September 8, 2024 • 30 mins
Patrick takes listeners on a journey to St. Lucia, a nation recently celebrated for its first Olympic medal, achieved by Julian Alfred in the 100 meters. The episode explores the historical and geographical context of this Caribbean island, highlighting its colonial past marked by conflict between European powers. The discussion delves into the national anthem, "Sons and Daughters of St. Lucia," crafted by Father Charles Jesse, who also played a significant role in the island's cultural development. Patrick examines the lyrical content, emphasizing themes of patriotism, unity, and hope for the future while reflecting on the island's natural beauty and resilience. Throughout the episode, the intertwining of history, music, and identity showcases the rich cultural tapestry of St. Lucia and its journey towards independence.
I hope you enjoyed it. Irritatingly I have encountered some motorcycle noise in the record but next time I have some ideas. Here are my sources:
- https://archive.stlucia.gov.lc/saint_lucia/national_anthem/national_anthem_of_saint_lucia.htm
- https://sports.yahoo.com/how-julien-alfred-went-from-running-barefoot-in-st-lucia-to-the-fastest-woman-in-the-world-224013986.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAD8Neq-ZG6jbQMTzQ_Ti3ZuRk-vn02AuTbQvDVDTN9ezwnEDNjYDIeFEJky2xaEX8eeesH7U_Of567r-mece_O62rR0U71y1Oa_um4Tmk1Fxrjx9TvAeeO7Li_KKPvA9NJgSI6IBHeV5SiJHyrjweGSnTQCS-fUS22WvtHI0edu0
- https://issuu.com/amsstlucia/docs/independence_magazine_2016websv4/24
- https://www.ourhistory.org.uk/saint-lucia-colonisation-to-independence/
- https://books.google.com/books?id=xutfBgAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PT4073&q=Sons+and+Daughters+of+Saint+Lucia+Charles+Jesse+Leton+Felix+Thomas&hl=en&source=newbks_fb
- https://uwispace.sta.uwi.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/80e534d1-d5d1-4236-ae2a-d6ca255509ce/content
- https://olympics.com/en/paris-2024/athlete/julien-alfred_1537325
- https://www.google.com/books/edition/Outlines_of_St_Lucia_s_History/dX9sAAAAMAAJ?hl=en
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:22):
Hello and welcome to theAnthems podcast. I'm Patrick and
I'm here to tell you the story of
a song that helps to tell the story
of a nation. Today we are traveling
roughly 1.2 times the length of the
Nile river. If we were to take that
journey at the maximum speed of the
Nile's flow, we'd be screaming downstream
at 3.1 meter/second because 7 not
an impressive sounding speed. At
that rate, it would take us just
abit less than 30 days to travel the
4857 miles, or 7717 km, between Slovenia
and an island nation about the size
of the us city of Chicago that changed
hands 13 times during its colonial
occupation. More importantly, though,
it is the only place on earth with
adrive in volcano. Of course, if you
know, you know. And in this case
that would mean that, you know, I
was talking about St. Lucia and we
are back in island paradise territory.
Whyare we here? Well, I mean, I guess
volcanoes, because that's what makes
islands. But that's a silly answer.
Ireally picked St. Lucia because my
friend Ryan let me know that the
2024 Olympics was the one where St.
Lucia earned their very first medal
ever. Julian Alfred became the fastest
woman in the world when she ran the
100 meters dash in 10.72 seconds
to winthe gold medal and secure the national
record in St. Lucia. I know that
youexcellent podcast listeners are the
kind of nerds that need to know that
this means, at least for some of
that sprint, she was going very nearly
21 mph. That is a speed that gets
meright to the point where I get to
tell you about sons and daughters
of St.Lucia. St. Lucia I admittedly knew
nothing about at all before going
into the episode, at least in a specific
historical sense or geographic. Because
some stuff I did know in broad strokes.
After all, this is a country in my
sub series chronicling the downfall
ofcolonialism, for some reason, in
St. Lucia they settled on still officially
having a foreign sovereign. So Charles
in charge, I guess. But we'll hear
more on that shortly. And that is
a callback that only at least 40
year old listeners in the US might
get. So while a bunch of you are
left wondering what I'm talking about
sometimes enjoy the two minutes and
3 seconds of anthem.
(03:09):
Hash. The land has gave uslove. Land of beaches, hills and
bodies. Wherever I wheresoever you
never.
(03:37):
Hash. I.
Know this when strife anddiscontinued the children's fall
andrest on the last of bright again
stretches out you wait be the goodness
of ho and on may all be good, united
strong in soul and strong enough
just.It's truth and charity all I give
forever.
(05:07):
My first impression is that Ilike it as an anthem, but I'm not
sure I've found a version of the
song that gets my foot tapping, if
you know what I mean. The problem
forme here, which has become kind of
common problem for me, is finding
something that lets us hear a good
example of the music and the lyrics.
