Q: Tell me about the lyrics for 'Backra Massa'. What's 'backra' to begin with? A: 'Backra' is for the slave, is when the 'backra' is 'back', your back is raw. They always rip the slaves at the back, so when they hit them they said the 'back-ra(w)'. When they hit these guys the guy said (sings): 'Backraaaa massa, backraaaa massa, no give me them life I'm living here, 'cause when the sun goes down the moon comes around, the falling of one tribe is the rising of the other, if you see me mister Backraaaa massaaaa, no gimme them life I'm living ya, I'm gonna catch the freedom train that's bound to Zion I would say, I'm gonna catch that freedom train Backra massa, Backraaaa massa, Backra massaaa-a-a, no give me the life I'm living ya, no gimme them life I'm living here...'. Yep. Q: It's a wonderful recording, one of the best from that mid seventies period. A: Yes I. Q: Who mixed the dub for it? A: Yeah, you know who it is? Is Pat Kelly, this singer called Pat Kelly. I got Pat Kelly as the engineer. I said nothing, I just go in the voicing room and put the headphones on and said "Let go the riddim, sah!" So he roll the riddim an' I know what I'm doing so I jus' work on the riddim. So he was quite amazed to know that (chuckles)... I'm coming on jus' like that. Q: So 'Backra Massa' came out circa '75, and 'Crying Time' the following year? A: Yes, then 'Crying Time'.

Q: What's the story to that track? A: Well, I was living in a place called Marinee Hall in Ocho Rios, and there was a Ackee tree that was in the yard there (laughs)... I climb up on this Ackee tree and I dive... Y'know, I had the lyrics from some kind of accident down there when pickin' the Ackee. So that was the line 'who's gonna cry when it's crying time'. Q: Mmm (chuckles). A: Then the rest of the lyrics came through, Marcus Garvey and them, whatever I add to it there. But then it was Chinna Smith, Chinna himself him play on this one, yunno. Chinna was playing at the time with Bob (Marley). So we use... the nex' Chinna, 'cause it was two Chin-a in the band. One who was a half-Chiney, his name is Tony Chin, the one that played with (Soul Syndicate). And Horsemouth and Ansel Collins and these guys, so... Q: But 'Crying Time' sold in large quantities at the time, didn't it? A: Yes, sold a lot. It sold very much, very much. So I was kinda living good until politics run away my manager Pat Hurst, Bertie, he was a man that loved me, a very nice man, and his kids and his wife. But there's politics in this country just like anything. So he had to run away from Jamaica and he was tryin' to explain this to me that I should leave a place like this, but then I didn't have any money and I'm not a person that really drink. I must tell you the truth, I'm not an artist like this that go into the wrong place tonight, I'm not going to be bust. And I'm not going to have to fret, I reserve myself and go to my bed, you understan', sir? So I'm not an artist that, like, a guy going around to a party and drink all those bullshit. I'm a very conservative person, not really... y'know wha' I mean? So many guys don't like me, because I'm not a guy that's comin' out there to drink myself to death. My birthday is the thirty-first of December, the last day of the year, and everybody's tellin' me... I don't need a drink to work. Q: Must've been a lot of work for you, taking care of running the label, record it, press it, distributing it, and not being based in Kingston can be a disadvantage too. A: Yeah, there's a man called Mr (Graeme) Goodall, he used to be at Federal Recording Company. Q: Australian, the engineer. A: Yeah, a white man, he's my good friend. So when I go there, go to King Tubbys, these guys used to open the door for me. Because they realised that I'm a singer and I'm trying to do things in the business, but I was kept back by a lot of the other producers and the radio stations. When I take my song dem to the lob, to the lobby in RJR and give them, they just put it under the counter. And Barry G, Neville Willoughby, those guys always play my songs. Q: They did. A: Yeah, they do. But all Barry G, y'know, these guys... and Allan Magnus, me go to these guys and we sit down together and have a talk and have a drink. 'Cause these guys is just word of mouth, man, because they're lookin' for big money, man. Big, big corn in this business, man.

