Bob Andy

[Assasin]

The inspiration behind the song has oftentimes been misleading, and Andy sought to set the record straight in a 2005 radio interview with me.
"The morning when this inspiration visited was a morning like none other. I smoked some herb and had a vibe, and I went around the piano. All I had was the brass section in my head, and went to Bobby Ellis and hummed it to him, and he, with his orthodox musical knowledge, did the rest. I had just started to delve into 'Rastology' and felt a national weight on me, and it was like a vision I saw of people trodding home," said Andy.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2.../ent/ent9.html

[Sir X]

So if we followed Historian,Gomes and reggaedoc ,Bob Andy is a clown,idiot and zombie that should be criminalised and denied the productive skill of creating music because he smoked a herb, so too the millions of other musicians esp the jazz ones.....and he asks what am i smoking ? deluded thinking, i am sure the hypocrytes in them will argue musicians get a pass.

[Historian]

Missing the Point!

So if we followed Historian,Gomes and reggaedoc ,Bob Andy is a clown,idiot and zombie that should be criminalised and denied the productive skill of creating music because he smoked a herb, so too the millions of other musicians esp the jazz ones.....

X likes to refer to jazz, so here’s a question: How many jazz greats got their “inspiration” from marijuana as opposed to getting it from cocaine, heroin, LSD, etc.? Of course there were some genuinely great jazz musicians who smoked marijuana very regularly; Louis Armstrong comes immediately to mind (he smoked the weed daily). But the drug of choice of Coltrane and Parker and Billie and the countless others was NOT primarily marijuana, so let’s drop this nonsense right now!

Check out the long list of jazz, blues, rock‘n’ roll and country musicians who used substances for “inspiration” (as you two put it). The vast majority of those singers and musicians chose hard drugs like cocaine, etc. as their “inspiration”!

But I guess that a marijuana or two and a few shots of coke or crack should become acceptable because of the beautiful music that will result?

BUT HOLD IT!
Consider this, X and Assasin: Some of the greatest compositions known to mankind are in that (sometimes) overlooked genre, Gospel Music.

In fact, I am going to go on record as stating that the Gospel Music genre has produced a larger percentage of genuinely gifted/outstanding songwriters, composers, arrangers, singers and musicians than any other genre in the Americas (our region)! But I guess those immensely talented Gospel Music and Christian Music songwritersand composers smoked a spliff or two in order to become inspired?

When you guys have your nonsense to sprout, do not aim it my way!

[Sir X]

Yuh really confused , who is debating hard drugs ? you made reference to Louis Armstrong so you need to defend criminalising him to deny him from producing his great works and for society to also be denied of listening to it because as you claim it would make him a idiot,clown,lazie , zombie!

That is the point, like I said debating you and stripping you bare is waaaay too easy .

[Historian]

My Final Comment

Yuh really confused , who is debating hard drugs ? you made reference to Louis Armstrong so you need to defend criminalising him to deny him from producing his great works and for society to also be denied of listening to it because as you claim it would make him a idiot,clown,lazie , zombie!

That is the point, like I said debating you and stripping you bare is waaaay too easy .

My difficulty is getting you to understand simple statements. This is getting really tiresome, but let me make one final attempt at simplifying it for you.

The following quotes are taken from our discussion above in this thread.

X: “….should be criminalised and denied the productive skill of creating music because he smoked a herb, so too the millions of other musicians esp the jazz ones….”

Historian: “How many jazz greats got their “inspiration” from marijuana as opposed to getting it from cocaine, heroin, LSD, etc.? …. the drug of choice of Coltrane and Parker and Billie and the countless others was NOT primarily marijuana, so let’s drop this nonsense right now!

“Check out the long list of jazz, blues, rock‘n’ roll and country musicians who used substances for 'inspiration' (as you two put it). The vast majority of those singers and musicians chose hard drugs like cocaine, etc. as their 'inspiration'!” END OF QUOTES.

So X, the point I was making is that in your eagerness to defend musicians who made the major mistake (fatal in many cases) of choosing drugs, you erroneously attribute marijuana as their drug of choice! Yes, a few smoked the weed occasionally, but the majority of non-reggae musicians got their “highs” from hard drugs. And I really am sorry to disappoint you with this bit of information!

FINALLY:
As I stated, marijuana is not necessary for musical inspiration, and I gave the example of one of the most impressive and productive genres of them all, gospel music.

Sleep well, boss.

[Exile]

Interesting discussions and statements...to be fair Historian, I don't think X said marijuana was "a drug of choice" but rather pointed out to its use. Hugh Masekela said he used a lot of marijuana and did use cocaine as well. Bob smoked and many more reggae singers....

The thing is - there is always middle ground. Not all users of drugs esp. marijuana are lazy idiots and burden to society. Some are creative geniuses as well and contribute to different genres of music including Gospel (don't know why you would think Gospel musicians wouldn't use drugs).

Finally, for your own records and comfort - I don't smoke...anything.