Because there's usually both four
sons and daughters, we get a choir
driven piece because it was the best
quality version I could find. An
acquire lets us hear the music and
the lyrics together in, you know,
atleast most of the way. Were any of
you guys ever in a choir? Cause I
was not. And that's mostly because
I amenthusiastic at singing, but I'm
pretty far from good. And I do have
middle school chorus to reminisce
about.But we're not gonna do that because
it's not as interesting in finding
outwhere in the world you'd be if you
were a member of the combined national
Youth choir of St. Lucia. We are
again talking about a country in
the Caribbean. So, roughly speaking,
it'ssomewhere along the chain of islands
tothe east of Central America. That
chain is, in fact, the boundary line
of volcanic islands that defines
theCaribbean Sea. More specifically,
it is partof the windward island chain of the
Lesser Antilles. The closest mainland
country to St. Lucia is Venezuela,
about234 miles south and maybe 30 degrees
tothe west. The closest island neighbors
are St. Vincent. They're to the south,
southeast, Barbados to the southwest,
andMartinique to the north. St. Lucia
isa pretty small place, coming in at
238 sq. Mi. Or 616.4 km squared,
whichis just a little more than half the
size of Hong Kong. It's a mostly
forested and mountainous place. Remember,
St. Lucia is volcanic. It has the
enviable year round temperature of
a brown, about 80 degrees. So it's
just kind of nice. It does rain for,
like, half the year, though. The
island is fortunate enough to have
aWorld Heritage site called the pythons,
and it's another place that you should
look up because it's quite stunning
looking. These peaks also lead me
to describe this episode's new geology
term, a volcanic plug. They're also
called volcanic necks, which I think
is a bit more descriptive, since
whatit is is a vent or a volcano that
has some magma hardened into it that
can lead to dramatic landscapes and
dramatic eruptions if there is a
magma buildup under it, that becomes
volatile. But as far as I know, there
is currently no dramatic eruption.
Building under St. Lucia, and I bet
that the people that live there are
relieved about that. So where do
we start? The story? The history
ofhumanity on St. Lucia starts somewhere
inthe range of 1000 to 800 before common
era, but was not properly lived on
until sometime in the first half
ofthe first century after the turn
ofthe millennium. Unfortunately, we
are again discussing a country that
has had a history that is drastically
modified by a couple of centuries
ofcolonialism. So my hand is sort of
forced on where I'm going to join
the storyline, and we're going to
begin at the start of the 17th century.
That is when an english ship got
blown off course and 67 people decided
that St. Lucia was home. Now, however,
disease and repeated attacks from
the Carib people who were already
living there forced the 19 people
whowere left alive to flee. Over the
next 30 or so years, colonial interest
in the Caribbean grew, with England,
France and other powers making claims
to large swathes of the region that
led to competing claims for places,
andkind of unsurprisingly, were concerned
with the competing english and french
claims for St. Lucia. Now, since
thisis not that kind of podcast, im not
going to go through the fine details
ofnearly 150 year back and forth between
these two countries, but weve got
to get a thumbnail at least, because,
inmy opinion, its the largest driving
force that shaped the history of
the nation, especially during the
time that it was happening. The rest
of the 17th century saw attempts
atestablishing settlements on purpose,
andthis came with more disease and fighting.
In 1663, the Caribs apparently decided
that they had had enough of it and
sold the island to the British. There
was much back and forth before the
island was made into a french crown
colony in 1674 and then formally
cededby the British in 1697 treaty of
Ryswick. From there, we're thrown
intoa 120 year period that has the British
repeatedly regain and then lose control
of St. Lucia six times until it is
finally ceded by the French for the
final time in 1814. The island's
position as such a frequently fought
over place earned it the nickname
theHelen of the west, because, like
Helen of Troy, she sparked a war
duo to her desirability and beauty.
Ofcourse, this did not come without
having an effect on the population.
AfterBritain gained permanent control
of theisland, there were still 20 years
before the official end of slavery
inthe empire, with full freedom not
until 1838. And at that point, the
former slave population far outnumbered
anyother population on the island. Then
things just kind of got quiet in
the historical record. I know that
stuff happened, but it's not accessible
tothis podcast host in a usable fashion.
So we're gonna jump ahead to nearly
the beginning of the 20th century.
Thisbrings us to Mister Charles Jesse,
whowas born in 1898 in Dorset, England,
some 4195 miles or 6751 km away from
St. Lucia. I had trouble finding
outhis birthday, but I did learn that
his parents were William, Jess, and
Kate Rose and that he was baptized
intothe catholic church on the 20 March
the same year that he was born. So
there's only a three month span where
he could have been born. As is usually
the case with anthem poets, there
islittle to be had regarding Charles
as ayouth, but I do know that he attended
Shaftesbury Grammar School and he
had at least two brothers. All three
of the brothers, Jesse, Percy, Charles
and Frank, enlisted and served in
World War one. Percy died in action
serving with the Royal Berkshire
Regimentin France, and Frank served out his
tour with the New Zealand forces.
Charles himself enlisted on October
18,1916 as a private with the 8th Battalion
of the London City Regiment. In February
of 1917, he was transferred to the
first London Field Battalion and
saw action in France and Flanders
Fieldin Belgium. At some point his health
began to decline and although the
record is not real clear why it got
him transferred into the engineering
division as a sapper. The change
ofjob apparently did not change his
health for the better, and he was
declared medically unfit. On September
12of 1918, Charles was discharged.
