Q: So what was the link-up between yourself and Buster Riley, Winston Riley's brother, for that recording, 'Praise Jah'?

A: Winston said he had some riddim and he want me to write something on it, and I wrote it on that riddim. I just wrote that and he had the song 'Pressure & Slide', and I did 'If Only Love Could Last'. I did that and I did another song, I did another song on another label...? 'Cos on that day I did three songs for him. I did...

Q: 'Keep On Dancing'?

A: 'Keep On Dancing'! Ahh, you have all the music (laughs)! You're good! Yes... Yeah, (sings) 'Keeep on daancing...', and I...

Q: That was on the Mummy label.

A: Yeah, I know I did those. I don't know what becomes of it, 'cos I didn't get no money. I did harmony on this music with this guy here... (sings): 'Run for your life, he's behind you with a knife, run, run, ruuunnn...'. It was me and him and Ernest, Clarendonian Ernest? Me and him and this guy - I forgot the name of that guy who laid that song...? You remember that music? That was a Winston Riley production (sings the verse). It was a popular music. I mean, when you don't remember that, somet'ing's wrong... he he...

Q: (Laughs) I just can't place it right now, but it's possible I've heard it (it's actually Jackie Parris on the Mummy label with 'Run For Your Life', circa '79).

A: I did harmonies on it - and I try to remember that guy, I haven't seen him, I don't know what happened to him. He was a good singer too. Yeah, Winston you know - I mean, Buster Riley - my niece has some kids for Buster Riley, Winston's brother. But Buster Riley just disappeared off the face of the earth. Nobody knows what happened. Like when they know whatever, but nobody knows what happened to him. Nobody, not even my niece who has kids for him! Nobody know what happened to Buster Riley... Not family, nobody knows. He just disappeared off the face of the earth.

Q: When could this have been?

A: It's a while, yunno, it's a while now. What time did I come here...? I came here '79, and I think it's in the later seventies, he just disappeared. Nobody know, just disappeared. But he used to pirate too many peoples music.

Q: Maybe that's why he's 'gone', y'know.

A: Yeah. He used to pirate music. I was in New York here and some people's music he just come by in New Jersey and put it out. He didn't have to do stuff like that, and then he disappeared, man (laughs)! Trust me, nobody heard or knows anything. I know he had houses and all a them stuff, and his houses them just - I remember I asked around 'What happened to Buster?' But nobody knows.

Q: Speaking about solo tracks, you didn't do many, but what about 'Your Pretty Face'? That was for Bunny Lee's Jackpot label, early seventies.

A: 'Your Pretty Face'? I did that for a friend of mine, Harvey - what's his name... Harvey...? He used to work at RJR radio station. Oh man... That's his first name. I remember when he was a kid, y'know, the whole family he used to satisfy. We used to laugh at him. You know, his brother cursed him and all that. Yeah, so that was Harvey, his name was. Anyhow, I did it for him, y'know, I did that song for him.

Q: Did it take off?

A: Yeah, it did a little thing, y'know. It did a little thing, because he used to work at the radio station and we used to get a lot of plays. It takes off to an extent.

Q: 'Imagine Now' on the Starlight label, remember that one?

A: 'Imagine Now'? Which one is that...? You know I told you sometime you had music that I don't even remember what I did (laughs)!

Q: I haven't heard it though, just know about it through the singles discography.

A: I don't remember that one. Maybe if I hear it I would figure it out, because some music... And, I did this one 'The Twinkle Is Gone'. Which label I did that...? It was Harry J, but I did that one as Eric Fater.

Q: You mean Eric Frater?

A: Eric Fater. I just created a name basically. And that did good too, I believe it was Harry J's label. It went good as far as I know.

Q: And 'Dangerous' on the Mud label, or Pama in the UK.

A: 'Dangerous'? Oh yeah, 'Dangerous' is a... "Mud" that was my label. That was my label that Pama they distribute in England. Yeah.

Q: When did it come out?

