Musicians

Carl Dawkins: Reggae With Satisfaction

In all Honesty, Carl Dawkins did not have his eyes set on the music business. Not initially at least, but destiny likes to do things her way. Maybe it was in the bloodline; his father was Joshua Dawkins, drummer with the late great Sonny Bradshaw's Big Band. Maybe it was the advent of having gone to school with the likes of Marcia Griffiths and Derrick Morgan and an association with another vocal powerhouse, Slim Smith.

For all we can speculate one thing is clear Carl Dawkis was good when he played football and cricket but he was spectacular when he sang. His audition with producer Karl ''JJ' Johnson was true to form. He belted out his 'Run Your Shoes Off' and 'Hard Times' which became his first single though it was the B-side 'Baby I Love You' which kicked him straight up to a modest #4 spot on the local charts. There began a stint of largely great recordings. Towards the end of the 70's Carl Dawkins' momentum waned. But history can scarcely be undone. His #1 hit and most memorable track 'Satisfaction' released 1970 on the UK Trojan Records label is full of history. History of the 'unknown' that is. The song has been many a times played on vintage radio, but few actually throw the stellar vox credit to Dawkins:

''Tell you truthfully/About this good world and me/Want peace of mind don't you see/Wanna get it/I know it's there somewhere for me/ Gonna get love/ I know that I will/ Satisfaction won't come until/Don't you fret/I'll get love yet/ I know it's there somewhere for me...'' And the magic continues.

Still for all intents and purposes, a full Carl Dawkins album is a rarity in reggae music. So the irony of it all is that one of the best voices to ever touch a ska or rocksteady track is one of the least recorded voices? Well no more tough luck for Carl Dawkins fans. Mr. Satisfaction the album, the man, and the myth are available in a timely 2002 reissue (Upstairs Music).

For the non-beleivers it is a soundbite into Jamaica's musical and politcal history, as it does include the once banned 'This Land'. Advocate for equality that he was, Dawkins also recorded with similar potency numbers like 'Pluggy Brown' and 'Dr. Rodney'. The latter was a tip to the revolutionary workings of Guyanese born lecturer at UWI mona campus and later 'persona non grata' of the Hugh Shearer led Jamaican government.

Without being to quick too pin the vintage label on the man, Carl Dawkins is a breathtaking view into the Rhythm and Blues influence that was permeating Jamaica's studio and radio landscape, quite noticably throughout the 1960s. Past and present, the singer's intensely soulful delivery is the kind that comes with equally spectacular stage crafts, known to mere mortals as 'dancing'. Even to this day, the name Carl Dawkins is deeply etched into the island's hallowed  history as a young recording industry.