The song was written by Desmond Dekker and another key figure in the early days of Ska/Rocksteady and Reggae, Leslie Kong. Released as a single in 1968 as Desmond Dekker and the Aces, it was a #1 hit in the UK in 1969 and #9 on the Hot 100 in the US. It was the highest charting Reggae song to that date in the US and the first #1 in the UK.

Here is an incredible video of the man himself, Desmond Dekker in 1969.

The song was first covered in 1969 as “Israelites” by The Hit Parade Orchestra and Singers, a Swedish outfit led by Magnus Banck. Perhaps mercifully I can’t find a YouTube clip. The next cover is even more odd if that is possible, The California Poppy Pickers were an anonymous studio concoction that covered 1960’s hit songs. I did find a clip but I will spare you that experience. More such abominations follow. So is there a decent non-reggae cover of this great song? I was determined to find out.

I listened to close to twenty versions before I landed on the most recent I could find by a Brooklyn Indie band called Ava Luna in 2016 (I thought for sure they would be Italian). Some of the original lyrics are in the English based Jamaican Creole, I’m not sure that this version is a literal translation but nevertheless some of the words are equally somewhat unintelligible.

If you ‘pressured’ me to come up with a top 10 list of my favorite Reggae songs this would be on that list. One could argue it is more Rocksteady but lets not quibble over a great song. Written by Toots Hibbert, who was the leader of The Maytals and released in 1969. “Monkey Man” (1969) and “54-46 That’s My Number” are also written by Hibbert and pretty incredible songs as well.

First covered in 1976 by Robert Palmer. It is from his album of the same name that includes a few other great cover songs, in particular “Riverboat” by Allen Toussaint.

I confess when I heard this song by Palmer back in the day (1976) I had, not only no idea it was a cover, but who the heck was Toots Hibbert? That would change a few years later when I discovered Reggae and indeed my obsession with cover songs.

Many will know this song was also covered by The Clash in 1979. There are only 23 documented versions of this song.

Going by my pageview stats this series is much less popular than I had anticipated but hey, I’m enjoying it. If you are still reading then you may be interested in a couple thoughts.

Reviewing the covers from some of these earlier Reggae songs has highlighted something, to me anyway, there is a wealth of material here. As we have seen these songs don’t have to recorded in a Reggae style to work well. Just ask Eric Clapton. Although UB40 has benefited by doing so.

Toots Hibbert for example wrote almost all of the Maytals songs and many very good ones have not yet been covered. He is the person that is credited with giving Reggae it’s name with his song “Do The Reggay” from 1968. Oddly there is no documented cover and I can’t find a clip of one either.

Still on Toots Hibbert, here is an example of a great song that I can only find one cover of, “Sailing On” (1974). First the original and then a live version by The Derek Trucks Band from the album Songlines in 2006. It’s worth it just for his guitar playing, not to mention the lead vocals by Mike Mattison. One last Reggae post tomorrow.

I have always loved this Toots and The Maytals cover of the Otis Redding song “I’ve Got Dreams to Remember”.

Written and recorded by Jimmy Cliff for the movie The Harder They Come (1972).

The B side of the single release was “Many Rivers to Cross” (1969) from his first album. Subsequently it has become Cliff’s most recognizable song. It is also the most covered with 75 versions. It is a ballad and it features the *organ as he was going for more of a gospel feel.

First covered by Percy Sledge in 1970 where it was also a B side to “Push Mr. Pride Aside”.

The late and great, Desmond Dekker (1980) dropped the organ and added a classic reggae beat to the song.

*Max you get your own asterisk if that’s the organ reference you made in the comments of my fist post.

Bob Marely’s first single was released on Beverley’s Records in 1962, and recorded when he was 16 years old. These early recordings were all but forgotten until the Argentinian singer Mimi Maura did a tribute album in 2004.

The first album release from Bob Marly was with The Wailers, Peter Tosh and “Bunny” Livingston. It was a collection of the songs they had recorded in 1964 and ’65 and titled The Wailing Wailers.

“Simmer Down”(1964) was on that album and was written by Marley and record producer Coxsone Dodd.

Similarly it was pretty much a forgotten song until is was covered in 1993 by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

Of course Bob Marley would go on to great success and many of his more well known songs have been covered many times. There’s so much to say about him but for these posts I wanted to reach back a bit to find something I hope was a bit different for the fans of his music.