BREAKS & BITS 12
MORE REGGAE
JOHNNY CASH - Ring Of Fire >< THE ETHIOPIANS - Train To Skaville
1963 |
The Ethiopians were a ska and reggae group that formed in Jamaica in 1942. Train To Skaville in 1967 was their first big hit. The song takes it's riff from Johnny Cash's classic 1963 song Ring Of Fire. The country classic was written by June Carter Cash - Johnny's second wife - and recorded by her sister Anita Carter. When Cash heard Carters version he warned her of his vision of covering the song with added mariachi horns. When his wifes sister failed to make a hit out of the song, Johnny re-did it.
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1967 |
THE ETHIOPIANS - Train To Skaville >< TOOTS & THE MAYTALS - 54-46 That's...
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1967
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Toots and The Maytals formed in Jamaica in 1963 as just The Maytals. In 1964, with additional backing from Studio One house band The Skatalites, the band was recording charting singles. In 1966, just after his award winning original song Bam Bam, Toots was arrested for marijuana possession and spent 18 months in jail. In 1968 he wrote the song 54-46 That's My Number about his time in jail. The songs rhythm borrows from Train To Skaville, which was released the previous year by The Ethiopians.
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1968
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TOOTS & THE MAYTALS - 54-46 What's My Number >< FOXY BROWN - OH YEAH
1968 |
In 2001 Trinidadian American rapper Foxy Brown released her third album Broken Silence. On the album's stand-out track Oh Yeah Brown samples the intro of Toots and The Maytals song 54-46 That's My Number. This signature song of Foxy Brown's sparked the hip-hop/dancehall movement of the early 2000's. The year before the song's official release a version of the song had been bootlegged after being featured on a DJ Envy mixtape.
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2001 |
THE SOUND DIMENSIONS - Free Soul >< LILY ALLEN - Smile
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1968
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In 2006 British singer Lily Allen released her debut single Smile. On this hit song she samples Jackie Mittoo's keyboard riff off the 1967 rocksteady song Free Soul - a single from Coxsone Dodd Studio One house band The Sound Dimensions, who also went by other names such as The Soul Brothers. They were also the backing band for the debut album of reggae legend Burning Spear in 1973.
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2006
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NORA DEAN - Barbwire >< MAJOR LAZER ft MR. VEGAS - Can't Stop Now
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1970
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Jamaican reggae singer Nora Dean is best known for her 1970 single Barbwire. Before she was a solo artist Dean was a member of The Soulettes - which would later become the I-Three's. In 2010 Dean's Barbwire was sampled on Can't Stop Me, a song off a 2009 EP from Diplo's electronic and reggae fusion project Major Lazer. The extended play single was released a year after their successful debut album - Guns Don't Kill People Lazers Do.
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2009
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WILLIE COBBS - You Don't Love Me >< DAWN PENN - No, No, No
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1960
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Blues singer/songwriter Willie Cobbs was best known for his 1960 classic You Don't Love Me. This song has been covered many times by artists including The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band and Junior Wells. In 1967 the song was recorded as a rocksteady single by young Jamaican singer Dawn Penn. In 1970 Dawn Penn quit music and moved to the Virgin Islands. After she returned to Jamaica in 1987 the song was revived and re-recorded and in 1993 the new version of her cover was a worldwide hit.
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1967
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JACKIE MITTOO - Peenie Walie >< BOB MARLEY & THE MAILERS - Duppy Conqueror
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1970
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In the 1960's reggae keyboarder Jackie Mittoo was Studio One's musical director, and he was also a member of The Skatalites and other Studio One house bands. By the end of the 1960's Mittoo moved to Toronto, Canda where he opened a record store and continued to record music. In 1971 Bob Marley and The Wailers reworked Mittoo's 1970 song Peenie Wallie and they released it as Duppy Conqueror.
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1971
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JAMES BROWN - I Guess I'll Have To Cry >< BOB MARLEY - My Cup
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1968
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In 1968 James Brown wrote and recorded the soul funk classic I Guess I'll Have To Cry, Cry, Cry. A couple years later Bob Marley & The Wailers recorded a reggae version of the song called My Cup. Marley's cover of the James Brown song appears on Soul Rebels - the 1970 album by the Wailers was their first released outside Jamaica. The album was produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry and first released on Trojan Records in the UK.
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1970
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NEIL DIAMOND - Red Red Wine >< TONY TRIBE - Red Red Wine
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1967
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The song Red Red Wine was written and originally performed by Neil Diamond in 1967. The somber ballad is one if Diamond's favorite songs. Red Red Wine was covered numerous times, and in 1969 reggae singer Tony Tribe released a reggae version of the song. In 1983 British reggae band UB40 released a cover version on Labour Of Love - an album of cover versions. The hugely successful UB40 version of Diamond's song added an endeared toasted verse on the intro from band member Astro.
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1969
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THE FOLKES BROTHERS - Carolina >< SHAGGY - Oh Carolina
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1960
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In 1960 the legendary and important Prince Buster produced his first hit record , Carolina by The Folkes Brothers - John Mico and Junior. In 1984 the Jamaican government presented John, the song's writer, with a certificate recognizing Carolina as the first reggae song ever. In 1993 Jamaican-American reggae artist Shaggy had a huge international hit with his cover of the song. The following year Prince Buster took Folkes to court in a dispute over ownership of the song, the High Court in London eventually ruled that Folkes held the copyright to the song.
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1993
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