Police & Thieves

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Police & Thieves
Junior Murvin
publication May 1976
length 3:39
Genre (s) reggae
Author (s) Junior Murvin , Lee "Scratch" Perry
Producer (s) Lee "Scratch" Perry
Label Wild Flower / Island Records
album Police & Thieves
Cover version
1977 The clash

Police & Thieves is a song by the Jamaican reggae musician Junior Murvin . The single , produced by Lee "Scratch" Perry , was released in 1976 and was best known in the British punk scene thanks to a cover version of The Clash . Four years after it was first published, the socially critical title reached number 23 in the UK Singles Chart .

Emergence

After a moderately successful career as a recording artist and engagements in various bands - most recently Young Experience - Murvin returned to songwriting in 1975. He wrote some of his most famous songs on the ruins of the Folly Mansion, an estate built by a wealthy American near his hometown of Port Antonio at the beginning of the century .

Following a "divine inspiration", he returned to Kingston and turned to renowned producer Lee "Scratch" Perry a second time in his career . After leaving little impression almost ten years earlier, he was able to convince Perry with his number Police & Thieves . The eccentric boss of the Black Ark Studio added a little text and arranged the recording with Sly Dunbar on drums, Boris Gardiner on bass and Ernest Ranglin on guitar. Keith Sterling on keyboards and Joe Cooper on organ were added as additional support .

The soft pounding of the bass and the sharp clink of the cymbals, paired with a strong rhythm syncope and pounding riffs , were described by Allmusic as "unruly" accompaniment. Despite this certain harshness, Perry managed to maintain a smoky, almost "languishing" atmosphere. Junior Murvins Falsetto is like a “ breath of fresh air” and is accompanied by the “warm, ethereal” harmonies of Earl Morgan and Barry Llewellyn of the Heptones .

A studio album of the same name was released in 1977.

Content and reception

The song is about the social and political turmoil in Jamaica in the 1970s. As with the War Ina Babylon (Sipple Out Deh) by Max Romeo , also produced by Perry, which was published in the same year, the text describes the streets of Kingston, which had degenerated into a "battlefield" in the run-up to the presidential elections .

" Police and thieves in the streets
Scaring the nation with their guns and ammunition
Police and thieves in the street
Fighting the nation with their guns and ammunition. "

The single was released in Jamaica on the Wild Flower label and became a real hit. In July 1976 Island Records released Police & Thieves in England , where the song won over audiences and critics alike. It was particularly popular at the Notting Hill Carnival held annually by the Caribbean community in London . As a result of the increased police presence and large numbers of participants, violent clashes broke out in 1976 between officials and the predominantly black youth. The title could then be heard for weeks in clubs, at parties and at universities and was also known to a wide radio audience through John Peel . The single stayed in the top 10 of the Melody Maker reggae charts for 23 weeks and was sixth in the NME annual charts at the end of the year .

In March 1980, the number was re-released in the wake of success by 2 Tone Records and reached number 23 in the UK single charts . Although Police & Thieves remained a hymn against police violence in the coming decades and was played many times during the Thatcher era, the original meaning was somewhat forgotten. The Guardian pointed out in the year of Junior Murvin's death in 2013 that the title was still relevant despite its popularity as a party song, citing discrimination against blacks by police officers on the outskirts of London as an example.

Its use in films also increased its popularity. Murvin's original version can be heard in the Jamaican film Rockers from 1978 and in Guy Ritchie's crime comedy Bube, Dame, König, grAS from 1998. The Berlin dancehall combo Seeed used a sample in 2001 for their song We Seeed from the album New Dubby Conquerors . Pitchfork listed the track at number 188 of the 200 best songs of the 1970s.

Cover versions

Due to the great success of the single, the first cover versions were made early on. Jah Lion recorded a new version with Murvin and Perry with alternative text under the title Soldier and Police War in the year the original was released . A saxophone version was recorded for the B-side Magic Touch . Junior Murvin himself played several versions over the course of his career, including an acoustic one for his album Inna da Yard (2007).

The best-known cover version comes from the British punk band The Clash . Frontman Joe Strummer called Police & Thieves one of his favorite songs and preferred the original version throughout his life. In February 1977 the band recorded their debut album The Clash . Although not originally intended for the album, the reggae song finally found its way onto the track list after promising rehearsals. Mick Jones arranged the recording with a guitar on and off beat . This not only resulted in one of the first fusions of punk rock and reggae, but also the longest studio recording of the band and one of their most popular live songs with a length of six minutes. Junior Murvin reacted with little enthusiasm to the version and was quoted with the comment “They have destroyed Jah work!”. Lee “Scratch” Perry, on the other hand, liked the rather faithful cover version and in the same year produced the single Complete Control for The Clash. Police & Thieves in the Clash version is on the soundtrack to Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums .

Other cover versions are from Dubversive feat. Boy George & Mica Paris (1997) and The Orb feat. Lee "Scratch" Perry (2012).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dylan Nelson: Lee "Scratch" Perry and the Golden Age of Roots: 'Police and Thieves'. PopMatters, December 4, 2013, accessed September 3, 2010 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e David Katz: People Funny Boy: The Genius of Lee 'Scratch' Perry. Omnibus Press 2006, ISBN 978-1846094439 , pp. 246-249 (English).
  3. ^ Jo-Ann Greene: Junior Murvin - Police & Thieves - Song Review. Allmusic , accessed April 7, 2018 .
  4. ↑ a b c Dotun Adebayo: Junior Murvin has died but the story of Police and Thieves lives on. The Guardian , December 4, 2013, accessed April 7, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Official Charts - Junior Murvin. The Official UK Charts Company, accessed April 2, 2018 .
  6. ↑ The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s. Pitchfork , August 22, 2016, accessed on October 23, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Chris Maume: Murvin Junior Smith: Singer whose song 'Police and Thieves' struck a chord both in his native Jamaica and in 1970s London. The Independent , December 4, 2013, accessed April 7, 2018 .