Leroy Sibbles is perhaps the best-known member of the very popular Jamaican vocal trio of the 1960s – The Heptones.
His popularity stems mainly from his masterful lead vocals on some 90 per cent of the group’s top hits during the rocksteady era of Jamaican music. One only has to mention recordings like Fattie Fattie, Party Time, Equal Rights, I Hold the Handle, and Sea of Love, and Sibbles’ name comes quickly to mind. As a competent bassist, he also proved his worth on several big hits by top artists on the Studio 1 label, and further enhanced his reputation by lending that skill to help popularise one of Jamaica’s undeniable anthems of reggae – Satta Massagana. Sibbles’ bass guitar was particularly pronounced on the recording, as the Abyssinians sang:
‘There is a land far far away
where there is no night, there’s only day
look into the book of life and you will see
there’s a land far far away’.
Yet, with all of Sibbles’ heroics as lead vocalist of the Heptones, it is most ironic that the recording which many musicologists rate as the group’s best work, and perhaps best-known recording to the outside world, was not led by Sibbles, although he had a hand (or a voice) in it, through his backing vocals and his bass-playing skills.
According to Earl ‘Heptones’ Morgan, the conceptualiser of the group,The Book of Rules, distinguished itself by entering the British charts in the 1970s, and was also popular in several other countries. This 1973 recording on a ‘Jaywax’ record label, was done at Harry J’s recording studios, 10 Roosevelt Avenue, Kingston 6, for producer, the late Harry Johnson. The third member of the group, the late Barrington Llewellyn did an excellent job as the lead vocalist, with Morgan and Sibbles doing backing vocals on the recording.
People were amazed, as Llewellyn had never before shown this type of vocal propulsion on any previous recording. He has also been given credit as the writer of The Book of Rules. But this is not entirely true, because Llewellyn drew heavily from the lyrics of a poem written by the nineteenth century American poet R.L. Sharp, to improvisingly restructure the lyrical content of some sections of the song. The words were puzzling to the few who pay attention to lyrics, but a passing fantasy to most Jamaican music lovers. To the latter set, melody, rhythm and beat are what fascinate them more than any other factor, and that’s what the song certainly had, so lyrics didn’t really matter much to them. Whatever shortcomings that may however exist, in terms of its lyrical presentation, that was easily compensated for by the throbbing intensity of its beat, and its excellent musical arrangements, which placed it in the highest echelons of Jamaica’s reggae standards.
BORROWED INSPIRATION
The opening lines of Sharp’s poem, titled ‘A Bag of Tools’, from whichThe Book of Rules drew its inspiration, posed a difficulty for many to decipher. It ran:
‘Isn’t it strange that princes and kings
and clowns that caper in sawdust rings,
and common people like you and me,
are builders for eternity.
Each is given a bag of tools
A shapeless mass, and a book of rules’.
Llewellyn’s version, as scripted on the reverse side of their album, The Heptones Instrumental Classics, seems a bit more intelligible, as it spoke about, ‘Princesses and Kings in clown-clad, capers in sawdust rings, while common people like you and me, we’ll be builders for eternity, each is given a bag of tools, a shapeless mask and a book of rules’.
Sitting in the cool of downtown Kingston last Wednesday, in a ‘sidewalk atmosphere’, it presented a perfect and relaxing setting for an interview with Earl ‘Heptones’ Morgan, on the topic. He remembers Barrington bringing the song to them in late 1973, but couldn’t recall exactly where he obtained it. He believes the recording of The Book of Rules was making a distinction between the splendour of the monarchy and the ‘hard life’ of the common people.
After carefully examining Llewellyn’s lyrics, we were led to paraphrase: ‘It is strange how Princesses and Kings can jump or run about playfully (caper), like clowns in a circus, while common people like you and me, have to be toiling for eternity, with very little resources – a bag of tools, a shapeless mass, and a book of rules’. The unintelligible utterances of The Book of Rules, continued in the second stanza: ‘Each must make his life as flowing in tumbling block or a stepping stone’, which we unravelled as, ‘each one should make, before life has flown, a stumbling block or a stepping stone’. The third stanza ‘Look when the rain has fallen from the skies, you know the sun will be only missing for a while’, along with the common refrain, ‘While common people like you and me‘ etc., completes the recording.
The Book of Rules was the title cut from an album of the same name, done in late 1973 for producer, Harry Johnson, but came to prominence in early 1974. It contained the top 10 hit, Suffering So and Black on Black featuring Leroy Sibbles, and Autalene with Earl Morgan. Other cuts from the album included, Peace and Harmony, Do Good to Everyone, Baga Boo and Wah Go Home. The backing musicians were some of the best in the land: drummer, Max Edwards; guitarists Jeffery Chung and Eric Frater; bassist Leroy Sibbles; keyboard player Leslie Butler; percussionist Bongo Herman; tenor saxaphonist Cedric ‘Im’ Brooks; trombone Nambo; alto sax Herman Marquis; and trumpet David Madden, along with studio engineer Sylvan Morris.
The Heptones actually began their career working with producer Kenlack on his Caltone record label, with their first recording being Gunmen Coming to Town, out of the Treasure Isle Recording Studios at 33 Bond Street in Kingston.
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