Over his 30-plus years in the calypso arena, King Socrates has won 17 crowns, locally and regionally, and had decided it was time to focus his attention and energy more on writing and producing songs for other calypsonians.

Sugar Mas 43 was his last year of competition but, in an interview with SKNVibes yesterday (Oct. 18), King Socrates – legally known as Sylvester Hodge – announced that he has come out of retirement.

He said the opinions of his supporters played a major role in his decision to return to competition.

“There are a lot of folks who have come to me. They didn’t twist my arm but they made sense and they have given some reasons why I should not retire. So I have strapped on the guns, I’m back in the ring, the public at large is excited because you have Phonsie competing, Starshield and other notables competing.

“It brings a new level of excitement. It means that we still have the geriatrics, we still have a lot to offer. We have heard comments that calypso is going down the drain. Well, we are the old guard and we have come back to prove a point that we still have some metal.”

Socrates seems not to be ready to let the cat out of the bag as it relates to the names and or subject areas his songs will address, but he promised that by the end of this month they would have been given to the radio stations for them to be played.

Asked specifically about what his supporters said to convinced him to jump back into the bullring, King Socrates expressed that “some who have been there supporting me since I won my first crown, they say I am a missing element. Win, lose or draw, I am a missing element and I should not take it lightly and just walk away.”