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DEM ORIGINATE IT, BUT WE OWN DI TING!
We Jamaicans have a way of using a thing so pervasively or creatively that the thing becomes associated with we who use it; and what usually happens as a result, is everybody assumes that we own the thing and we same one even sometimes end up collectively forgetting that we never originate the thing. You see di ting I trying to say?
All right, imagine this story. Shanna's a young Jamaican living in Toronto. She's from Kingston. Earlier in their relationship, she and her boyfriend, Seamus, had this hell of an argument. Shanna was so sure she was correct and Seamus was wrong, that she was betting money. She was ranting and raving and placing calls to Jamaica to get people to verify her claim, while Seamus was red in the face, rolling over and literally a dead wid laff. <span style="font-style: italic">What was the source of the argument?</span> <span style="font-weight: bold">Shanna was trying to convince Seamus who hails from Dublin, Ireland, that Guinness stout originated in Jamaica.</span> Yu see di ting now?
sankey type chant
A next ting: Lecturer, impresario and entertainer 'Ragashanti' has a thing that has become a signature nuance of his repertoire. He breaks into a sankey type chant of 'dah dah dee, dah dah dah' at some points. It's a usually well employed ploy. He asks a question or makes a statement, leaves it hanging, and then starts chanting. It's funny and catchy and cleverly indicates that he's washing his hands of any responsibility for the interpretations that people may apply to his reference. He does it so well, that even though he has been on record several times reminding people that it's something he picked up from Ity & Fancy Cat, people still refer to it as di Raga ting.
But hear di ting. It's a similar thing when people give authorship to Bob Marley when they're making textual reference to some words that Marley might have put eloquently and evocatively to song. The fact is, many times the words that people are ascribing to the man are quotes that the Gong took from Haile Selassie, Marcus Garvey, or the Bible. Is so di ting go. What can make the thing worse is when people misquote the quote, like the man I heard on the minibus years ago, loudly proclaiming to everyone "Mr Bab Morley says and I quote: hoe to the downpressor, he eats the bread and syrup"
sampling
One of my 'must do' things whenever I'm in New York is paying a visit to my brethren Randy Fagan. We usually spend hours laughing and sharing stories like these and sampling his expansive and eclectic musical selection. Last time I was there, Randy played me some songs that many people would bet money, rant and rave like Shanna, and even bruck fight about who are the original singers. These are songs that have been 'owned' by the voices and the personalities that many of us associate with the song. But if we think they're the original or authors we're very wrong.
So here's the thing: Feel good all over isn't a Delroy Wilson original. Try The Fiestas. And Come tomorrow (also known as Song of the swallow), is not Ken Boothe's but a Marig Knight original.
The Temptations originated Love I can feel not John Holt; and Everything I own may be owned by Ken Boothe's voice but the originator is Bread. Oh, and Dreamland is not originally Bunny Wailer but El Tempos. You're gonna need me is not an Errol Dunkley tune! Try Barbara Lynn. And neither Alton Ellis nor Freddie McGregor originated Let 'em try. It was Rasco Gordon!
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We Jamaicans have a way of using a thing so pervasively or creatively that the thing becomes associated with we who use it; and what usually happens as a result, is everybody assumes that we own the thing and we same one even sometimes end up collectively forgetting that we never originate the thing. You see di ting I trying to say?
All right, imagine this story. Shanna's a young Jamaican living in Toronto. She's from Kingston. Earlier in their relationship, she and her boyfriend, Seamus, had this hell of an argument. Shanna was so sure she was correct and Seamus was wrong, that she was betting money. She was ranting and raving and placing calls to Jamaica to get people to verify her claim, while Seamus was red in the face, rolling over and literally a dead wid laff. <span style="font-style: italic">What was the source of the argument?</span> <span style="font-weight: bold">Shanna was trying to convince Seamus who hails from Dublin, Ireland, that Guinness stout originated in Jamaica.</span> Yu see di ting now?
sankey type chant
A next ting: Lecturer, impresario and entertainer 'Ragashanti' has a thing that has become a signature nuance of his repertoire. He breaks into a sankey type chant of 'dah dah dee, dah dah dah' at some points. It's a usually well employed ploy. He asks a question or makes a statement, leaves it hanging, and then starts chanting. It's funny and catchy and cleverly indicates that he's washing his hands of any responsibility for the interpretations that people may apply to his reference. He does it so well, that even though he has been on record several times reminding people that it's something he picked up from Ity & Fancy Cat, people still refer to it as di Raga ting.
But hear di ting. It's a similar thing when people give authorship to Bob Marley when they're making textual reference to some words that Marley might have put eloquently and evocatively to song. The fact is, many times the words that people are ascribing to the man are quotes that the Gong took from Haile Selassie, Marcus Garvey, or the Bible. Is so di ting go. What can make the thing worse is when people misquote the quote, like the man I heard on the minibus years ago, loudly proclaiming to everyone "Mr Bab Morley says and I quote: hoe to the downpressor, he eats the bread and syrup"
sampling
One of my 'must do' things whenever I'm in New York is paying a visit to my brethren Randy Fagan. We usually spend hours laughing and sharing stories like these and sampling his expansive and eclectic musical selection. Last time I was there, Randy played me some songs that many people would bet money, rant and rave like Shanna, and even bruck fight about who are the original singers. These are songs that have been 'owned' by the voices and the personalities that many of us associate with the song. But if we think they're the original or authors we're very wrong.
So here's the thing: Feel good all over isn't a Delroy Wilson original. Try The Fiestas. And Come tomorrow (also known as Song of the swallow), is not Ken Boothe's but a Marig Knight original.
The Temptations originated Love I can feel not John Holt; and Everything I own may be owned by Ken Boothe's voice but the originator is Bread. Oh, and Dreamland is not originally Bunny Wailer but El Tempos. You're gonna need me is not an Errol Dunkley tune! Try Barbara Lynn. And neither Alton Ellis nor Freddie McGregor originated Let 'em try. It was Rasco Gordon!
[email protected]
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