Eric Donaldson’s ‘Cherry Oh By’ is quite possibly the most popular Festival Song winning number of all time. Donaldson, already a star by 1971, having started his career in 1964 at the iconic Studio One with the West Indians, enjoyed a successful solo career thanks, in part, to the popularity of Cherry Oh Baby. The Gleaner covered that competition and was there for the rise of Donaldson, the solo artiste.

 Published July 16, 1971

“Cherry Oh Baby” is 1971 Festival Song 

A Festival of excitement – shouts, applause and other manifestations of approval, greeted the announcement that “Cherry Oh Baby” by Eric Donaldson was selected Festival Song 1971. 

Twenty-three-year-old Eric Donaldson from St. Catherine, making his debut in Festival activities polled a total of 1, 564 votes and will receive a Festival Gold Medal, the Desnoes and Geddes Trophy and a $600 cash incentive, as his prizes.  

From his entry into the contest, Donaldson, with his unorthodox and rustic stage personality and the smooth rhythm of his number, established a very close rapport with the public.  This was sustained and heightened as he travelled to the various regional shows to participate in the Pop Finals. 

The first runner-up was the Maytals (Teacher Teacher) who will receive a silver medal and a $300 cash incentive award.  They obtained 284 votes. 

The third prize of a Bronze Medal and a $200 cash incentive award goes to Freddie McKay with his “Sweet you Sour you”.

The other four contestants will each get £75 as a consolation prize. 

At 4.30 p.m. on July 15 when the ballot boxes from the Southern and Western regions were processed Eric Donaldson, with a total of 955 votes, had attained a position of dominance without any semblance of a challenge from the other finalists.  The Maytals, at that time, had polled 141 votes with Freddie McKay at 99.  The other four finalists were effectively out of the running. 

Eight songs were originally selected to compete in the Festival Song finals at the elimination show held at State Theatre on May 31, but on June 24 “Rub up Festival” by Junior Byles was disqualified by the Festival Commission after the radio stations refused to play the song on the grounds that it would involve a ‘breach of their Broadcasting Licences’. 

Voting for the Festival Song took place during the past two weeks when the seven finalists rendered their songs at Pop shows in the Southern region, at the Odeon Theatre, Mandeville, on Thursday, July 1, in the Western region at the Palladium Theatre, Montego Bay on Monday, July 5 in the Northern region at the Delmar Theatre, Port-Antonio on July 8 and in the Eastern region at the National Arena on Sunday, July 11.

Regional shows

In selecting the Festival Song by voting at regional shows, the Festival Commission reverted to the system that obtained in the years 1966 until 1989.  In Festival ’70 this method was abandoned and voting was conducted in the streets.  Officials from the Festival Office along with a J.I.S. mobile unit travelled to the major population centres, played the competing songs to a randomly selected cross-section of the community and took the poll on the spot.  By this method, some 4,300 persons participated in the choosing of the winning songs.

The Jamaican Festival Song Competition was first introduced in 1966 when the Maytals won with their “What a Bam Bam”.  In 1967 it was The Jamaicans with “Baba-Boom” in 1968 it was “Intensified Festival by Desmond Decker and the Aces: “Sweet and Dandy” by the Maytals topped in 1969, and last year Hopeton Lewis and The Chosen Few carried the day with “Boom Shaka Lacka”. 

This year, in an effort to meet the public criticism that the winning songs did not reflect the spirit and meaning of Festival and Nationhood, the Festival Commission had organized a number of meetings with the participants and their promoters with a view to structuring the tunes to reflect the nature and spirit of independence.

However, only three of the finalists used this as their theme, viz. Rocking Horse “Festival Bells”, Sir Horace “Good Time Festival” and Merry Hop “Rub Down Festival’ – none of which found popularity with the public. 

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