So Charlesdischarged, there's another callback
foryou. And awarded the Silver War badge
along with the victory and british
warmedals. In March of 1920, he moved
abroad and his pension record was
terminated. Of course, we might surmise
that abroad meant St. Lucia for Mister
Jesse. Cause that's what I'm talking
about here. Again, the history is
kind of vague, but at some point
Charles became Father Charles, a
catholic priest, because apparently
one ofthese guys is in almost every anthem
story. He also became an author and
wrote an extremely popular contemporary
history of St. Lucia along with a
number of other books all about his
adopted nation. In fact, his books
were so no well known and regarded
thatwhen St. Lucia attained self governance
in1967, he was asked to pen the lyrics
to the national song. And when they
gained independence in 1979, sons
and daughters was elevated to the
national anthem. Charles was honored
with an MBE or a member of the British
Empire. It is an honor that you actually
gotta go to Buckingham palace to
receive and get directly from the
king or queen. Our poet passed in
1985 of causes I was unable to learn
about, and he is buried in the St.
Lucian Cemetery at Castries Cathedral.
During Father Jesse's life, the St
lucian story was a story of increasing
self governance. In 1924, a constitution
waspromulgated which allowed for a minority
of the legislation to be elected
ratherthan appointed. In 1951, universal
adultsuffrage was introduced and elected
officials became the majority of
councillors. And this was closely
followed by the introduction of ministerial
government in 1951. Although I'll
behonest, I have had neither the time
nor the inclination to look up what
ministerial government really is.
The change might have been what prompted
the country to join a couple of fairly
short lived island confederations
in the latesixties and early seventies. But
they ended up in the Windward and
Leeward Islands novel configuration
known asassociated statehood, which is when
they gained self governance. After
they became an associated state in
1967, they became completely responsible
for their own internal affairs and
the UK was responsible for international
dealings. That arrangement, of course,
came to an end with the establishment
of theisland nation as a constitutional
monarchy,retaining the british king or queen
as the official head of state, but
otherwise existing completely independently.
Now let's hear about one of the people
that was involved a bit in developing
theSt lucian education system and their
culture. Our composer, Sir Leighton
Thomas, was born on St Lucia in 1926
to a poor family and initially began
his education as an auto didact,
meaning he taught himself because
hecouldn't afford any books or school.
After working hard to acquire his
education certificate on St Lucia,
hewent on to earn a Bachelor of Science
and a master's of Arts from the Teachers
College at Columbia University in
New York in 1965. After that, he
joined the Peace Corps. Music was
always a big part of his life, though,
and he continued to study it throughout,
including as a young student and
then at some point somewhere in the
UK. But the record is kind of unclear
there. After returning to St Lucia,
hewent into public service and he stayed
there for 40 years. During that span,
he was a trainer of teachers, an
educational reformer, the chief education
officer through four education ministers.
Then he was appointed as a senator
andserved as the Minister of public
service reform in the office of the
prime minister. He even had enough
dedication and free time to work
hisway up and become St Lucia's representative
onUNESCO's executive board from 1997
to 1999. In 1987, he agreed to be
the first principal of the Sir Arthur
Lewis Community College in St Lucia
and held that position until 1995.
Kind of an incredible resume. Throughout
all of his efforts in public service,
Sir Thomas was also an avid and skillful
musician, serving as the choral director
and organist for the Roman Catholic
Cathedral in Castries. St. Lucia
formany years. He was so widely recognized
for his service to the country and
his musical ability that he was asked
to compose the music for Charles
Jesse's lyrics in 1967, thus completing
the national anthem of St. Lucia.
Themans selfless dedication to national
andregional development was internationally
noticed as well. In 1969 he was awarded
the Order of the British Empire,
andthen in 1992, he was elevated to
commander of the British Empire.
Theyear before that, the pope granted
hima knighthood in the Order of Sylvester.
And today I learned that the pope
can knight people who knew after
along life of service to others. Sir
Leighton Thomas passed in January
of2024. So this year you can even see
his three plus hour funeral service
onYouTube. And I did in fact watch
theentire thing because I am a dedicated
podcaster and there was some good
information about the man in there.
Sonow we know about the Poethenne,
we knowabout the composer, and we know how
St. Lucia became independent and
chose the national anthem, which
means that we are ready to discuss
thesong itself. Musically speaking.
We'vegot another anthem that is made for
the people. That is to say, it is
a piece that is accessible for the
average person to be able to sing,
play, and memorize. These are my
favorite kinds of anthems because
Ifeel like everyone in a nation should
be able to take part in the national
song. Reflecting that, we have a
tune generally performed in the key
of f major or g major. They're common
anthem keys because they are bright
and uplifting. A major tonality also
accommodates a wide range of low
and high voices to encourage communal
singing. Continuing along with the
theme of accessibility, we have a
composition that is in four four
time, or what I just learned I can
call common time. It's generally
playedat a moderate 80 to 90 beats per
minute, nice, steady sort of march.
It's easy to follow, and it instills
some kind of an order to the thing
melodically, mostly stepwise motion
with a couple of fun little jumps
inthere, and we get symmetrical four
bar phrasing that is common in western
music and especially in anthems.
It'slike Sir Thomas knew I was going
tobe writing about it decades after
hecomposed it and tailored the composition
tobe as anthem esque as possible. There
is even a primarily one four five
harmony with standard progressions
to helpevoke a feeling of unity from this
traditionally choir or brass band
performed song were left with a well
crafted piece of music that balances
simplicity and grandeur. Its harmonic
structure, major key tonality, and
accessible melody makes it suitable
forlarge scale public performances.
