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Originally Posted by wellcharge
what the hell are you saying about rita? i am talking about the el-tempos, do you know them? you should, they wrote one of yr favorite songs, they deserve highest pay and i think are now getting it out of bunny's royalties.
you're the one who's a bit mistaken  |
a) this is a constant debate in reggae music. there are three early versions of Bunny's Dreamland, from 66, 71 and 73, as well as the post-solo versions in 1976 and another in 1980. The lyrics to ALL of these versions are slightly different as is the music itself, with different chord changes, bass lines, rhythms, drum patterns, tempo etc etc.. Many of the early reggae tunes were remakes and rasta renditions of hit soul/r&b records that Jamaicans had been hearing from Louisiana and Florida radiostations, and much like the UK blues artists, were making it their own.
b) Bunny claims this to be his own tune for two reasons: for having written his own lyrics and for having changed the structure of the instrumentation itself several times over..
while surely there are many parallels between the tunes, Bunny's and El Tempo's "My Dream Island" are also different tunes.. Bunny did not simply cover El Tempo's tune, and while it may be in poor taste to have not disclosed the source of inspiration, "Dreamland" as a Rastafari spiritual with clear reggae/rock steady instrumentation is an original tune in that regard.. Now, while I like to cover tunes like say, "Good Lovin" in reggae stylee, I often change some of the lyrics and clearly change the song structure to fit reggae parameters, and honestly, I put a lot of artistic work into the piece, and it becomes my own. Now, personally, I would always give the credit where it is due, but when it comes to getting paid on yr own albums, sometimes you have to be very assertive..
Should the El Tempos get the
chump change Bunny made off that tune? Nah.. thats Bunny's Tune...
now the things with Rita I brought up are Bunny's fighting over credit in tunes which she owns as part of the Marley estate, tunes like Get Up Stand Up which Bunny says he wrote with Peter and several others from the Wailers back catelogue..