Contents - Beth Lesser

they were trying to pronounce it and somebody say Scalawah.” And that’s the
version that stuck.”
A clash between Tippertone and Arrows the Ambassador provided the opportunity
to showcase the newest rhythm from Channel One, a do-over of a
Studio One Slim Smith song ‘Never Let Go’. “Tippertone had a Studio One
rhythm he called ‘Question’,” Sonny explains. “I tried to find that song. I
could not find the song. I was in the studio Saturday about ten o’clock in the
morning when the studio opened. I left four o’clock in the evening - searching
the tapes, trying to find the Question rhythm. I couldn’t find it.” But, he
found something very much like it. And he called it ‘The Answer’.
The clash with Tippertone took place the east, in the Hermitage Club, is at
the foot of August Town, in Mona heights. When the dance got hot, Tippertone
threw in their ‘Question’. But this time, Arrows had the ‘Answer’. “When
I play that song and call it ‘Answer’, It stuck in the minds of everybody for
the rest of their lives, till even Coxsone started calling the song ‘Answer’. The
original name of the song – Slim Smith did it – ‘I will never let go’. Nobody
calls it ‘I Will Never Let Go’. Everybody calls it ‘Answer’.”
Sound ClaSh
In the pre-version days, sounds like Sir Coxsone and Duke Reid used to
have fierce competitions that drew enormous crowds. According to Arrow’s
owner, Sonny, “That time they would play songs. They were clashing with
vocals. They weren’t clashing with the instrumentals. Dodd would come with
a Slim Smith that he had just pressed… and Duke would come with a song by
the Paragons, like ‘On the Beach’.”
In the ‘70s, when dub became popular, dubplates were judged on the originality
and creativity of the mix. The vocals weren’t as important. “Most of
the time we ask for a ‘special cut’ [of the rhythm], a ‘rub-a-dub’ * cut, or they
had a special bass line,” Echo Vibration’s Dexter Campbell explained. “I get
a dubplate from Sir Coxsone by the name of ‘Rougher Yet’, that Slim Smith
tune. But I get the raw dub [without vocals]. That was one of the best rhythm
I really know today. And I had the ‘Cuss Cuss’ rhythm also. Even ‘Cherry Oh
Baby’, we have a rub-a-dub cut”
The master tapes of songs were often stored in the studio where they were
mixed. That meant a clash against Tubby’s Hometown Hifi was a real challenge,
as Tubby had access to so many hits (as well as having hit maker, U Roy,
the top deejay). With so many master tapes in his home studio, he could cut
himself a fresh dubplate whenever he wanted and even string up the sound in
his yard to try it out.
According to Dexter Campbell, of Echo Vibration, a clash was different
from a regular dance in that the object was to play only dubplates. “We used
* Rub-a-dub meant the cut was a special mix of only the instrumental of the song and did not
include the vocals.
202 | RUB A DUB STYLE – The Roots of Modern Dancehall