CHUNE

Riddim: He Prayed

Producer: Junjo Lawes

Let’s keep the love going, shall we? Johnny Osbourne enjoyed two hits employing a dairy-treat metaphor: one a clash tune aimed at soft sounds who couldn’t take the heat (“No Ice Cream Sound”), and this other, bemoaning a woman’s cold, cold heart.

Love in the winter should be warmer than the summer sun
But if you givin’ me the ice cream love, little girl, that’s no fun…

It’s simple, but buoyed by Osbourne’s unmistakeable tenor—not to mention Roots Radics on the track—also unforgettable.

Additional Listening:

• Reuben Alexander, “Happy Valley” (1972), the genesis of the riddim. Like so many of the “foundation” tunes that would become the sonic basis of early dancehall, it was produced by Coxsone Dodd at Studio One—reggae’s equivalent of Berry Gordy and Motown.

• Ranking Joe, “A Dread Earthquake,” voiced by one the 1970s’ many thunder-voiced toasting DJs, over an earlier version of He Prayed produced by Joseph Hoo Kim.