Brendan has been singing increasingly ridiculous variations of the one-time summer anthem contender "Come Around" since June, and when there were giant posters wheatpasted everywhere advertising the upcoming LP there was a constant undertone of the song, of dude's stern but unthreatening voice. But of course those posters have been gone over a long time, and I haven't heard him rumbling out of open jeep windows for at least a month.
So today Brendan and Aaron and I wandered around on a few missions, one of which was to buy the Collie Buddz CD. It was completely disappeared, and when KMart didn't have it we pretty much gave up. It's a shame because he's a great singer and a total charmer. A friend who photographed him said he was sweet, quiet and a gentleman. I think he deserves it.
Personally, I didn't really like "Come Around", but christ, I listen to "Mamacita" all the time. The beat is all staggering hi-step, with these small synth melodies that lurk and flash like it's a Debbie Deb song or something, the whole thing bouncing with a very un-American feel, light and springy instead of big and masculine. And he sings sweetly, the lyrics are full of surprise and delight--my favorite line is where he's watching the woman dance and says, completely impressed, "look how she move fast when the beat slow." But again, gentlemanly, no "have you naked by the end of this song", but just "we can dance all night if you want to..." He's talking to the girl, not talking to his friends about the girl. It's an important distinction I think.
I know it's ahistorical and a little fucked, but I can't help but think of "Mamacita" as a contemporary version of certain rocksteady songs, those Studio One Soul comps that Soul Jazz puts out maybe. Like that Johnny Osbourne song, "We Need Love" which to me feels like he heard a Sam Cooke record and thought to himself, "Really? I can sing like that...." and then made this brilliant, heartfelt song that shrugs off the heavy clumsiness of the American record executives and producers that tried to choke all the emotion out of the originals. There's a ton of examples, certain Heptones songs that feel more Motown than Kingston, or Phyllis Dillon after hearing Marva Whitney maybe.
The first time I heard "Mamacita" I didn't know Collie Buddz' whole born-in-New Orleans/raised-in-Bermuda story and just imagined this Jamaican dude hearing R. Kelly or Justin Timberlake and thinking to himself, "Man, I can do that" the same way Alton Ellis thought he could do Marvin Gaye and got himself a 100 B.P.M. track to make an easy song to dance to. Even after reading a bunch of articles and interviews with dude, I still imagine Collie Buddz as this super-innocent, good-natured singer who couldn't really run lines like "throw that ass at me, make me want to catch it" but could use a similar sweet voice and easygoing delivery to make "let me hold you tight" feel like a real gentle smile.
Brendan found the CD at a store that didn't even know they stocked it and we're giving Collie Buddz another chance to run the summer. He completely deserves it.
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