GOD BLESS OUR NATION
Marjorie Padmore

God bless our nation
Of many varied races
May we possess that common love
That binds and makes us One.
Let it be known around the World
That we can boast of Unity
And take a pride in Our Liberty.

God bless our isles
Of tropic beauty rare
Of flaming poinciana
And shady immortelle
The warm and sparkling waters
That beat upon our shores
Beat out a tune that seem to tell
We take a pride in Our Liberty.

God bless our leaders
Give them grace to guide
Bestow on them thy judgment wise
To rule our land aright
To keep the flag of freedom high that we may sing most lustily
We take a pride in Our Liberty.

OUR NATION'S DAWNING
G. Carlton Sampson

Come, come away, hail to the day
This is our land's great morning
Birds in the trees waft to the breeze
Songs of our nation's dawning.
Hummingbird bright, lend your delight,
Ibis your scarlet feathers;
Kiskadee call, summon them all
This is a day of wonders!

Chorus
O land of fairest beauty
We pledge our lives to duty
And vow this day
And vow this day
And vow this day to serve thee.

Flambouyant gay, make glad the day
Colourful blooms resplendent
Hibiscus hedge witness our pledge
And honour this day transcendent.
Fireflies bright, shine through the night:
Illumine our thanksgiving
Of this great day each heart can say
This is our Nation's Dawning!

Three sister hills, list to the trills
Echoing to high heaven
And from the sea, the blue Caribee
Breezes will join the revel.
Palm trees on high reach to the sky
While bells aloft are pealing
Man, bird and beast, earth, sea and sky
Raise chants of joy excelling.

A NATION NEW IS BORN
G. Carlton Sampson

Wave sugarcanes wave
Palm-trees sway your crowns
Immortelle, frangipani, poui
Put on your floral gowns
Make gay the roadsides and the hills
Independence Our People fills
A Nation New is born.

You local birds pour forth your songs
Oh Semp and Acravat make glee!
You Bluebirds chirp, Hummingbird Birds hum
Sing out O Keskidee!
Make gay the roadsides and hills
Independence Our People fills
A Nation New is born!

Calypsonians sing an anthem
Of your sunny land and seas
Steelbandsmen beat out a road-march new,
About our tropical trees
Make gay the roadsides and hills
Independence Our People fills
A Nation New is born!

Trinidad and Tobago
Show forth your spirit of glee
Trinidad and Tobago
Your People shall be free
Leap to the road-march
Shout to the hills
For Independence Our Country fills
A Nation New is born.

Hail the sun rise, blessed morn
Whereon new hopes and joys are born
of mixed and varied peoples
Determined to be one.
Sing out your praise O people free
With chimes and joyous revelry
For Independence Our Country fills
Our Nation New is born.

PORTRAIT OF TRINIDAD
The Mighty Sniper (Mervyn Hodge) 1965 Calypso King

Trinidad is my land and of which I am proud and glad
But I can't understand why some people does talk it bad
But I know all of dem who running dey mouth
Don't what dey talkin 'bout
They will talk 'bout here every day
But the right thing they would never say.

Like our sportsmen being rated among the best
Our scholars have sat and passed every test
To put us right alongside the best
But then Our Pitch Lake is the greatest one of its kind
Our sugar and oil is really refine
So you see my friends this is a real King Solomon's mine.

They does talk a lot of nonsense,
Me ain't know what they doing it for
About so much violence,
Man you could swear that we fighting war
We have our delinquents to face just like any other place
Man the things they does say 'bout here
Is really too much for me to bear.

And my people are daily making progress
Without any form of stupidness
And in this way we bong to make success
For when we moving, we all move as one body
No bickering between you and me
For Our policy stand for racial equality.

All of dem whey talking
They either drunk or staring mad
Or maybe they forgetting Mr. Universe belongs to Trinidad
And yet we have men of high talent and skill
With high hope of improving still
And if you think all this is a lie the Mighty Sniper will tell you why.

For our steelband is the best talent in dis world
By calypsoes our stories are told, with rhythm to touch your soul
And Trinidad, this lovely land of my birth
Small but overwhelming in worth
And Carnival is the greatest festival on earth.

Now when a stranger spending a little time in this lovely isle
Every day you see him, he always have a happy smile
And when his time for him to depart
He would say with tears in his heart
I'll be back, you can bet your life
And if I can't come I go send my wife.

And when he tells her, he really wants to come
To drink a little rum and have plenty fun
In this island in the sun.
So Trinidad and foreigners do recall
It doesn't matter whether big or small
Or if you rich or poor
Friends we cater for one and all.

Our steelband is the best talent in the world
By Calypso's our stories are told
With rhythms to touch yuh soul
Trinidad, this lovely land of my birth
Small but overwhelming in worth
And as you know Carnival is the greatest on show on de earth.

THIS IS MY FLAG
Rocky McCollin (Composer)


Many years ago three small ships sail across the sea
And the Captain of those ships discovered La Trinity.
But when the English takeover me and you
They gave us the Flag, The Red, White and Blue.

But now we could tell them
This is my flag
The Red, White and Black
There's no turning back
To look for the Union Jack
And so mih sons and mih daughters
Could now boast and brag
About the Red, White and Black
That's my Flag.

I use to take it cool under the Colonial rule
Until one day a Great Man came my way
He toured the country and educate the population
And the Red, White and Black was the birth of a Nation.

This is my flag
The Red, White and Black
There's no turning back
To look for the Union Jack
And so mih sons and mih daughters
Could now boast and brag
About the Red, White and Black
That's my Flag.

August 1962 the date our dream came true
When we walked alone our lonely road home
No more mother country to guide our destiny,
But the Red, White and Black which means you're free.

So now we can tell them
This is my flag
The Red, White and Black
There's no turning back
To look for the Union Jack
And so mih sons and mih daughters
Could now boast and brag
About the Red, White and Black
That's my Flag.

My Nation is cosmopolitan
Each owes toward black as white
Each creed and race has an equal right
Now we're not turning back
Let us all together salute the Red, White and Black.

So now we can tell them
This is my flag
The Red, White and Black
There's no turning back
To look for the Union Jack
And so mih sons and mih daughters
Could now boast and brag
About the Red, White and Black
That's my Flag.

OUR MODEL NATION
Sung by: Mighty Sparrow

The whole population
Of our little nation in not a lot
But oh what a mixture of races and culture
That's what we got
Still no major indifference
Of race colour religion or finders
It's amazing to you I am sure
That we didn't get Independence before.

Trinidad and Tobago will always live on
Colonialism gone, our Nation is born
We go follow our leaders
They always do their best
We want to achieve
We going to aspire
We bound to be a success.

It is a Miracle
All these difference people can dwell so well
You see we are educated
To love and forget hatred
You know you know is so
You people whoa re foreign
Ah got a message
To give you when you going
Spread the word anywhere you pass
Tell the world their model Nation at last.

The revenue we make
From the Oil and the pitch Lake
Is great but wait
We got cocoa and copra, banana and sugar, coconut citrus
We may be small but we wealthy
Pound for pound we will beat New York City
We got beaches and hotels built by Hilton
Our Nation is second to none.

You may not believe this
But we didn't achieve this
With floods of blood
Is leaders like Butler
Cipriani and the Doctor
They fight for what is right
So now I am congratulating
All our leaders from the present
Back to the beginning
They have fought now the battle is won
Thanks for a good job and well done.