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Trinidad
& Tobago Panorama 2013 - HOME
‘One
For Bertie’
sung by Helon Francis
composed by Earl Brooks, Sr.
lyrics by Alvin Daniell
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“One For Bertie”
Helon Francis
Provided with the expressed permission of the composer(s)
Visit When Steel Talks
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“One For Bertie”
Helon Francis
Provided with the expressed permission of the composer(s)
click here for lead sheet
LYRICSVerse 1
Bertie
Marshall is
gone
(But his memory will linger on)
Bertie Marshall is gone
(Loss of a genius we now must mourn)
Blessed with talent and a special
gift
He aim to give the steel pan a lift
Bertie, a perfectionist.
Chorus
Innovator
(Bertie Marshall)
Master tuner (Bertie Marshall)
Double tenor (Bertie Marshall)
Pan inventor (Bertie Marshall)
By age fourteen
He mastered playing the Pan
(But to tune it harmoniously was his
plan)
He survived criticism and ridicule
(Though some even called him
A bloody fool)
The chariot Pan (Bertie Marshall)
Tone-a six-Pan (Bertie Marshall)
Quadrophonic (Bertie Marshall)
Every Pan trick (Bertie Marshall)
Chinee Pan, J’Ouvert Morning
In de band, so they singing
What tin can, breaking the land
Who’s de man, is Bertie Marshall.
Verse 2
Pan Pioneers
like Spree
(That motivate him to tune the pan)
Run way from school daily
(Buy with he school fees a mouth
organ)
Just to get the tone of the
Harmonica
Is harmonics he looking for
Bertie, that gifted tuner.
Chorus
_________________
Verse 3
The Chaconia
Gold he got
(Also the order of Trinidad)
Cash they promise a lot
(That he never saw it is so sad)
So this Panorama his legacy
Play Pan for the man called Bertie
Sweetly, in his memory.
Chorus
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Helon Francis
Helon Francis began singing Calypso at the age of eight at Newtown Boys RC School in Trinidad. There he won the Calypso Monarch competition twice before moving on to Woodbrook Secondary where he won the title for five consecutive years.
At the
National Junior
Calypso Competition
Helon made the finals
on three occasions
and was the first
runner-up in 2012. He
was also a
semi-finalist in the
2012 Independence
Calypso Monarch
Competition.
One for Bertie is his first attempt at singing a song composed for the Pan and for 2013 Helon will be based at the Klassic Ruso Calypso Tent in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.
Alvin C. Daniell - Engineer, Cultural Researcher, Television Presenter, Composer and Music Producer comprise the disciplines of this individual. In the pan world he is best known for his lyrical work with some of the top pan arrangers in Trinidad and Tobago. These include Ray Holman (Pan on the Move, Pan on the Run); Len “Boogsie” Sharpe (Mind Yuh Business, Misbehave); Pelham Goddard (Parade, Play My Music, Good News, A Happy Song); Brian “Bean” Griffith (Trini Know How, Pure Party, How We Coming – 2011); Don Clarke (Can’t Get Enough, Momentum – 2011). He has also worked with Edwin Pouchet to produce several hits such as Thunder Coming, First in de Line, Battle Zone, It’s Showtime!, Gie Dem Tempo, Keshorn – The Javelin Champion and Shock Attack.
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