"Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys" is a song written by Guyanese-British musician

Eddy Grant Edmond Montague Grant (born 5 March 1948) is a Guyanese-British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known for his genre-blending sound; his music has blended elements of pop, British rock, soul, funk, reggae, electronic music, Afr ...

and recorded in London in 1970 by his band

the Equals ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

. Their recording, produced by Grant, reached number 9 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in January 1971 and was the band's last chart hit. The Equals were noted for being one of the first ethnically-mixed bands in the UK. The song was described by journalist Chris Taylor as "a hymn to diversity" which "explicitly linked its racial theme with the anti-Vietnam war sentiment of the time". The song is also notable for heralding a shift in the band's sound, from the Caribbean-influenced pop-rock which had given them their initial success in the late 1960s to an embrace of

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

music.

Lloyd Bradley Lloyd Bradley (born 21 January 1955) is a British music journalist and author. Biography Born in London to recent immigrants from St Kitts, Bradley discovered Jamaican music during his teenage years, while going out in the North London-based s ...

has described the song as "the first recognisably black British statement - a song that saw itself as being (British) in both words and music, and announced that London's indigenous black soul music was entirely self-sufficient". In 2019, "Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys" was

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

the Specials The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English Two-tone (music genre), 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall (singer), Terr ...

as the opening track on their album ''

Encore An encore is an additional performance given by performers after the planned show has ended, usually in response to extended applause from the audience.Lalange Cochrane, in ''Oxford Companion to Music'', Alison Latham, ed., Oxford University Pres ...

''. Lynval Golding of the Specials said: "I've always thought of The Equals as our spiritual ancestors: they were a massive inspiration to all of us, genuine heroes.... Doing their song on the album is a tribute, our way of thanking them for everything they've done and how much they meant to us...".Interview with Lynval Golding, ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...

'', #489, February 2019, pp.106-107 The song was also covered by Australian band Hush, and released as a single in 1973. The single was taken from Hush's album ''Aloud 'N' Live''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys 1970 songs 1970 singles Songs written by Eddy Grant The Equals songs President Records singles The Specials songs