Dear Editor,
I think sometimes we have a responsibility to correct the ill informed and misinformed. With reference to a letter carried in your Sunday (March 21, 2010) edition about the lyrics of a song titled “woman want money” the writer Mrs. Hazel Halley-Burnett says the song is degrading to women and should be banned. She misquotes a line from the song which she reads as saying “woman want money, it aint funny, put you finger in she honey”. I have listened to the song sadly, and the actual words of the song read “Woman want money, you think its funny, you ONLY want to put your fingers in her honey…woman want pedicure, manicure and hairdo so give the woman money”.
Though the songwriter and singer Pickey Dread, may have poor lyrical and musical skills, his song is actually telling men that they ought to support women more and not just want them for sex. A careful listen of the song would make that clear. So sometimes before we rush to the press with our pens and before the press rushes to publish, we should be fair and have a clear understanding of what we are talking or complaining about.
I may not be a fan of the artiste or his song, but to allow persons to distort his message and lyrics is itself degrading. But what I find even more interesting is the fact that the writer rushes to call for a ban of the Pickey Dread song, when there are numerous songs sung by women which are degrading to women and are enjoying hours of airplay daily on local television and radio. Listen to Rihanna, Beyonce, Lady Gaga and a few others. Are songs and lyrics only degrading to women when they are sung by men?
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address supplied)