historian

[Gamma]

can you tell me if johnny clarke recorded a version of black star liner

[Assasin]

Love the original.

[Historian]

Re: Historian

Gamma, I can’t recall hearing any version of this song by Johnny Clarke. In fact, the only version of this song that I can recall at this time is Culture’s recording.

I will check it out for you when i get a chance later today.

[Assasin]

Historian it don't think it was culture but Fred locks signature song.

[Gamma]

no man...fred locks did the original...but i could have sworn johnny clarke had a version.

[Historian]

Joseph Hill and Culture

You are both correct, Assasin and Gamma!

Trust me, Historian finds this error embarrassing (like Lazie, I am speaking in the third person; LOL), as I pride myself on knowing about our music.

Speaking of the group Culture, I’m not sure if many people know that leader Joseph Hill was a fairly accomplished drummer long before he formed Culture. He also had some knowledge of the guitar. When I was a school boy back in the best-forgotten 1970s, I remember going to watch him on Saturdays rehearse with a band he was playing for at the time (he was the drummer). He lost this position one night when he drop-kicked the band leader in the face after an argument. The band leader fell on his back, got up and walked away. (This is an undisputed fact, as I stood quietly in the dark and witnessed everything. The only other witnesses were three members of the band, including the leader.)

Suffice it to say that Joseph Hill never played drums, or anything else, for that group after that night. Glen Washington (who made a name for himself in the 1990s as a reggae singer) took over the drum chores in that band on the day after the incident.

Glen Washington was always a very, very good drummer, even before replacing Joseph Hill in the band (I cannot, for the life of me, remember the name of that band). Eventually, the members of the entire band migrated to the USA after Stevie Wonder invited tem up on a recording contract. Nothing came of the recording, but the members all chose to remain in the USA.

[Historian]

More on Hill

Actually, Joseph Hill showed me a few simple chords on the guitar during my early years of learning music. I remember that he showed me alternative ways of holding A-minor and E-minor, and one or two other simple things. This was a one-time lesson, however.

[Assasin]

Joseph Hill was such a cool customer in his later years when I met him, can't imagine he would actually do a ting like that .


Glen Washington, What became of him?

[Gamma]

didn't have a couple of minor solo hits?

[Gamma]

historian...who sang "step it in ballet"...yuh memba?

[Assasin]

Roland Burrell.

Remember "Johnny dollar" and "Have you been outside when the rain is falling?"

[Historian]

Closing Comments on Hill

LOL, Gamma, interesting word play!

Assasin, although I never got an opportunity to speak with Joseph Hill after the night he kicked his band leader to the ground (after the leader and the other two members walked off, Joseph saw me standing in the dark and came across and chatted with me briefly), he was a “cool customer” even back then. I occasionally chatted with him on the Saturdays that I went to watch the band rehearse, and he always was an extremely approachable guy. I liked him very much, in fact!

The band leader was the one responsible for that kicking incident, as he was bothering Joseph over something. (Although I heard them arguing before the kick landed, I was a youth back then and so can’t remember anything of the details of that argument.)

Assasin, have you ever met Glen Washington? Back in the very early 1980s when I last spoke with him, he was still a jovial, likeable guy who liked to make jokes and tease. I know he got married to an American lady in the early 1980s, but I didn’t hear anything more of him for many years until in the 1990s when I suddenly heard records by him on the old Studio One beat (was it Studio One beats? I’m trying to remember those recordings by Glen).

In the 1970s Glen Washington was a one-hit wonder in Jamaica with the song, “Susie.” He recorded other songs prior to migrating, but none made any dent on the RJR and JBC charts.

[Gamma]

YESS....mi always did a mix it up with hugh mundell...tenky sah...

[Mosiah]

Met Fred Locks the other day. He lives in Harbour View and is an ardent supporter of the Real Big Side!

Absolutely, to this day, love that Black Star Liner song! Classic!!!

[Islandman]

I thought it was a name like Hugh Griffiths?

I remember a line of the song that said something like " And I man Hugh Griffiths a step it in ballet"

Don't think he said Roland Burrell at all!!