The Summer Is Ending, And We Are Not Saved

Out in the streets, they call it murder!

Damian "Jr Gong" Marley: Welcome to Jamrock
from Welcome To Jamrock single (Up Above 2005)

John Holt: I'd Love You to Want Me
from 1000 Volts of Holt (Trojan 1973) reissued as 1000 Volts of Holt (Trojan 2002)


As August comes to a close and the season of sticky skin, clingy shirts and rampant underarm stank leaves us for the short days and orange tinted evenings of fall I thought what better way to celebrate and to kiss the summer goodbye than by posting random songs that have been getting constant play in the Filthy Choice household (non-sensical non-sequiturs are a norm in here).

First up is the already played out yet always fresh Welcome To Jamrock by Damian Marley. With it's mix of deep, plodding dancehall basslines and socially relevant lyrics this song has everything going for it. Stirring up a little controversy when it dropped, critics saying that it portrayed Jamaica as a harshly dichotomous city of extreme poverty on one side and exploitive politicians on the other, well listening to the song you can't argue with the points. With mocking lyrics like "some bwoy nah notice, dem only come around like tourist/On di beach wid a few club sodas/Bedtime stories, and pose like dem name Chuck Norris/And don’t know di real hardcore" Damian doesn't pull no punches. He presents the side of Jamaica that never gets mentioned in the tourist brochures and is able to tie together the inadequacies of ghetto life and how it permeates the very being of it's citizens, and with the Ini Kamozie vocal sample this song is the perfect farewell vehicle for summer's swan song.

The other song is by the great John Holt. Taken from his crossover hit album 1000 Volts of Holt, Holt covers the insipid Lobo song of the same name and in the tradition of great cover songs, he laces it with enough elan and rhythm that the song not only becomes palatable, it becomes enjoyable. I don't know why I love this song, I just do and sometimes that's a good enough explanantion. Listen for the "mash up" of the song with the Beatles Let It Be about halfway through.