Joan Baez sings the calypso song 'Man Smart, Woman Smarter'. This song was recorded in June, 1958 by the 17-year-old Baez on the demonstration record 'Joan Baez In San Francisco'. The song lyrics are in the video and listed below with comments about the song.
Note: Since this is a well known calypso song the video shows images from the places originating this style (Trinidad and Tobago) and taking part early (the Caribbean Atilles and Venezuela).
[CD/Lyrics/19-Images]
Man Smart, Woman Smarter (Singer-Joan Baez)
They say let us put man and woman together
To find out which one is smarter
Some say man, but I say no
The woman got the man beat, they should know
And not me, but the people they say
That de men are leading de women astray
But I say, that the women of today
Smarter than the man in every way
That's right, de woman is, uh, smarter
That's right, de woman is, uh. smarter
That's right, de woman is, uh, smarter
That's right, that's right
Oh, ever since the world began
Woman was always teaching man
And you listen to my bid attentively
I goin' tell you how she smarter than he
And not me, but the people they say
That de men are leading de women astray
But I say, that the women of today
Smarter than the man in every way
Garden of Eden was very nice
Adam never work in Paradise
Eve meet snake, Paradise gone
She make Adam work from that day on
And not me, but the people they say
That de men are leading de women astray
But I say, that the women of today
Smarter than the man in every way
That's right, de woman is, uh, smarter
That's right, de woman is, uh ,smarter
That's right, de woman is, uh, smarter
That's right, that's right
Oh, you meet a girl at a ballroom dance
Thinking that you would stand a chance
Take her home, thinking she's alone
Open de door you find her husband home
And not me, the people they say
That de men are leading de women astray
But I say, that the women of today
Smarter than the man in every way
Oh, yes smarter
Songwriter: Norman Span
[Lyrics from LyricFind]
Wikipedia states:
"Man Smart (Woman Smarter)" is a calypso song variously credited as being composed by King Radio (Norman Span), D. L. Miller, F. Kuhn, and Charles Harris. Span's authorship seems most plausible since, as a popular calypso musician and songwriter, he first recorded the song in 1936, and none of the other ascribed composers are associated with calypso. Miller's music industry career began around 1950.
Artists from many genres, including Joan Baez, Harry Belafonte, the Carpenters, Rosanne Cash, Chubby Checker, Dr Victor, Robert Palmer, and Ratdog, have recorded the song. It was a staple of the live repertoire of the Grateful Dead from 1981 to 1995. Belafonte's version was included on his best-selling album Calypso, which reached number one on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart in 1956, and remained on the chart for 31 weeks. On the Belafonte album, Span is credited as the song's composer. It is sung by Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, William Frawley and Vivian Vance in the 1957 episode of I Love Lucy entitled "Ragtime Band".
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to mid-19th century and eventually spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles and Venezuela by the mid-20th century. Its rhythms can be traced back to West African Kaiso and the arrival of French planters and their slaves from the French Antilles in the 18th century. It is characterized by highly rhythmic and harmonic vocals, and is most often sung in a French creole and led by a griot.
