George Browne (May 4, 1920 – March 23, 2007), better known as the Young Tig… Read Full Bio ↴George Browne (May 4, 1920 – March 23, 2007), better known as the Young Tiger, was a Trinidadian calypso musician.
Born Edric Browne in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, where his childhood was imbued with the African traditions of Shango and Spiritual Baptist Shouting, he assumed the name George E. Browne in homage to the family friend, Richard E. Braithwaite, whose library introduced him to works of black history and activism.
Browne joined a Norwegian tanker at the age of 20 and, after a brief stay in Australia, signed off in Scotland in 1941. After befriending other expatriate Trinidadians in Glasgow he relocated to London and began to earn his living as a musician. In 1947-8 he co-founded (with Bermudian Ken Gordon, uncle of newsreader Moira Stuart) the Three Just Men group and toured in Europe and North Africa with the trio the following year.
He inherited the name Young Tiger from the calypsonian Growling Tiger when in 1953 he recorded a cover version of Tiger's song "Single Man". Young Tiger's hits dating from that same year include "Calypso Be" and "I Was There" - the latter being his observations about the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II - and "Mamzelle Josephine". Subsequently embracing jazz music, he recorded with a number of bands, including Humphrey Lyttelton's Paseo Jazz Band. In the 1960s he pursued an acting career for a time - he played the role of Jesus Christ in a passion play produced at the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Senegal in 1966 - and in 1970 he gave up music to open a London restaurant and health club with his then wife. When that was forced to close because of rent increases, they moved to the USA, where for a time they had restaurants in Florida and California.
He returned to the UK in the late 1980s, living in retirement in Croydon. His calypso "I Was There" featured on the 2002 Honest Jon compilation London Is the Place for Me: Trinidadian Calypso in London, 1950-1956. Following the re-release of his "Calypso Be" on London Is the Place for Me, Vol. 2 (November 2005), Browne played at the BBC "Electric Proms" festival in 2006, performing a few songs together with the London is the Place for Me Allstars.
Born Edric Browne in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, where his childhood was imbued with the African traditions of Shango and Spiritual Baptist Shouting, he assumed the name George E. Browne in homage to the family friend, Richard E. Braithwaite, whose library introduced him to works of black history and activism.
Browne joined a Norwegian tanker at the age of 20 and, after a brief stay in Australia, signed off in Scotland in 1941. After befriending other expatriate Trinidadians in Glasgow he relocated to London and began to earn his living as a musician. In 1947-8 he co-founded (with Bermudian Ken Gordon, uncle of newsreader Moira Stuart) the Three Just Men group and toured in Europe and North Africa with the trio the following year.
He inherited the name Young Tiger from the calypsonian Growling Tiger when in 1953 he recorded a cover version of Tiger's song "Single Man". Young Tiger's hits dating from that same year include "Calypso Be" and "I Was There" - the latter being his observations about the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II - and "Mamzelle Josephine". Subsequently embracing jazz music, he recorded with a number of bands, including Humphrey Lyttelton's Paseo Jazz Band. In the 1960s he pursued an acting career for a time - he played the role of Jesus Christ in a passion play produced at the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Senegal in 1966 - and in 1970 he gave up music to open a London restaurant and health club with his then wife. When that was forced to close because of rent increases, they moved to the USA, where for a time they had restaurants in Florida and California.
He returned to the UK in the late 1980s, living in retirement in Croydon. His calypso "I Was There" featured on the 2002 Honest Jon compilation London Is the Place for Me: Trinidadian Calypso in London, 1950-1956. Following the re-release of his "Calypso Be" on London Is the Place for Me, Vol. 2 (November 2005), Browne played at the BBC "Electric Proms" festival in 2006, performing a few songs together with the London is the Place for Me Allstars.
Calypso Be Bop
Young Tiger Lyrics
We have lyrics for these tracks by Young Tiger:
Calypso Be This modern music's got me confused, To tell you friends I'…
I Was There Well, let me tell you ladies and gents I enjoyed myself…
I Was There (At the Coronation) Well, let me tell you ladies and gents I enjoyed myself…
I Was There At The Coronation Well, let me tell you ladies and gents I enjoyed myself…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@Mano2992
This modern music's got me confused,
To tell you friends I'm quite unenthused.
This modern music's got me confused,
To tell you friends I'm quite unenthused.
I like Pee Wee Hunt or the great Count Basie
But can’t make head nor tail of this Dizzy Gillespie
With his
Oop-pop-a-da
Be-a-ba-du-la-be-plee
Ple-oobly-oobly-oobly-oobie
Chum-cheeree-a-bah
Oop-pop-a-dee-de-doom ah-ah!
Dizzy Gillespie is the creator
Of this new style along in co with Charlie Parker,
Coleman Hawkins, Howard McGhee -
They all indulge in this monstrosity
They take a major seventh and a flated ninth
Two ool-ya-koos and a half a pint
Then
Oop-pop-a-da
Be-a-ba-du-la-be-plee
Ple-oobly-oobly-oobly-oobie
Chum-cheeree-a-bah
Oop-pop-a-dee-de-doom ah-ah!
The beboppers you see around
They all converse in a special tongue
"Ool-ya-koo" and "eel-ya-da"
One means "hello", the other "ta ta".
They call a man "a cat" and a girl "a chick",
And they're up to all kinds of shady tricks
With their
Oop-pop-a-da
Be-a-ba-du-la-be-plee
Ple-oobly-oobly-oobly-oobie
Chum-cheeree-a-bah
Oop-pop-a-dee-de-doom ah-ah!
In conclusion I must now say
The bebop boys they know how to play
But that music is not for me
So take it back Mr. Gillespie
You better take it back to 52nd Street
With your high speed riffs and stacatto beats
And your
Oop-pop-a-da
Be-a-ba-du-la-be-plee
Ple-oobly-oobly-oobly-oobie
Chum-cheeree-a-bah
Oop-pop-a-dee-de-doom ah-ah!
Ah-ah!
@0123basil
thanks, have been looking for this one for years. you are my new best friend!
@djdedan
His bebop scatting is ironically pretty darn good lol
@333maxwell
This is fantastic.. thanks for uploading
@Antuhes
Thanks!!!!
@franceskt
Thanks for this - jazzman Sammy (Sam) Walker takes the tenor sax solo.
@elusive1st
nice1
@evermay1582
Apparently this man died in 2007. Kinda hard to imagine what he thought about the music of his late years
@nebuladog
He was my step mom's dad
@lizichell2
That calypso
@kayluuhs
this is what happens when you tell your friend to Freestyle rap 1:06