The Heptones - Book of
Rules
By Eric Doumerc
Isn’t it strange how princesses and kings
And clowns that caper in sawdust rings,
Just why poor people like you and me
We’ll be builders for eternity.
Each is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mask, and the book of rules.
And each must make his life flowing in
A stumbling block or a stepping stone,
And people like you and me,
We’ll be builders for eternity.
Each is given a bag of tools,
A shapeless mask and the book of rules.
Look when the rain has fallen from the sky,
I know the sun will be only missing for a while,
And people like you and me
We’ll be builders for eternity.
Each is given a bag of tools, a shapeless mask
And the book of rules.
The Heptones – Book of Rules
The Heptones’ “Book
of Rules” appeared on the group’s album Night Food which was
released in 1976 on the Island label. The song was a hit both
in Jamaica and in Britain, and even enjoyed further success when it
was re-released as part of the soundtrack to the film Rockers
(1978), no doubt introducing many non-Jamaican reggae fans to its
delights.
The beauty of the lyrics prompted Stephen Davis and Peter Simon to
comment on the “lyric power” of the group’s compositions in their
book Reggae Bloodlines, but what makes the song even more
interesting is its link with a poem by R.L.Sharpe entitled “A Bag of
Tools”:
Isn’t it strange how princes and kings,
And clowns that caper in sawdust rings,
And common people like you and me
Are builders for eternity?
Each is given a list of rules;
A shapeless mask; a bag of tools.
And each must fashion, ere life is flown,
A stumbling block or a stepping-stone.
Apparently, R.L.Sharpe was born in 1870 and died in 1950, and his
father Edwin R. Sharpe owned the Carrolton Free Press in Carrollton,
Georgia, USA. The poem is a well-known one in the USA and was
anthologised in James Dalton’s Morrison’s Masterpieces of
Religious Verse (Harper, 1948) and A.L.Alexander’s Poems that
Touch the Heart (Doubleday, 1941 and 1956).
Sharpe’s poem laid the emphasis on individual responsibility, moral
choice and the idea that even though the dice may be loaded at the
start it is up to man to do the best he can to make the most of his
life. The general idea is that we are all given the same chances in
life and it‘s up to us to forge ahead or stop in our tracks.
This idea must have appealed to the Heptones, who grew up in a
deeply religious society where the emphasis on moral choice must
have been equally strong. What must have appealed to the group too
must have been the opposition between the haves and the have-nots,
the “clowns” and “princes” and the “builders”, in other words the
opposition between the lower classes and the well-heeled. That too
must have rung a bell in a society like Jamaica. That said, the Heptones did not limit themselves to quoting from a poem: they added
a verse of their own composition. The verse starting with “Look
when the sun…” introduces a more optimistic tone and the idea
seems to be that “better must come”, as the PNP slogan went in the
early 1970s.
“Book of Rules” illustrates Jamaican culture’s tendency to recycle
material from American culture and to reference such material.
Jamaican songs are built on riddims – bass and drum workouts –
which are endlessly recycled to produce new “versions”. This
versioning process can be said to apply not only to rhythm tracks,
but to lyrics too, as was shown by Frederick Toots Hibbert’s
recording of John Denver’s “Country Roads”(1974). Denver’s country
and western tune lost nothing when translated into the reggae idiom
and probably gained some poignancy.
The Mighty Diamonds
covered The Stylistics’ “Country Living” in 1974 and the number of
Curtis Mayfield numbers covered by Jamaican artists is simply
staggering. “Queen of the Minstrel” is just the best-known example.
In the late 1980s, Sanchez covered several American hits like
Tracy Chapman’s “Sorry” and the Carpenters’ “Yesterday Once More”
while Shinehead first came on the scene in the mid-1980s with
a tune that spliced together Junior’s “Mama Used to Say”, Michael
Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and the theme song from an Italian western
movie directed by Sergio Leone (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly).
The list could go on forever and would no doubt bore Reggae
Review readers to death, but the point is that Jamaican covers
of American tunes are generally as good as the originals. In other
words, Jamaican singers really make these songs their own and this
is reflected in the Jamaican neologism for an adaptation, “adaption”,
which is a cross between “adoption” and “adaptation”. Indeed the
song is “adopted”/adapted” and becomes a hybrid product or a Creole
product.
The case of “Book of Rules” is slightly different as the Heptones
did not recycle a hit song but a popular poem which they may have
heard at school or in church, but the process is basically the same:
an American poem about making your way in the world was made into a
Jamaican song of hope. Adaptation is definitely the right word!
Incidentally, Sharpe’s poem also found its way into the British rock
band Oasis’s “Go Let It Out”, which was released on their
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants in 2000:
Is it any wonder why princes and kings
Are clowns that caper in their sawdust rings,
‘Cause ordinary people like you and me
We’re the builders on their destiny.
The band’s decision to replace “for eternity” with “of their
destiny” gave Sharpe’s words an additional edge and made them more
confrontational. As usual, Oasis tell it like it is. Thus good
lyrics never die and are endlessly adapted or “versioned”.
References:
Davis, Stephen and Peter
Simon. Reggae Bloodlines – In Search of the Music and Culture of
Jamaica.1977. New York: Da Capo Press, 1992.
http://www.docspeak.com/Programs/STRANGE.HTM
Lowe, Steve. “Why Can’t Rock
Stars Be Original?” -- Q Magazine June 2000. |