Claudius Linton

Claudius Linton

Q: It's been blocking the way for many independent producers and artists over the years, to reach out, because of the 'payola'. A: Yes, yes. There's a discjockey here in Jamaica in those times, he said to me that if you've got the best song in your hand walkin' in this country (chuckles), and Dynamic Sounds or Sonic Sounds don't have it, or these people, if you have a dispute with (them) then you get nowhere. And it was true. Q: It's always about having the right connections, money, and if you don't... A: Yes, yes, yes, it does a lot of things. But when I have all my publishing after 1976, I did have a good connection but that manager there had to leave. Pat, Bertie, he was very nice to me and my family, and I was living good at the time when I was into this place called Molyones Garden there. But when money and politics start, it didn't work together (chuckles). Q: What about the other tracks which came out on the Daniel label, 'Star Wars' and 'Third World', that was in the eighties? A: Yes. No, yeah, late '80. 'Star Wars' was one of the tracks, yes, I put those t'ings - I record those things for myself out of my own pocket. There's a lot of things that went down, I record a lot of songs. Because I and the musicians, we are brethren who record things, but it's been sabotaged by the producers because they don't get the things to play around with, so they rip it off. Yeah. Q: So you stopped recording for a while after 'Crying Time'? A: Yes, I stopped recording for a while. Q: You almost forgot to mention one of the highlights in your catalog, 'Put Your Shoulder To Jah Wheel'. A: 'Put Your Shoulder To The Wheel'. Well, that's my motto. I record that at Channel One. That is Santa and Fully on there, that is the same Soul Syndicate band. Yeah, they record that with me, Ansel Collins too. Q: When did you put it out, around the same period as 'Crying Time'? A: Yes, yes, yes. After 'Crying Time'. Q: Did it take off? A: Well, I was making a lot of local sales for myself, hand-to-mouth business, where you can sell the tracks and make a little food for yourself. 'Cause the bulk, it was going on with Dynamic and all these companies, them control the (radio) station and put out all kinda bullshit. And then you sink off for a while and try to learn more about the business. You see, I didn't learn about the business part, I'm not a businessman, I'm an artist. I'm a person that - you can depend on me to create something, to put it on wax.

Jonah & Claudius Linton (Photo: Walter Carlton)

Q: The business side of it can be pretty unnerving at times. A: Yes, that's what I'm saying. That's why, believe me Iya, I don't wanna move Jonah from the stand, I'm not moving this man from his stand. He's got the brain to do it. And guess what, I'm in the free way in the sunshine here where the sun is shining every minute. So it's like my brain is ticking and there's so much happening in these countries now that you don't need to go to the theater, y'know, you can see it out there for yourself among the people. So I'm quick at thinkin', I'm a very thoughtful person that as soon as I'm around and I'm in here, like you see my place, you don't know how this t'ing can be within me. I'm that kinda person, I'm quick to look within myself. Very fast. Q: You became Rasta from what stage in life? A: Well, this spirit of Rastafari now, it's comin' from Trench Town. It's the same oneness, Rastafari is just the same oneness of Christ. It's only just the different branches, people are tellin' you 'bout this and that, but Rastafari and the spirit of Christ is just the same oneness, it's the same love and understanding. This is just love and inspiration. I sight it up a long, long time. Q: I assume Joe Higgs was pretty influential there? A: Yes, that guy Joe Higgs there. Bob Marley write a lot about Joe. (Chuckles) But Joe, you see, you remember da song deh (sings): 'Oh Manny oh, oh Manny oh, why my people don't wanna come on home, come on hoooome, in Zion is a throne and we don't wanna leave it alone...'. Those guys, Higgs & Wilson, at those times, really inspired us as singers, and Bob Marley was a part of the inspiration too. Q: What was Bob like in those days, as you remember him now? A: Well, I remember Bob as a soul-man. I remember Bob not as a dread, I remember Bob as a welder. Bob is a welder, I remember Bob up by Ninth Street. Q: I think Bob and Desmond Dekker used to work as welders in the same place? A: All right, sir. Thank you. You see Desmond now, Desmond Dekker used to have another guy in the group called Skip, I used to be a very good friend of that man. And another guy called Jackie Opel, he sing 'Push Wood (In the Fire)'. I always have some good range, good range singers, my friend. Q: Big voice, superb talent that man, Opel. A: Oh my God, just as the man got the right promotion he died in a car crash. Q: There's that story about bumping into Bob, and he was already a big name at that point, but far from being swell-headed. A: Yeah man! I'm standing at Jack Ruby's when Bob Marley came up, stop the BMW, and we sit on the ground, on the ground at Jack Ruby's gate. All the people wonder 'who is this with Bob Marley?', they don't know that I grow up in Trench Town also with Bob Marley. (Laughs) So we sit there for quite a while because when I sing 'Kingman Is Back' in 1972, Bob Marley did have a record shop up by Charles Street, and Bob Marley took all my pictures, all the things that we have for the festival and put it in his record shop. Bob Marley knew me long time, and Peter Tosh. Anyway, this music is no joking business, and this is what I've learned, you see what I'm saying? Q: A seriousness and discipline about the music... A: Yes sir, very much disciplined. Very much. This business, sir, is not a joke. No matter what the problem you might have personally, but when it comes down to recording in the studio and to do all the work around it, you have to forget about everything else and let it be done. Q: Joe Higgs, the teacher, he contributed for most of you to reach the same standard. A: Yes sir, Joe Higgs was a good friend of ours, a very, very powerful person. You know where we are, where we was in the night when we first started, we have to stay outside. 'Cause Alton (Ellis) was being there, Alton would be inside there, and Joe, Peter Tosh, Bob would be there inside. You see, where I and Hemmings, it's so powerful, when we stay outside there's a song that say (sings): 'What's your name, have I seen you before, what's your name, is it Mary or Sue...'. So we stay outside there, and then we sing also. So when we look out and see that 'this is how', that's how we become a group and start to wail all in Trench Town, and go up to Toots & The Maytals and we wail. And Delroy Wilson, those lickle guys, we call him 'Saddlehead', he was workin' for Sir Coxson at that time. And Ken Boothe and Stranger Cole, that's how I come to know all these guys who's in the business.

