Music |
Summer Music
By
Published: Jun 08, 2021
Category:
World
Summer music is reggae. It always was. It ever will be. Late nights, dancing outside, beer from the bottle, joints passed around, the body eradicating the mind. These are the greatest hits.
When Bob Marley died in 1981, he left behind a complicated legacy: music you could dance to, music that made you raise a fist. For me, that begins with the Wailers first album, when they were a group, not a superstar’s supporting cast. Consider the Rasta dreamscape, “Midnight Ravers.” It began with a devastating opening condemnation (“You can’t tell the women from the men/ ’cause they’re dressed in the same pollution”) and moved on to a Book of Revelations vision: “I see ten thousand chariots/And they coming without horses/The riders — they cover their face/So you couldn’t make them out in smoky places.” Rarely has music been better matched to lyrics. A repeated corskscrew organ riff. Guitars that sting, then soar. And a bass guitar/drum pattern that paints a musical picture of horses riding, riding, riding, in the dead of night.
When Peter Tosh sang “Get Up, Stand Up” –— you think of it as a Bob Marley song, but Tosh and Marley wrote it together –— that was something to see. Literally, because Tosh stood six feet five inches, and he stood straight and proud. Proud and angry. Bob Marley jogged in place as he performed, like a soccer player warming up, and he emphasized the positive message of the Rastafarian cult: “One Love, One Heart/ Let’s get together and feel all right.” Tosh, in contrast, was a “Stepping Razor” — “If you wanna live/ Treat me good/ I’m like a walking razor/ Watch my sides/ I’m dangerous.” This is one of the all-time great videos:
Toots was the Jamaican blend of James Brown and Otis Redding. He had a voice like a rasp —– he could shout all night. Short, barrel-chested, endlessly smiling, he loved to perform, loved that people liked his singing, loved the idea that music can bring people together in a way that fuses spirituality and, well, sex.
The classic movie and soundtrack. On a summer night, semi-required viewing.