While itslyrics and musical dynamics evoke
pride and unity, the anthem succeeds
increating a musical embodiment of
St. Lucian identity, offering a dignified
yet celebratory reflection of the
nation's people and values. It's
pretty good stuff, even if I couldn't
find a version that I wanted to bop
my head to. Poetically, we can see
that Charles Jesse is another in
agrowing list of people on my show
that totally understood the assignment.
I'll talk to the content of the lyrics
after I read through them, but structurally,
this is an anthem that I enjoy, if
not terribly complicated. First,
it isa fairly short thing at just 18 lines
of text, making it easy for people
tomemorize. Second, it has a consistent
andnot incredibly complicated rhyming
scheme, a b c b diphthere, and I
think that this one goes a long way
in giving the words a rhythm all
their own before you even get a melody
or instrumentation to it of any kind.
A song for the people, indeed. So
I'm going to read through and then
we'll hear about the content of the
lyrics. This anthem is originally
writtenin English, but there is an official
version of the anthem in St. Lucian
Creole. Now the anthem sons and daughters
of St. Lucia love the land that gave
us birth land of beaches, hills and
valleys, fairest isle of all the
earth, wheresoever you may roam love,
o love, our island home gone the
times when nations battled for this
Helen of the west gone the days when
strife and discord dimmed her children's
toil and rest dawns at last a brighter
day stretches out a glad new way.
May the good Lord bless our island,
guard her sons from woe and harm.
Mayour people live united, strong in
soul and strong in arm justice, truth
and charity, our ideal forever beverage.
The first verse of the anthem focuses
on a deep sense of patriotism and
connection to the natural beauty
ofSt. Lucia. It addresses the sons
anddaughters of the island, calling
themto cherish their homeland regardless
ofwhere they may go. This got me lost
learning about the word diaspora.
Itmeans the dispersed population from
an originating geographic location,
like,uh, all of the St. Lucian people
whodo not live in St. Lucia. It comes
from a greek verb for I scatter.
It'sinteresting stuff that I spent way
too long reading about. So moving
on.The imagery of beaches, hills, and
valleys paints a picture of a diverse
and idyllic landscape, evoking a
sense of pride in the physical beauty
of the island. Describing St. Lucia
as the fairest island of all the
earth adds a personal and emotional
layer. Charles is implying that no
other land can compare to the one
that gave its people birth. The words
are less flowery than they are direct,
at least through most of the writing,
and I appreciate that the line love,
o love, our island home reinforces
theidea of loyalty and affection for
the island, a bond that the anthem
wants to transcend distance or time.
In the second verse, the anthem shifts
from natural beauty to a reflection
on St.Lucia's tumultuous history that we
can note, was entirely caused by
England and France fighting over
analready populated island that was
thousands of miles away from France
orEngland. The lyrics refer to the
conflicts of the past, acknowledging
thosedays that brought so much strife
anddiscord to its people. However, the
tone quickly turns to hope with the
promise of a brighter day and a glad
new way. This shift symbolizes a
departure from conflict and hardship
toward a future filled with peace
andprogress. The future for places like
St. Lucia is bright enough, with
theState Department in the US forecasting
slowbut steady economic growth for the
nation, mostly based on tourism and
a little bit of banana farming. However,
it is a sad fact that small island
nations like this remain really,
really, really vulnerable to climate
change. So vote if you can, wherever
youare in the world, and I guess donate
money to the right spot if you've
gotsome. And you know how to do that,
because what, what else are we able
to do anyway? Overall, the second
verse suggests that while St. Lucia's
past was marked by battles and challenges,
the future holds the promise of unity
and prosperity for its people, regardless
of what may come. The final verse
isa prayerful appeal for divine protection
and guidance, asking for the good
Lord to bless St. Lucia and protect
hispeople from harm. The spiritual plea
reflects a desire for the island
toremain safe, for its citizens to
live in harmony. Here we again have
an almost entirely christian population
inSt. Lucia, very nearly 93% of them.
Keep in mind that the man who wrote
this was a catholic priest, but honestly,
it's not like this sounds like a
hymn or anything. It's pretty low
key religious for what we have heard
before and what we will hear again.
The mention of living united, strong
in soul and strong in arm speaks
toboth the physical and spiritual strength
of the people, calling for a resilient
and cohesive nation. The closing
linesemphasize the importance of justice,
truth and charity, presenting these
as values that will guide St. Lucia
into the future. This final verse
ties together the themes of faith,
unity and moral integrity, serving
as ahopeful and inspiring conclusion
to theanthem. It wraps things up really
nicely, musically and lyrically.
Sons anddaughters is kind of exactly an anthem,
and the gentlemen that were picked
towrite the thing made it happen just
like they needed to. Story wise.
I'mnot super sure this time there was
a timeline. Things felt cohesive,
and insome way the story of this anthem
kindof starts when it was written, and
that's mostly where I end these shows
in other ways. Yes, it did start
whenbritish and French started killing
eachother, and somehow it started with
the lives of the people that were
involved. But what is in the story
isanother bit of the narrative about
the fall of colonialism and a peek
at another place that is honestly
juststunning to look at and that the
people seem great. So go there if
you can. Swing and take it. Maybe.
Fornow, I think we're gonna go to the
credits. The writing, recording and
production for the show are done
byme, and I wrote and played the theme
music. The music was played with
mypermission, unless otherwise noted,
the anthem's iPlayer public domain
stuff, or some other equivalently
free toplay license. And this time I again
did not ask anybody, mostly because
this version of the anthem is everywhere
and so ubiquitous that I can't find
the performers. I did try, though.
