This is the place to share, discuss, and skank to anything and everything about ska music.
I'm taking a course on the history of the 60s, and I need to pick a song from the decade and talk about how it reflects America during the time. I love ska, and I know two-tone was picking up around the 60s. I'm pretty good at talking out of my ass, so the paper won't be too hard to do. But if you know any good 60s ska tunes, leave them here. Thanks.
Edit: thanks for the song suggestions and history lesson. You people were a huge help.
Well '60s ska was pretty much all Jamaican, not sure how easily it will relate to American History. And "two-tone" wasn't getting started until the late '70s in the UK. Good luck on your paper!
You're absolutely right all of it was Jamaican. A lot of 60s ska though was taken from American music of the time. There were a lot of covers, samples and tributes. A couple examples:
Millie Small - My Boy Lollipop (The Cadillacs)
Tony Tribe - Red Red Wine (Neil Diamond)
Delroy Wilson - Riding for a Fall (The Tams)
Not sure if that helps his paper or not, but it's worth mentioning.
The only early ska song to make the American charts that I'm aware of was Desmond Dekker's Israelites (number 9 on the Billboard hot 100 in June 1969). A few more might have been know through films though and Prince Buster and Jimmy Cliff toured around some.
EDIT: Reminded by the other commenter that Millie Small hit #2 in the US and UK with My Boy Lollipop in 1964.
I might be talking out my OWN ass here. but. 007 Shanty Town might be a good spot to start.
It's obviously a link to James Bond (yeah yeah.. British) but it's also one of the songs which blend Jamaican and "Western" (Read, British but ALSO American) culture.
The song describes a pushback against the industrialization of Jamaica, inspired by a student protest against a new industrial complex being build.
You can also reference the connection to some Western culture, most notably James Bond.
(If not, I suggest Derek Morgan's March Forward. As mentioned below by u/Leoselassie. Jamaican independence was a huge step forward in the 60's, and while I don't know any impact on the US, I'm sure it did something you can talk about.)
Yeah I agree, it's a stretch but the civil rights movement and Jamaican independence have their parallels but really, if OP is doing a paper on the 60s Mo-Town is where it's at. The songs were covered by everyone internationally this could be a round about way to bring up Ska as all the Jamaican musicians loved the tunes but covered them with an island vibe. Still not much in the way of US impact.
While most people will default to the Beatles for 60s influence, Beatles were influence and always striving for the Mo-Town sound when not being forced into being a pop/boy band.
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Al Capone by Prince Buster
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4RYaMH9wB84
This was the anthem for the time as the island gained its independence. I highly recomend this series: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=78AIF5B8yd0
Given the context of your post, I would also pick "Forward March" by Derrick Morgan.
Jamaica won its independence from Great Britain in 1962. And this song celebrates Jamaica's new found freedom. You could argue that this would go on to mirror the Civil Rights Movement in America in the later 1960's.
Jamaican Ska is a good choice. Keep in mind that many Jamaicans worked in America, especially the sugar cane fields of Florida and Louisiana. Then listened to American R&B and doo wop, and this helped influence Jamaican Ska's sound.
(Just as a side note, Two Tone Ska did not start until 1979 in Coventry England...)
I'd go with, Monkey Man by Toots & The Maytals. It's a classic in every right, and The Specials do one of my favorite covers of it.
The Ten Commandments Of Man, by Prince Buster might be one. It's reminding women to be respectful of their man.
Music is my occupation by the skatalites, Texas hold up by prince buster, my boy lollipop by Millie small, and Israelites by Desmond decker which was a number one in lots of western countries, and got major play in america
Joya Landis was the only ska musician based in the US in the 60s that I know of:
She wasn't really based in America. She was from America, but all her recordings were done at Treasure Isle. Then she went back to America and I don't think anyone knows what happened to her.
It's not ska at all, but Jimmy Cliff's 1969 hit "Vietnam" is the only song that comes to mind that really addresses a big American historical event from a Jamaican artist. It's really one of the greatest Vietnam protest songs ever recorded as well.
As others have mentioned, ska was all about JA and not the USA. Your best bet would be to talk about the silly-yet-classic release, "The Real Jamaica Ska". As I understand it, this was a collaborative effort between the Jamaican tourist ministry, the 1963 worlds fair, and money-grubbing US record labels wanting to co-opt the success of singles like "My Boy Lollipop". Even sillier was Annette Funicello's murdering of the genre with a song called "Jamaica Ska" ( http://youtu.be/Y6AiSvZVlYw ). Not that Annette was to blame; she was an innocent child star, forced to do her handlers bidding. (Annette can probably be fully blamed for the remake of the song, done with Fishbone as the backing band, in the movie, Back To The Beach.)
What I'm getting at here is that ska and America in the 60's was about dollars, control, and commercialism.
