Fate Line Friday from September 26th

F A T E L I N E F R I D A Y S!!

Simon here with a gem from Robert Nestor Marley no less!

On our album Fate Line there is a song written by Jen – “Learning To Dance Again” that is based very much around the rhythm Bob Marley refers to in his song ” One Drop”

In Jen’s tune the lyric even mentions it,
“Oh.. from solo to paso doble
Oh.. Feeling the one drop!”

Pretty sure its also the world’s first reggae tune with a bluesy pizzicato viola solo in it…beautifully played by our own virtuoso soloist Jonathan Marks!

I found this excellent description of the beat in wikipedia:

The One Drop Rhythm is a drumset playing style of reggae, popularized by Carlton Barrett, long-time drummer of Bob Marley and the Wailers, created by Winston Grennan, in which the backbeat is characterized by the dominant snare drum stroke (usually a click produced by hitting a rimshot) and bass drum both sounding on the third beat of every four, while beat one is left empty.

Thus, the expected hit on beat one is “dropped,” creating the one-drop effect. A good example of this drum beat is Bob Marley and the Wailers’ song “One Drop”, which talks about this rhythm.

Heres the Master Blaster doing it Live in ’79.