Friday, May 26, 2006

Desmond Dekker, 1941-2006















You'll be missed.

My world was filled with wonder in 1969. I recall a teacher fumbling with a television antenna so that the class could watch Neil Armstrong's mission to the moon. I witnessed slimy puppies squeezing out of my dog's hindquarters. And even with all the amazing music emitting from my transistor radio, a scratchy song about the Bible stood out. Who were these Israelites? Is this weird song holy or sacrilegious? And what kind of music is that, anyway? A few years later, Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" was such a big hit that it merited a newspaper story that I stumbled upon. The article linked Nash's smash to "Israelites." The story went on to mention a promising new Jamaican artist named Bob Marley. The man who puzzled me back in 1969 with "Israelites" was, of course, Desmond Dekker. After the Specials hit, I rediscovered Dekker and was thrilled to learn that he had created several other great hits, including "007." Dekker died in England yesterday at the age of 64.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is it just me or is your music collection a kind of freaky death jinx?

Heroes are dropping by the score. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Happy In Bag said...

Irish- Another blogger accused me of "ambulance-chasing." When I attended a funeral here in KC on Wednesday, I was paying respect to the deceased and his family. These sad posts are intended the same way. It would be strange, I think, to neglect to acknowledge someone's passing. In fact, a friend recently chided me for not posting about the death of musician Nikki Sudden.

Anonymous said...

Oh I agree; I don't think you have any option but to acknowledge such sad passings.

I think it's indicative of the scale of your personal collection and illustrates the more you like, how much you lose.

As an emigrant, probably because of circles I move in, I tend to miss out on reported deaths that I would have caught back in Ireland and Britain, and they seem to be increasing which is most likely me getting older. I missed the passing of Ali Farka Toure recently and it really does feel like losing an old, albeit distant, friend.