A: Oh, that was in the seventies sometime. I wanna fetch all those tapes, it was eight track I did them on after going on two track and stuff. But I did the 'Dangerous' on the 'Baby Why' LP, the one I'm supposed to send you. I had 'Dangerous' on it and I did it over. I wanna do over 'Poor People' and I wanna do over 'Dangerous'. I might do over a few of those music, because when I'm gonna create a Cables CD, maybe a 'Best Of The Cables', or stuff like that, I'm gonna put out music and all Cables music that I possess. And what I don't have, I'm gonna do over them.

Q: Of your own productions at that time, was there a lot that was never put on 45? You still have most of the master tapes for this stuff?

A: No, I don't have much, what I did I put them out. But I have songs written ready to go into the studio, and those songs are pretty good songs. I have a lot of songs written from way back wherein I have the ideas so I can put them together. I have songs written from them time up to now.

Q: And 'Don't Play That Song' on Esbonnie?

A: OK, that was a do-over. You have that, you've heard it?

Q: No, no. It's listed in a discography though.

A: You never heard it? OK, I'll see if I can get it. That's a Ben E. King song.

Q: Oh, would that be the 'Don't Play That Song No More'?

A: Yeah, but I sang it in a different way, yunno. And you've never heard it, right?

Q: Yeah, I think I´ve heard Ben E. King's version several years back now, but not yours.

A: OK, my version is good, I arranged it in a different kind of way. I did that song because they did it - we did that and the other music there, what was the other one there you said again...? The Otis Redding song, 'My Girl'?

Q: Right, with True Experience.

A: Yeah. Esbonnie, he did those two riddims and those songs wasn't for me, it was somebody else he wanted to sing that, and I was at the studio the night we met and doing it. Because they didn't sing it, for some reason I don't know of. And 'Don't Play That Song', that's the only way I could sing it the way I did it, because I don't know why the riddim played was too soft with anybody trying to figure out how to do it the Ben E. King way. So I had to change it up, and sing it on a high pitch. And make it a little kinda versatile, y'know. You will hear it, very versatile music.

Q: What about this Trojan 45 'Everybody's Got A Song To Sing', a Harry J production from 1975. I haven't heard the 'Baby Why' album that came out two years later, but was this tune included?

A: No, it's a do-over song. And I don't remember which artist it was that Harry J got that record from. It's a very nice song.

Q: Yes, it is. Who played on it?

A: I don't remember the backing players on it, maybe it's In Crowd or someone like that.

Q: The drum patterns sounds a lot like Carlton Barrett to me. But I think you mentioned the other day that it could be the drummer from Third World - Willie Stewart.

A: From Third World, yes. Third World - right, that's the group I was trying to remember, because sometimes you get those kind of blackouts!

Q: (Laughs)

A: Third World, they played on some of our music, Harry J's music in particular, yes. Yep, Third World, wow... Some of those songs, some of those guys played on it too. That song is a very nice song. It was a song about (sings): 'If you think you've lost your face in this big ol' world, and the dreams gone too far away...'. You know, that's how it starts, the chorus is (sings): 'Everybody's got a song to sing...', and I think it's Trevor on that - it's True Experience, right?

Q: No, it came out as by the Cables.

A: OK. That time Trevor - and was me as Cables, yeah, and Bobby. And we did over this music 'The Salt of the Earth'. You remember 'The Salt of the Earth'? (sings the verse). And that music, man! You see always the war people bringin' up the song 'Do over that song, man! You do over that song now, it's a sure hit!' It's about the soldiers and stuff like that, and I think that was selling good in England too. Because it has the English style.

Q: What about Hugh Madden, you mentioned him before. You did 'A Sometime Girl' for him on his Electro imprint.

A: Yeah, we did a few songs that I don't even remember all of them. But, I'm gonna aks him to give me that tape, 'cause you know... he will. He even suggested to me a long time ago in Jamaica that "Why don't you take the tapes and put it out?"

Q: Absolutely. 'Happy End' was another one on the SEP label, remember that one?

