THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

371-The Harry J Allstars-Liquidator.

1969-Number 9 single.

Best Bit-At 1.23.’Liquidator’ is very well known in the football community. Chelsea Football Club are one of the teams who claimed to be the first ever to play the song when the team come on to the pitch just prior to kick off, and it is still played to this day. Other teams who have, or still walk out to the song, include Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion, Northampton Town, and St. Johnstone in Scotland.

Harry J. (see also best songs 391) was born Harry Zephaniah Johnson on July 6th, 1945, in Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica, he died after a long battle with diabetes in 2013, at the age of 67. In 1968 he launched his own record label ‘Harry J’ records, releasing some of the first records in the ‘Reggae’ genre. At it’s peak in the 1970’s the label released two Albums by Bob Marley and the Wailers, (see also best songs 618 and 56) and became so famous that artists of the calibre of The Rolling Stones, (see also best songs 933-662-452-160 and 77) and The Who (see also best songs 926-306 and 265) would make a special point of visiting the studio when available. In addition Chris Blackwell (see also best songs 494-291 and 56) the founder of Island Records, was a regular visitor, prior to moving to England in the early 1970’s. As well as having a hit with ‘Liquidator,’ Harry J. also found success on the UK top 40 singles chart as the producer of the 1970 Number 5 song ‘Young, Gifted and Black,’ for the Jamaican duo of Bob Andy (1944-2020) and Marcia Griffiths. There are three studio Albums available by the ‘Harry J Allstars,’ issued between 1969-2003, and five official compilation Albums, released between 1970-1989.

‘Liquidator’ is one of 12 instrumental Reggae tracks to appear on the Harry J Allstars debut studio Album, ‘The Liquidator,’ from 1969, other tracks on the Album include cover versions of ‘My Cherie Amour,’ originally co-written and performed by Stevie Wonder (see also best songs 920-843-834-682-570-503-366-205-152 and 65) in 1969, and ‘Je T’aime,’ originally performed by Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991) and Jane Birkin (1946-2023) (see also best songs 467) in 1967. It was after hearing the song ‘What Am I to Do’ by Tony Scott, (1969) that Harry J bought the rights to the song from Scott, and rearranged it, calling the new track ‘Liquidator,’ named after one of his earlier recordings called ‘The Liquidator.’ The Jamaican singer Alton Ellis (1938-2008) has said that the core of ‘Liquidator’ was lifted from his ‘Rocksteady’ track ‘Girl I’ve Got a Date,’ (1967) and after taking a listen, it is hard to disagree. The ‘Allstars’ who played on the track included Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett, (see also best songs 618 and 56) who played the bass, and his brother Carlton (1950-1987) who played the drums, was also the long term drummer with Bob Marley and the Wailers.The organ playing was the work of Winston Wright, (1944-1993) who became known as ‘Jamaica’s master of the Hammond Organ,’ he had a long association with the Jamaican band Toots and the Maytals (see also best songs 291.)

Harry J. was one of the leading lights in the development and promotion of the musical genre ‘Reggae,’ that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960’s. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, called ‘Do the Reggay,’ was the first popular song to use the word Reggae, effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. The 1967 edition of the ‘Dictionary of Jamaican English,’ lists ‘reggae’ as ‘a recently estab. sp. for rege,’ as in rege-rege, a word that can mean either ‘rags, ragged clothing,’ or ‘a quarrel, a row.’ The British Reggae historian Steve Barrow credits the Jamaican singer Clancy Eccles (1940-2005) with altering the Jamaican patois word ‘streggae’ (loose woman) into reggae. Toots Hibbert ((1942-2020) who wrote ‘Do the Reggay’ has said, ‘There’s a word we used to use in Jamaica called ‘streggae,’ If a girl is walking and the guys look at her and say ‘Man, she’s streggae,’ it means she don’t dress well, she look raggedy. The girls would say that about the men too. This one morning me and my two friends were playing and I said, ‘OK man, let’s do the reggay.’ It was just something that came out of my mouth. So we just start singing ‘Do the reggay, do the reggay,’ and created a beat. People tell me later that we had given the sound its name. Before that people had called it blue-beat and all kind of other things, now it’s in the Guinness World of Records.’ Bob Marley (1945-1981) offered a differing view, saying that the word ‘Reggae’ came from a Spanish term for ‘the king’s music,’ The liner notes of ‘To the King,’ a compilation of Christian gospel Reggae, suggests that the word Reggae was derived from the Latin ‘regi’ meaning ‘to the king.’

‘Liquidator’ has been sampled and covered by others. In 1972 the American Soul group The Staple Singers sampled the bass line, and intro of ‘Liquidator’ for their American Billboard Number 1 single ‘I’ll Take You There,’ and in 1980 the English Ska revival group the Specials covered ‘Liquidator’ as part of a Ska covers medley for the ‘B’ side of their UK Number 1 ‘Too Much Too Young’ (see also best songs 924.) Because of the cover version by the Specials, ‘Liquidator’ was re-issued as a double A-side with the original version of another song featured in the medley, ‘Long Shot Kick De Bucket,’ by The Pioneers, in March 1980. The reissue reached number 42 on the UK Singles Chart.