調べてわかったことは、どの曲も1968年の発売のようで、その中でどれが一番早いのかということまでは結局わからない。まあ厳密にどの曲が最初のレゲエかというシビアな詮議は私にはどうでもいいことで、最初のレゲエだろうと言われてる曲がだいたいわかったのでそれで充分。
4曲の中では最初に挙げた The Beltones の曲が一番好きだ。
*1:When the musicians who gathered at Studio One 1968 to record the very first production by fomer Virtues bass player Harry "Harry J" Johnson, they never expected to be the people who essentially composed what may very well be considered the very first recording of the trademark Jamaican genre of music that would become its grand corner stone for time to come. The rocksteady sound was changing － and with the recording of No More Heartaches (as well as the B-side － another hit called I'll Follow You). The sound of Jamaica music would be changed and reggae was officially born.
*2:調べてみたのだが The Beltones の詳しいことはわからないし、まとまったアルバムも見つからない。
*3:Larry And Alvin’s ‘Nanny Goat’ and the Beltones’ ‘No More Heartaches’ competed for the status of first reggae record.
*1:Higgs wrote "Steppin' Razor" in 1967 as his entry in the Festival Song Contest, later recorded by Tosh without crediting Higgs. Higgs later won a court case to establish his rights as composer but never received any profits from the song's success. ジョー・ヒッグスについての Wikipedia の記事より。
*2:ヒッグスのアルバム "Blackman Know Yourself" のアマゾンレビューにこんな指摘があった。The song's lyrics don't even make sense for Peter Tosh, who at 6' 5" seemed an unlikely author of the lyric "I'm like a stepping razor don't watch my size, I'm dangerous." The diminutive Higgs wrote those words, of course. 要するに、トッシュは身長が190㎝以上もあるのに「オレは歩くカミソリ、サイズでオレを判断すると危険だぜ」って歌詞はおかしいだろ、もちろんこの歌詞は小柄なヒッグスが書いたものだ、と書かれている。