A: 'Happy End'? I don't remember that one, we did so many songs I don't remember them. And I don't have the record. People always come and want the record and you give them a record and you never get it back.

Q: 'Baby I Love You' on the World Wide label was another title, produced by Errol & Hylton. I think this was a guy who used to work for Joe Gibbs, the guy Errol?

A: 'Baby I Love You', that was Carl Dawkins music, right? Yeah, Carl Dawkins (sings): 'Baby I love you, but you've gone away, I'm gonna get you one of these days, oh I love you...' - that one? Something like that, that's Carl Dawkins. Because Carl did those music for Harry, we did over some of those for Harry J. Yeah, he did an LP with some of those music for Harry J, but it didn't go out. And I think Harry was giving away that music. Harry was giving me a tape with this music all the time, and for some reason I didn't end up taking it. You know, them time you didn't figure that was important, but after a while it started to be. Now I would have the master tapes for those, all my music them. 'Cos we didn't think it was important at this time.

Q: Tell me about the sessions for that 'Baby Why' album.

A: Well, we were just doing music as part of Cables comeback, y'know, for the album, and he wanted to make the album 'What Kind of World'. And he had the artwork, man, that was the artwork for 'What Kind of World' and he claimed he didn't like that because the artwork was, like, the guy create such a unique thing because it was shown like them time in South Africa with people suffering, and all kinds of stuff and he created that with those type of things that it looked so great. Just the artwork alone, people would go wild when seeing that album. And then he said, "Oh, now we put 'Baby Why'" - because 'Baby Why' was a hit. And he did that.

Q: Who did you work with on the album?

A: On the 'Baby Why' album? The same In Crowd guys them, and different, different guys. Maybe some of Third World guys. It's all a mixture of different bands, not just one band.

Q: And this album wasn't completed during a short period of time, it was recorded on and off for a longer period? Not like one or two sessions, it's consisting of singles you cut for Harry over a period of years, along with a few newer tracks?

A: No, no. We go with two music here. You know, I used to just go when I feel like, because always, like, they didn't wanna do it, it have to work for everybody. I don't want them to have... So, after a while I just say, y'know, 'Let's do it', and I just go and do it over a period of time. We do it over a period of time, I don't remember how much time but we did it to get it over with.

Q: (Laughs) I see.

A: Because it has more original songs, y'know. It wasn't exactly different from the - these songs are more like rock steady than the dancehall sound.

Q: How did you find the sound at Harry J's studio? It was set up in the early seventies, I think Island was involved in it as well, invested in it, so it was one of the best studios in terms of modern equipment.

A: Yeah, Harry's studio was good. Most of Bob Marley's music was laid at Harry's studio. He had one of the best studios in Jamaica. Oh yeah, everybody used to come down at his studio, he used to make money. Although it was one a the time it was Harry J studio, and everybody hire Harry J's studio. Yep. I don't know what is happening now. He might run it again, but I can't find him.

Q: So what was the downfall of Harry's studio? I think it closed down in the early eighties, even before the digital wave took over.

A: After a while he became - you know when people trying to get too smart, when you get too smart and you wanna override people and dirty things, y'know, people make you and they break you. So you come in the business and you make money and you wanna be too much, like, you can do anything and get away with it. That's not how it goes. Then the guy carry me down. Trust me, they don't make you (laughs)! 'Cos I'm a type of person who has this spirit, a good spirit around. You know, I've got a job, so y'know I don't starve. I don't wish nobody nothing bad, it doesn't matter what anybody does now, I wish them all good. 'Cos you know somet'ing? I believe in God. I can't afford to wish anything bad to anybody, 'cos He's always there for me. So, I have to just wish people good. I can't have a bitter heart for anybody, 'cos one man rules my life. So whatever happens, where I am concerned, I just look at it in a positive way that He knows all the reasons why. And when I talk to Him about it, then just turn it around a different way, y'know. Only one t'ing He don't do, is to cuss Downbeat to pay me all my money that he owes me (laughs)! I'll get it back in different ways though. Maybe not from him, but you know 'The race is not for the swift but for he who can endure'.