israelites

Desmond Dekker & The Aces sounded the alarm and became the first reggae group to hit number one in the UK with this rocksteady Rastafarian rude boy redemption.  Born Desmond Adolphus Dacres in the St. Andrew Parish of Kingston, Jamaica; he developed a love of music singing in church as a boy.  His singing while working as a welder led his co-workers to suggest a career in music.  He auditioned for Coxsone Dodd (Studio One) and Duke Reid (Treasure Isle) before getting signed to Leslie Kong's Beverley's record label.  He became a huge success in Jamaica with hits like 'King of Ska' before hooking up with brothers Carl, Patrick, Clive, and Barry Howard to become his backup singers The Four Aces.  They continued to have success in Jamaica and broadened their audience with lyrics that addressed the life of the ghettos and the rude boy culture.  His song '007 (Shanty Town)' broke the band internationally, reaching number twelve in the UK.  After winning the Jamaica Independence Festival Song Contest in 1968 with 'Music Like Dirt (Intensified '68)' he became the first Jamaican artist to top the UK charts with his song about the poverty he saw in Kingston.  

Dekker would recount:   "It all happened so quickly. I didn't write that song sitting around a piano or playing a guitar. I was walking in the park, eating corn. I heard a couple arguing about money. She was saying she needed money and he was saying the work he was doing was not giving him enough. I relate to those things and began to sing a little song - 'You get up in the morning and you slaving for bread.' By the time I got home it was complete. And it was so funny, that song never got out of my mind. It stayed fresh in my head. The following day I got my little tape and I just sang that song and that's how it all started ... I was telling people not to give up as things will get better."

'Israelites' was also a number one hit in Germany and the Netherlands and became the first reggae song to break into the US top ten.  It was his only US hit.





http://www.desmonddekker.com/







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83Y2hv-3UCM&feature=kp



Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir
So that every mouth can be fed
Poor me Israelites Aah

Get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir
So that every mouth can be fed
Poor me Israelite

My wife and my kids, they packed up and leave me
Darling, she said, I was yours to be seen
Poor me Israelite

Shirt them a-tear up, trousers is gone
I don't want to end up like Bonnie and Clyde
Poor me Israelite

After a storm there must be a calm
They catch me in the farm
You sound your alarm
Poor a-poor a-poor me Israelite

I said I get up in the morning, slaving for bread, sir
So that every mouth can be fed
Poor me Israelite Aah

I said my wife and my kids, they are packed up and leave me
Darling, she said, I was yours to be seen
Poor me Israelites Aah

Look Me shirts them a-tear up, trousers are gone
I don't want to end up like Bonnie and Clyde
A-poor a-poor me Israelites Aah

After a storm there must be a calm
They catch me in the farm
You sound your alarm
Poor me Israelite
A-poor a-poor a-poor me Israelites Aah


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5JHGi0awgc