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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

Posted by: In: Other 28 Jan 2025 Comments: 0

THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

344-Arrow-Hot Hot Hot.

1984-Number 59 single. It was remixed, and re-released in 1994 as the ‘World Carnival Mix 94,’ and this time reached Number 38.

Best Bit-At 5.54. The song has been featured in numerous film and television programmes over the years, but of course most fittingly, when used as the theme for the 1989 Miss Universe competition.

Arrow was born Alphonsus Celestine Edmund Cassell on November 16th, 1949, in Plymouth, Montserrat, West Indies, he died at his home in Montserrat on September 15th, 2010, at the age of 60 from cerebral cancer. Arrow first started out singing Calypso, but over time he would fuse other genres such as ‘R&B’ and ‘Salsa,’ and he is best remembered as a ‘Soca’ musician. Arrow first began performing at the age of 10 in a concert at the Montserrat Secondary School. He then began singing ‘Calypso’ in 1967, and took the ‘Junior Monarch’ title that year. He took up singing professionally in 1969, and in the same year he was runner up in the ‘Montserrat Calypso King’ competition. He won the title the next year, following in the footsteps of his brothers Justin, who is known as ‘Hero,’ and Lorenzo, who is known as ‘Young Challenger,’ in total Arrow won the title four times. Arrow has received an ‘MBE’ for his charitable work, which has included organising a fund raising Calypso festival on the Caribbean island of Montserrat in 1996, after many businesses were destroyed by the devastation caused by the Soufriere Hills volcanic eruption. In 1988, he was given the ‘Living Legends’ award by the organisers of the ‘Caribbean Song Festival,’ and the ‘Bahamas Tourist Board.’ His last live performance was at a fund raising concert for Haiti at the ‘Montserrat Cultural Center,’ in January 2010.

The discography of Arrow includes 30 Albums released between 1972-2002, and at least 10 singles released between 1973-1994. He has never charted on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, although two of his tracks, ‘Groove Master,’ (1988-Number 23) and ‘O’ La Soca,’ (1989-Number 38) have both made the Billboard ‘Dance Club Songs’ chart. In the UK, he has had two top 40 hit singles, with ‘Long Time’ peaking the highest at Number 30 in 1984, and the 1994 ‘World Carnival Mix’ of ‘Hot Hot Hot’ making Number 38, this remixed version is Arrow’s most successful chart single, having also peaked at Number 9 in Australia.

‘Hot Hot Hot’ which was also the title of Arrow’s eighth Album release from 1982, was written by Arrow, with the production and arrangement being by the Trinidadian music producer and musician Leston Paul, who in the 1980’s was a pioneer in ‘Electronic Music’ production in Trinidad. ‘Hot Hot Hot’ which is the the biggest selling ‘Soca’ hit of all time, gained worldwide recognition when it was adopted as the theme song of the 1986 ‘FIFA World Cup’ in Mexico. In America the song is best known for it’s 1987 cover version by the American singer David Johansen as his lounge singer persona ‘Buster Pointdexter,’ the song reached Number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 in America. This was quite a change in style for Johansen who had previously been the lead singer with the influential ‘Punk Rock’ band ‘New York Dolls’ between 1971-1976, he also rejoined that group for their 2004-2011 reunion. David Johansen has called ”Hot Hot Hot’ ‘The bane of my life,’ owing to its popularity as a karaoke and wedding song. In America the song became a staple of cruise ships, weddings, and other festive occasions, and was also a regular video played on ‘MTV.’

‘Soca’ is a genre of music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the early 1970’s, by the fusing of other musical genres such as ‘Calypso,’ ‘Reggae,’ ‘Latin,’ and traditional ‘West African rhythms.’ It was the Trinidadian musician Garfield Blackman (1941-2000) better known by his stage name ‘Lord Shorty’ who is recognised as defining the genre. It was originally spelt ‘Sokah,’ by Lord Shorty, (taken from SOul of CAlypso) but through an error in a local newspaper when reporting on the new genre, it was misspelled as ‘Soca,’ Lord Shorty confirmed the error but chose to leave it that was in order to avoid confusion.

‘Soca’ music is based on a strong rhythmic section that is often recorded using synthesised drum sounds and then sequenced using computers, however, for live shows, the live human drummer emulates the recorded version, often using electronic drums to trigger drum samples. The drum and percussion are often loud in this genre of music, and are sometimes the only instruments to back up the vocal. ‘Soca’ is indeed defined by its loud, fast percussive beats.

‘Calypso’ (see also best songs 390) music originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to mid 19th Century. As English replaced ‘patois’ (Antillean creole) as the dominant language, the lyrics in the songs were often used by the masses to put their point across to challenge those in government. In 1996 Arrow explained what he saw as the difference between ‘Soca’ and ‘Calypso,’ using this song as an example. ’Feeling ‘Hot Hot Hot’ makes you forget that there’s a volcano, and remember there’s fun to be had. Soca was made for dancing, and didn’t carry any political messages.’

Me mind on fire, me soul on fire, all da people all around me feelin’ hot hot hot. A what to do on a night like this, is it sweet, I can’t resist. We need a party sound, a fun-da-mental charm so we can rhum boom boom boom.’