Peter Tosh - Can’t Blame the Youth

By Eric Doumerc

You can’t blame the youth, you can’t fool the youth,

You can’t blame the youth of today, you can’t fool the youth.

 

You teach the youth to learn in school that cow jump over moon,

You teach the youth to learn in school that the dish run away with the spoon.

 

You can’t blame the youth (when they don’t learn), you can’t fool the youth,

You can’t blame the youth, you can’t fool the youth.

 

You teach the youth about Christopher Columbus,

And you said he was a very great man.

You teach the youth about Marco Polo,

And you said he was a very great man.

You teach the youth about the pirate Hawkins,

And you said he was a very great man.

You teach the youth about the pirate Morgan,

And you said he was a very great man.

 

Chorus

 

All these great men were doing is robbing, raping, kidnapping and killing,

So-called great men were doing is robbing, raping, kidnapping and killing.

 

Chorus

 

When every Christmas come, you buy the youth a fancy toy gun. (x2)

 

Chorus

 

What was hidden from the wise and prudent now revealed to the

Babes and suckling,

What was hidden from the  wise and prudent now revealed to the

Babes and suckling.

 

Lord call upon the youth for He knows the youth’ll be strong,

Jah-Jah call upon the youth for He knows the youth’ll be strong.

 

Chorus

Peter Tosh’s “Can’t Blame the Youth” was released as a single in 1973 on the singer’s Intel-Diplo label and was recorded at Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle studio in 1972. It soon became part of the Wailers' live repertoire and a stirring version of the song can be found on Talking Blues, the 1991 album that features the recordings done by the Wailers for a San Francisco radio station in October 1973 after being dumped by Sly and the Family Stone on their first American tour. 

“Can’t Blame the Youth” can be said to epitomise Peter Tosh’s outspoken and straightforward style, both lyrically and musically. Indeed the song’s intro sounds like a rock’n’roll riff and Tosh’s electric guitar is quite prominent in the final mix.

The year when the song was recorded, 1972, was the year when Michael Manley’s People’s National Party was victorious at the polls, and the singer’s confident tone might have reflected the new mood of optimism that swept the country at the time. Manleys’ government was soon to announce sweeping reforms in the field of education and a literacy programme.

In “Can’t Blame the Youth” Tosh condemns the colonial education system that was the legacy of British rule in Jamaica, and that colonial system is symbolised in the song by the nursery rhymes every school kid had to learn by heart. Indeed the "cow" jumping "over moon” and the "dish" running away "with the spoon" are references to the well-known nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle".

The other aspect of that colonial education system was the glamorization or glorification of the “deeds of arms” that had resulted in the colonisation of the New World by European powers like Spain and England. The reference to "the pirate Hawkins" is particularly appropriate as William Hawkins and his son John were two of the first Englishmen to be involved in the slave trade in the 16th century. They were instrumental in setting up the triangular trade between England, Africa and the West Indies and were notorious for their cruelty.

"The pirate Morgan" refers to Henry Morgan, a Welshman who fled from a poor existence in his home country to work as an indentured labourer in the West Indies. He then became a pirate, committed many atrocities before finally being sent back to England to be tried for his crimes. He was then knighted and became Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica in 1674.

In Tosh's song, the pirates Hawkins and Morgan are mentioned in the same breath as Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo, which leads the listener to conclude that Columbus and Polo were "pirates" too.

What is interesting in "Can't Blame the Youth" is the link which is established between Jamaica's violent history and the then high crime rate, or the problem of youth crime. The singer implies that Jamaica's crime problem is a direct result of the island's history and that that history led to a glorification of violence and machismo, hence the lines “When every Christmas come, you buy the youth a pretty toy gun”.

The song concludes with a quotation from the Gospel according to Luke (10:21) which recurs in many reggae songs from the 1970s and which implies that great news shall be revealed to little children while clever and learned men will remain in ignorance. Ending the song with this passage ensured that the final message remained one of optimism and hope, not one of recrimination and despair. Of course the reference to "Jah-Jah" in the final line is important too as, at the time, Rastafarianism was a rising force among Jamaican youths but was still considered as the pariahs' religion.

"Can't Blame the Youth" can also be seen as part of a tradition of historical revisionism in reggae music in which a different version of history is offered, a version which could be seen as "the half which has never been told" mentioned in so many reggae songs. Other notable examples would include Burning Spear's "Columbus" from his 1980 Hail H.I.M LP, and Culture's  "Capture Rasta" (to be found on their 1986 Culture in Culture LP), the latter utilising a version of the "Sleng Teng" rhythm.

The song has remained perennially popular and was given a new lease of life when the American folk/blues singer Ben Harper recorded his own "version", so to speak, with slightly different lyrics. This has ensured the song's popularity far beyond reggae circles.