Back in 1980, I had a very soft spot for The Piranhas hit 'Tom Hark. I knew nothing of the song's history or what 'The Piranhas Play Kwela' meant on the sleeve, but it was a relentlessly upbeat, saxophone/whistle driven shot of happiness that seemed kin to the Madness songs that were just coming through. As what was probably my first introduction to what has now come to be termed 'world music' it was invaluable. It was only much, much later when I got to hear the original 1956 version by Elias and His Zig Zag Jive Flutes that I appreciated just how much The Piranhas take had cleaned up the sound and yet how much they left it intact.'Oh Carolina' is a cover version of a 1960 ska recording by The Folkes Brothers and an important precursor to the then burgeoning reggae movement. Historical significance alone never shifted many units (after all, popular music charts are not there to act as a surrogate museum) and the sounds on the record are scratchy and distant enough to have been laid down some time in the Middle Ages. Yet although Shaggy tightens the beat to give its rude boy styling a gangsta appeal, takes out the rat tat tat drums to give it glossy coat of modern Ragga danceability, there a few other concessions to a commercial Western market. The ska groove remains intact and, like Althea and Donna before him, other than the title I can barely make out any other of the lyrics thorough the thick patois on either of the versions.* And because of this, the song's heritage is respected rather than sacrificed on the altar of its success. It's still fun, but the approach lifts 'Oh Carolina' up from the swamp of one-off cultural novelty where it could easily have sunk and where, whether by intention or not, The Piranhas took 'Tom Hark' all those years ago.
* A device that would be used to hide a multitude of lyrical sins in the Ragga movement that flowed from Shaggy's breakthrough.
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