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Rating: Forget about the Caribbean beach vibes, forget about finding background music for a joint with friends. This is the other side of reggae, as Linton Kwesi Johnson, the poet of dub, teaches: a dense and nocturnal sound, hypnotic and expansive, flavored with savory jazz aromas in the accompaniment and frequent instrumental codas. In this context, words sharp as machetes stand out. Words recited strictly in patois with a tone that shifts from declamatory to subdued and ironic, to vividly depict the reality of a Jamaican immigrant facing poverty and segregation (a reality experienced firsthand).
After the heights of "Forces Of Victory," the third album from the former member of the English Black Panthers is a new qualitative success where the title track opens with its mesmerizing and almost lysergic dizziness, paired with the dark yet languid echoes of "Street 66." Also noteworthy are the bursts of lyricism that emerge in the moving urban madrigal of "Loraine" and the heartfelt elegy of "Reggae Fi Peach," a vibrant and poignant tribute to a victim of power.
Pure poetry (or rather, dub poetry) that makes Linton Kwesi Johnson a worthy heir of his ancestors, the griots of West Africa, transplanted into the wet concrete jungle of London; the voice of the voiceless in the Brixton ghetto, of those who left the land of their fathers to escape hunger only to become entangled in Babylon, in a world that does not understand, mocks, and fears them and will inevitably lead them to say that "Inglan Is A Bitch".
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Bass Culture (06:05)
Bass Culture
-Linton Kwesi Johnson
muzik of blood
black reared
pain rooted
heart geared;
all tensed up
in the bubble and the bounce
an the leap an the weight-drop.
it is the beat of the heart,
this pulsing of blood
that is a bublin bass,
a bad bad beat
pushin gainst the wall
whey bar black blood
an is a whole heappa
passion a gather
like a frightful form
like a righteous harm
giving off wild like is madness
02 Street 66 (03:44)
The room was dark
Dusk howling softly 6 o'clock
Charcoal light
The fine sight
Was moving black
The sound was music mellow steady flow
And man son mind just mystic red, green, red, green
Your scene
No man would dance but leap and shake
That sharp through feeling right
Shape that sound
Tumbling down
Making movement, ruff enuff
Cos when the music met I-tops(?)
I felt the sting, knew the shock, yeah, had to do and ride the rock
Outta dis rock shall come a greener riddim
Even more dread than what the breeze of glory bred
Vibrating violence is our own(?) move
Rocking with green rhythm
The drought and dry root out
The mighty poet I Roy was on the wire
Weston did a skank and each man laugh and feeling irie, dread I
Street 66, the said man said
Any policeman come here will get some righteous, raasclot licks
Yeah mon, whole heapa licks
Ours(?) beat, the scene moving right
When all on a sudden
Bam, bam, bam, a knocking pon the door
"Who is dat?", aksed Weston, feeling right
"Open up, it's the police, come on, open up"
"What address do you want?"
"Number 66, come on, open up"
Weston, feeling high, replied, "Yes, this is Street 66, step right in and
take some licks."
05 Inglan Is a Bitch (05:25)
w´en mi jus´ come to Landan toun
mi use to work pan di andahgroun
but workin´ pan di andahgroun
y´u don´t get fi know your way around
Inglan is a bitch
dere´s no escapin it
Inglan is a bitch
dere´s no runnin´ whey fram it
mi get a lickle jab in a bih ´otell
an´ awftah a while, mi woz doin´ quite well
dem staat mi aaf as a dish-washah
but w´en mi tek a stack, mi noh tun clack-watchah
Inglan is a bitch
dere´s no escapin it
Inglan is a bitch
no baddah try fi hide fram it
w´en dem gi´ you di lickle wage packit
fus dem rab it wid dem big tax rackit
y´u haffi struggle fi mek en´s meet
an´ w´en y´u goh a y´u bed y´u jus´ can´t sleep
Inglan is a bitch
dere´s no escapin it
Inglan is a bitch
a noh lie mi a tell, a true
mi use to work dig ditch w´en it cowl noh bitch
mi did strang like a mule, but bwoy, mi did fool
den awftah a while mi jus´ stap dhu ovahtime
den awftah a while mi jus´ phu dung mi tool
Inglan is a bitch
dere´s no escapin it
Inglan is a bitch
y´u haffi know how fi survive in it
well mi dhu day wok an´ mi dhu nite wok
mi dhu clean wok an´ mi dhu dutty wok
dem seh dat black man is very lazy
but if y´u si how mi wok y´u woulda sey mi crazy
Inglan is a bitch
dere´s no escapin it
Inglan is a bitch
y´u bettah face up to it
dem a have a lickle facktri up inna Brackly
inna disya facktri all dem dhu is pack crackry
fi di laas fifteen years dem get mi laybah
now awftah fifteen years mi fall out a fayvah
Inglan is a bitch
dere´s no escapin it
Inglan is a bitch
dere´s no runnin´ whey fram it
mi know dem have work, work in abundant
yet still, dem mek mi redundant
now, at fifty-five mi gettin´ quite ol´
yet still, dem sen´ mi fi goh draw dole
Inglan is a bitch
dere´s no escapin it
Inglan is a bitch
is whey wi a goh dhu ´bout it?
06 Loraine (04:11)
Whenever it rains I think of you
And I always remember that day in may
When I saw you walking in the rain
I know not what it was nor why
For ususally I'm quite shy
I ax'd your name, you smile and said "Lorraine"
I ax'd if I could share your umbrella
You smiled and said "what a cheeky little fella"
Now I'm standin' in the rain in vain, Loraine
Hoping to see you again
Tears fall from me eyes like rain, Loraine
A terrible pain in me brain, Loraine
You're drivin' me insane
Whenever it rains I think of you
And I always remember that day in may
When I saw you walking in the rain
I know not what it was nor why
For ususally I'm quite shy
but from the moment I saw you
I knew, that I needed you in my life
from that moment on I knew
that I wanted you for my wife
Now I'm standin' in the rain in vain, Loraine
Hoping to see you again
Tears fall from me eyes like rain, Loraine
A terrible pain in me brain, Loraine
You're drivin' me insane
Whenever it rains I think of you
And I always remember that day in may
When I saw you walking in the rain
I know not what it was nor why
For ususally I'm quite shy
I said " let's go back to my place for some coffee"
You frown and said "well, kiss me batty"
I fell so ashamed, I did not even notice
When your bus came, and went again
Now I'm standin' in the rain in vain, Loraine
Hoping to see you again
Tears fall from me eyes like rain, Loraine
A terrible pain in me brain, Loraine
You're drivin' me insane, Loraine, Loraine, Loraine
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