THE ZINC FENCE MILLENIUM COUNTDOWN

 

 

Record of 1996

Sycamore Tree

Lady Saw

Towards the end of 1996 the Joy Ride rhythm exploded all over Jamaica. That year, on flyers and posters across the island, the dance had become the "bashment" whether on the lawn, the beach, or in the dance hall. Wayne Wonder's Bashment Girl, perhaps for this reason, was the biggest hit on the Joy Ride rhythm, evoking the assertive, pleasure-seeking new breed of female dance-goer that the name "bashment" implied. Yet there are at least three other great cuts on Dave Kelly's Mad House label, namely Tanya Stephens' You Nah Ready For This Yet, Frisco Kid's Rubbers, Beenie Man's Silent Violence, Buju Banton's How It A Go Go, Mr Easy & Baby Cham's Funny Man and my personal favourite, Lady Saw's Sycamore Tree.

On Sycamore Tree, Lady Saw reflects upon one of the more contentious musical topics in Jamaica over the last decade. Namely, bowing. To bow, or not to bow? Should you or shouldn't you?. You won't find this particular sexual practice in any dictionary under the name "bow", but it's been the staple of many a reggae lyric over the last ten years. If you want to know on which side of the dispute Lady Saw comes down, no pun intended, you'll have to listen to the record.

Since the digital revolution, interest in dub in Jamaica has waned to the point of extinction and there has been a corresponding decline in the status of the version side of the 7" single. So one more remarkable feature of this rhythm is that the version, Joy Ride, is a strong tune in its own right and in fact enjoyed airplay and dancehall exposure in Jamaica alongside the previously mentioned cuts. Rather than the mere drum and bass scaffolding of the typical 90s B side, Joy Ride features Dave Kelly himself, the producer, delivering a very creditable toast of his own over the chorus "Taking a ride, a ride, a ride, a joy ride." The punding repetitions of the rhythm and the hypnotic organ sample run rampant and as Dave Kelly sings "The breeze is blowing, so let's going, the vibe is flowing", the listener is indeed taken on a joyous musical ride.

Geoff Parker, December 1999

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