Throwback Thursday - King Austin

After getting the request last week I will embark on bringing a Classic Calypso/Reggae/Caribbean flavoured ditty on Thursdays… today will see one of my faves and a definite classic in Trinidad & Tobago… it was sung when I was a wee lad in 1980 by King Austin… still relevant nearly 30 years later… No Progress… lyrics may also accompany the selections…

Today as I look around in the
world what do I see?
I see.
Footprints that man has left
On the sand
While walking through time.
I see,
Fruits of our ambitions
Figments of our imaginations
And I ask myself
When will it end
When will it end
It is plain to see
Universally,
This land is not bountiful as it was
Simply because
In his quest for success
Nothing stands in man’s way
Old rivers run dry
Soon the birds won’t fly
The mountains will be no longer high
And when I really think of it
I does wonder why?

I see
Charity deplored
Equal rights
Totally ignored
Wisdom and ingenuity
working in accord
Simply to afford such inventions
As thermonuclear warfare
And environmental warfare
And I wonder now
Where do we go
from here

Prophets everywhere
Gaze upon the horizons
And declare that judgment will come
As the savage hands of
unscrupulous men
Defile everything pass by
Time is running out
As we eat and drink
Species on the brink
Of being extinct
And I think
No one can deny
That the price of progress is high
real high

I see consciousness abate
As today,
We live recklessly
Money
Makes egos inflate
And, thereby, create,
A turbulent state

I see a struggle
Between the sexes
New hang-ups and old complexes
Now the question is
Right in context
What shall be next?

I’ve already seen
The world has become divided
Between race, colour, creed and class
And some of the things
The scripture predict
Truthfully come to pass
Soil that wouldn’t bear
Children making children
To be part of this growing mass
And I ask
If this is progress
How long will it last?

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