There is basically nothing about this record online, nor about Gichy Dan himself, who I am led to believe was a singer from Staten Island named Frank Passalacqua who died super early of AIDS in the early 80s. This record was produced and written by August Darnell before he began his Kid Creole project - August is a funky little weirdo from the Bronx who grew up listening to Harry Belafonte and Johnny Mathis and combined that sound with the mutant disco of the post-funk era. I love this Gichy Dan album - I had a physical copy but I gave it to a friend as a gift - and I wish there were lyrics transcribed on the internet, but I always feel dirty when I submit lyrics to an aggregate site, like I am making some third party money off of someone else's work. So I am putting some here, on my absolutely not for profit Neocities page. If the lyricbots find this eventually in their routine trawls, well, I suppose I tried.
Like the market price, no, you can't keep a good man down
He's sure to rise again and again
Like merchandise, no, you can't keep a good man down
He's sure to rise again and again like mercury in July
You can slap his face
in a public place
Ma'am, accuse him of adultery
You may even give him a gun
Tell him not to run
Sam, send him to the DMZ
Of this I am sure:
Man will endure
Like the market price, no, you can't keep a good man down
He's sure to rise again and again
Like merchandise, no, you can't keep a good man down
He's sure to rise again and again like mercury in July
Examinate his craft
and call it balderdash
Sister, charge him with incompetency
You may even give him a job
and tell him to work hard
Mister, pay him with some chicken feed
Of this I am sure:
Man will endure
Call him a petty fool
when he breaks the rules
Teacher, he's a menace to society
You may even count his sins
Let him know he'll never win
Preacher, prepare him for purgatory
Of this I am sure:
Man will endure
Like the market price, no, you can't keep a good man down
He's sure to rise again and again
Like merchandise, no, you can't keep a good man down
He's sure to rise again and again like mercury in July
Like the wise men often say:
There's a will and there's a way
Man will rise
So So Celina
So So Celina
Go, go, man, go
Like the wise men often say:
Gichy Dan shall rise
Like the wise men often say
on the eve of judgment day:
Man will rise
She came by way of Port-au-Prince to Manhattan
She brought with her the island sun and the accent
How I adored her is wondrous to recall
She twirled my silent world into a Carnival
She filled my head with lavish dreams in technicolor
and I became a pampered child dependent on her
It was a time of crackles, snaps and pops
and then one sudden bang and all the music stopped
But how can I resent the evenings I have spent
with the rum and Coca-Cola and the lady from the Caribbean
My heart was hers when first I heard a foreign hello
And when she teased, she squeezed the French to crazy Creole
It didn't matter, I knew no words at all
in either tongue except the ones "bébé, je t'adore"
At last she spoke of things she missed that Haiti gave her
The silver lined trees and the smell of the tropic breeze and smiling strangers
Oh, how was I to know that it would ever end?
Bye-bye New York and I, I guess we're not sufficient
But how can I resent the evenings I have spent
with the rum and Coca-Cola and the lady from the Caribbean
How I adored her makes great remembering
I'm there, I had a chance to feel much like a king
but I will not forget the evenings I have spent
with the rum and Coca-Cola and the lady from the Caribbean
and the lady from the Caribbean
and the lady from the Caribbean
The lady come and the lady go so
the lady come and the lady go so