Winford James
‘Bun dem’ is my favourite Stalin calypso. I favour it for, among other things, the universality of its theme, the irrepressible passion of Black Stalin (with a little encouragement from his chorus) as divine avenger and executor, the iconoclasm of his judgments and sinner selections, the clever simpleness of his sinner identifications, and the voicelessness (or, if you prefer, the subordinated voice) of St Peter in the dispensation of final justice.
The theme is, unmistakably, fiery vengeance against the masters and controllers of the world by our calypsonian who had to wait until the afterlife to achieve it. Powerless in this world, he gleefully exploits the new political conditions of judgment for sinners decreed by the Lord God after He repented for using The Flood in the time of Noah–according to the Bible.
Stalin must have read, or been exposed to, the scripture in the Book of Revelation that reads as follows:
‘But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.’ (Revelation 21:8, KJV)
He does not identify these categories of sinners in his song, but those he burns in his lake (or wherever) he calls sinners:
‘It have some sinners comin
Wit dem Ah go be dealin
Because de tings dat dey do me
Ah want to fix dem personally.’
Who are these people? Well, some are named and some are not. Those named are Cecil Rhodes, (Queen) Victoria, (Benito) Mussolini, (Francis) Drake, (Walter) Raleigh, Ian Smith, Christopher Columbus, (Ronald) Reagan, (?) Foster, (Queen) Mary, (PW) Botha, (Henry) Morgan. These are all well-known historical figures of different degrees of infamy and notoriety. They are a bag of racists, supremacists, slave masters, imperialists, bloody people butchers, and, yes, violent prudes some of them.
Perhaps they are included in Revelation’s lake of fire? We can’t be sure. But, by naming them, Stalin provides Trinbagonian Child with an excellent opportunity to research their lives and times and their wretched deeds and achieve some clarification of the matter with the historical facts. The Beloved Child might wish to start with Wikipedia as a source of more information and move on to websites specialising in the histories of the famous and infamous.
Stalin provides clues for us to identify those he does not name. The clues depend on our knowledge and experience of certain events. Let’s see. ‘Peter look the Englishwoman on who South Africa refuse to put sanction’–Who? Margaret Thatcher? Queen Elizabeth? The Ku Klux Klan man cyar get away–Which one? ‘You done deal with the Fuhrer’–Hitler, right? ‘Look the one whe draft the Public Order Act’–Karl Hudson-Phillips, okay? ‘Look ketch dat big belly fella whe carry mi money down Panama’–not John O’Halloran? ‘Look the woman who bring foreign troops in the Caribbean’–Eugenia Charles, surely. ‘Ah jes doh care what you do but Baldhead going in the fire too’–Randolph Burroughs, ent? Or is it Dr Williams? ‘Look the Englishman whe send Cecil Rhodes to Africa land’–Lord Milner? Who??
Stalin treats the sins of these historical figures, international and local, as sins against him personally. After all, he is The Black Man who takes it upon himself to defend the race. He is defending them in the afterlife for the amount of ‘pressure’ they put on him:
Peter you doh know
De pressure dat I undergo
From dese mad man and woman…
Dem wit deh oppress law
Dey never care bout de poor
Peter dese people had deh day
Now is time for Stalin to play.
Indeed, the calypso is constituted of verses that capture the afterlife mission of The Black Man, eg.:
‘Peter doh grudge me
Yuh han done full aready
You done deal wit de Fuhrer
Go ahead and take Foster
But that woman Mary
Remember dat’s my baby
so much confusion dat she make
you got to give Black Stalin a break.’
And:
Peter stop pushin
It ha plenty more comin…
So much corruption dat dey make
Now is de time dey must feel mi weight.’
He enjoins on Peter to give him room and freedom to judge and execute. Peter subordinates his voice and authority to accommodate The Black Man, though we must note that he takes no initiative to advance the latter’s cause; his response is purely reactionary. He stokes the blazing fire at the behest of The Black Man. And the chorus captures it all.
‘Dis is my time for bunnin
Ah bunnin and Ah bunnin and Ah bunnin and Ah bunnin
Peter keep de fire blazin
Blazin blazin blazin blazin
Dis is my time for bunnin
Ah bunnin… .
Peter keep de fire bunnin’
This is the Second Death, folks. There’s no coming back from it.
But we must ask: Does the consignment of his enemies to this Death redeem and heal The Black Man? What about life imprisonment? And what has become of the way of forgiveness?