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General Trees
Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer
When General Trees did $50 Bill around 1984, he would not have had any idea that he would one day see a note 100 times the value of the one he sang about in circulation.
And while he deejayed about the need for a note half the value of the then recently introduced $100, at that time the highest value Jamaican banknote in circulation, Trees won't be doing any songs calling for a note in between the $1,000 and the new $5,000.
When he did $50 Bill on the Black Scorpio label, Trees was actually calling for change, literally.
"Is like dem time dem have $100 and them never have no change for it an' people did a bawl an ting," Trees said, referring to difficulty in bus fare and streetside sale transactions. As was customary then, Trees deejayed the lyrics live on sound systems and got a positive response before recording the song for the Black Scorpio label. Riddim Kings band played the music at Black Scorpio's studios, then in Drewsland, St Andrew, for Trees to deejay:
"We want de $50 bill, we want de $50 bill
Jamaica people talented, Jamaica people skill
Down inna Jamaica where we talented an' skill
We have de one dollar we have de half a it
We have de two dollar we have de half a it
We have de $10 we have de half a it
We have de $20 we have de half a it
Now we have de $100 we want de half a it."
The song did not make it to the top of the charts, Trees recalling that $50 Bill made it to number two. There was literally 'heat in de place' when he performed it on the stage show of the same name at Cinema 2, New Kingston, for the first time after $50 Bill got popular on record.
Trees said, "It wasn't too long" between his recording the song and the banknote being actually issued, remembering it was "a year or so". And although he says he did not really do the song requesting for the note to be issued, it was still a good feeling when it came out.
While General Trees won't be calling for a $2,500 note, he has lyrics mentioning the newly released 'Shearer' as what he calls a 'sneak preview'. So the lyrics will be performed live, but not necessarily recorded. Trees 'sneaked' part of the lyrics for The Sunday Gleaner:
"Me get a $5,000 bill
Me run pas' Negril
Me hol a minivan
Right a Spur Tree Hill."
"Me no want a one sey true dat me run gone record it," Trees said, explaining that he does not want to come off as following up the same topic over and over.
A proliferation of songs about money and conspicuous consumption has hit dancehall over the past two or so years, most without reference to specific notes. One of the exceptions is when Mavado singjays "I was dreaming I was floating on a $1,000 bill".
Money, making and spending it, has always been a strong topic in Jamaican music, Peter Tosh expanding on the treatment of the topic to sing about inflation and materialism in The Day The Dollar Die.
"I see Johnny with his head hanging down
Wondering how many shillings left in that pound
Cost of living it is rising so high
Dollar see that have heart attack and die.
Bills and budgets are waiting
Finance ministers anticipating
Unemployment is rising
And I hear my people, they're crying
The day the dollar die
Things are gonna be better
The day the dollar die
No more corruption
The day the dollar die
People will respect each other
The day the dollar die".
And Culture sang about changing currencies in Lion Rock:
"Bring back the money with the sign of the lion pon it
Tek back the money with the sign of the dragon pon it".
Coming into the 1980s in Leggo Me Han', the song about an encounter between himself and the gateman at a dance in Clarendon, deejay Josey Wales instructs "take your $5 out a my $20, gimme back my $15 change". And Supercat, in Trash and Ready on the Sleng Teng rhythm, speaks to the cost of clothing that was then considered expensive:
"Cause everyting we wear it cos' a bag a money
De hat whe me wear it cos' 120
De shut whe me wear it cos 250 ... "
Those figures, of course, seem hilarious now.
Marijuana, always a hot topic in Jamaican music, also has a money connection. In the mid-'80s in Pass The Kushumpeng, Frankie Paul sings, "In the town it is a dollar a stick/in the country it's 50 cents".
And Beenie Man's $100 Bag, over a decade later would mark inflation, marijuana style, as he attributed what he possessed to the sale of the good stuff at $100 per bag.
- Mel Cooke