Imposter

I was just looking for the lyrics to this song, but they’re not online. I always do this and I should just give up, because I already know that Black Uhuru fans don’t have internet-literacy for some reason (um, because they’re old?) and almost none of their lyrics are available. Kind of a bummer, because Black Uhuru always has a great message to impart. The only problem is I don’t always catch the entirety of it, because accents. Enunciation is just not highly prized in the music world, I guess. Still, you can get the gist of Black Uhuru’s message easily enough; peace, love, justice, liberty, solidarity, good sinsemilla. And that’s just from the song titles. Also, they are very much one of those bands whose music is easy to enjoy even if you don’t speak a word of English, or you can enjoy it so much that whatever the words are doesn’t even matter.

Heathen

I don’t know what kind of shape this blog would be in if I actually had any kind of a life at all. My pardons for very slack-assed posting yesterday and today – I had, like, stuff to do with people and stuff. I’ll put some of the blame on having some very long workdays lately back to back with social engagements. Otherwise I promise I’d have insightful things to say about songs I love.

Happiness

“What I’m a-longing for is some happiness”

I’ve always been a firm believer that happiness is to be found within. Not that happiness is a choice – that’s too easy. If everyone could choose to be happy, everyone would. It holds, also, that although external forces can deprive us of happiness, they cannot provide it. Does money buy happiness? Would you be happy if all your dreams came true? Well, all of Marilyn Monroe’s dreams came true, and look what happened to her. We can’t expect something or someone to come along and cause us to be happy. You have to scrabble and dig inside yourself and find the mindset and tell yourself the reasons to be happy. And some people never, ever find it, no matter how big a big-screen TV is in their living room. I work hard on my optimism and I’m responsible for my own happiness. I’ve found that there’s a few things that really boost the happy hormones in the brain, and one of the main ones is music. It’s a science fact. Music is like taking Ecstasy. Strait shot of dopamine to the brain. Even depressing music. (So crying your eyes out to really sad music but still getting that good high, that’s like what, a speedball?) Logically, awesome great happy making music that’s about things making us happy should make us doubly happy, right? Play the song and find out.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Finally, a little Black Uhuru live clip. Playing one of their best known songs no less. Why these cats aren’t world dominating and popular on a par with Bob Marley I’ll never understand. I think they’re quite simply the best reggae band. Oh well, that’s my opinion, and if they have to remain so obscure then at least I don’t have to share them with the less worthy. Because you know when something becomes popular you’ve got to share it with Sunday-drivers who think they’re into something after they saw it in a movie but they really don’t understand it at all. Like how every doucherag in world who’s ever laid eyes on a joint owns a Bob Marley CD. Yes, ‘chill out and let’s get high’ is one of the messages of reggae music, but it’s not the only one, and far from the most important. But, don’t let me rant. Chill out and enjoy the music, and see if you can’t spot a message in there that’s more important than getting high.

Freedom Fighter

You can tell this song is old because they’re agitating for the freedom of Nelson Mandela. Black Uhuru’s highly political album Now! came out in 1990, the same year Mandela was released from prison. The fight against apartheid was a hot-button issue, and Duckie Simpson was understating it when he sang “the world is displeased.” Now Mandela has become something akin to a secular Dalai Lama, but in 1990 it was far from a sure thing that he would be free or even survive to carry on his mission. In the hindsight of history it’s easy to think that of course the good guys won. But the good guys winning is never a certainty (and sometimes one of the good guys turns out to be Josef Stalin). Protest songs might seem like an inconsequential part of historical struggle, but they reflect people’s passionate feelings better than dry textbook accounts do. Sometimes the passion and desire to communicate a point gets in the way of making a good song, but Black Uhuru can protest the situation in South Africa without resorting to bombast. And sometimes rock stars with good intentions can make themselves look like self-righteous dipsticks when they start talking about serious world issues. But reggae, misleadingly relaxing as it is, has always been inherently political. It’s a musical culture of which standing up and speaking out is the backbone. Sure, there’s reggae songs about love and sinsemilla and chilling out, but reggae is a vehicle of political expression before all that.

