General Trees

Negril, which shares its famed white-sand beaches and cliff views between Hanover and Westmoreland, looms large in the Jamaican psyche. For the older generation it is seven miles (give or take) of surf blending into sand, uninterrupted by hotels, hippies and 'rent-a-dreads'; for inebriated United States college students it was a Spring Break destination that came and went in a bottomless beer mug; for many a party-loving youngster it means an early August weekend round of non-stop sessions.

biggest hit

And, for deejay General Trees, it is the place that generated one of his biggest and most enduring hits.

The 1986 song, Gone a Negril, is a jolly ride to the village that for some tourism spoilt and for others the influx of visitors built, renowned for the three emphatic beats that follow each line of the chorus. It hit number two on the local charts (producer Jack Scorpio says that Tiger's Wanga Gut "get we out").

From the spoken intro, in which a woman approaches Trees and with "beg yu a visa nuh" and he asks if she has a passport, to the observation that there were "mostly white woman and mostly white man" there, it is all his experience. He includes towns between Kingston and Negril in the chorus:

"You want to go to Negril

Or even to MoBay

Wanna take you go to Ochi or a St Ann's Bay

An no feel no way ..."

"We deh pon a tree-night tour in the country," Trees told The Sunday Gleaner. They performed at Club Cuckoo in Negril and, the following morning, "a portion a we deh pon de beach. De security people mek we know we cyaa stay.

"We mek him know Jamaica a our place, yu rada de other people dan we?" Trees asked. They were left alone after Trees "tell him who me is"; the security guard's changed attitude figured in Gone a Negril in the line "him neva play it tough, him neva play it hard ... ."

Scorpio adds that Trees "meet a girl down there. The vibes was nice. The lyrics just come to you coming back in". It was on that return journey that Trees, reflecting on the good times he had, said "I want to go to Negril".

The 'sound'

Instantly, Scorpio heard a song developing. "That was key. As a producer, when you hear that sound," he told The Sunday Gleaner.

The 'sound' was developed on Black Scorpio sound system, where Trees deejayed part of Gone a Negril live, then it was on to the studio. The Riddim Kings band was engaged to 'lick' the rhythm at Channel One and the live sound was key to the distinctive three emphatic beats in the chorus.

"The 'prap prap prap' we use in de tune, a so we woulda do it pon stage," Scorpio said. "It make a de studio same way," he said, noting that he was one of the first producers to get musicians together to do original tracks for a deejay.

Gone a Negril did not readily find acceptance on foreign soil, though; at least, not with the first distributor in New York that Scorpio approached, who was more in tune with the roots reggae sound. He had better luck the second time out and "when de tune fly weh now" the person who had turned the song down "bawl".

And, they were fortunate to get someone in Kingston to imitate the woman who had approached Trees for a visa in Negril, 'country talking' and all. "Man laugh till dem hook up to de accent weh de girl use," Trees said.