Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Lord Invader - Rum and Coca Cola

So, this guy Lord Invader (real name Rupert Westmore Grant) writes a Calypso song about how the Trinidadian women would sell their bodies to the American GI's who were down in the Caribbean, drinking Rum and chasing it with Coke. Then Morey Amsterdam steals his song and gives it to the Andrews Sisters (their version), who apparently sang the song without having any idea about what it was talking about (Amsterdam cleaned up some of the lyrics). Grant sued and won compensation but not the copyright rights. Ironically, radio stations in the 1940's would not play the song since it was talking about booze, prostitution, and infringed on the Coca-Cola trademark. The whole thing was a sordid mess... Here is the original artist, who gives a long intro about the whole thing before going into the song... And just because I like you folks, here is the Dean of New Orleans music, Professor Longhair doing his cover of Rum and Coca Cola... Laissez les bons temps rouler!