Some Songs Considered

“A Message to You Rudy” – The Specials
(Words/music: Lee “Scratch” Perry and Lee Thompson, available on The Specials, 2 Tone / Chrysalis 1979)

More than bands in other genres, ska bands look backward to their heroes for their inspiration.  The Specials did this as much as anyone else and in the process became ambassadors to both the second wave ska movement and to the history of ska in general.  Without the Specials pointing backwards to their roots, generations of music fans might begin and end their knowledge of reggae with Bob Marley.  So it’s appropriate that the Specials debut album contained a number of old reggae songs, including a faithful interpretation of this Dandy Livingstone track.  While Livingstone’s track cautioned the Jamaican rude boys against their violent behavior, The Specials sent their “message” to the new wave of ska in England.  Just as the new wave of ska repurposed “rude boy” to mean fans of the music (granted, some still took the violence as part of it), the Specials took Livingstone’s warning and repurposed it as a rallying cry to their growing two-tone movement. 

Personally, “A Message to You Rudy” takes on an entirely out-of-context meaning.  Tonight I’m going to celebrate my friend Matt’s birthday at Rudy’s, one of our favorite bars.  In addition to affordable beer (and amazing Belgian frites), Rudy’s has been a place to get together with friends, listen to an insanely eclectic jukebox, and kick back from the day-to-day grind.  Even though I knew most of the songs that I associate with Rudy’s long before I could drink beer, many vivid memories attached to these songs occurred at Rudy’s.  So tonight, while lifting a pint to Matt, I’ll see if I can slip a dollar into the jukebox and play the Specials in honor of a friend, a band, and a bar that I hold so dearly.

More on The Specials: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

“2-Tone Army” – The Toasters
(Words/music: Rob Hingley, available on Hard Band for Dead, Moon Ska Records 1996)

As a teenager discovering punk rock in the 1990s, ska music was unavoidable.  Too many factors put ska in front of me - friends kept playing records by Goldfinger and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones every time they picked me up and my musician friends gravitated toward any record with a horn section, especially if those records had a bit of edge to them.  The “third wave” of ska (the one mixed with skate-punk, for lack of a better term), seemed catered to teenagers of my generation – it was fast, fun, and rebellious enough – and while I never became as obsessed as some of my friends, I enjoyed my share of it.  Even thinking about the first Reel Big Fish album brings me back to the time when I first had my driver’s license, picking up my friends to go hang out somewhere and do nothing.

The Toasters’ “2-Tone Army” styles itself as a rally call for the 90’s ska revival.  “It’s a modern look, but it’s all about roots” seemed to sum it up, as “Bucket” Hingley sings at the end of the first verse, and his song certainly owes a debt to The Specials and The Beat, in particular with his vocal delivery.  The horn section gives the song its hook and its most distinctive melodic phrase, and it makes complete sense to have the song begin with this.  After all, it’s the sound of ska music that entranced so many; people heard the horns and the upbeat music and started paying attention.  Hingley may outline his movement’s philosophical tenants in the song, but I doubt more than a handful still play it because of the “nineties beat on a fifties sound” line, no matter how well it sums up the band’s style.  While ska devotees still follow their bands with unparalleled devotion, ska’s moment in the spotlight came and left as quickly as the song.  Still, it was cool to see bands with more horns players than guitarists (and I wonder if bands like these indirectly inspired some of the current bands doing creative arrangements with brass instruments) and it gave us a handful of fun singles.  Even if most listeners don’t remember The Toasters by name, “2-Tone Army” probably rings a bell, either as the theme to Nickelodeon’s Kablam, or just bringing back fond thoughts of the late 1990s in general.

More on The Toasters: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm

“Road to Zion (f/ Nas)” – Damian Marley
(Words/music: Nasir Jones and Damian Marley, available on Welcome to Jamrock, Tuff Gong / Universal 2005)

“Welcome to Jamrock” was a song I had heard about more than I actually heard, so when I finally sought it out, I was a bit underwhelmed.  After a few listens, it grew on me in a strange way – that “out in the streets, they call it mur-der” sample started popping into my head at random times, and kept returning to Marley’s semi-hypnotic vocal delivery every time I sat in front of my computer.  It started to remind me of the Specials “Ghost Town” – another song about life in the slums.  Both have a haunting feel to them, and both songs were ones that grew on me with repeated listens.

I’m sharing my reaction to “Welcome to Jamrock” so that I can contrast it with my immediate reaction to “Road to Zion.”  I first heard it in my friend Mike’s car – he was listening to a mix a college friend made him and the friend included this song.  As we drove around, we listened to the mix a couple times and specifically came back to “Road to Zion” a few times.  Both “Road to Zion” and “Welcome to Jamrock” cover the same lyrical territory – specifically, life in “Jamrock” is not life in the Jamaica of travel brochures – and both have an (appropriately) dark undercurrent in the music.  However, I find the slowly picked acoustic guitar and Ella Fitzgerald sample (that’s her voice right at the beginning) immediately grabbing.  By the time the beat picks up, I’m completely hooked.  It also helps that “Road to Zion” has a brief hook; it’s not a big, in your face hook, but it gives a different feel to the track; “Jamrock” has Marley rapping in the same sing-songey attack for most of the track, aside from a few drops of the beat for the sample.  Marley has more emotional weight in “Welcome to Jamrock,” and perhaps that’s why people were drawn to it, but “Road to Zion” has a stronger song structure.

Marley’s voice is a departure from most things I listen to – I only have a cursory knowledge of reggae that extends to a couple Desmond Dekker and Jimmy Cliff collections (suggestions welcome in the comments), so I’m completely taken in by Damian Marley’s half rapping, half singing delivery.  The Nas verse also fits well – he has a couple excellent lines (in particular, I love the one about having “daymares”) and crams in enough allusion and name dropping for an entire track, let alone one guest verse.  Marley seems to have pushed Nas to deliver a quality verse – and I think Nas tends to respond well when he’s driven to perform, kind of like an athlete that wants the ball at the buzzer to take that final shot.  There’s word that Marley and Nas are working on a full album collaboration at the moment, and if it sounds like “Road to Zion,” you can count me in.

More on Damian Marley: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm