Junior Murvin – Police and Thieves
Junior Murvin
Listen/Download – Junior Murvin – Police and Thieves
Greetings all.
How’s things on your end of the tin can and string device we know as the interwebs?
I’m feeling – in the words of the mighty Slim Gaillard – mellow as a cello, so I figured I’d dip into the reggae box and whip something a tasty on you.
Way back in the olden days, when things were different (and they were, I assure you) a band called the Clash appeared on the scene, and as was my style of the time, I missed the boat.
The only guys I knew in school who dug the band were a couple of prize maroons, whose previous band worship was devoted to KISS (another band I couldn’t stand when I was in high school), and since they were knee deep in their suburban misunderstanding of ‘punk’ as it was, I trusted them not a whit.
My loss…
Anyhoo, a few years later, having been hipped to heavier sounds than the power pop that I thrived on by some cats whose taste I trusted implicitly, I gave the Clash a second chance, and thanks in large part to their reggae stylings, started to dig them, especially an energetic little number called ‘Police and Thieves’.
A few more years down the pike, another, hipper friend informed me that the song I dug was in fact a cover, and the original was by a dude named Junior Murvin.
As soon as I heard the original ‘Police and Thieves’ my mind was good and truly blown.
Where the Clash sounded like a heard of goons hurtling down a rutted street in a rusty city bus, Junior Murvin, ably assisted by the mighty Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, delivered the cautionary tale of the legal yin and yang of street violence on a puffy cloud bank of ganja smoke.
I’ve gone into some detail in this space about my indoctrination into the world of Jamaican music, but one of things I don’t remember discussing, and this is relevant to many other ethnic sounds, is how one must in effect season their ears before some music can be fully appreciated.
Reggae is huge in that respect.
The first Jamaican sounds I heard, weren’t really from the island at all, but rather ska revival records from the US and the UK, which were generally delivered at a breakneck pace. The first time I picked up a copy of ’20 Reggae Classics’ it was like I was a strap-hanger in a subway that suddenly slammed on the brakes. The radical adjustment in tempo, not to mention hearing lyrics delivered in real Jamaican accents and patois was quite literally jarring.
Eventually, I found myself grooving on the real stuff, and while I still dug the Two Tone sound, I now preferred the originals.
Thanks to yet another hip dude, I found my way from ska directly to dub, which made the transition to pure reggae a lot easier, so when I finally heard Junior Murvin singing his original recording of ‘Police and Thieves’ it sounded ‘right’, if you know what I mean, and the Clash, despite all their good intentions, did not.
If you ever get the chance, grab the Lee Perry ‘Arkology’ boxed set that came out a while back, which – in addition to just packing a very substantial helping of his genius – also contains several versions of the ‘Police and Thieves’ riddim, some more dubbed out than others (including the flip side of this 45 ‘Soldier and Police War’ with toasting by Jah Lion).
No matter how groovy the riddim, the real feature here is the vocal by Murvin, who comes on like a Jamaican incarnation of Eddie Kendricks.
Murvin’s original, released in 1976 was a hit in both Jamaica and the UK (there’s a video out there somewhere of Murvin singing the tune on English TV). The Clash followed with their cover a year later, and though they rev it up a notch or two (or six or seven), they also strip away many, many layers of subtlety. Murvin wades into the song gently and his version is a lament, whereas the Clash stomp through the tune with a raised fist.
Reportedly, when Junior Murvin heard the Clash version, he said ‘They have destroyed Jah work!’
The liner notes to ‘Arkology’ include this passage about the creation of ‘Police and Thieves’:
“The vibe of Black Ark studio is like people gather ‘round, everyday it start like ten o’clock in the mornin’, a kerosene pan is on the fire bubblin’ with some dumplin’, an’ some dread over there pickin’ some ackee an’ ting. Everybody throw in a little much to buy whatever we need. A guy might be out there with his guitar, chantin’ and Scratch is inside smokin’ a spliff, tunin’ in to that guy, who doesn’t even know that Scratch is tunin’ in to him. All of a sudden Scratch jus’ come out an’ say ‘Come inside here’. He search an’ find a riddim an’ say: “I hear dat, an’ I hear it on dis riddim!’ That’s how we did ‘Police and Thieves’, Junior Murvin. He was jus’ playin’ it and Scratch immediately came out an’ say ‘Here’s a riddim, let’s do it!’ an’ he do it an’ that’s it.
We were jus’ messin’ around with lyrics and the melody. Scratch say ‘Sounds good.’ He come out an’ decided to record it right away. It was out on the street in a couple of days. That’s the vibe we had at Black Ark – you didn’t have to say tomorrow or nex’ week, you go right now, you sound good, let’s go. It was fun days.” – Max Romeo
Jah work, indeed!
See you next week.
Peace
Larry
Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press
PS Head over to Iron Leg for some psychey bluesy garagey stuff.
Cover Songs, Funky16Corners, Original Versions, Reggae, Soul, Soul 45
| 
Funky16Corners, Reggae, Soul
Themocracy
If weren’t for The Clash there would be a world of white kids (me included) that had never heard of Junior Murvin. That said I still find their work to be sincere (unlike The Police and their “plastic reggae”)and I don’t think they ever intended to try to copy the songs their were covering note for note (however I’ll remain silent on the subject of “Armagideon Time” he hee). Don Lett’s deserves a medal for turning the punk rock generation onto reggae and ska.
Once again well done.
Bill
I didn’t mean to suggest that the Clash were insincere, but rather that their interpretation of ‘Police and Thieves’ didn’t – at least in my opinion – do the song justice.
They certainly had good taste in covers (the Equals!) and I generally like their reggae-influenced stuff.
Keep in mind too, that Murvin’s original ‘Police and Thieves’ was a hit in the UK and Jamaica, and there was a generation of white kids in the UK that were in love with reggae and ska years before the Clash came along.
I’d suggest that the Two Tone movement had a much bigger impact than the Clash, at least as far as popularizing the sounds of Jamaica.
The first reggae/ska covers I heard were the Hooters covering Don Drummond and the Specials covering Dandy Livingstone.
I agree with you about the Police (a group I liked a lot back in the day) and their ‘use’ of reggae influences.
i cannot imagine a man so robust when listening to his voice.