Fleety Foot

So I think now I’ve posted up every single verified picture of Black Uhuru the internet has to offer. That’s maybe exaggerated, but it’s hard to find good pics of Black Uhuru. Has nobody ever heard of this band but me? Or did they just never, ever have their pictures taken. Though, on balance, I probably wouldn’t recognize a picture of Michael Rose or Puma Jones out of context anyway. It’s more of a general complaint about how hard it is to find good pictures of certain people. While there’s an infinitude of David Bowie or Rolling Stones pictures, the less celebrated are hard to find. I have trouble finding good pictures of Bryan Ferry or Nico, though to my mind they’re pretty famous and have been photographed enough times in their lives. I know even the most obscure acts have diehard fans, and those fans need to rally and upload some photos. And also there need to be more videos, especially for Black Uhuru. There’s got to be archives somewhere the public hasn’t seen and needs to see.

Eye Market

There isn’t, for some reason, an all-encompassing Black Uhuru lyrics database on the web. (Yet, probably.) So I don’t have any way to find out what they’re singing, exactly. But what I’m getting from this song is a variation on ‘hear no evil’. “Watch your eyes when you see, watch your mouth when you speak.” That’s what I’m getting, though it could be ‘wash’ not ‘watch’. Though that wouldn’t make sense. I think the message is, be very careful with what you see and hear, what you say. My personal philosophy has always been; mouth shut, eyes open, ears to the ground.  Information is power, we all know. But foolishly talking you can dig yourself a grave.

Every Dreadlocks

Did I say Chill Out was my faves Black Uhuru record? I might have lied. It might be Sinsemilla. Or it might be a tie…

In non-music events, be forewarned, there’s been a spot of computer trouble the last couple of days. It’s behaving itself this minute, but who knows what it’s gonna do next. I may have to do a full system wipe and reboot, or worst-case, purchase a fresh hard-drive. Hopefully I can avoid a three week visit to PC Guru, but we’ll see. If I’m offline for a while, you know why.

Emotional Slaughter

It’s hard to choose, but maybe Chill Out is the best Black Uhuru album. It’s got a perfect flow of moods; slow, upbeat, thoughtful, fun. And like they always do, making a statement that’s relevant without being hammeringly political.  Never without a sense of positivity either. I don’t know if it’s the ganja talking or some inner light that has nothing to do with what’s inhaled, but it’s a trick of the Rasta to observe the world – good, bad or ugly – with hopeful eyes.

Elements

Yeah, found those lyrics on YouTube, no idea if they’re right or not. Gives you the general idea though. Sometimes I don’t know the words to a song because the singer has mumbling issues, and sometimes the singing is clear as day but I have no idea the words because I’m not paying attention. This is the latter case. I just get into the spirit of the song and don’t even think about the literal word meanings. Not important, sometimes.

I Look up to the sun, to see if the day is done,to see my future that lies within. I Look up to the Sun,Now the day is done, the LOVEing night,spread its wings like a Dove.But in my vision I see:The tune of melody, The song we used to sing, The Joy LOVE can Bring. In my future lies ahead, the struggle of my bread. The LOVE I feel I think its so ReaLLLL.
I Look up in the stars it so near yet far,It gives a Light to the World we live in.I look up to the moon to see its beauty Gloom, to see the Brightness of that light. But in JAH GLORY as you see, the Mystic and Beauty, the Sun, the Moon,the Stars, it shows LOVE’s not far.In the Nature LOVEing flight, the LOVEing,Peaceful Lark, We shall Live as O1NE from the start. I look up to the Clouds,its so high at Ground, it makes the day as green as the sea. I look up to the Sun,to see if the day is done, to see my future that lies within.
But in JAH GLORY as you see,The tune of melody, The song we used to sing, The Joy LOVE can Bring.In my future lies ahead the struggle for my bread. The LOVE I feel I think its so Real.I Look up to the stars its so near yet far. It gives a Light to the World we Live in. I look up to the moon to see its Beauty gloom, to see the Brightness shining on Meeeeee!!!!!!!