On the night of February 17, 2007, the man known as ‘Mighty Rebel’ sang his way to a history-making fifth calypso monarch crown. Beating competition from the likes of Young Bill Rogers, Mighty Breeze, Lord Canary and others, the man born in Georgetown in November 1945 as Geoffrey Phillips won the calypso monarch competition for a record fifth time. The calypso he sang to win the crown was none other than “Is we put you deh” a song which he says is directed to the president telling him not to forget that “is we put you deh”. Not afraid of confronting issues he has done it again.
The lyrics go:
“Again we see you win the election another time around President Jagdeo;
But don’t think you macho and strong because you go back to number one;
You coulda never never do it on your own,
2006 August 28 is the day we decide we fate but you should remember one little thing;
Is not where you are but where you begin.
Chorus: Is we put you deh
Is we put you deh
Despite the things we seeing today is we put you deh
You say you know who kill the minister and the men from the newspaper
but who kill Ronald Waddell you never say,
We want to know cause is we put you deh”
Commenting on why the song was not heard on the radio station and hardly anywhere else he said that after previous experiences with radio when his songs were not played because of the lyrics, he did not provide them with a copy this year. He said that the general lack of airplay for all the songs was terrible. He declared that all the focus was on soca and the calypsonians had commented among themselves on that. He also felt that the arrangements for the competition were made by the “wrong hands” which lacked the expertise of previous years. Generally though, he related, the competition was wonderful, particularly as each calypsonian strove to outdo the other.
Recounting the night of the finals, he said that he didn’t feel any particular way though he expected to win. He said that he felt that his greatest competition came from Young Bill Rogers whose song “Guyanese Integration” he particularly liked and the Mighty Breeze also came in for praise from the monarch for his composition “Who to Blame”. He declared that when his name was called he felt “normal” because “I am accustoming to winning and I am accustoming to losing”. Later, he however said that “you didn’t want to hear your name call first. This is the one time you want your name call last”. Additionally, before the winners were announced some persons came up to tell him that he had won.
A few words of advice he had for his fellow calypsonians was to be careful in their presentations. He stated that a few of them did presentations that were totally irrelevant and went on for too long before they did their song. He asserted that they should keep their presentation “short and sweet” as it could “make or break you”.
