Scotty – School Days

1971, Trojan & Crystal

After Version Galore and Forever Version, there is actually one (and I believe only one!) other, seldom-mentioned deejay LP that dropped in 1971. Like Forever Version, this is another Trojan production, with Trojan riddims – the most iconic adaptation coming from Keith and Tex’s ’67 hit Stop That Train, flipped here as Draw Your Brakes, which then featured in the 1972 film (and soundtrack) The Harder They Come. Draw Your Brakes really seems to be the biggest early deejay hit – bigger than any U-Roy song, perhaps – and was surely a key part of the ‘elevator pitch’ for the genre as it gained its footing as a ‘real style of music’. The Harder They Come continues to make the rounds with fringe reggae enthusiasts today, which makes Draw Your Brakes a good point of reference for conversations to draw your friends further into the genre.

While Version Galore and Forever Version both play it straight, full of strictly deejay tunes in the established formula, Scotty takes a more experimental approach here with some singing (Penny For Your Song, Rosemarie, Lonely Man) and proper oldschool toasting (Jam Rock Style, Sing Along). In those latter two tunes in particular I believe you can get a better peek into what pre-U-Roy deejaying sounded like, see also King Stitt. Jam Rock Style really is just a riddim with some improvised lines, ‘uh-uh’s and ‘yeah’s on top – the one at exactly 2:00 being one of my favourite recorded sounds of all time. Early early deejaying is essentially just being a hypeman for an instrumental. And, like the masses of the day, I love it.

Scotty’s attempts at singing on this record are not just ‘great’ but ‘among the best I have heard from a deejay’. Rosemarie in particular is a beautiful tune, very delicate and close to the mic, and better than anything else, right on pitch. A rare treat from a deejay. Between all the intimate love lyrics are some rogue HEYs, and if you listen to nothing else from this record you must check out this tune and experience it for yourself. To this day these HEYs are one of the most absurd decisions in reggae music history, which is saying a lot. After listening to it many times I believe that the HEYs are Scotty himself – the voice checks out – and perhaps even from the same take, as in not overdubbed, which if true would be truly awesome.

But amid oddities and successful experiments there must be some deejaying on a deejay LP, and Scotty is one of my favourites from the ‘first generation’. His style is more drawn-out, more crooning, more ‘moaning’ and ‘groaning’ and ‘sliding’ (slide away music!) and ‘grainy’ and even ‘dreary’. It’s an instantly identifiable style, very attractive, and really not what you would expect someone to do with rocksteady riddims. Jamaican music is full of surprises like that. Several of the tunes on this record open with some lines from Scotty before the music begins, including the iconic “Forward and payaaka, manhangle and then go saaka” on Draw Your Brakes (see the Genius page for a translation) as well as the incomplete ‘Children, Children’ nursery rhyme on Children Children. Scotty really has a versatile and forward-thinking approach to deejaying – I wrote just before that he had some very oldschool styles on display here but some of the stuff on tunes like Musical Chariot and Riddle I This are much more on-beat than what U-Roy and Dennis Alcapone were doing at this time. And for me the pinnacle of this record is Sesame Street, with alphabet rhymes, high-tension off-beat rhythmic lines all smushed together, very tastefully cut by WOWs and presented upon Derrick Harriott’s hauntingly beautiful tune The Loser. To me it is the best riddim on this record, and as you can tell by the name, it’s not a happy-sounding cut, but this juxtaposition of two very tonally incompatible displays of brilliant musicianship is yet another pleasant surprise from Jamaica’s fine artists.

Bim count: 0
My picks: Children Children, Draw Your Brakes, Rosemarie, Sesame Street, Riddle I This