Something completely different now- I thought I'd better inject a bit of variation after focusing on more folky/rootsy songs so far in the short life of this blog. My aim is to give my observations on music I hear and enjoy, whatever that music is. A pretty wide variety of music passes into my ears in any given week, although some weeks there seems to be more of a theme, depending on my mood - I hope you can identify with this.
Back to the music, and this is a smasher. The inimitable Pluto Shervington, Kingston-born reggae musician. At first listen, a bit of a mad track, this. But listening more closely (and with a lot of help from the internet), I've come to realise that this is in fact a carefully crafted tale of a down-on-his-luck Rastafarian going against his faith by buying some cheap pork to eat - to afford weed.
Listen out for the butcher boy offering a range of meats (laconically at first, but with mounting frustration as the song progresses), and Rasta Ozzy's throw away responses.
Above all, it's on the surface a massively fun listen, as Shervington's songs all are. Apparently this reached number 6 in the UK charts in 1976. But as Trojan Records' write-up explains: "In Britain the song was regarded as a novelty hit, although it was in fact a parody of the financial Catch 22 situation faced by ghetto people living in the Jamaican capital"
Listen at the link below, and then I fervently encourage you to explore some more of the back catalogue (I'm not far enough down that road yet, but enjoying it immensely).