Mysources and the specific items I
mentioned in the show are contained
inthe show notes, and the most direct
way to get to those show notes is@anthemspodcast.com
also, this show is can credentialed,
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ofharassment, abuse or other harm on
their hotline at 617 249-4255 or
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dot. You could even gothere and volunteer your time and
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be found on Facebook and WhatsApp
as theAnthems podcast. You should follow
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platform I can with the hashtag anthemspod
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if you hashtagged a post like that
too. And it might also mean that
youdrop a spoon and it sounds out the
first few bars of something that
Bach composed. Not a life changing
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a fan, and we're going to do this
again soon.
Hello and welcome to theAnthems podcast. I'm Patrick and
I'm here to tell you the story of
a song that helps to tell the story
of a nation. Today we are traveling
roughly 1.2 times the length of the
Nile river. If we were to take that
journey at the maximum speed of the
Nile's flow, we'd be screaming downstream
at 3.1 meter/second because 7 not
an impressive sounding speed. At
that rate, it would take us just
abit less than 30 days to travel the
4857 miles, or 7717 km, between Slovenia
and an island nation about the size
of the us city of Chicago that changed
hands 13 times during its colonial
occupation. More importantly, though,
it is the only place on earth with
adrive in volcano. Of course, if you
know, you know. And in this case
that would mean that, you know, I
was talking about St. Lucia and we
are back in island paradise territory.
Whyare we here? Well, I mean, I guess
volcanoes, because that's what makes
islands. But that's a silly answer.
Ireally picked St. Lucia because my
friend Ryan let me know that the
2024 Olympics was the one where St.
Lucia earned their very first medal
ever. Julian Alfred became the fastest
woman in the world when she ran the
100 meters dash in 10.72 seconds
to winthe gold medal and secure the national
record in St. Lucia. I know that
youexcellent podcast listeners are the
kind of nerds that need to know that
this means, at least for some of
that sprint, she was going very nearly
21 mph. That is a speed that gets
meright to the point where I get to
tell you about sons and daughters
of St.Lucia. St. Lucia I admittedly knew
nothing about at all before going
into the episode, at least in a specific
historical sense or geographic. Because
some stuff I did know in broad strokes.
After all, this is a country in my
sub series chronicling the downfall
ofcolonialism, for some reason, in
St. Lucia they settled on still officially
having a foreign sovereign. So Charles
in charge, I guess. But we'll hear
more on that shortly. And that is
a callback that only at least 40
year old listeners in the US might
get. So while a bunch of you are
left wondering what I'm talking about
sometimes enjoy the two minutes and
3 seconds of anthem.
(03:09):
Hash. The land has gave uslove. Land of beaches, hills and
bodies. Wherever I wheresoever you
never.
(03:37):
Hash. I.
Know this when strife anddiscontinued the children's fall
andrest on the last of bright again
stretches out you wait be the goodness
of ho and on may all be good, united
strong in soul and strong enough
just.It's truth and charity all I give
forever.
(05:07):
My first impression is that Ilike it as an anthem, but I'm not
sure I've found a version of the
song that gets my foot tapping, if
you know what I mean. The problem
forme here, which has become kind of
common problem for me, is finding
something that lets us hear a good
example of the music and the lyrics.
Because there's usually both four
sons and daughters, we get a choir
driven piece because it was the best
quality version I could find. An
acquire lets us hear the music and
the lyrics together in, you know,
atleast most of the way. Were any of
you guys ever in a choir? Cause I
was not. And that's mostly because
I amenthusiastic at singing, but I'm
pretty far from good. And I do have
middle school chorus to reminisce
about.But we're not gonna do that because
it's not as interesting in finding
outwhere in the world you'd be if you
were a member of the combined national
Youth choir of St. Lucia. We are
again talking about a country in
the Caribbean. So, roughly speaking,
it'ssomewhere along the chain of islands
tothe east of Central America. That
chain is, in fact, the boundary line
of volcanic islands that defines
theCaribbean Sea. More specifically,
it is partof the windward island chain of the
Lesser Antilles. The closest mainland
country to St. Lucia is Venezuela,
about234 miles south and maybe 30 degrees
tothe west. The closest island neighbors
are St. Vincent. They're to the south,
southeast, Barbados to the southwest,
andMartinique to the north. St. Lucia
isa pretty small place, coming in at
238 sq. Mi. Or 616.4 km squared,
whichis just a little more than half the
size of Hong Kong. It's a mostly
forested and mountainous place. Remember,
St. Lucia is volcanic. It has the
enviable year round temperature of
a brown, about 80 degrees. So it's
just kind of nice. It does rain for,
like, half the year, though. The
island is fortunate enough to have
aWorld Heritage site called the pythons,
and it's another place that you should
look up because it's quite stunning
looking. These peaks also lead me
to describe this episode's new geology
term, a volcanic plug. They're also
called volcanic necks, which I think
is a bit more descriptive, since
whatit is is a vent or a volcano that
has some magma hardened into it that
can lead to dramatic landscapes and
dramatic eruptions if there is a
magma buildup under it, that becomes
volatile. But as far as I know, there
is currently no dramatic eruption.
