Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Prince Buster, "Madness" (live) from King of Blue Beat (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: King of Blue Beat is a 2001 re-issue of the 1967 live album Prince Buster on Tour, released by Blue Beat Records.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Desmond Dekker, "Jamaican Ska" from the King of Ska compilation (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: I'm not certain I'd ever heard of Desmond Dekker until listening to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones' 2007 compilation album, Medium Rare, including the track "Don't Worry Desmond Dekker," whch mentions the protagonist still having Dekker's records, which presumably belong to his erstwhile paramour.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

Don Drummond & The Skatalites, "Man in the Street" from the 100 Reggae & Ska Hits compilation (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Ska really should get top billing, because it preceeded reggae. Drummond was arrested for murder & The Skatalites broke up in 1965, whereas The Maytals released "Do the Reggay," after which reggae is named, in 1968.

You humble narrator wasn't listening to this kind of roots ska in 1996, but over the decades I have learned more & more about those early days. Rude Boy Bravo Charlie nominated "Man in the Street" for SKApril in 2021.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

The Skatalites, "The Guns of Navarone" from Hi-Bop Ska!: The 30th Anniversary Recording (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Welcome to SKAugust! The protocols of SKAugust are not nearly as strict as those of SKApril, e.g., a band is allowed to furnish more than one song, a song can enjoy the limelight in more than one year. But SKAugust is time limited: This year, 2026, we are only selecting songs that your humble narrator could have hypothetically listened to thirty years ago, in 1996. (As long-time readers know, your humble narrator was not introduced to ska until the next year, 1997, the Summer of Ska.)

Ska! Ska! Ska!

Bonus! Song o' the Day: From the SKArchives

Wednesday, 9 April 2014
The Skatalites, "The James Bond Theme" from Ball of Fire (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Wayback Machine.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: From the SKArchives

Sunday, 28 April 2024
Ken Boothe, "Everything I Own" from the Trojan Records: 40 Years, 40 Tracks compilation (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Wayback Machine. Originally written by Bread, about the songwriter's dead father. Like most listeners, I assumed it was about romantic love, not filial love. Learn something new every day.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKApril XV

Prince Buster, "Take It Easy" from the Prince Buster: Fabulous—Greatest Hits compilation (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: From Jamaica to France. Prince Buster returns as a SKAffirmative Action selection, having not enjoyed the SKApril limelight since 2017. I admit, when I'm in the mood for roots ska, I tend to listen to Desmond Dekker over Prince Buster, but there are no unworthy songs in SKApril. If "Take It Easy" wasn't up to snuff, it wouldn't be today's R.B.D.S.O.T.D., period.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: From the SKArchives

Sunday, 11 April 2021
Don Drummond & The Skatalites, "Man in the Street" from the 100 Reggae & Ska Hits compilation (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Wayback Machine.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Yesterday

Donnerstag, 12. September
Ken Boothe, "Everything I Own" from the Trojan Records: 40 Years, 40 Tracks compilation (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Apparently, "Everything I Own" is a cover song, written & originally performed by Bread. I've not heard Bread's version, but Boothe's remains haunting & heartbreaking.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: Go Blue!

Team 145, Game 2: Michigan v. Texas
Prince Buster, "Texas Hold-Up" from the Fabulous: Greatest Hits compilation (Mike Papa Wolverine)

Commentary: Last season, the valiant Wolverines did not face a top ten opponent until November: the ferocious Nittany Lions of Penn State (№ 10). Today, the valiant Wolverines host the epithetless Longhorns of Texas (№ 3).

Smash! Go Blue!

Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKApril XIV

Ken Boothe, "Everything I Own" from the Trojan Records: 40 Years, 40 Tracks compilation (Rude Boy Bravo Charlie)

Skammentary: "Everything I Own" is wonderfully earnest about heartbreak & heartache, & Ken Boothe has a beautiful, soulful voice. That said, at the risk of seeming a Philistine, my ska-punk heart wouldn't object if "Everything I Own" was played twenty-five per cent to fifty per cent (25-50%) faster.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: From the SKArchives

Sunday, 11 April 2021
Don Drummond & The Skatalites, "Man in the Street" from the 100 Reggae & Ska Hits compilation (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: "Man in the Street" was originally nominated by Bravo Charlie, an online acquaintance & brother Knight of Columbus, who back in the day was in a legit ska band, The Assassinators! Bravo Charlie is older than me, so that 2-Tone is his native era of ska the same was ska-punk is mine. Every year since I've known him I ask him for SKApril nominations & every year he is kind enough to oblige. I've determined to allocate his nominations a maximum of three slots per year, or ten per cent (10%) of any particular SKAril.

Wayback Machine.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAugust

The Skatalites, "The Guns of Navarone" from Hi-Bop Ska (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: "The Guns of Navarone," as roots ska, doesn't fit neatly into SKAugust's focus on third-wave ska-punk, but it does satisfy the rules of this particular SKAugust, insofar as one could have listened to "The Guns of Navarone" in the Year of Our Lord Nineteen Ninety and Eight.

"In the winter of Nineteen Sixty and Four came this movie to Jamaica. The Skatalites took the music from the movie, put it to the ska, came up with this song. It's called… 'The Guns of Navarone.'"

Bonus! Song o' Jamaican Independence Day

Operation AXIOM: The 61st Anniversary of Jamaican Independence
Derrick Morgan, "Happy Independence" from Do the Beng Beng (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: It's rare to see a song this precisely on topic.

The Explorers' Club, № CMLVI

Operation AXIOM: The Space Age—The 20th Anniversary of Mars Exploration Rover, Part I
10 June 2003: The Spirit (Mars Exploration Rover-A; also known, confusingly, as Mars Exploration Rover-2) lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base atop a Delta II rocket; the names of the Spirit & the identical Opportunity were chosen from a student essay contest; the rovers were built to study the Martian geology ("areology") for indications of ancient surface water, & instrument calibration.

Bonus! Space Age Song o' the Day: Spirit
The Skatalites, "Trip to Mars" from Greetings from Skamania (Space Cadet Mike Papa Whiskey)

Semper exploro.

Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKApril XIII

Desmond Dekker & the Aces, "Fu Man Chu" from Rudy Got Soul: The Early Beverley's Sessions 1963-1968 (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"It make no sense at all
To say where we used to work,
It make no sense at all
To say how much you used to earn,
It make no sense at all
To say what you used to do,
This is the face of Fu Man Chu!

"It make no sense at all
To say what you used to do,
It make no sense at all
To say how much you used to earn,
It's not what you earn that make you a man,
But it's what you keep that make you a man,
This is the face of Fu Man Chu!…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

Desmond Dekker & the Aces, "Rudy Got Soul" from the King of Ska compilation (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"'Cause when I sing my song,
You got to move along,
Beause Rudy's got, Rudy got soul…

Bonus! Song o' the Day: SKAfter Party

Desmond Dekker and the Aces, "Jamaican Ska" from King of Ska (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: A visiting missionary priest from Jamaica? Don't mind if I do!

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: SKAfter Party

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Lonely Boy" from When God Was Great (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary:

"The North Abington Station and stop,
She sat down and I stole a glance,
Nervously she tried to talk,
'Are you going to Kingston by chance?'

"I said I was going alone,
And she said that she's never been,
Then we both agreed that we wouldn't let loneliness win…"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' 3 Days 'til SKApril

Death of Guitar Pop featuring Neville Staple, "Suburban Ska Club" from the Suburban Ska Club single (Rude Boy Mike Papa Whiskey)

Skammentary: Neville Staple, "The Original Rude Boy," a member of The Specials from their early Special A.K.A. phase, joined Silky & Top Kat, the duo who are Death of Guitar Pop, in SKApril '19.