Swan Lake (The Cats song)

Last updated
"Swan Lake"
Single by The Cats
A-side "Swan Lake"
B-side Swing Low [1]
Released1968 [2]
Genre West Indian style ska [1]
Length2:40 [3]
Label BAF Records [1]

Swan Lake is a song by The Cats. It is a cover of Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky [4] and made #48 on the UK Singles Chart [5] in early 1969, [5] making them the first British reggae band to have a top fifty hit in the UK. [6]

Related Research Articles

Madness (band) British ska band

Madness are an English ska band from Camden Town, North London, who formed in 1976. One of the most prominent bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s two-tone ska revival, they continue to perform with six of the seven members of their original line-up. Madness's most successful period was from 1980 to 1986, when the band's songs spent a total of 214 weeks on the UK Singles Chart.

The Smiths English rock band

The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. Consisting of vocalist Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke, and drummer Mike Joyce, critics consider the band one of the most important to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s. Internal tensions led to their break up in 1987 and subsequent offers to reunite have been refused. In 2012, all four Smiths' studio albums appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time", while "William, It Was Really Nothing" and "How Soon Is Now?" were included in the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list.

Prince Buster

Cecil Bustamente Campbell, known professionally as Prince Buster, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer. The records he released in the 1960s influenced and shaped the course of Jamaican contemporary music and created a legacy of work that would be drawn upon later by reggae and ska artists.

Stereo MCs

Stereo MC's are a British hip hop/electronic dance group which formed in Clapham, London, in 1985. They had a transatlantic Top 20 hit with their single "Connected". After releasing eight albums for Island Records, K7, Graffiti Recordings, and Pias, they formed the label Connected with Terranova to release their own material and that of other artists within the house/techno/electronic medium.

Suggs (singer) British musician

Graham McPherson, known by the stage name Suggs, is an English singer-songwriter, musician, radio personality and actor.

Cats U.K. were a British four-piece all-female band who had a hit with the single "Luton Airport" in October 1979.

Chas Smash

Cathal Joseph "Carl" Smyth, also known as Chas Smash, is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Smash came to prominence in the late 1970s as the backing vocalist, trumpet player and dancer for the English band Madness, with whom he was associated from their inception through 2014.

Rainy Night in Georgia

"Rainy Night in Georgia" is a song written by Tony Joe White in 1967 and popularized by R&B vocalist Brook Benton in 1970. It was originally released by White on his 1969 album, Continued, on Monument Records, shortly before Benton's hit single was issued.

Dave and Ansell Collins are a Jamaican vocal/instrumental duo.

Justin Hinds was a Jamaican ska vocalist, with his backing singers the Dominoes.

The Pioneers are a Jamaican reggae vocal trio, whose main period of success was in the 1960s. The trio has had different line-ups, and still occasionally performs.

House of Fun 1982 single by Madness

"House of Fun" is a song by English ska/pop group Madness, credited to Mike Barson and Lee Thompson. It was released as a one-off single on 14 May 1982 and reached number one in the UK Singles Chart, spending nine weeks in the charts. The song was re-released in 1992, reaching number 40. It is the band's only number one single in the UK and in 2015 the British public voted it as the nation's 8th favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV.

One Step Beyond (song) Single by Madness

"One Step Beyond" is a tune written by Jamaican ska singer Prince Buster as a B-side for his 1964 single "Al Capone". It was covered by British band Madness for their debut studio album of the same name (1979). Although Buster's version was mostly instrumental except for the song title shouted for a few times, the Madness version features a spoken intro by Chas Smash and a barely audible but insistent background chant of "here we go!". The spoken line, "Don't watch that, watch this", in the intro is from another Prince Buster song, "Scorcher" — and is also used at the start of Dave and Ansell Collins' "Funky Funky Reggae" — whilst the next line "This is a heavy heavy monster sound" is taken from another Dave and Ansell Collins song, "Monkey Spanner". The first of those also became a trademark during the early promos of MTV, where the video was in heavy rotation.

"Shame and Scandal in the Family", also known as "Shame & Scandal" for short, is a song written by calypso singer Sir Lancelot for the movie I Walked with a Zombie in 1943 and originally titled "Fort Holland Calypso Song". Sir Lancelot issued his recording of it in the late 1940s. The Sir Lancelot version was covered by folksingers Odetta and Burl Ives. In 1962, Trinidadian calypsonian Lord Melody wrote new lyrics for the verses while keeping the melody and the chorus. The Historical Museum of Southern Florida said of Lord Melody's version that "No calypso has been more extensively recorded".

<i>Work Rest and Play</i> 1980 EP by Madness

Work Rest and Play is an EP by British ska/pop band Madness. The EP was headlined by the song "Night Boat to Cairo", from the band's debut album One Step Beyond.... It entered the UK Singles Chart on 5 April 1980, reaching a high of number 6.

"I Think It's Going to Rain Today" is a song by American singer-songwriter Randy Newman. It appears on Julius La Rosa's 1966 album You're Gonna Hear from Me, Eric Burdon's 1967 album Eric Is Here, on Newman's 1968 debut album Randy Newman, in The Randy Newman Songbook Vol. 1 (2003), and in Newman's official and bootleg live albums. It is one of his most covered songs.

<i>One Step Beyond...</i> 1979 studio album by Madness

One Step Beyond. .. is the 1979 debut album by the British ska-pop group Madness. Recorded and mixed in about three weeks, the album peaked at number two and remained on the U.K. Albums Chart for more than a year.

The Cats, previously known as The Hustlin' Kind, were a ska ensemble from Mile End, London. The group's lineup comprised Tyrone Patterson (keyboards), Richard Archer (bass), John Kpiaye (guitar), and Michael Okoro (drums).

John Ogetti Kpiaye is a reggae session and live guitarist. He was a member of The Cats who had a No. 48 UK hit with "Swan Lake", and Matumbi, who had a No. 35 hit with "Point of View ".

Morrissey English singer

Steven Patrick Morrissey, known mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer, songwriter, and author. He came to prominence as the frontman of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then, he has pursued a successful solo career. Morrissey's music is characterised by his baritone voice and distinctive lyrics with recurring themes of emotional isolation, sexual longing, self-deprecating and black humour, and anti-establishment stances.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Discography of UK 45 singles releases; beginning with C, from 45-rpm.org.uk
  2. "Swan Lake" for sale - from lordofthebootsale.blogspot.com
  3. "Cats, The (2) - Swan Lake (Vinyl)". Discogs . Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  4. 1 2 Edwards, Terry (2009). Madness' One Step Beyond. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 113. ISBN   978-0-826429-06-3.
  5. 1 2 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 22. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  6. "John Kpiaye" at LintonKwesiJohnson.com
  7. Bret, David (2006). Morrissey: Scandal & Passion. Robson. ISBN   9781861059680.
  8. Devereux, Eoin; Dillane, Aileen; Power, Martin (2011). Morrissey: Fandom,, Representations and Identities. ISBN   9781841504179.