1975
NOTTY NO JESTER * BIG YOUTH * ACTION 101 * UK
One of Big Youth's top tracks Notty No Jester (for Notty read Natty) is a bravado celebration on the Rastafarian movement over Carl Malcolm's No Jestering; both recordings were produced by Clive Chin. And although the label declares this side an instrumental, it is in fact only a little different from the A side vocal, I prefer the 'instrumental' because, unlike the other side, it has the immortal opening line: "When a lion is sleeping, never try to wake him baby" and you can't fault that.
When in 1975 Big Youth was the toast of Jamaica with four consecutive chart successes Natty Universal Dread, Every Nigger Is A Star, House Of Dreadlocks and Mummy Hot Daddy Cold he was still living in a 'board shack' in Princess Street, Kingston - "the heart of the city, in the ghetto of the city, baby". This is the reality of his Roots music, it was his lived life, just the everyday for him and thousands of others; often when recording Big Youth would just 'voice' the lyrics with no prior script, his toasting would just be the language of the streets, the things the people were thinking, feeling and saying. This kind of direct and spontaneous approach to art has long been at the core of its vitality, with examples of Joyce or Corot, or Turner, in the 19th century to the films of Abbas Kiarostami today.
Big Youth's Notty No Jester was covered, albeit in slightly modified form, by Jah Rhythm and released in the UK on Wolf records (see below).
JAH NAH JESTER * JAH RHYTHM * WOLF 007 * UK
See also:
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Cool Breeze | The Upfull One | The Murderer | Ace 90 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Mammy Hot, Daddy Cold | Ride On Ride On | Screaming Target | Mr. Right |