Country Bway gets the last laugh - 'Simmer Down' triumphs over bad mouthing

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Simmer down, control your temper

Simmer down, for the battle will be hotter

- Simmer Down, The Wailers

Simmer Down is one of the songs which places The Wailers firmly in ska and, importantly, establishes them as being active in the wave of indigenous popular music that helped define Jamaica at Independence.

However, as one man tells part of the tale of the song, before Simmer Down was recorded it was met with a hail of scornful laughter by one man in Trench Town, St Andrew.

Denzil 'Dipstick' Williams, who sings under the name Wadadah, related being in Trench Town when Peter Tosh and Bob Marley were rounding up the rest of the Wailers to head to Studio One and record the song. The popular pastime in the community was racing "board horse down the gully" along what is now called Collie Smith Drive.

"We were at Fifth Street and Collie Smith Drive the day, just done race board horse down the gully and mi come pon the bridge ... Bob and Peter were coming up the road and Peter stop at Fifth Street to check Beverly Kelso to accompany them to the studio. That time you had a place above Seventh Street, up top call Ghost Town, and you could walk through Ghost Town and go Studio One. It was a kinda shortcut like, which is Jungle now, Ghost Town," Williams said.

Unwelcome intrusion

When they stopped to get Kelso, there was an unwelcome intrusion. "When them stop, Bob sit down on the gully wall between Fifth Street and Sixth Street. And a youth name Titty Boo, them call him Beatles, him call over ... cause Peter turn in Fifth Street to check Beverly to accompany them. And when him come outta de yard and heading back towards Bob, Titty Boo call and say 'hey country bway, come ya!,'" Williams said.

It may seem like a strange way to summon the man who would one day declare himself the toughest and was renown for his strong opinions and fearless stage demeanour. But Williams said "and Peter come. That time Peter had on a short pants, above his knee, and a GB, they call it booga. An him say 'come ya country bway, a whey u a go?'. And him say 'mi a go studio'. And him say 'whe yu a go a studio go do?'. And him say 'mi a go record a song'. Him say 'whe de song name?' and him say Simmer Down".

And that is when the laughter started. "An Titty Boo hol' him balls an' seh 'Yu caan record a song name Simmer Down. Yu a eediat!" Williams said. He said he intervened. "An me take him on same time and say 'low de man. Yu ever hear de tune yet? Yu ever hear de man dem sing yet? How you a discredit de man?" he said.

Still Titty Boo persisted, but he was soon to be silenced.

Customary serenade

Williams said that in those days dances were serenaded, the sound system coming into the area a few days before the event. Studio One producer Sir Clement 'Coxson' Dodd's sound system was slated for a dance in Trench Town and duly came into the community two days before to do the customary serenade.

"The Thursday night when 'Coxson' come a Fourth Street where the dance was serenading for the Saturday, Coxson in those days drive a blue Buick and when him come the night man say bway, Missa B come," Williams said.

He carried new songs with him, including a cut of Simmer Down, which King Stitt put on the turntable. The introduction was "this song brand new/red hot and blue/dis one call Simmer Down by the Wailing Wailers". Williams said he was at Fourth Street and heard the song, making the connection with the title that Titty Boo had laughed at.

Williams said he went for Titty Boo and let him hear the song he had scoffed at. The song was replayed 17 times that evening.

Chances are, Bob had the last word. While Williams is not definite on the sequence of songs, he believes that Bob Marley tossed Mr Talkative at Titty Boo, "cause this youth was a big mouth bway an a big teeth bway ... Him was upset when him hear Titty Boo laughing at Peter".

"And from that the Wailers never look back. It was history in the making," Williams said.

"After Simmer Down is hits after hits after hits.

"Bob was a man determined to make it in big style. Is a man simple with a lot of things. Bob Marley was determined to make it, against all odds. He was triumphant in his endeavours," Williams said.

See the video of this interview at www.jamaica-gleaner.com/videos