'Tan So Back' - sound, cowardly advice

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

"Dem say coward man keep soun' bone

So if a man waan fight you, run!

No

Tan so back

A man a chuck it pon you

You jus' tan so back

Him a run up him mout' jus' tan so back

Him a gwaan like him bad

Jus tan so back

Tan so back cause a Mickey Mouse dat

A Mickey Mouse dat an him a damn eediat"

- 'Tan So Back', Professor Nuts

In the 'hypermacho' world of Jamaican dancehall, where a 'dis' is deadly, and he who backs down is derided, Professor Nuts' mid-1980s Tan So Back is a unique example of another masculine approach to conflict. Written in 1983 and performed on sound systems long before it was recorded, Tan So Back is done in Nuts' standard, humorous style, the deejay presenting different scenarios involving himself choosing to 'tan so back' instead of getting into conflict.

He told The Sunday Gleaner that 'tan so back' was popular street slang at the time and while the scenarios he depicts in the song are not his real-life experiences "is life in general, when you see people don't suppress certain things or forgive certain acts. They pursue until the final result is death or jailhouse".

"I witness where man get beat up badly, cut up, hospitalise, close to death. Him and the man ketch up, him run go up the road and get machete and come back. The man use the same machete chop him up," Nuts said.

"While the man who chop him up, if him did think, him woulden end up a prison for felonious wounding."

So Tan So Back is "telling people to forgive in life and think before they act. One thing lead to another, so it up to who wan' tan so back fuss".

The song was recorded on the Dungle Man label for producer 'Macka Tom'. Nuts said Tan So Back went to number two, and mused, "I don't know why it never go one".

'Box har again'

The most popular skit in Tan So Back puts Professor Nuts in a situation where his lady offends a man in a tough Kingston community and, when she is slapped, he is called to her defence. As striking as it is - literally - on record, in Nuts' live performances the blows take on a whole new impact as they are echoed by the crowd.

In that verse Nuts deejays:

"She lef' out a the yard me no even know when

When she come back she a bawl me say waapen to you Gwen

A feel up har face an' har two jaw dem

An' say a bredda box me ova Cockburn Pen

Me say wait, man box my girlfriend

A mussi dead him waan dead like Aunty fowl dem

Me pat har pon har head an say no worry yah Gwen

Him gwaan like him bad, we a go dung deh den"

She had left the house after they had an altercation, in which Nuts had had to tan so back when she informed him "woman no heng". They duly went to Cockburn Pen, where Nuts:

"When me reach dung deh me sight some likkle children

Me jus' drape dem up bad, ask them if a them

Dem seh no Missa Sar, me seh who box yu Gwen?

Me hear a coarse voice seh a me box yu galfren'

When me tun roun' de man a ten foot ten

Me go fe run but something hol' me foot dem

Me seh respec' me fren', a no him box yu Gwen

She sey yes a him dweet, me say arright den

If yu tink seh yu bad then box har again

'Bow!" de bredda box har again.

The slaps continue as Nuts dares him again and again:

"Me seh wait me neva see yu waan box har again?

'Bow!' De bredda box har again

At the end of it all Nuts says:

"Me jus' run go cross the road buy him two Heineken

When me come back me gi him an shake him han' dem

An' say respec' ya boss, yu save me de problem

I don' think I haffi bodda box har dung again"

"The man them love it but sometimes the woman them cross," Nuts said about the response to that section at his performances.

'Tan So Back' - sound, cowardly advice

Mel Cooke

Gleaner Writer

"Dem say coward man keep soun' bone

So if a man waan fight you, run!

No

Tan so back

A man a chuck it pon you

You jus' tan so back

Him a run up him mout' jus' tan so back

Him a gwaan like him bad

Jus tan so back

Tan so back cause a Mickey Mouse dat

A Mickey Mouse dat an him a damn eediat"

- 'Tan So Back', Professor Nuts

In the 'hypermacho' world of Jamaican dancehall, where a 'dis' is deadly and he who backs down is derided, Professor Nuts' mid-1980s Tan So Back is a unique example of another masculine approach to conflict. Written in 1983 and performed on sound systems long before it was recorded, Tan So Back is done in Nuts' standard humorous style, the deejay presenting different scenarios involving himself choosing to tan so back instead of getting into conflict.

He tells The Sunday Gleaner that tan so back was popular street slang at the time and while the scenarios he depicts in the song are not his real-life experiences "is life in general, when you see people don't suppress certain things or forgive certain acts. They pursue until the final result is death or jailhouse".

"I witness where man get beat up badly, cut up, hospitalise, close to death. Him and the man ketch up, him run go up the road and get machete and come back. The man use the same machete chop him up," Nuts said.

"While the man who chop him up, if him did think, him woulden end up a prison for felonious wounding."

So Tan So Back is "telling people to forgive in life and think before they act. One thing lead to another, so it up to who wan' tan so back fuss".

The song was recorded on the Dungle Man label for producer 'Macka Tom'. Nuts says that Tan So Back went to number two and muses, "I don't know why it never go one".

'Box har again'

The most popular skit in Tan So Back puts Professor Nuts in a situation where his lady offends a man in a tough Kingston community and, when she is slapped, he is called to her defence. As striking as it is - literally - on record, in Nuts' live performances the blows take on a whole new impact as they are echoed by the crowd.

In that verse Nuts deejays:

"She lef' out a the yard me no even know when

When she come back she a bawl me say waapen to you Gwen

A feel up har face an' har two jaw dem

An' say a bredda box me ova Cockburn Pen

Me say wait, man box my girlfriend

A mussi dead him waan dead like Aunty fowl dem

Me pat har pon har head an say no worry yah Gwen

Him gwaan like him bad, we a go dung deh den"

She had left the house after they had an altercation, in which Nuts had had to tan so back when she informed him "woman no heng". They duly went to Cockburn Pen, where Nuts:

"When me reach dung deh me sight some likkle children

Me jus' drape dem up bad, ask them if a them

Dem seh no Missa Sar, me seh who box yu Gwen?

Me hear a coarse voice seh a me box yu galfren'

When me tun roun' de man a ten foot ten

Me go fe run but something hol' me foot dem

Me seh respec' me fren', a no him box yu Gwen

She sey yes a him dweet, me say arright den

If yu tink seh yu bad then box har again

'Bow!" de bredda box har again.

The slaps continue as Nuts dares him again and again:

"Me seh wait me neva see yu waan box har again?

'Bow!' De bredda box har again

At the end of it all Nuts says:

"Me jus' run go cross the road buy him two Heineken

When me come back me gi him an shake him han' dem

An' say respec' ya boss, yu save me de problem

I don' think I haffi bodda box har dung again"

"The man them love it but sometimes the woman them cross," Nuts said about the response to that section at his performances.