"Guns Of Navarone" is a song and
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
by Jamaican group
The Skatalites
The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica. They played initially between 1963 and 1965, and recorded many of their best known songs in the period, including " Guns of Navarone." They also played on records by Prince Buster and backed many othe ...
. The music was written by
Dimitri Tiomkin
Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (, ; May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a Russian-born American film composer and conductor. Classically trained in St. Petersburg, Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution, he moved to Berlin and then New York City ...
for the
1961 film of the same name, the soundtrack of which was released on 1 January 1961. Lyrics were added by
Paul Francis Webster
Paul Francis Webster (December 20, 1907 – March 18, 1984) was an American lyricist who won three Academy Awards for Best Original Song, and was nominated sixteen times for the award.
Life and career
Webster was born in New York City, United St ...
.
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
describes the song as a masterpiece of the ska genre with its feeling of optimism with a "jubilant harmonic horn chorus". The vocalist is
Roland Alphonso
Roland Alphonso OD or Rolando Alphonso "The Chief Musician" (12 January 1931 – 20 November 1998)Thompson, p. 262 was a Jamaican tenor saxophonist, and one of the founding members of the Skatalites.
Biography
Born in Havana, Cuba, Alphonso c ...
, with
Lee "Scratch" Perry
Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936 – 29 August 2021) was a Jamaican record producer, composer and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development o ...
who provided various shouts on the track. The rhythm section of drummer
Lloyd Knibb
Lloyd Knibb OD (8 March 1931 – 12 May 2011) was a Jamaican drummer who is considered Jamaica's most important and influential modern drummer. A master percussionist, he contributed to every style of this nation's popular and not so popular mus ...
and
bassist
A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...
,
Lloyd Brevett
Lloyd Brevett OD (1 August 1931 – 3 May 2012) was a Jamaican double bassist, songwriter, and a founding member of The Skatalites. He was a Rastafarian, and the uncle of The Melodians member, Tony Brevett.[rim shot
A rimshot is a percussion technique used to produce an accented snare drum backbeat. The sound is produced by simultaneously hitting the rim and head of a drum with a drum stick.
The sound and various techniques
The sound of rimshots can be ...]
s and a "thumping bass".
Originally released in Jamaica on Coxsone Dodd's ''Muzik City'' label in 1965 under Alphonso's name, it was re-released the same year in the UK on
Island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
using a slightly shorter edit. However, it did not appear in the UK charts until 1967, making number 36 in the spring of that year and staying on the charts for six weeks. It was The Skatalites' only hit in the UK.
The Specials version
The song was again a hit when included on the UK Chart-topping ''
The Special A.K.A. Live!'' EP by
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 1980. The Specials version was a mostly instrumental version featuring scat-like
toasting by
Neville Staple
Neville Eugenton Staple (born 11 April 1955), sometimes credited as Neville Staples, is a Jamaican-born English singer, known for his work with the 2 Tone ska band the Specials, as well as with his own group, the Neville Staple Band. He also per ...
and trombone by veteran ska musician
Rico Rodriguez.
References
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Island Records singles
Ska songs
1961 songs
1965 singles
1967 singles
Songs with music by Dimitri Tiomkin
Songs with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
Song recordings produced by Coxsone Dodd
The Specials songs