lord Executor, until he found a fatal weakness to sing about: Executor's big toe had just popped out of his canvas sneaker...
Flight of Wordages. Houdini generally stays out of trouble by not criticizing Crown officials (one rival's song went: "I must be very frank and say, I was glad when Sir Hollis went away"). His Stone Cold Dead describes a murder in Port-of-Spain's Grass Market in 1939. He recorded it himself in 1939 (as He Had It Coming) but it got no popularity until Songstress Fitzgerald unearthed it this spring. Other Houdini songs have had such innocuous themes as I Like Bananas Because They Have No Bones and Roosevelt Opens World's Fair...
...Houdini's own favorite of all his compositions is Douglas MacArthur, a Brave Son of America. Like all the rest, its lyrics fit his first rule of composition. Says Houdini: "A Calypsonian is required to be high flown in his wordages...