{"id":986,"date":"2010-10-21T09:31:32","date_gmt":"2010-10-21T14:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.lunarpages.net\/?p=986"},"modified":"2012-08-03T15:37:23","modified_gmt":"2012-08-03T20:37:23","slug":"byron-lee-and-the-dragonaires-who-done-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=986","title":{"rendered":"Byron Lee and the Dragonaires – Who Done It"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong>
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\nByron Lee<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download – Byron Lee and the Dragonaires – Who Done It <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Greetings all. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The end of a very busy week is here, and so is some music.<\/p>\n

I have to start things out with the news that after about three and a half years of posts, my other blog, Iron Leg<\/strong><\/a> is going on hiatus.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been thinking about this for a long time, and an increasingly busy schedule and the resulting lack of free time finally forced my hand.<\/p>\n

I say hiatus \u2013 as opposed to a complete shutdown \u2013 because I\u2019d like to get it going again some time in the future, but right now, for my own sanity, and for the quality of the blogs, I\u2019m going to take a break.<\/p>\n

Funky16Corners<\/strong>, and the Funky16Corners Radio Show<\/strong> are in no danger and will continue on as scheduled.<\/p>\n

That said, make sure to tune in this Friday at 9PM over at Viva Radio <\/strong><\/a>for this weeks show, which features a tribute to the late, great Solomon Burke.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d also like to say thanks (again) to Sean Rowley<\/strong> on the BBC for giving Funky16Corners props on his Joy of Music <\/strong>radio show. I\u2019ve added him to the blogroll, so make sure you take a listen.<\/p>\n

All of that out of the way, let\u2019s get to today\u2019s selection.<\/p>\n

Byron Lee and the Dragonaires<\/strong> have been featured in this space a few times in the past.<\/p>\n

Lee was a producer and bandleader who recorded in a wide variety of island styles, releasing a huge stack of LPs. Many (most) of these were fairly middle of the road affairs aimed at folks flying into Jamaica for rum drinks and suntans, but every once in a while, Byron and his band hit the nail right on its soulful head.<\/p>\n

One such example is the track I bring you today, \u2018Who Done It\u2019.<\/p>\n

Does the title sound familiar?<\/em><\/p>\n

If so, then the song itself will ring and even bigger bell, since although it\u2019s credited to Jackie Mittoo<\/strong> (and the spelling of the title has been altered), this is clearly a cover of Monk Higgins and the Specialties<\/strong> 1966 R&B Top 40 hit \u2018Who Dun It\u2019 (originally released on Chicago’s St. Lawrence label).<\/p>\n

While Mittoo had already covered the song on the Coxsone label (where the song is credited to Coxsone Dodd) it\u2019s entirely possible that Lee was unaware of the song\u2019s origins.<\/p>\n

Jamaican music of the 60s and 70s is filled with adaptations of American R&B, soul and funk, some presented as a straight cover version, others altered ever so slightly and yet others providing little more than what might be considered a sample in today\u2019s more technologically advanced world.<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s version of \u2018Who Done It\u2019 strips away the saxophone that leads the original and appears on the Mittoo version, putting a chicken scratch guitar and organ in its place.<\/p>\n

I have no idea who\u2019s playing the organ on this one. If any of you know, please drop me a line.<\/p>\n

The result is a great bit of soulful, ever so slightly funky reggae.<\/p>\n

I hope you dig it, and I\u2019ll be back on Monday.<\/p>\n

Peace<\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\"Example\"<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

PS Head over to Iron Leg
\n<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Byron Lee Listen\/Download – Byron Lee and the Dragonaires – Who Done It   Greetings all. The end of a very busy week is here, and so is some music. I have to start things out with the news that after about three and a half years of posts, my other blog, Iron Leg is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14,55,66,30,48,12],"tags":[166,47,172,164],"class_list":["post-986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funky16corners","category-funky16cornersviva-internet-radio","category-instrumental","category-lp-tracks","category-reggae","category-soul","tag-funky16corners","tag-island-soul","tag-reggae","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-fU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=986"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":992,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/986\/revisions\/992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}