From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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-	"'''Israelites'''" is a [[song]] [[songwriter|written]] by [[Desmond Dekker]] and [[Leslie Kong]] that became a [[hit record|hit]] for Dekker's group, Desmond Dekker & The Aces. Although few could understand all the lyrics, the single was the first [[United Kingdom|UK]] reggae number one and the first to crack the [[United States]] Top Ten. Lyrically paralleling [[Exodus|ancient travails]] with the overwhelming toil of modern-day [[poverty]], Dekker composed a "timeless masterpiece that knew no boundaries".	+	{{Redirect category shell|1=
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-	==Song==	+	{{R to section}}
-	It was one of the first [[reggae]] songs to become an international hit, despite Dekker's strong Jamaican [[Accent (linguistics)|accent]] which made his lyrics difficult to understand for audiences outside Jamaica. In 1969 it reached the [[Top 40|Top Ten]] in the [[United States]], peaking at #9 on the [[Billboard Hot 100]] [[single (music)|singles]] [[record chart|chart]]. It hit [[Chart-topper|number one]] in the [[United Kingdom]], [[Netherlands]], Jamaica, [[South Africa]], [[Canada]], [[Sweden]] and [[West Germany]]. The song came almost two years after Dekker first made his mark with the [[rude boy]] song, "007 (Shanty Town)".	+	}}
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-	"Israelites" brought a Jamaican beat to the British [[pop music|pop]] [[fan (person)|fans]] for the first time since [[Millie (singer)|Millie]]'s number two hit "[[My Boy Lollipop]]". But 1969 was the right time for reggae to make a breakthrough in the United Kingdom. [[The Beatles]], as always the trendsetters back then, had recorded their own reggae-influenced song, "[[Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da]]" (in which lyrics, "Desmond" refers to Dekker), which the [[pop music|pop]] [[band (music)|group]] [[Marmalade (band)|Marmalade]] subsequently took to number one. The [[gramophone record|disc]] was released in the [[UK]] in March 1969 and was number one for two weeks, selling over 250,000 copies. A global million sales was reported in June 1969.	+
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-	Years later Dekker explained how "Israelites" was written. "It all happened so quickly. I didn't write that song sitting around a piano or playing a guitar. I was walking in the park, eating corn. I heard a couple arguing about money. She was saying she needed money and he was saying the work he was doing was not giving him enough. I relate to those things and began to sing a little song - 'You get up in the morning and you slaving for bread.' By the time I got home it was complete."	+
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-	Desmond Dekker had two more UK Top Ten hits over the next year, "[[It Miek]]" and his [[cover version|cover]] of [[Jimmy Cliff]]'s song, "[[You Can Get It If You Really Want]]".	+
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-	Dekker recorded on the Pyramid [[record label]], and when its catalogue was acquired by Cactus Records in 1975, "Israelites" was re-issued. The song again reached a Top Ten position in the United Kingdom a little over six years after the original release. Dekker [[sound recording and reproduction|re-recorded]] the song later in the decade, and almost accomplished the same feat in [[Belgium]], where it just missed the Top Ten.	+
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-	==Lyrics==	+
-	''"Get up in the morning / Slaving for bread sir / So that every mouth can be fed / Oh, oh, the Israelites".''	+
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-	==Cover versions==	+
-	The song has been [[cover version|covered]] by the [[Sweden|Swedish]] [[punk rock|punk]] [[musical ensemble|band]], [[Millencolin]]. It is featured on their single "[[Lozin' Must]]" (1997) and album ''[[The Melancholy Collection]]'' (1999). It was also covered by [[Madness (band)|Madness]] for their cover album ''[[The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1]]'' (2005) and by [[Apache Indian]] for his single "The Israelites" (2005).	+
-	In 2008 the [[Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra]] covered the song, both in their live shows and on their EP A Little Bit Wonderful . This version was used in a television advertisement for [[Whitcoulls]] booksellers in New Zealand	+
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-	==Contemporary usage==	+
-	The song (and a corresponding [[mondegreen]]) was used in a 1990 [[television advertisement]] for [[Maxell]] [[Compact audio cassette|audio cassettes]], and was [[parody|parodied]] in the [[United Kingdom|British]] TV advert for [[Vitalite]] in the early 1990s. It was also featured on the [[soundtrack]] of the [[Gus Van Sant]] [[film]], ''[[Drugstore Cowboy]]''.	+
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-	The song is infrequently used in soap opera ''[[EastEnders]]'', mainly played by shopkeeper [[Patrick Trueman]] who has been shown to favour the song.	+
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-	==See also==	+
-	*[[UK No.1 Hits of 1969]]	+
-	*[[List of number-one singles from the 1960s (UK)]]	+
-	*[[Number-one hits of 1969 (Germany)]]	+
-	*[[List of 1960s one-hit wonders in the United States]]	+
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-	[[Category:WMC]]	+

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Revision as of 15:51, 14 September 2021

1. REDIRECT Accent#Speech and language

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