A musical backdrop to Unreal City: the London of the Lonely Londoners

When the Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury in June 1948 there were a good number of musicians on board.

We know that Jamaican musician Delroy Stephens was there because he organized a fundraising concert to pay for the fare for one of the stowaways -Evelyn Wauchope from Jamaica. Stephens had been a prominent bandleader and jazz musician in Kingston but I cannot tell whether he continued that career post-Windrush. 

Mona Baptiste – whose 20th  birthday was the day the ship docked – was on board. She was already well known in Trinidad as a singer, dancer and radio performer.

Baptiste performed with some success in London but after she was invited to France by Yves Montand she went on to become a big star on the continent and especially in Germany. 

We know Aldwyn Roberts – aka Lord Kitchener – was on board because he was interviewed by Pathé  News as the ship disembarked at Tilbury.

Looking handsome, debonair, and happy to oblige Lord Kitchener gives Pathé  a little taste of calypso. 

London is the Place for me

Here is the recording of that song:

London Is a kind of place where hate and disgust and avarice and malice and sympathy and sorrow and pity all mix up. Is a place where everyone is your enemy and your friend.– Sam Selvon The Lonely Londoners.

You have to wonder whether Lord Kitchener looked back and regretted that cheery optimism of

To live in London you are really comfortable
Because the English people are very much sociable
They take you here and they take you there
And they make you feel like a millionaire
London that’s the place for me

But calypso is all about telling the story and often subversive and satirical. And while I am sure his reception in London fell far short of his dreams he also never thought he would live in Hampton Court either. Kitch went on the write and perform many songs about the immigrant experience in London. Here’s a less upbeat view of life in England My Landlady. 

And on the wall she stick up notice
No lady friend not even a princess
And if you disagree
Off you go immediately
And every Monday
Mr give me the rent
Poor Kitchener I ain’t got a cent
She telling me
Mr give me the rent
No chair no table
The convenience is terrible
And on the other part
No hot water to take a bath
And believe me you sleep like a rabbit
Although the sheet with half of blanket
And she has the audacity
To tell me I’m living in luxury
And every Monday
Mr give me the rent

Other songs from Lord Kitchener and other calyso artists range from the playful to bawdy and topical and political.

He summed up the racist experience of many immigrants in If You’re Brown:

‘It’s a shame it’s unfair but what can you do
The colour of your skin makes it hard for you…
If you’re brown they say you can stick around
If you’re white well everything’s all right
If your skin is dark, no use, you try
You got to suffer until you die

If You’re Not White You’re Considered Black

And then there was later song that outlines an aspect of the very white British approach to race relations. It erases the way that shadism worked in the Caribbean:

Your father is an African
Your mother maybe Norwegian
You pass me, you wouldn’t say goodnight
Feeling you are really white
Your skin maybe a little pink
And that’s the reason why you think
Dat de complexion of your face
Can hide you from the Negro (Black) race
No!, you can never get away from the fact
If you not white then you considered Black…
You jut along the thoroughfare, you shake your waist like Fred Astaire,
And when you see me passing by, you watch me with a crooked eye.

Lord Beginner – Egbert Moore – was also on the ship. 

Here is his take on the 1950 UK General Election

Kitchener and Beginner both wrote and sang about cricket. Here is Cricket, Lovely Cricket about the England-West indies second test match at Lords Cricket ground in 1950. It was the first time that the West Indies had won a match in England and they went on to win the series 3-1. 

One calypso stands out for me. It’s an inter-island rivalry between a Trinidadian and a Barbadian. Hard-up and hungry they pool their resources to make a meal and the Bajan pulls a fast one And it’s hilarious.

In a later song Trini gets brazen and pays back Baj with his own medicine – a delicious meal of crab of insalubrious origin. Revenge of Trini 

Lord Woodbine

Lord Woodbine – so named after the brand of Wills cigarettes he smoked – was the third lord on board. He was Harold Phillips, who – together with Kitchener and Beginner – had toured Jamaica for six months before taking passage with them on the Windrush. 

At 14 Phillips had lied about his age and enlisted in the RAF during WW2 and served in the UK, returning to Trinidad in 1947. He settled in Liverpool and opened his own nightclub – the Colony Club. Woodbine founded the Royal Caribbean Steel Orchestra, the first steel orchestra formed in England. The band played all over Liverpool and gained a loyal following that included John Lennon and Paul McCartney,  Woodbine was to play a significant role in the early history of the Beatles.

At one point Woodbine owned a strip club and hired the Beatles as the backing band. He was impressed by their professionalism and that led to his helping get them the booking in Hamburg in August 1960.

Lord Kitchener returned to Trinidad in 1962 and continued his very successful career as the King of Calypso. He is even featured on a postage stamp.  Lord Beginner died in 1981 and Lord Woodbine died in a house fire together with his wife in 2000. 

And the lady? You promised us a lady

Well, the lady is of course Nancy Cunard who shared a cabin with the travel writer Freya Stark. But she needs a post all her own. And besides, I’ve been distracted by yet another story, so she will now have to wait.