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Two songs for me on my birthday today   

Dec 30, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – Today is my birthday. I was born 72 years ago to Panchmani Doorgadin and Hari Kissoon. I am the last of seven siblings. I can’t say that it was has been an enjoyable life holistically speaking.

I don’t want to look younger. I don’t want to dye my grey hair. I don’t want to wear designer clothes. I don’t want to be part of high society in Guyana. I am dismissive of the people who compromise such a society.

I am a happy person though I will willingly confess; I will always be driven by angst over the failure of Guyana to be a caring nation, to be a country where people have some understanding of what civilized society means and the need for civilized society to comprehend the elementary meaning of justice and decency.

A society cannot be wholesome if it has no moral compass to guide it. The people of this nation are bereft of a sense of moral obligation to humanity. On the personal side -my life has made me one of the luckiest humans on Planet Earth. I married one of civilization’s nicest humans. I find refuge and solace from the evils that inhere in civilized society in my wife’s company.

Outside of the personal, I hate what I did with my life. Obviously, I am referring to my praxis of 55 years. There were too many sacrifices and when you look down the road, they were all in vain.

When I look back at my political life, I think the most satisfying moments is when I held the position of advisor to the Maurice Bishop Government of Grenada in 1983. I was satisfied that who I am and what I stood for was appreciated. I have a huge surprise tonight on The Gildarie-Freddie Kissoon Show. I will not go into even a fragment of a detail. Just watch and you will see just who I am.

I dedicate to me on my birthday today, these two favourite songs of mine that have relevance to the way my life evolved. The first one, “I’ve Gotta Be Me” is by Sammy Davis Junior. The second one is by the inimitable Johnny Mathis. Of the 42 artists that have sung it, Mathis’ rendition remains the most soulfully penetrating version for me.

“I’ve gotta be by,” Sammy Davis Jr.

Whether I’m right or whether I’m wrong
Whether I find a place in this world or never belong
I gotta be me, I’ve gotta be me
What else can I be but what I am

I want to live, not merely survive
And I won’t give up this dream
Of life that keeps me alive
I gotta be me, I gotta be me
The dream that I see makes me what I am

That far away prize, a world of success
Is waiting for me if I heed the call
I won’t settle down, won’t settle for less
As long as there’s a chance that I can have it all

I’ll go it alone, that’s how it must be
I can’t be right for somebody else
If I’m not right for me
I gotta be free, I’ve gotta be free
Daring to try, to do it or die
I’ve gotta be me

I’ll go it alone, that’s how it must be
I can’t be right for somebody else
If I’m not right for me
I gotta be free, I just gotta be free
Daring to try, to do it or die
I gotta be me

“Corner of the sky,” Johnny Mathis

Everything has its season

Everything has its time

Show me a reason

And I’ll soon show you a rhyme

Cats sit on the window sill

Children sit in the snow

Why do I feel I don’t fit in

Anywhere I go

Rivers belong where they can ramble

Eagles belong where they can fly

I’ve got to be where my spirit can run free

Gotta find my corner of the sky

Every man his daydreams

Every man has his goal

People like the way dreams have of

Sticking to the soul

Thunderclouds have their lightening

Nightingales have their song

Don’t you see I want my life to be

Something more than long

So many men seem destined

To settle for something small

But I, I won’t rest

‘Til I know I have it all

So don’t ask where I’m going

Just listen when I’m gone

Far away you’ll hear me singing

Softly to the dawn

Rivers belong where they can ramble,

Eagles belong where they can fly

I’ve got to be where my spirit can run free.

Gotta find my corner of the sky

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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