Dat Reggae Vibe
Again not so much of a physical but more of a mental journey for this post. When I used to work for a much smaller company than I do now, when you were allowed to play YouTube videos whilst working (obviously with earphones in!) we used to enjoy Friday's, basically a day when my boss and I used to tune into just reggae sounds and swap the sounds we were listening to, we had love for so much of it from the real 'roots' reggae sound, dub reggae and some old skool sounds as well, one of the artists who we used to listen to was a guy who sadly passed this year...
Well, there is something about music and even better when it has some humour thrown into it as well. I have to say I love a bit of that whole reggae vibe, it always makes me want to get up and dance and puts a smile on my face. We used to like stuff by more modern Smiley Culture with the track 'Police Officer' released originally in 1984 as well as the wonderful 'Cockney Translation' released in '85, you can catch both at the links. We liked listening to the proper old stuff as well.
Mr Shervington had a bit of both with some smooth old skool reggae sounds and a bucket load of humour thrown in for good measure. Mr Leighton Keith Shervington better known as 'Pluto' scored some great sounds inspired by other Jamaican artists such as Tinga Stewart with his song 'Play De Music', which you catch at the link.ย
Lyrically the guy was gold, his word play and with obvious Jamaican patois plus the great 'sunny' reggae music style thrown in make for some really good listening, I just love those well known tracks such as 'Dat' (about a Rastafarian trying to buy pork so he can afford some marijuana and disguising the meat he is buying by referring to it as 'dat') the track reached the dizzy heights of #6 in the UK Singles chart in 1976 having been released on the 'Wild Flower Records' label two years earlier in 1974.
And the hilarious 'Your Honour' released in 1975 on the 'Opal Records' label about a guy caught in a closet after having an adulterous affair with another man's wife. Just the lyrics when questioned by the judge as to whether he had touched the woman in question:
"Him claims of me touching him wifeWhich is a wicked and awful lieMe two hands 'em was occupiedMe shirt's in me left, and me pants in me right"
Pluto's other notable songs include 'Ram Goat Liver'ย again a song that kind of smacks of 'real life' and sounds very akin to Tinga Stewart's 'Play De Music', the story in short; man jumps bus, bus hits a stray goat, no one knows who the animal belongs to so they decide to cook it up, man gets a really bad case of the 'runny belly', and in it's way a proverb given in that crime doesn't pay. A big reference to 'Mannish Water' (a kind of Caribbean soup which contains parts of goat and considered a bit of an aphrodisiac...allegedly!). Finally also notably a kind of nod to Jamaica with 'I Man Born Ya'.
So, I had some leave to use and to be honest I have felt more tired than usual recently with work so I booked a week off, nothing specific going down, no major special holidaying in far off places just partly sorting some admin type stuff that I never get round to as I usually can't be bothered. We did take a few days to do some nice things like a visit down to Canterbury and Whitstable in nearby Kent. We got so lucky with the weather as June can be a bit unpredictable in the UK but for the week we had quite gloriously warm weather and plenty of sun.
We also spent a bit of time up town (London), visiting a few places and enjoying the Pride march in London which again was a wonderful and colourful experience, we dropped into nearby Chinatown for some great food after topping off a lovely day in town. I guess the weather gave me the whole Summery reggae vibe that inspired this post and previous reggae memories above as well as celebrating the life and music of a great reggae artist who passed away this year.
The big man sadly passed away at the start of 2024 I didn't see much fanfare of his life or work, nonetheless he will be missed by me and those who loved his sound and character. He had a varied career from not only punting out his own music, but also a talented bass guitarist and record producer and In 2004, he was awarded the "Living Legend" award at King's House, Jamaica. A great big respect for his music on this website in memory of a lyrical genius.
You can catch some of the other Reggae Vibes on this site at the link, catch ya'll again soon๐
Photo Thanks
Photo by Robert Penaloza on Unsplash
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