Building under St. Lucia, and I bet
that the people that live there are
relieved about that. So where do
we start? The story? The history
ofhumanity on St. Lucia starts somewhere
inthe range of 1000 to 800 before common
era, but was not properly lived on
until sometime in the first half
ofthe first century after the turn
ofthe millennium. Unfortunately, we
are again discussing a country that
has had a history that is drastically
modified by a couple of centuries
ofcolonialism. So my hand is sort of
forced on where I'm going to join
the storyline, and we're going to
begin at the start of the 17th century.
That is when an english ship got
blown off course and 67 people decided
that St. Lucia was home. Now, however,
disease and repeated attacks from
the Carib people who were already
living there forced the 19 people
whowere left alive to flee. Over the
next 30 or so years, colonial interest
in the Caribbean grew, with England,
France and other powers making claims
to large swathes of the region that
led to competing claims for places,
andkind of unsurprisingly, were concerned
with the competing english and french
claims for St. Lucia. Now, since
thisis not that kind of podcast, im not
going to go through the fine details
ofnearly 150 year back and forth between
these two countries, but weve got
to get a thumbnail at least, because,
inmy opinion, its the largest driving
force that shaped the history of
the nation, especially during the
time that it was happening. The rest
of the 17th century saw attempts
atestablishing settlements on purpose,
andthis came with more disease and fighting.
In 1663, the Caribs apparently decided
that they had had enough of it and
sold the island to the British. There
was much back and forth before the
island was made into a french crown
colony in 1674 and then formally
cededby the British in 1697 treaty of
Ryswick. From there, we're thrown
intoa 120 year period that has the British
repeatedly regain and then lose control
of St. Lucia six times until it is
finally ceded by the French for the
final time in 1814. The island's
position as such a frequently fought
over place earned it the nickname
theHelen of the west, because, like
Helen of Troy, she sparked a war
duo to her desirability and beauty.
Ofcourse, this did not come without
having an effect on the population.
AfterBritain gained permanent control
of theisland, there were still 20 years
before the official end of slavery
inthe empire, with full freedom not
until 1838. And at that point, the
former slave population far outnumbered
anyother population on the island. Then
things just kind of got quiet in
the historical record. I know that
stuff happened, but it's not accessible
tothis podcast host in a usable fashion.
So we're gonna jump ahead to nearly
the beginning of the 20th century.
Thisbrings us to Mister Charles Jesse,
whowas born in 1898 in Dorset, England,
some 4195 miles or 6751 km away from
St. Lucia. I had trouble finding
outhis birthday, but I did learn that
his parents were William, Jess, and
Kate Rose and that he was baptized
intothe catholic church on the 20 March
the same year that he was born. So
there's only a three month span where
he could have been born. As is usually
the case with anthem poets, there
islittle to be had regarding Charles
as ayouth, but I do know that he attended
Shaftesbury Grammar School and he
had at least two brothers. All three
of the brothers, Jesse, Percy, Charles
and Frank, enlisted and served in
World War one. Percy died in action
serving with the Royal Berkshire
Regimentin France, and Frank served out his
tour with the New Zealand forces.
Charles himself enlisted on October
18,1916 as a private with the 8th Battalion
of the London City Regiment. In February
of 1917, he was transferred to the
first London Field Battalion and
saw action in France and Flanders
Fieldin Belgium. At some point his health
began to decline and although the
record is not real clear why it got
him transferred into the engineering
division as a sapper. The change
ofjob apparently did not change his
health for the better, and he was
declared medically unfit. On September
12of 1918, Charles was discharged.
So Charlesdischarged, there's another callback
foryou. And awarded the Silver War badge
along with the victory and british
warmedals. In March of 1920, he moved
abroad and his pension record was
terminated. Of course, we might surmise
that abroad meant St. Lucia for Mister
Jesse. Cause that's what I'm talking
about here. Again, the history is
kind of vague, but at some point
Charles became Father Charles, a
catholic priest, because apparently
one ofthese guys is in almost every anthem
story. He also became an author and
wrote an extremely popular contemporary
history of St. Lucia along with a
number of other books all about his
adopted nation. In fact, his books
were so no well known and regarded
thatwhen St. Lucia attained self governance
in1967, he was asked to pen the lyrics
to the national song. And when they
gained independence in 1979, sons
and daughters was elevated to the
national anthem. Charles was honored
with an MBE or a member of the British
Empire. It is an honor that you actually
gotta go to Buckingham palace to
receive and get directly from the
king or queen. Our poet passed in
1985 of causes I was unable to learn
about, and he is buried in the St.
Lucian Cemetery at Castries Cathedral.
During Father Jesse's life, the St
lucian story was a story of increasing
self governance. In 1924, a constitution
waspromulgated which allowed for a minority
of the legislation to be elected
ratherthan appointed. In 1951, universal
adultsuffrage was introduced and elected
officials became the majority of
councillors. And this was closely
followed by the introduction of ministerial
government in 1951. Although I'll
behonest, I have had neither the time
nor the inclination to look up what
ministerial government really is.
The change might have been what prompted
the country to join a couple of fairly
short lived island confederations
in the latesixties and early seventies. But
they ended up in the Windward and
Leeward Islands novel configuration
known asassociated statehood, which is when
they gained self governance. After
they became an associated state in
1967, they became completely responsible
for their own internal affairs and
the UK was responsible for international
dealings. That arrangement, of course,
came to an end with the establishment
of theisland nation as a constitutional
monarchy,retaining the british king or queen
as the official head of state, but
otherwise existing completely independently.
