The Five Year Plan, song lyrics

Song: The Five Year Plan
Lyrics: Cyril Montrose⁽²⁾

Music: Cyril Montrose⁽²⁾
Year: 1939⁽¹⁾
Genre: Calypso
Country: Trinidad

Happy days are coming back again,
Join with me and sing this sweet refrain,
The government has got a five-year plan,
That will relieve the depression.
This song was originally posted on protestsonglyrics.net
(CHORUS:)
No more starvation,
Emancipation is here.

Public Works are being started right away,
So we have cause to be happy and gay,
These gigantic things they're going to do,
Will find work for me and you.

(CHORUS)

A mammoth engineering job has been executed,
I mean the harbour scheme that's just been completed,
Port-of-Spain will hold her place with ease,
The premier city in the West Indies.
This song was originally posted on protestsonglyrics.net
(CHORUS)

Soon a marked, improved change we all will see,
A happy tidal wave of prosperity,
We'll be able to maintain our family,
In comfort and in luxury.

(CHORUS)

Notes:

1 - Transcribed from the Decca records 78 rpm recording 17402 by Attila the Hun (Raymond Quevedo), recorded January 26, 1939. Sometimes this singer's name was misspelt as "Atilla the Hun".

2 - If you know of any biographies of violinist Cyril Montrose or information on the Cyril Montrose String Orchestra, please go to the "About Page" above and email us. Any information will be appreciated.

3 - In 1937, with the depression continuing and poverty being widespread in Trinidad, still a British colony, there arose an anti-colonial sentiment. Even for those working either in the two primary industries of the oil fields and agriculture, the salaries were extremely low, keeping workers in extreme poverty. This led to a strike on June 19, 1937 at the Apex Oilfields in Fyzabad and quickly spread to all oil fields and then the sugar plantations. A (British) Royal Commission of Inquiry headed by Sir John Forster was commissioned which became know as the Forster Commission. See Labour in Trinidad and Tobago.

4 - In 1938 the West India Royal Commission (Moyne Commission) was started.

5 - The now established in law, acceptance of labour unions and collective bargaining, caused an increase in salaries and improved conditions as reflected in a new optimism by citizens. In September 1939, England declared war on Germany, increasing the demand for oil products, and later in World War 2 when the USA established strategic military bases on the island, incomes increased further reducing the poverty rates.

6 - Finally in 1962 Trinidad gained its independence.