Eek-A-Mouse captures his corona year in Sweden in new book
Published:Friday | November 5, 2021 | 12:10 AMYasmine Peru/Senior Gleaner Writer
A quirky collection of poems, songs, essays and on-the-go rambling – some sarcastic, some serious, others bland, and the rest just plain humorous – sums up My Corona Year in Sweden 2020, the first book from reggae singer Eek-A-Mouse.
‘Mouse’, as he sometimes calls himself, has always been that creative in the music business who doesn’t give two sticks about being politically correct or people’s opinion of him. “ Bob Marley is the King, and I am the Clown Prince,” he writes in the poem, Each Brother on the Opposite End, and he does do quite a bit of clowning around in this coffee-table book. But it is the type of clowning that transforms Eek-A-Mouse into the cynical, but wise Shakespearean court jester.
“I am happy that my book is out. I love to write, so I am always writing. I write down everything. I really want to do more books and movies. You have Hollywood and Bollywood, so I am doing Jahllywood. Ding ding,” he told The Gleaner, giving his signature sign-off.
My Corona Year in Sweden 2020, which features a shirtless Eek-A-Mouse with black Mickey Mouse ears and encrusted glasses posing dramatically on the cover, is divided into sections: Jamaica, America, Black Lives Matter, Corona Year 2020 and Jahllywood. In his intro to Jamaica, Eek-A-Mouse writes, “ This is just a game. We are bringing back the gays in the reggae. Why these homophobic Jamaicans hate me, saying that I b***y up the business.”
This homosexual reference is a sort of fixation throughout the first section, and it is explored in poems/songs titled Homophobic Jamaicans, B***y** Party and Mackerels a Weh Yuh Deh, a hypothetical conversation between him and veteran artiste Major Mackerel. In this poem, his disdain for Mackerel is potent, even trolling the entertainer for having had his leg amputated, with a tongue-in-cheek, “ Hey Mackerel a weh yuh deh, sorry di doctor cut off yuh leg, Just ketch a Mackerel in my fish net, a fish without a fin, hopping on one limb, how does it feel to lose a leg.”
And there is more, much more. But Eek-A-Mouse insists that there is no ill will.
“Me and dem man deh don’t have nothing. Dem seh that I am ‘b***ying’ up the business,” he said with a big grin, in reference to suggestions from persons in the dancehall – perhaps fuelled by his own love for posing with rainbow flags and wearing rainbow-coloured clothing and glasses – that he is gay.
“I am not a gyallis. Eek-A-Mouse loves and respects women, and girls love Eek-A-Mouse. Lots of times, one of them big man want meet Eek-A-Mouse and him have a girl who is a big fan, and the girl want to get close to Eek-A-Mouse. But you have to be careful of these girls. They will trick you. There was one who I thought was classy, but she was trashy. Eek-A-Mouse unique. I love to dress up in all kinds of costumes; and even the kids love Eek-A-Mouse, so my fan base is wide. When I am in Italy, I dress up as the pope. I am the black pope,” he declared.
The entertainer, who has been in Sweden for the entire pandemic, is not afraid to touch on sociopolitical issues, and he heaps it all into full-page musings with titles such as ‘At the Border Separated Children’, ‘Returning the Stolen Artefacts to Africa’, ‘Vaccine Over Complex Development’, ‘Rigged Voting’ and ‘Does This Make Sense to the Kremlin’.
My Corona Year in Sweden 2020 is half picture book, half writing, and the photographer captures the many moods of ‘The Mouse No One Can Catch’.