I'm shocked I never realized this song is about Trinidadian prostitutes serving American soldiers...I first heard the Andrew Sisters version, but the calypso style of the original song is only present in Lord Invader's version. The Andrew Sisters probably didn't even know where Trinidad is. Gotta love that violin! Old calypso records, like much of the popular music elsewhere, tells us a lot about the history, popular culture, and worldview of the times. This song, for instance, comments on the presence of American soldiers in the Caribbean (likely during and after WWII) and their need for prostitutes being met by Trinidadian women, as well as the tale or joke of one Trinidadian man losing his wife to an American soldier! Calypsonians are like the blues singers of African America or the griots of West Africa, entertainers and singers who tell the story of their communities.
As this article explains from Slate, rum represents the Atlantic Slave Trade and the peculiar historical experiences of the Caribbean while coca cola symbolizes American empire and capitalism, which began to increasingly overtake British colonial authority in the Caribbean after the Spanish American War and various American occupations and quasi-colonial rule in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and elsewhere. Thus, one could read Lord Invader's song as a critique of American military and economic intervention and dominance in the Caribbean, thereby fueling the growth in prostitution and unequal economic and social relations.
I must say, the last thing I ever expected was meeting a Norwegian familiar with the song who joined me in singing it. The world is a small place. A very, very small place.
