“Left me slim thing 'n' me gone a
foreign (Beng beng meddy ben do-ing)…AY” would be the first line of this
confusing hit. Eek-A-Mouse, a Jamaican reggae singer, was one of the main
contributors to the genre, adding up his own style: The Nonsense reggae.
Despite the years, Eek-A-Mouse initiated an original kind of funky reggae, in
which he scatters in most of the song, without one particular reason,
exchanging his blabbering’s with the different instruments chanting, realizing
a complementary mixture which finally stood selected for the AllMusic award
realized in 2001. There exist various roots artists singing the Nonsense reggae
style like Perfect Giddimani, among others, representing it proudly. Additionally,
this valued artist could never continue his career because of the different
felonies he achieved, covering narcotic possession and escaping America with a
1 million dollar bond arrest warrant. Therefore, is what this artist singing is
purely nonsense?
Indeed. It is pure nonsense. However, it stays as a catchy nonsense song that positioned itself in the top of roots reggae chart in its time, according to Reggaeville. Why? The instrumental complexity and fade effects in these masterpieces. One could gaze at it as an art piece, and find tremendous amounts of meanings, which would be only interpreted as correct since there is no valid information on the topic. “When me come back said the girl big and fat yall (Beng beng meddy ben do-ing)… AY.” Although he sings plenty of weird effects, as we can observe in this quotation of the song, as Reggaville explains, Eek-A-Mouse talks about the anorexic girls in Jamaica, ruining their lives for their figures and that Anarexol, a made up medicine by the artist, fixes this problem. Of course, this medicine does not exist and he may be referring entirely to himself, as he was in the most hardcore drugs for the time. These drugs affected him, besides mentally, to his body making him look thin and anorexic in which he actually confirms in the song: “Poor me, poor pretty me x2.” This doesn’t mean the entire song is about him though; I believe the full song is just randomness together sounding attractive, therefore making it a hit, which is the key goal.
A-Mouse,
Eek -. Most Wanted CD. Digital image.
Personally, I love
this song. The mixture of the dub essence and lyrics gives a real root
representation of what reggae is about. Not because of the nonsense lyrics, as
of the rhythm it creates, besides the catchy yelling that most people when they
hear it they repeat it without even knowing what it is subsequently asking
“What is wrong with this fella?”
Besides these explanations, one would think: He must run out
of ideas from singing out of nowhere without any particular meaning. Well, he
does not. He is unquestionably skilled in composing; this is why he’s songs are
only longer than 6 minutes while not boring the audience.
Comparing this song
to others from the same genre would be preposterous for reggae artists actually
look up to this artist, although his legal problems. He is worshiped in Jamaica
as one of the founders, not as vast as Bob Marley, nevertheless still
recognized. Different genre artists also use him as an example because of the
ability he has making these songs, realizing its not in the genre what makes it
special, its in the artist, taking for example Golden from Taylor the Creator,
rap artist, which essentially mentions Eek-A-Mouse on his hit based on random
words and exotic instruments. To conclude, we can observe that artists similar
to this are well valued in the music society because of their audacity in creating
unique styles not caring about what others (critics) will consider. For some,
it can be nonsense, but for others it can be a masterpiece. It depends on how
you look at it.
Work Cited
A-Mouse, Eek
-. Most Wanted CD. Digital image. Last FM. Last FM, 6
Feb. 1999. Web. 7 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.last.fm/music/Eek-a-Mouse/Eek-A-Mouse+Most+Wanted>.
Mouse,
Eek A. "Eek A Mouse - Anarexol." YouTube. YouTube, 4 Feb.
2010. Web. 07 Dec. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QidUyi6730>.
Growing up in the eighties in tiny Wales we loved our eek-a-mouse ( with a few Bidy bong bongs ). My nickname is Bidy so I took particular interest in learning the lyrics. Your information is very interesting, so thanks for taking the time, and it’s helpful for checking how close with the lyrics I was, not too far off with a lot of it. Favourite tracks would be Lonesome journey, wa do dem, Ganga smuggling, and the one ( can’t remember its title) where he’s riding his bicycle, gets knocked down by a motorcycle, in front of a motor vehicle, luckily he was Jah Jah disciple, Ben emeng!
ReplyDeleteAnarexol does exist and relevant as it is an appetite stimulant. Mr EEK Knows you know.
ReplyDeleteHe talks about traveling abroad and returning home to find that his girl who was skinny is "big and fat" now. Anarexol is a real medication that can cause weight gain and is used as an antihistamine and to combat anorexia. He wonders if his girl is bigger because of that medication, or if it's a sign that she's cheating on him (Joe Grine means the other man). He says if her friends know anything about it they're keeping the secret.
ReplyDeleteKrizmah is spot on. A) Anarexol is real and B) Interpreted the lyrics the same way
ReplyDelete^^^ second that, it’s true there’s a lot of rhythmic “words” that don’t technically have meaning other than to vibe (like skat in jazz music)
ReplyDeleteeekamouse is one of a kind with the way he flows and his style , but there’s always a story in there , sometimes it’s easy to miss if you didn’t grow up around it.
i’m from northern washington USA , people around here would think it’s all mostly gibberish , but years of listening has made it very clear to my ears , i love it , i wish i could experience it from the source but alas, my pale complexion definitely wouldn’t fit in , i understand why, but i hope someday things can be different—
but i digress , either way this man has so many great tracks , not to mention an awesome history of working with and performing with many top hitters even early on in his career !