Now let's hear about one of the people
that was involved a bit in developing
theSt lucian education system and their
culture. Our composer, Sir Leighton
Thomas, was born on St Lucia in 1926
to a poor family and initially began
his education as an auto didact,
meaning he taught himself because
hecouldn't afford any books or school.
After working hard to acquire his
education certificate on St Lucia,
hewent on to earn a Bachelor of Science
and a master's of Arts from the Teachers
College at Columbia University in
New York in 1965. After that, he
joined the Peace Corps. Music was
always a big part of his life, though,
and he continued to study it throughout,
including as a young student and
then at some point somewhere in the
UK. But the record is kind of unclear
there. After returning to St Lucia,
hewent into public service and he stayed
there for 40 years. During that span,
he was a trainer of teachers, an
educational reformer, the chief education
officer through four education ministers.
Then he was appointed as a senator
andserved as the Minister of public
service reform in the office of the
prime minister. He even had enough
dedication and free time to work
hisway up and become St Lucia's representative
onUNESCO's executive board from 1997
to 1999. In 1987, he agreed to be
the first principal of the Sir Arthur
Lewis Community College in St Lucia
and held that position until 1995.
Kind of an incredible resume. Throughout
all of his efforts in public service,
Sir Thomas was also an avid and skillful
musician, serving as the choral director
and organist for the Roman Catholic
Cathedral in Castries. St. Lucia
formany years. He was so widely recognized
for his service to the country and
his musical ability that he was asked
to compose the music for Charles
Jesse's lyrics in 1967, thus completing
the national anthem of St. Lucia.
Themans selfless dedication to national
andregional development was internationally
noticed as well. In 1969 he was awarded
the Order of the British Empire,
andthen in 1992, he was elevated to
commander of the British Empire.
Theyear before that, the pope granted
hima knighthood in the Order of Sylvester.
And today I learned that the pope
can knight people who knew after
along life of service to others. Sir
Leighton Thomas passed in January
of2024. So this year you can even see
his three plus hour funeral service
onYouTube. And I did in fact watch
theentire thing because I am a dedicated
podcaster and there was some good
information about the man in there.
Sonow we know about the Poethenne,
we knowabout the composer, and we know how
St. Lucia became independent and
chose the national anthem, which
means that we are ready to discuss
thesong itself. Musically speaking.
We'vegot another anthem that is made for
the people. That is to say, it is
a piece that is accessible for the
average person to be able to sing,
play, and memorize. These are my
favorite kinds of anthems because
Ifeel like everyone in a nation should
be able to take part in the national
song. Reflecting that, we have a
tune generally performed in the key
of f major or g major. They're common
anthem keys because they are bright
and uplifting. A major tonality also
accommodates a wide range of low
and high voices to encourage communal
singing. Continuing along with the
theme of accessibility, we have a
composition that is in four four
time, or what I just learned I can
call common time. It's generally
playedat a moderate 80 to 90 beats per
minute, nice, steady sort of march.
It's easy to follow, and it instills
some kind of an order to the thing
melodically, mostly stepwise motion
with a couple of fun little jumps
inthere, and we get symmetrical four
bar phrasing that is common in western
music and especially in anthems.
It'slike Sir Thomas knew I was going
tobe writing about it decades after
hecomposed it and tailored the composition
tobe as anthem esque as possible. There
is even a primarily one four five
harmony with standard progressions
to helpevoke a feeling of unity from this
traditionally choir or brass band
performed song were left with a well
crafted piece of music that balances
simplicity and grandeur. Its harmonic
structure, major key tonality, and
accessible melody makes it suitable
forlarge scale public performances.
While itslyrics and musical dynamics evoke
pride and unity, the anthem succeeds
increating a musical embodiment of
St. Lucian identity, offering a dignified
yet celebratory reflection of the
nation's people and values. It's
pretty good stuff, even if I couldn't
find a version that I wanted to bop
my head to. Poetically, we can see
that Charles Jesse is another in
agrowing list of people on my show
that totally understood the assignment.
I'll talk to the content of the lyrics
after I read through them, but structurally,
this is an anthem that I enjoy, if
not terribly complicated. First,
it isa fairly short thing at just 18 lines
of text, making it easy for people
tomemorize. Second, it has a consistent
andnot incredibly complicated rhyming
scheme, a b c b diphthere, and I
think that this one goes a long way
in giving the words a rhythm all
their own before you even get a melody
or instrumentation to it of any kind.
A song for the people, indeed. So
I'm going to read through and then
we'll hear about the content of the
lyrics. This anthem is originally
writtenin English, but there is an official
version of the anthem in St. Lucian
Creole. Now the anthem sons and daughters
of St. Lucia love the land that gave
us birth land of beaches, hills and
valleys, fairest isle of all the
earth, wheresoever you may roam love,
o love, our island home gone the
times when nations battled for this
Helen of the west gone the days when
strife and discord dimmed her children's
toil and rest dawns at last a brighter
day stretches out a glad new way.
May the good Lord bless our island,
guard her sons from woe and harm.
Mayour people live united, strong in
soul and strong in arm justice, truth
and charity, our ideal forever beverage.
The first verse of the anthem focuses
on a deep sense of patriotism and
connection to the natural beauty
ofSt. Lucia. It addresses the sons
anddaughters of the island, calling
themto cherish their homeland regardless
ofwhere they may go. This got me lost
learning about the word diaspora.
