"Murder She Wrote" is a song by Jamaican
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 ...
duo
Duo may refer to:
Places
*Duo, West Virginia, an unincorporated community and coal town in Greenbrier County, West Virginia
*Duo, Tampere, a shopping centre in Hervanta, Tampere, Finland
* DUO, a twin-tower development in Singapore
Arts, enterta ...
Chaka Demus & Pliers, from their 1993 album ''
Tease Me''. It was first released as a single in 1992 and again in late 1993, reaching number 27 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 early 1994, and number 57 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, spending 17 weeks there. The song was certified gold in the UK in 2022.
The music to the song is based on
the Maytals
The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music.
...
' 1966 song "Bam Bam", while the lyrics discuss
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
(as revealed in the third verse).
The song became a staple for weddings, BBQs, and clubs
and has been called one of the best and most important
dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...
tracks of all time. The tag team effort of call and response verses with melodic choruses introduced a new format of
toasting from Jamaica, influencing
pan-Caribbean
The concept of a "pan-Caribbean" culture area refers to recent proposals by an international group of archaeologists to the effect that contacts among Pre-Columbian peoples of the Yucatán Peninsula, the Antilles, Central America, and northern Sout ...
culture and crossing over globally. It went on to impact other stars of the genre like
Shaggy
Shaggy may refer to:
People
*Shaggy (musician) (born 1968), Jamaican American reggae rapper and singer
*Shaggy 2 Dope, half of the hip hop, horrorcore band Insane Clown Posse
*Shaggy Flores (born 1973), Nuyorican poet, writer and African diaspora ...
and Sean 'YoungPow' Diedrick.
Sampling wise, the song was included in ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''s list of the "Best Song
Interpolations of the 21st Century", having been interpolated in
Omarion's "
Post to Be", and in ''
XXLs list of "20 of the Most Iconic Reggae Samples in
Hip-Hop", being sampled in
French Montana
Karim Kharbouch (Arabic: æɾiːm χɑɾbuːʃ born November 9, 1984), better known by his stage name French Montana, is a Moroccan-American rapper. Born and raised in Morocco, he emigrated to the United States with his family when he was 13. ...
's "
Freaks
Freak has several meanings: a person who is physically deformed or suffers from an extraordinary disease and condition, a genetic mutation in a plant or animal, etc.
Freak, freaks or The Freak may also refer to:
Fictional characters
* Freak (Ima ...
". The song was also interpolated in
Pitbull
Pit bull is a term used in the United States for a type of dog descended from bulldogs and terriers, while in other countries such as the United Kingdom the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed. The term was f ...
's "
El Taxi
''Dale'' (; Spanish for "Hit it") is the second Spanish album and ninth studio album by American rapper Pitbull (rapper), Pitbull. It was released July 17, 2015, through Mr. 305 Inc., Mr. 305 and Sony Music Latin. This album arrived almost five ye ...
", in
Jason Derulo
Jason Joel Desrouleaux (born September 21, 1989), known professionally as Jason Derulo (; formerly stylized as Derülo), is an American singer and songwriter. 's "
Too Hot",
and in the remix version of
Black Eyed Peas
Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo (rapper), Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie (singer ...
' "
Ritmo" featuring
Jaden Smith, as well as having been sampled and interpolated in many other songs.
Writing and composition
The song is about abortion, as revealed in the third verse.
Pliers wrote the song reflecting on being the age of 19. At the time, he was dating a girl named Maxine who told him she was pregnant, but after 6 months there was no sign of the pregnancy,
waiting until 9 months and 10 months without any result of a child. The song title came from the detective series ''
Murder, She Wrote
''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...
'' which was a TV show Pliers used to watch and was a fan of.
The song was recorded over a 5 year span starting in 1987 with attempts from 6-7 different producers. The first version was released in 1987 by Pliers under his real name Everton Bonner, using the "Fresh"
riddim sampled from
Shabba Ranks' "(Original) Fresh", which was produced by
Harry J for Harry J Records. A second Pliers version was released in 1988, titled "Murder We Wrote", produced by Clifton "Specialist" Dillon. Another version was then released with
Jack Scorpio, and then in a separate attempt with a different group from England.
