Jamaican Halloween Spooktacular 2014 - Track Seventeen - Mr. Brown

The story of Mr. Brown is one that I've addressed a couple times in years past.  So instead of spending a lot of time rewriting I'll get to what I wrote in 2005...

"In 1969 or ’70 the Wailers who were working with Lee Perry at the time, caught wind of a strange story involving a John Crow, which is the Jamaican term for a buzzard. This "crow" was somehow given the name “Mr. Brown” and the story went that he had been observed traveling around Kingston on a coffin on its way to the cemetery. Days later the same buzzard, wearing a shirt and tie, was seen in a courtroom. The general populace was scared stiff thinking that the evil powers of obeah (or black magic) had been unleashed and had even gotten to the point that many were afraid to leave their houses at night. The story was even reported in the Jamaican newspaper the Daily Gleaner and added more fuel to the fire." 

This tale of the supernatural didn't only inspire Bob, Peter and Bunny but also Dennis Alcapone on his tune, "Duppy Serenade" attributed to the Inn Keepers (and which I featured in 2009), and as far as I can tell, it also was the catalyst behind Trevor Brown's "Mr. Brown."  The tune which first appeared on GG's 7" vinyl in 1971, was obviously recorded around the time that the Mr. Brown hype was going around in Kingston.  Whatever the connection, or potential lack thereof, I can't say for certain but I do think it works great with our mix!


Spooktacular Track Seventeen - Trevor Brown - Mr. Brown