"Run for Cover" | |
---|---|
Single by Lee "Scratch" Perry as Lee "King" Perry | |
B-side | "Something You've Got"; alternatively "Run for Cover (instrumental version)" |
Released | 1967 |
Recorded | Kingston, Jamaica |
Genre | Rocksteady, reggae |
Label | Wirl (label) Jamaica, Doctor Bird (label) (UK) |
Songwriter(s) | Lee Perry |
Producer(s) | Lee Perry |
"Run for Cover" is a 1967 rocksteady and reggae single by Lee "Scratch" Perry, credited as Lee "King" Perry. The recording featured Perry, his band, Lynn Taitt on guitar and The Sensations as backing singers. [1] It was recorded at Clifford Rae's WIRL studio and appeared on the WIRL record label in Jamaica, then in the UK on Graeme Woodall's Doctor Bird (label) (DB 1073), both pressings with "Something You've Got" on the B-side.
It was one of the first reggae singles to have two versions, with Perry recording an instrumental version as an alternative B-side. [2] [3] The lyrics of "Run for Cover" had a thinly concealed subtext attacking Perry's previous employer Clement Dodd (Sir Coxsone), a theme shared with his song "The Upsetter" and even the instrumental "Return of Django". [4] [5] [6]
The original version is on several compilation albums, both of Perry's songs and reggae classics, but the song did not receive a full album release until a version appeared on Perry's album Revelation (2010).
The Wailers also released a song titled "Run for Cover" - their first release on Tuff Gong - but this was based on Lee Perry and Marley's "Soul Rebel", not on Perry's "Run for Cover". [7]
Lee "Scratch" Perry was a Jamaican record producer and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development of dub music with his early adoption of remixing and studio effects to create new instrumental or vocal versions of existing reggae tracks. He worked with and produced for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Marley and the Wailers, Junior Murvin, The Congos, Max Romeo, Adrian Sherwood, Beastie Boys, Ari Up, The Clash, The Orb, and many others.
Clement Seymour "Coxsone" Dodd was a Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of ska and reggae in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond.
Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish reggae, including harmony groups such as The Techniques, The Paragons, The Heptones and The Gaylads; soulful singers such as Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, Bob Andy, Ken Boothe and Phyllis Dillon; musicians such as Jackie Mittoo, Lynn Taitt and Tommy McCook. The term rocksteady comes from a popular (slower) dance style mentioned in the Alton Ellis song 'Rocksteady' that matched the new sound. Some rocksteady songs became hits outside Jamaica, as with ska, helping to secure the international base reggae music has today.
Joseph Benjamin Higgs was a reggae musician from Jamaica. In the late 1950s and 1960s he was part of the duo Higgs and Wilson together with Roy Wilson. He was a popular artist in Jamaica for four decades and is also known for his work tutoring younger musicians including Bob Marley and the Wailers and Jimmy Cliff.
Lynn Taitt was a guitarist born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, who later moved to Jamaica and became a pioneer of rocksteady music.
The Upsetters was the name given to the house band for Jamaican reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry. The name of the band comes from Perry's nickname of Upsetter, after his song "I Am the Upsetter", a musical dismissal of his former boss Coxsone Dodd.
The Ethiopians were one of Jamaica's best-loved harmony groups during the late ska, rocksteady and early reggae periods. Responsible for a significant number of hits between the mid-1960s and early 1970s, the group was also one of the first Jamaican acts to perform widely in Britain.
Soul Rebels is the second studio album by the Wailers, their first album to be released outside Jamaica. The Wailers approached producer Lee "Scratch" Perry in August 1970 to record an entire album, and the sessions took place at Randy's recording studio above Randy's Record Mart at 17 North Parade in Kingston, Jamaica, until November. First issued in the UK by Trojan Records in December 1970, the album has since been re-released several times on several different labels. Perry's production is sparse and haunting, only featuring guitar, bass, drums, electronic organs, and vocals with no horns or other embellishments.
Clancy Eccles was a Jamaican ska and reggae singer, songwriter, arranger, promoter, record producer and talent scout. Known mostly for his early reggae works, he brought a political dimension to this music. His house band was known as The Dynamites.
Heartbeat Records is an independent record label based in Burlington, Massachusetts. The label specializes in Jamaican music.
Upsetter Records was a Jamaican record label set up by Lee "Scratch" Perry in 1968. Perry also opened the Upsetter Record Shop where he sold the records he produced.
Me and You are a Jamaican reggae trio.
Earl "Chinna" Smith, a.k.a. Earl Flute and Melchezidek the High Priest, is a Jamaican guitarist active since the late 1960s. He is most well known for his work with the Soul Syndicate band and has recorded with many reggae artists, appearing on more than 500 albums.
The Silvertones are a Jamaican reggae harmony group formed in 1964, best known for their recordings for Lee "Scratch" Perry in the early 1970s.
Glen Adams was a Jamaican musician, composer, arranger, engineer, producer, based since the mid-1970s in Brooklyn, New York City.
Gladstone Anderson, also known by his nickname "Gladdy", was a Jamaican pianist, keyboard player, and singer, who played a major part in the island's musical history, playing a key role in defining the ska sound and the rocksteady beat, and playing on hundreds of recordings as a session musician, a solo artist, and as leader of Gladdy's All Stars, featuring bassist Jackie Jackson, drummer Winston Grennan, guitarist Hux Brown, and keyboardist Winston Wright. As Harry J All Stars the band had a massive hit in Jamaica and United Kingdom with the instrumental song "The Liquidator" 1969.
"Small Axe" is a song written by Bob Marley and released in 1973 on the Wailers album Burnin'. It has since been covered by several artists, among others Buju Banton, Deerhoof, Andrew Tosh, Greensky Bluegrass, The Aggrovators, U Roy, UB40, Trey Anastasio, and Peps Persson who made a Swedish version called "Liden såg".
"Return of Django" is a 1969 instrumental by the Upsetters, a studio band, led by Lee "Scratch" Perry, who wrote and produced the song. Backed with "Dollar in the Teeth", it made #5 on the UK Singles Chart.
Neville O'Riley Livingston, known professionally as Bunny Wailer, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and percussionist. He was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he is considered one of the longtime standard-bearers of reggae music. He was also known as Jah B, Bunny O'Riley, and Bunny Livingston.
This Is Reggae Music: The Golden Era 1960-1975 is a reggae retrospective anthology issued as a 4-CD box set in 2004 by Trojan Records. The anthology, which was compiled by Colin Escott and Bas Hartong, is arranged in chronological order and features tracks by various artists, starting with mento and ska from the first half of the 1960s, then progressing to the slower rhythms of rocksteady and reggae, which both emerged later in the decade, continuing into the 1970s. Several of the acts featured are Derrick Morgan, Desmond Decker & the Aces, Toots & the Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, and Bob Marley and the Wailers.