In 1992, Pliers then went to Sonic Sounds, where engineer Jason Lee was recording
Sly on drums and Lloyd 'Gitzy' Willis on guitar.
Chaka had recorded his part for a different song with
Bobby Digital, after which the songs were combined to make "Murder She Wrote".
Instead of the duo going into the recording booth, they stood over the mixing board and passed the microphone to each other;
vocally it offered a new fusion with toasting on verses and melodic vocals for the hooks.
The production duo
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 ...
had mainly been in the analog sphere of reggae, recording live instruments in more relaxed dub stylings, and entering dancehall music had them offer a digitized and energized sound with their final version of the song having been produced over a simple four-bar loop known as the "Bam Bam" riddim.
Two music videos were made, one with
Dancehall Queen
''Dancehall Queen'' is a 1997 indie Jamaican film written by Suzanne Fenn, Ed Wallace and Don Letts, starring Audrey Reid, who plays Marcia, a street vendor struggling to raise a bad-tempered daughter, Tanya (Cherine Anderson). Directed by Don L ...
Carlene Smith
Carlene Smith (born 1 May 1973), also known as Dancehall Queen Carlene, is a Jamaican former dancer and socialite. Beginning her career in the early 1990s, Smith is credited as Jamaica's first Dancehall Queen. Biography Career
Smith was crowned Da ...
, and one without. The videos cost $50,000 and $2,500 respectively to produce.
Critical reception
Neil Spencer from ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' complimented "the metronomic pulse" of "Murder She Wrote". Tom Doyle from ''
Smash Hits
''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...
'' gave the song three out of five, saying, "Chaka and his pal go for some proper
ragga
Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music. Similar to hip hop, sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music.
Wayne Sm ...
with this
dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...
rocker like the make 'em in ole
Kingston
Kingston may refer to:
Places
* List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated:
** Kingston, Jamaica
** Kingston upon Hull, England
** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia
** Kingston, Ontario, Canada
** Kingston upon Thames, ...
town. It's about some girl called Maxine who bubble-bubble-ribbit-bubble-wiggle-and-wriggle. Or something. Not a bad tune, especially since it might have been inspired by some ropey TV whodunnit with
Angela Lansbury
Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American film, stage, and television actress. Her career spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States, and her work received a great deal ...
."
Legacy
In 2007, the group performed the song alongside
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...
at the
2007 American Music Awards, and 6 years later at the
2013 BET Awards alongside
Elephant Man
Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), often erroneously called John Merrick, was an English man known for having severe deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "the Elephant Man" and then wen ...
.
In 2022,
DJ Cassidy
Cassidy Durango Milton Willy Podell (born 1981), known as DJ Cassidy, is an American DJ, record producer and MC.
With his trademark boaters, cricket sweaters, bow ties, color-blocked tuxedos, and 24-carat-gold microphone, Cassidy became known f ...
's ''Pass the Mic'' series had the duo perform a rendition of the song.
The song was interpolated in
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...
's second medley performance at the
2016 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2016 MTV Video Music Awards were held on Sunday night, August 28, 2016 at 9:00–11:54pm EDT at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. Adele's "Hello" was the most nominated video with seven categories. This marked the 33rd edition of the live b ...
, as part of her
Video Vanguard Award
The Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, also known as the Video Vanguard Award or the Lifetime Achievement Award, is a merit given to recording artists and music video directors at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), a ceremony that was establis ...
win.
Actress
Angela Lansbury
Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American film, stage, and television actress. Her career spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States, and her work received a great deal ...
(who starred in the
TV series of which the song was named after), after hearing the song finally in 2019 at the age of 93 commented "Oh, reggae! Oh, I'm thrilled to be part of reggae. Of course."
Charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
1987 songs
1992 singles
1993 singles
Chaka Demus & Pliers songs
Mango Records singles
Song recordings produced by Sly & Robbie