King Swallow

The story so far.

Written and edited by Smokiller

King Swallow is a singer whose recordings place him in the early years of soca at Antigua Carnival. An archive of his older songs, uploaded with years and the label Antigua and Barbuda, includes "Coup d'etat", posted as 1979 soca music, "Work Is Work" and "Ah Wonder Why" from 1980, "Tight Mas" and "Find The Spot" from 1982, and "Soca Take Over" from 1983. Another upload dates his song "Election Match" to 1976, three years before the earliest of the soca labelled uploads. Other King Swallow songs shared online include "Pow Pow", "Tek U Licking" and "Writter Your Own Song". He was still performing decades after those releases, as footage from Breakfast Fete in Antigua in 2017 shows, and that clip is among the most watched videos of him on YouTube. "Tight Mas" and "Coup d'etat" make a good pair for hearing his early soca style.