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Johnny Clarke
= JC
Norman Darwen = ND
ND:
Johnny, you have always been a versatile singer even though people
think of you as a roots singer...
JC: True, fe real, because in the early days we start the
versatility from way before professionalism, because they was days
of amateur where we usually just do some small shows in clubs and
that. I started out at a club by the name of Lady Pink Club, where
as a youth is like you not yet fully involved in the recording as
yet, but is like those times when we have to do a lot of cover stuff
from our greats in the early days, like the Ska days and going into
Rocksteady. All we could do was to cover until we venture into the
recording when we could. When you're covering you got to be versatile
because you are singing a different lot of songs but when you take
on a name unto yourself, when you first make 'Julie' or 'The Sea
And The Sun', produced by Clancy Eccles, and 'Wondering' which was
produced by Rupie Edwards on the Success label. When you do all
them songs is like you start creating a certain amount of effort
towards being yourself, yourself alone. Yeah, a creative youth making
creative songs. Then the real smasher now to show you the real Johnny
Clarke, one that make the world respect and love Johnny Clarke and
make Johnny Clarke famous was 'None Shall Escape The Judgement'
when there was a new sound invented. The sound was the flying cymbal.
It's a new sound and a new youth on the block, new youth on the
market, seen? Just flying cymbal down the place and number one smasher
like 'None Shall Escape', also 'Enter Into His Gates', and all song
like 'Rock With Me Baby', 'Move Out Of Babylon', 'True Believer
In Love', all them smash in flying cymbal, they coming straight
'pon the versatility style where we start. Think about a song like
'If You Should Lose Me', where you talk about the love because you
know of course you like 'None Shall Escape' and 'The Roots', and
all them tune there, 'Enter Into His Gates', but you have to show
some respect for the ladies, and we start talk about 'If You Should
Lose Me' and 'Left With A Broken Heart' and all that t'ing, 'Hold
On', and coming right down the line we have shown versatility. Even
until this time, even performing live, we have to include all of
those, a variety of lovers and culture and roots. We've got to mix
it because people know we are versatile from long time.
ND: You have been described as the first dancehall singer
- how do you feel about that?
JC: Yeah, because in them days I was like a feature artist
in the dancehall. That's the reason why I'm called that. Those were
the days of the great King Tubbys and the great U-Roy at the control,
and you know people usually go to dance in them times to get pre-release
stuff. I mean, there was a different set of music being played on
the radio station or in the clubs or just ordinary on the street
in a juke-box. So when you go to a dancehall, like King Tubbys or
Emperor Faith or even Arrows, or even any one of them, Black Harmony
or Tippertone, is like you are getting some song that you wouldn't
normally hear. So dancehall was very much an interesting place to
be, and there wasn't any kind of mixture with R&B or funky or
any kind. There was a difference between Hi-Fi and Disco, because
nowadays you have a sound like the sound they have in Jamaica now
weh them call Stone Love and them kind of things, Addis and Kilimanjaro.
I mean, Kilimanjaro, them link in like King Tubbys bracket but them
other sound like Stone Love is like all disco. Them play the American
type and mix it, but you talk about the rub-a-dub sound and strictly
reggae music, roots music, you talk about Hi-Fi. Just one hundred
percent reggae. Yeah, mon. You get it straight, in our style, where
they know the music is a music weh have a whole heap of different
side to it. That is the reason why we never have time fe play R&B
or time fe play any kind of funk, because we have so many different
type - the fast, uptempo type and the flying cymbal, and then lay
back again for cool down yourself with some 'Roots Natty Congo'
and some 'African Roots' and 'Ride On Girl', them 'Hold On' and
them cool down the place, step it up back again with 'Blood Dunza'.
Play it for them and have them hopping and skipping and jumping.
Bless!
ND: How do you write your songs?
JC: Well, writing my songs, I usually love when I go into
the meditation of writing because it's just such niceness, because
is all about try and meditate and try and remember what is happening
around. Is all about preparing for the history and the future, so
what you write is so important, to be known. That maybe stay here
forever - I don't say maybe. It will stay forever because the word
is power, and the word live on, and this word is the spiritualness
of InI. The flesh is the physical part, so when the flesh depart,
the spiritual vibes just keep rolling on. So it is important for
me to prepare whatever I write. So it is very important to think
about the future and the history and the decades to come, from now
'til then. So that's how I do it. It's just a pleasure finding myself
writing, really, because so much things happen and sometimes we
need to teach people and sometimes people is even getting out of
hand. Sometimes you have people around who think they can live ragamuffin
way or try to rough it up - sometimes you have to write some song
to let them know to calm down and take it more easy-going and don't
be so harsh. I think we say to disclude the urgency to be angry
and to be ignorant. Yeah, exclude ignorance, man, because sometimes
it can turn out to be something that you wish you had never had
turned on to. So it is important to give the message the right way.
ND: You are a great singer of Bob Marley's material but
you never seem to have got much credit…
JC: But you see, you're saying that and that's what they're
saying in Jamaica, because they proved it with the song by the name
of 'No Woman No Cry'. Because in those days the people, they usually
liked the lyrics, and they loved the lyrics that go with a strong,
nice, melodical voice. So they love, they appreciate the lyrics
of Bob Marley, and they appreciate my voice. So when I sing a Bob
Marley, they always just go crazy, say, "Oh man, that's the
way I want to hear that, that's the voice I want to hear on those
lyrics". Because 'No Woman No Cry' sound so sweet, they never
heard it that way before - but yet it was all there already by the
original singer, songwriter. But this is 45 - because 45 was cheaper
in those days, man prefer to get it the shorter way, and at the
same time he's getting the melody, plus the voice on it - it's going
to grab on, fast! In them days the song used to sell a lot.
ND: OK, Johnny, that is fine, thank you.
JC: Give thanks, and I hope the Father will bless the man,
guide the man. I have good health and strength, so give thanks,
you know. We have loved to do the interview.
ND: Thanks and blessings!
- Norman
Darwen
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