By Marlon Burrell
Did you know that when Max Romeo wrote the song “Wet Dream” he did not want to record it himself? He brought the song to producer Bunny Lee who offered the song first to Derrick Morgan, who declined to sing the song. The producer then offered the song to the late Slim Smith, who also declined to record the song. Lee then convinced Romeo to sing the song himself and “Wet Dream” turned out to be the biggest hit of the Max Romeo’s career, peaking at # 10 on the U.K. national chart in 1969!
Even more remarkable, the success was achieved without the benefit of airplay by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) which deemed the song NFAP (not fit for airplay) because of the lewd lyrics. In an attempt to gain airplay, Romeo offered an explanation of the lyrics to the BBC. He claimed that the song was about a leaking roof that was wetting his bed while he was sleeping. He further explained that the line “lie dung gal mek me push it up” was in reference to his girlfriend waking up and trying to plug the leak and he responded by telling her “lie dung gal mek me push it up” (plug the leak.) Needless to say, the BBC did not buy his explanation. FYI, I just can’t imagine that song being sung by Slim Smith. Derrick Morgan? – yeah, I can hear that
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