Reggae legend Peter Tosh‘s daughter, Niambe McIntosh, and his former manager, Copeland Forbes, have expressed their delight that Johnny B. Goode — the song Tosh was initially reluctant to record — has hit 100 million streams on Spotify, marking a first for the Jamaican icon.
The song surpassed the 100 million milestone last Thursday.
According to Niambe, the milestone is divinely timed as it aligns with Tosh’s 80th birthday on October 19, which will be celebrated at his final resting place in the picturesque seaside village of Belmont in Westmoreland. “I wasn’t keeping count, so I’m definitely pleasantly surprised to find out it’s reached over a hundred million, particularly around this time. There’s just a beautiful energy around the 80th Earth Strong Celebration coming up in October,” Niambe told DancehallMag.
Mama Africa was inspired by Tosh’s first visit to Africa, where he witnessed firsthand the hardships faced by Africans. Forbes, who wrote extensively about the making of the album in his book ‘Reggae My Life Is,’ said that ‘divine intervention’ made Johnny B Goode the success it became, despite the song facing opposition from Peter’s bandmate, Bunny Wailer, who had urged Tosh not to record it.
“It is spiritual guidance that I feel, you know, at work where there’s so much excitement, so much participation, so much enthusiasm from all different fronts and all different types of people that know his music and know him personally. So yeah, it’s the right time,” she added. Continued Niambe: “I feel like he (Peter) is just letting me know, you know, that it’s the time, that now is his time and the world is eager to celebrate him”.
Johnny B. Goode, a cover of Chuck Berry’s 1958 rock and roll classic of the same name, was the fifth track on Peter Tosh’s nine-track Mama Africa album, released in 1983. The cover peaked at No. 84 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 48 on the UK Singles Chart.
Mama Africa was inspired by Tosh’s first visit to Africa, where he witnessed firsthand the hardships faced by Africans. Forbes, who wrote extensively about the making of the album in his book ‘Reggae My Life Is,’ said that ‘divine intervention’ made Johnny B Goode the success it became, despite the song facing opposition from Peter’s bandmate, Bunny Wailer, who had urged Tosh not to record it.
‘All the fight’
Forbes, who described the production for Johnny B. Goode as a rollercoaster filled with dramatic twists and turns, said if he hadn’t kept his cool and sought to coax Peter into recording the song, the iconic cover would have never made it to the album.
He explained that Peter had initially refused to record it, throwing a tantrum over the American references in the lyrics. He also had to rush the recording before Bunny Wailer, who was against Peter recording the song, discovered that Peter was working on it.
“Boy, I tell you, one of the most dramatic parts of it is that when I went up to the studio that day, we laid the rhythm… we know the key of him singing and so on, and we laid the rhythm because the song was brought to us by Chris Kinsey, who was the producer, and Donald Kinsey, the lead guitarist,” Forbes explained.
He added that Kinsey suggested they cover the song, and after listening, they agreed. However, on the day of recording, Forbes arrived at Dynamics Studio to find the production team outside. He was then told that Bunny Wailer didn’t want Peter to record the song, claiming the singer wouldn’t receive royalties since it was a Chuck Berry original.
Forbes said he thought that since Peter had already recorded (You Gotta Walk) Don’t Look Back with Mick Jagger, a Temptations cover, there shouldn’t be any issue with covering Johnny B. Goode. He said when he approached Peter, who was sitting in his car rolling a spliff, Bunny was with him and made it clear that the song was a ‘no go’: “Yow, Peter naw do dah chune deh yuh nuh. No, mi nuh inna it. Not doing it.”