Hip-Hop
“Baby I Love you so”
Jacob Miller, the author of this song, was born and raised in Jamaica, becoming a Jamaican reggae artist. An original, talented, and musical genius, Jacob Miller became the lead singer for a Jamaican band, Inner Circle, until his death through a car accident in 1980. He produced the song Baby I Love You in 1974, and worked with Pablo Augustus in the song, “King Tubby Meets Rockers” in 1976.
As explained in the book ‘Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae’, this song was one of the exemplary examples of Dub music style, which was characteristic of Reggae songs back then. As further explained by the author, the song would begin by the introduction of the song using a snippet of the original song, (Veal, 2007). However, instead of continuing with the original song, the vocal would be dropped, appearing and disappearing in similar version, and intermittently throughout the whole performance of the song. For instance, for the song above, some of the lyrics of the original are:
“Baby I love you so
And this is what I really know
And if you should ever leave
And go away
Baby, I have been slaving away every day, oh
Night and day I pray
That love will come my way…”
However, a dubbed version of the song would have intermittent and continuous breaks, and would sound more like:
“Baby I’ve… (Breaks)
That I love… “(Breaks)
“King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown.”
Augustus Pablo, who was a widely Reggae artist, was one of the most famous artists due to his popular style of music, Far East Sounds. This was the type of a minor-key tune of music, with sparse lines for Medolica (which is a harmonica with keyboards), with deep basslines and echoing keyboards. Just like Jacob Miller, Pablo was an expert at dub music; a music style where deep basslines and dizzying echo envelops with melody music, “Augusto Pablo, 46, Musician; Helped Shape Reggae’s Sound” (2020). The musician helped transform the face of modern reggae.
This song, a dub reggae single by Augustus Pablo and Jacob Miller, is dubbed a perfect reinvention of the punk music in the 1970s. In fact, as many musical experts often explain, without the song “King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown,” there would be no Goth, punk, electronic music, or radio head kinds of music. The instrumentals of this song formed the cornerstone of modern reggae.
Comparison of the Two Songs
In 1976, Pablo Augustus and Reggae Master King Tubby collaborated to provide a dub version of Jacob Miller’s song, “…Baby, I Love You So.” The two songs also allude and point to the new music style, Dub. As described by Veal (2007), Dub is a music style which is dubbed in technology. The ‘dub plate’ is one of the several plates of the vinyl-coated metal disc which was used to press on vinyl. This genre if music emerged as demand for exclusive and unreleased music in the Jamaican music culture.
The two songs offer a clear example of what roots reggae and Dub songs can be. The two songs are excellent tracks, provide evocative lyrics, and one of the best vocal productions from Jacob Miller, and Pablo providing a perfect Medolica line onto it. These songs solidified dub genre and highlighted King Tub as one of the most organic musicians of all his contemporaries.
Besides, they have brought to attention remixing in music, and the intricacies of working with other musicians to produce musical masterpieces. As Veal (2007) continues to reiterate, Tubby’s extraordinary focus on remixing is what made him rise compared to other Jamaican artists, and elevate his spontaneous remixing technique to improvisation in Jazz. It also showed the power of collaboration among artists in producing the best quality music pieces. Just as Tubby, Augustus contributed significantly in shaping the overall sound of the music, adding the renowned bass lines, Rastafarian lyrics, as well as hand drumming.
Contrasts in the two songs
‘Baby I Love you so’ and ‘King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown’ differ as one is an improvement of the other. While the former was one of the classic Reggae song characteristics of songs back then, the latter was a more improved, modern, and dubbed music version of a Reggae piece. Moreover, while one musician did the first song, the second piece was a collaborative effort between two musicians.
Moreover, while the first song was mainly a drum and bass track, the second song was an intersection of melodica, piano, guitar and Miller’s vocals. The first song is also a full narrative and lyrical version of the song, while the second piece is a collection of short, jumbled up phrases, whose tack was designed for the listener to be attentive to the rhythm, rather than the lyrics.
References
Veal, M. (2007). Soundscapes and shattered songs in Jamaican reggae. Middletown, CT:
Wesleyan University Press.
Augusto Pablo, 46, Musician; Helped Shape Reggae’s Sound. (2020). Retrieved 25 January
2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/20/arts/augusto-pablo-46-musician-helped-shape-reggae-s-sound.html