Lovers Rock
In
Reggae music there is, of course, also sung about the oldest topic in nearly all
music styles, love. These songs were even accepted by “conscious”
Rastafarians, that are Rastafarians who live strictly with the teachings of the
bible and of Haile Selassi and see the music as a instrument to transport
messages. But as Reggae musicians in all periods were said to have many women,
it seems likely that they sing about them. A master of these love songs is
Gregory Isaacs. The handsome singer got a lot of female fans with songs like
“All I have is love”, “The way she walks”, “Lonely lover” and “I
need your love”. Although Roots Reggae musicians did never think much of
fidelity, they always sang about women in charming and respectful way and
without any sexist phrases. That this changed in following Reggae styles will be
shown later.
However, the American and European audience liked this kind of Reggae and, for
example, “Diana” by the Heptones and “Do you feel my love?” by Eddie
Grant became very popular.
The most famous topics were unrequited love, declarations of love and love
affairs that were not accepted by the society (for example “Your so young and
I’m so old, this my darling I’ve been told”22 or “We take a walk for a
Kingston Mall, whole heap a people just start to laugh, because a she too short
an a me too tall”23)