SuperBlue heard the gossip and the cruel comments that he was all washed up as a soca singer even on his many trips to Juelio Nelson's Nu Generations Studios in St James. "Some people had lost hope, but I was always there in the school of music: life," says SuperBlue.
Then, one day, SuperBlue slipped into Nelson's studio with a guitar and played the melody for Fantastic Friday. "I was hooked," says Nelson. All last December Nelson and SuperBlue shaped the tune, with pieces of songs SuperBlue says he had been kicking around since the 2006 World Cup in Germany when he watched T&T's football journey.
Finding a rhythm was never a problem for his comeback song, because rhythm is everywhere, SuperBlue says, "...in the earth; in the sea. You just have to be tuned into them, and then you can reach out and pick them." As Fantastic Friday began to take its shape, SuperBlue and Nelson felt its soaring power because they couldn't stop dancing while they recorded the song.
"That's a sure sign of a hit," says Nelson. SuperBlue nods. "And you must laugh in a studio if you're going to have a hit." Still, they didn't envision the scope of Fantastic Friday.
SuperBlue and Nelson wanted to make it spectacular, so they kept adding to the song. Nelson listened to movie clips on the Internet for ideas to make a grand arrangement. Together, they decided on a Viking horn in front and a choir in the bridge. They traded Catholic bells for the Baptist bells that defined Soca Baptist, Blue Boy's first big hit.
Eventually, they decided to scratch the background vocals from the song. "That was hard for both of us," says SuperBlue. "They were great, but they just didn't fit in the song." While he was still recording Fantastic Friday, SuperBlue performed with Cro Cro at a show in La Brea. There, the secret song he left behind in the studio haunted him.
"I thought: something is missing. Then it hit me–water and powder: the ingredients for a sailor. That represents the birth of street theatre." Nelson was blown away.
Fantastic Friday is the best-feeling
In his heart, Fantastic Friday is the best-feeling of all his hits including his eight Road Marches (the last being Signal to Lara in 1995) and five Soca Monarch titles (the last being Pump Up in 2000). "Fantastic Friday is a gift," he says, "from God." On his list of his most meaningful soca songs, Fantastic Friday follows Get Something and Wave, a patriotic post-coup attempt rallying song that became the 1991 Road March.
"It was powerful. The world is still waving," says SuperBlue. Third on his list is his first hit: Soca Baptist, written when he was Austin Lyons, an unknown fisherman quarantined in Santo Domingo because he did not have his yellow-fever shots. Released in 1980, Soca Baptist enraged the Baptists, who deemed it sacrilegious.
The Kingdom of the Wizards had hired him as a janitor the year before, but had rejected him as the calypsonian Blue Boy, even with Soca Baptist. Shadow took him into the Master's Den. "During that time I was sleeping in Woodford Square," says SuperBlue, "and even then all I cared about was if I could make people smile."
At 56, making people happy is still his mission. "Am I happy? That's not important. Only the music is important. I'm all right," he sighs. SuperBlue describes himself as "blessed... I'm not perfect. No man is. I need people to help me," he says. "In life you have light and shining dreams. Sometimes they turn grey. You ask God to help you through your mistakes. I have no regrets for anything in my life. It has all made me the person I am."
He lives one day at a time. "I'm grateful to wake up in the morning and have another chance at success. I think about yesterday, but tomorrow is only a promise. "
More music to come for 2014
At this stage in his career, creating music gives SuperBlue more pleasure than performing it. "Putting it all together, imagining the reaction. I enjoy the quiet moments." Now, when he gazes over the sea of people in the fetes SuperBlue feels a sense of peace now more than the surge of excitement.
"I have a profound sense of gratitude," he says. "I wish I could stand on the stage and say to everyone, 'Thank you for being so patient with me.'" SuperBlue is already thinking ahead to the next state of his "mission."
"If God spares my life, I want to address that divide between the soca monarch and the calypso monarch competition next year. I want to sing in a calypso tent again–I can't forget those fans. I want to go to the Calypso Monarch finals." Suddenly, SuperBlue leaps from his seat.
"Come," he says, leading the way to the small studio. He is hoarse, nearly voiceless, but SuperBlue beams his first smile of the night as he sings to the rough tracks of his Carnival 2014 music, proving, without a doubt, that there will be more music after Fantastic Friday.
