Remembering The Mighty Sparrow’s soulful side

The king of calypso, The Mighty Sparrow’s songs rocked countless fetes for seven decades. But on the 1969 album, Sparrow Meets The Dragon, he showed his versatility by singing several soul ballads.

Sparrow died on September 27 in New York at age 91. Born in Grenada and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, he was a giant of Caribbean culture whose many classic songs include Obeah Wedding, Saltfish, Dragon Dance and Capitalism Gone Mad.

Working with his friend Byron Lee at Dynamic Sounds in Kingston, he recorded the album Sparrow Meets The Dragon which hears him covering songs like Only A Fool, a soul ballad originally done by American singer Arthur Prysock (as Only A Fool Breaks His Own Heart).