Itmeans the dispersed population from
an originating geographic location,
like,uh, all of the St. Lucian people
whodo not live in St. Lucia. It comes
from a greek verb for I scatter.
It'sinteresting stuff that I spent way
too long reading about. So moving
on.The imagery of beaches, hills, and
valleys paints a picture of a diverse
and idyllic landscape, evoking a
sense of pride in the physical beauty
of the island. Describing St. Lucia
as the fairest island of all the
earth adds a personal and emotional
layer. Charles is implying that no
other land can compare to the one
that gave its people birth. The words
are less flowery than they are direct,
at least through most of the writing,
and I appreciate that the line love,
o love, our island home reinforces
theidea of loyalty and affection for
the island, a bond that the anthem
wants to transcend distance or time.
In the second verse, the anthem shifts
from natural beauty to a reflection
on St.Lucia's tumultuous history that we
can note, was entirely caused by
England and France fighting over
analready populated island that was
thousands of miles away from France
orEngland. The lyrics refer to the
conflicts of the past, acknowledging
thosedays that brought so much strife
anddiscord to its people. However, the
tone quickly turns to hope with the
promise of a brighter day and a glad
new way. This shift symbolizes a
departure from conflict and hardship
toward a future filled with peace
andprogress. The future for places like
St. Lucia is bright enough, with
theState Department in the US forecasting
slowbut steady economic growth for the
nation, mostly based on tourism and
a little bit of banana farming. However,
it is a sad fact that small island
nations like this remain really,
really, really vulnerable to climate
change. So vote if you can, wherever
youare in the world, and I guess donate
money to the right spot if you've
gotsome. And you know how to do that,
because what, what else are we able
to do anyway? Overall, the second
verse suggests that while St. Lucia's
past was marked by battles and challenges,
the future holds the promise of unity
and prosperity for its people, regardless
of what may come. The final verse
isa prayerful appeal for divine protection
and guidance, asking for the good
Lord to bless St. Lucia and protect
hispeople from harm. The spiritual plea
reflects a desire for the island
toremain safe, for its citizens to
live in harmony. Here we again have
an almost entirely christian population
inSt. Lucia, very nearly 93% of them.
Keep in mind that the man who wrote
this was a catholic priest, but honestly,
it's not like this sounds like a
hymn or anything. It's pretty low
key religious for what we have heard
before and what we will hear again.
The mention of living united, strong
in soul and strong in arm speaks
toboth the physical and spiritual strength
of the people, calling for a resilient
and cohesive nation. The closing
linesemphasize the importance of justice,
truth and charity, presenting these
as values that will guide St. Lucia
into the future. This final verse
ties together the themes of faith,
unity and moral integrity, serving
as ahopeful and inspiring conclusion
to theanthem. It wraps things up really
nicely, musically and lyrically.
Sons anddaughters is kind of exactly an anthem,
and the gentlemen that were picked
towrite the thing made it happen just
like they needed to. Story wise.
I'mnot super sure this time there was
a timeline. Things felt cohesive,
and insome way the story of this anthem
kindof starts when it was written, and
that's mostly where I end these shows
in other ways. Yes, it did start
whenbritish and French started killing
eachother, and somehow it started with
the lives of the people that were
involved. But what is in the story
isanother bit of the narrative about
the fall of colonialism and a peek
at another place that is honestly
juststunning to look at and that the
people seem great. So go there if
you can. Swing and take it. Maybe.
Fornow, I think we're gonna go to the
credits. The writing, recording and
production for the show are done
byme, and I wrote and played the theme
music. The music was played with
mypermission, unless otherwise noted,
the anthem's iPlayer public domain
stuff, or some other equivalently
free toplay license. And this time I again
did not ask anybody, mostly because
this version of the anthem is everywhere
and so ubiquitous that I can't find
the performers. I did try, though.
Mysources and the specific items I
mentioned in the show are contained
inthe show notes, and the most direct
way to get to those show notes is@anthemspodcast.com
also, this show is can credentialed,
whichmeans that you can report incidences
ofharassment, abuse or other harm on
their hotline at 617 249-4255 or
on the website@creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org
dot. You could even gothere and volunteer your time and
read all about what they do. I can
be found on Facebook and WhatsApp
as theAnthems podcast. You should follow
meon Facebook when I post. It's a post
about the show and we're at the end
of another one of those things right
now. For now, I'm going to try to
get the episode shared on whatever
platform I can with the hashtag anthemspod
because this is a mostly word of
mouth operation. So it would be cool
if you hashtagged a post like that
too. And it might also mean that
youdrop a spoon and it sounds out the
first few bars of something that
Bach composed. Not a life changing
event, but it would be a cool one,
right? As always, you can email me
corrections, comments, concerns,
suggestions, ideas, instructions
on how todo awesome things and even ask me
questions@anthemspodmail.com. i've
made it possible to leave me voicemail
and send me text messages at 1203-759-8375
orbetter still, leave me a review wherever
you can so that I can find out what
you think and get heard by more people.
Or give me a rating on your podcast
app, because that does the same thing.
And all that stuff matters a whole
bunch. Maybe that website cameo gives
you a freebie and you use it to get
a famous person to plug this very
episode. But even if all you do is
listen to another one, I'm kind of
a fan, and we're going to do this
again soon.
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