RIP Ewart
A quick dive into the wide-reaching impact of U-Roy's Wake The Town....

In 1970 Ewart recorded this for Duke Reid under the name Hugh Roy
Wake The Town might sound like it's a version of The Liquidator, but it's in fact a revoicing of the original rhythm track Duke Reid recorded with Alton Ellis & The Flames back in '66
Harry J would release his skin-head friendly organ version of the riddim in '69. Do you need to hear it again, probably, but I'm seizing this opportunity to plkay you my dub mix I did for @trojanrecords back in 2006
And obviously Al Bell pilfered it in '72 for I'll Take You There by The Staple Singers
But back to U-Roy, and skip forward to the 1992 when ubiquitous dancehall producers Steely & Clevie were recording an LP of Studio One updates. Dawn Penn was enlisted to revoice her 1967 single You Don't Love Me. Here's the original
The LP dropped featuring Dawn's version, and hang on, who's that sampled in the intro..? Yep, Ewart's call to arms from the start of Wake The Town
Dawn's track was picked up by @AtlanticRecords, renamed No No No and became an international hit, crossing over from reggae dances to your local Ritzy, and reaching number 3 in the UK in July '94. That snippet of U-Roy was everywhere
Dawn's track was picked up by @AtlanticRecords, renamed No No No and became an international hit, crossing over from reggae dances to your local Ritzy, and reaching number 3 in the UK in July '94. That snippet of U-Roy was everywhere
Dawn's track was picked up by @AtlanticRecords, renamed No No No and became an international hit, crossing over from reggae dances to your local Ritzy, and reaching number 3 in the UK in July '94. That snippet of U-Roy was everywhere
Dawn's track was picked up by @AtlanticRecords, renamed No No No and became an international hit, crossing over from reggae dances to your local Ritzy, and reaching number 3 in the UK in July '94. That snippet of U-Roy was everywhere
Dawn's track was picked up by @AtlanticRecords, renamed No No No and became an international hit, crossing over from reggae dances to your local Ritzy, and reaching number 3 in the UK in July '94. That snippet of U-Roy was everywhere
(A tiny footnote in this song's history, I DJd for Dawn in Peckham 10 years ago. We got not one but 8. 8!? Yes. 8 pulls ups on No No No)
(A tiny footnote in this song's history, I DJd for Dawn in Peckham 10 years ago. We got not one but 8. 8!? Yes. 8 pulls ups on No No No)
(A tiny footnote in this song's history, I DJd for Dawn in Peckham 10 years ago. We got not one but 8. 8!? Yes. 8 pulls ups on No No No)
Around the same time Beyonce started incorporating No No No into a reggae medley during her live shows. Here she is performing it on the I Am tour
But it's her Homecoming show in 2018 where she brought a marching band and dance toupe who, for this rendition of No No No, all chanted U-Roy's "THE PEOPLE" to the Coechella crowd, and it's now immortalised for everyone on @netflix. Listen here
And that's how U-Roy first woke the town, and then the world.

Here's to you Ewart. I'm now going to crack open something non-alcoholic, raise a glass to the toaster, and play a bit of Tom Drunk
You can follow @TheWrongtom.
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