"Double Barrel" is a 1970
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
single by
Dave and Ansell Collins
Dave and Ansell Collins are a Jamaican vocal/instrumental duo (sometimes billed as Dave and Ansil Collins or Dave and Ansel Collins).
History
Dave Barker (born David John Crooks, 10 October 1947, Kingston, Jamaica) is a session vocalist, and ...
(though credited in both the UK and the U.S. to 'Dave and Ansil Collins').
It was the second reggae tune to top the
UK charts, two years after
Desmond Dekker
Desmond Dekker (16 July 1941 – 25 May 2006) was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group The Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), he had one of the earlie ...
's number 1 breakthrough hit "
Israelites
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
". The record reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart
for the first two weeks in May 1971, selling 300,000 copies, after only 33 radio plays. In the U.S., "Double Barrel" peaked at number 22 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 on 7 August 1971 and number 4 on
WLS on 28 June 1971, two years to the week after "Israelites" made a nearly identical climb to peak at the same position on the same chart. The record also reached number 1 in Mexico on October 23, 1971
and number 8 in Australia.
[
]
Background
Written and produced by Winston Riley
Winston Riley (14 May 1943 – 19 January 2012) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter and record producer. The ''Jamaica Gleaner'' notes he was one of the most successful reggae producers. ,[ former vocalist of ]The Techniques
The Techniques were a Jamaican rocksteady vocal group mainly active in the 1960s.
History
The group was formed by Winston Riley in 1962 while still at school, with the initial line-up also featuring Slim Smith, Franklyn White, and Frederick Wa ...
,[Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , p.317] the single featured the vocals of Dave Barker
Dave Barker (born David John Crooks, 10 October 1947, Franklyn Town, Kingston, Jamaica) is a reggae and rocksteady singer who has made a string of solo albums along with recordings as a member of The Techniques and as half of the duo Dave and An ...
, who had been recording in Jamaica for around five years, principally for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd
Clement Seymour "Coxsone" Dodd (26 January 1932 – 4 May 2004) was a Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of ska and reggae in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond.
He was nicknamed "Coxsone" at school due to his talent a ...
and Lee Perry. This song marked the first appearance on record by Sly Dunbar
Lowell Fillmore "Sly" Dunbar (born 10 May 1952, Kingston, Jamaica) is a drummer, best known as one half of the prolific Jamaican rhythm section and reggae production duo Sly and Robbie.
Biography
Dunbar began playing at 15 in a band called ...
, later of Sly & Robbie
Sly and Robbie were a prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo, associated primarily with the reggae and dub genres. Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare teamed up in the mid-1970s after establishing themselves separat ...
fame, on drums. He was just 18 at the time. A significant portion of the tune bears a strong resemblance to Ramsey Lewis
Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr. (May 27, 1935 – September 12, 2022) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and radio personality. Lewis recorded over 80 albums and received five RIAA certification, gold records and three Grammy Awards ...
' 1967 song "Party Time" (on Chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...
). From the very beginning of the cold intro, the lyrics are punctuated throughout by the unusual claim "I am the magnificent W-O-O-O" (and variants thereof), but the title never appears.
Charts
Cover versions
*The song has been covered by later ska
Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...
acts such as The Selecter
The Selecter are an English 2 tone ska revival band, formed in Coventry, England, in 1979.
The Selecter featured a diverse line-up, both in terms of race and gender, initially consisting of Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson and Pauline Black on lead vo ...
and 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 ...
. In 1972, a sample of the song was included in the top ten hit "Convention '72" by The Delegates The Delegates were a novelty song group who scored a hit record, "Convention '72".
Creation
The Delegates were the creation of Bob DeCarlo, morning disc jockey at KQV in Pittsburgh. Bob was approached by local record moguls Nick Cenci and Nick Kou ...
.
*In 1971 the song has been covered in Spanish by the mexican singer Rosario. It was called Doble Barril.
Samples
It was sampled in 2012 GOOD Music
GOOD Music (also known simply as GOOD, stylized as G.O.O.D. Music; a backronym for Getting Out Our Dreams) is an American record label founded by rapper Kanye West in 2004. The label signed an exclusive long-term worldwide label agreement with t ...
song "The One
The ONE is a shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is built on the site of the former Tung Ying Building at 100 Nathan Road. It was developed by Chinese Estates Holdings and opened in 2010. Owner Joseph Lau Luen-hung g ...
".
See also
*List of number-one hits of 1971 (Mexico)
This is a list of the songs that reached number one in Mexico in 1971, according to Billboard magazine with data provided by Radio Mil. Also included are the number-one songs according to the Record World magazine.
Chart history (Billboard)
...
References
1970 debut singles
1970 songs
Number-one singles in Mexico
Reggae songs
UK Singles Chart number-one singles
{{1970s-single-stub