THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

291-The Maytals-Monkey Man.

1969-Number 47 single.

Best Bit-At 0.47. This songs writer, and lead singer Toots Hibbert is responsible for introducing the word ‘Reggae.’

Frederick Nathaniel ‘Toots’ Hibbert, ‘OJ,’ was born on December 8th, 1942, in May Pen, Colony of Jamaica, he died of COVID-19 during the pandemic in Jamaica, on September 11th, 2020, at the age of 77. In 2012 he was awarded the ‘Order of Jamaica,’ which is the equivalent of a British Knighthood. Hibbert formed The Maytals in 1962 with Henry ‘Raleigh’ Gordon, and Nathaniel ‘Jerry’ Mathias, as a vocal trio, in Kingston, Jamaica. According to Hibbert, ‘Maytals’ is a reference to the ‘Rastafari’ term for ‘do the right thing,’ but there have also been suggestions that the name was influenced by Hibbert’s hometown of ‘May Pen.’

The Maytals were initially a sought after vocal group, working with some of Jamaica’s top music producers such as Coxsone Dodd, (1932-2004) Byron Lee, (1935-2008) and Prince Buster (1938-2016) (see also best songs 734 and 139.) In the mid 1960’s the group was expanded, when musicians were added to the band, In total there have been 17 different group members come and go, with the band still active as ‘The Maytals’, which was the name that they had originally started out with. They were known from 1972, until Hibbert’s death in 2020, as ‘Toots and the Maytals.’ The discography of Toots and the Maytals consists of 24 studio Albums released between 1964-2020, and 137 singles released between 1963-2007. Toots Hibbert also released 17 solo singles between 1981-2017.

In 1968 Toots Hibbert wrote a song called ‘Do the Reggay,’ which led to the then new genre of music being called ‘Reggae.’ Reggae Music originated in Jamaica in the late 1960’s strongly influenced by traditional Jamaican Folk music, as well as American Jazz, and R&B, and evolving from Ska, and Rocksteady.

‘Monkey Man’ was written by Toots Hibbert, and produced by Leslie Kong, who had worked with Hibbert from the early 1960’s. Kong (1933-1971) who was responsible for recording Bob Marley’s (see also best songs 618 and 56) first songs ‘Cup of Coffee’ and ‘Judge Not’ in 1962, also discovered Jimmy Cliff, and produced Reggae Music’s first international hit ‘Israllites’ in 1969, for Desmond Dekker (see also best songs 122.)

‘Monkey Man tells the tale of someone who has been dumped by his girlfriend, and has taken up with a big ugly brute of a man. In Jamaica a ‘Monkey Man’ is a slang word for a doorman, or a bouncer.

‘I see no sign of you, I only heard of you hugging up the big monkey man. Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, aye, tell you baby, you’re hugging up the big monkey man.’