Joe Higgs

Delroy Wilson

Q: 'Saddlehead', nice name. Delroy you said? A: Saddlehead, it's Delroy Wilson. That's what they call him. Q: (Laughs) A: You see, on Saturdays it would be like this: we would be racing board-horse, we made that lickle board t'ing, but all the gutters, all the drains in the gutters, the water from... So we used those gutters to race board-horse, but it was very clean at those times. Because KSAC (municipal agency) would have to clean the place up properly and every street, everywhere would have to be washed down and clean. Q: Delroy used to love those board-horses, didn't he? Really into it. A: Yes man, Saddlehead love it, man. I never leave those things, man. I always with them too, man, and ride them (laughs). Country-boy riding board-horse (laughter)! Oh my God, what a life to live through, sir. It is, man. Q: Was Delroy any sort of influence on you, vocally? A: Well, yes. Delroy know me quite well and good friend, because Cecil Hemmings is at 3 Fifth Street, and he's a Fifth Street guy like those guys from the same Trench Town area. So those guys know me well. But I have my friend them special, because Ken (Boothe) liked me very much and Clancy Eccles and all those guys. So I'm always with Toots, driving up and down in Toots' car, because Dynamic Sounds provide him with cars in those days. So I'm always with those guys in Kingston, together y'know. I was quite happy when... before I start get a family, before I start being responsible for a woman an' all those t'ings, I was quite happy moving with people and other musicians.

Toots & The Maytals

Q: The' business' part of it is, perhaps, something you'd prefer to forget, but what's the 'best' part of being inside of musical circles in those days, as you remember it? A: Well, the best part of it from the sixties was peace and love, in Trench Town. I could leave from Trench Town and walk to King Tubby's down in Waterhouse. That man, King Tubbys, was a very good friend of mine. Key spar, the King loved me very much. When I go down there he show me the Heptones and show me Bob Marley when they were all these young boys, pictures of them, and show me Brent Dowe (the Melodians) and all these guys. So there was something in Kingston that really inspired me so much in music that it never left my spirit as yet. You know, whenever I'm kinda weary or down and out I always think back to Trench Town. It's true. Q: Do you still visit there when it's time to go to Kingston, seeing old friends, if they're still there? A: Well, there's no old friends along there, Toots and all those guys move away from there now, these guys (chuckles). When I was passing the road that go up there, West Road, I show Jonah that this road here, on Collie Smith Drive. I show him that drive up to Boys Town, but I would never drive up there right now. I'd never turn the car, the jeep or whatever up there, no. But I've been around, I've been around up there, and it's really something to remember. All the different streets, the way it used to be was very nice. It used to be very very nice, I'm telling you, one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock at night, I could come in from Trench Town.

When Linton opens that mouth and begins to sing it tells you to better shut up and pay attention. There's an edge to his voice, even anger, a conviction when singing that few others possesses. I guess the anger, the aggression, is as true, naked and honest of who Mr Linton really is as anything. A rough life leads to a rough personality, at least on the surface. Claudius' small output during the golden days of reggae music speaks for itself. Quality, not quantity and anything half-hearted. The recordings were one hundred per cent hard hitting. Musically, this is how you define soul to my ears. Or roots music. It was always worthy of a wider audience. Sadly that never happened. Perhaps the time is now. The 'Roots Master' anthology should, if anything, be proof to each and everyone what a powerful singer and songwriter he was back in the day. The new album, 'Sign Time', shows he hasn't lost much of his artistic ability, but it is only a first step of what is, hopefully, to come. 7" single information courtesy Roots Knotty Roots. Claudius Linton's Website : www.myspace.com/claudiuslinton

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Article: Peter I (Please do not reproduce without permission)