Horace Davis without question must be one of the most unheralded producer/songwriter in the history of reggae music.

DAVIS... worked with Bob Marley

Davis, more popularly known as "Sangie," is the lyricist who wrote a significant amount of reggae songs, but his best efforts are Bob Marley's Wake Up And Live (from the Survival album), Sophia George's smash hit Girlie Girlie and
Tinga Stewart's Festival Song winner of 1981, No Wey No Betta Dan Yawd. Behind each of these hits is an interesting story as to how he created the lyrics, but none moreso than Marley's Wake Up And Live.

"Bob (Marley) got shot in about 1976 and he went away. Just before he got shot, he came to my house and he told me that he would like us to come together and do some collaborations in terms of writing some songs.

But because he got shot, that interrupted his plans," Davis explained. "So when he came back," Davis continued, "I didn't even know he was back, I was in bed one morning and my baby mother called me, 'Sangie, Bob outside,' and I ran outside and the first thing he said to me was, 'Yuh get yuh driver's licence yet?'

That time it was just the Thursday before I got my driver's licence because I was planning to go and look a taxi job. And mi sey 'yeah mon, a Thursday gone mi get mi driver's licence' and him sey,' wah, come drive'."
That invitation by the maestro set the stage for one of reggae's classics.

"At the time he (Bob), had a yellow VW bus, so mi jus jump inna di bus and him ask mi sey if mi know weh him born, and I said no. Him sey alright, a deh wi a goh now, Nine Miles and a so mi come fi know Nine Miles.

"So we were on the Mandela highway, which, at the time, was under construction. And therefore the road was rugged and rocky with the whole heap of signs. Then the thought jus came to me 'life is one big road with lots of signs, so when yu riding through di ruts dem don't complicate yu mind.'

"Reaching by Andrews Liver Salt factory in the Central Village area (now the headquarters of the Jamaica Red Cross), there was this big sign, Wake Up and Live (drink Andrews liver salt) and ah so the entire song just evolved.

"And mi start singing wake up and live now and Bob was so excited, him sey as yuh done right da song deh mi a go sing it. The one line Bob put in is weh him sey 'What's the use you live big today and tomorrow you bury in casket'."

Davis wrote a number of other songs for Marley but they are yet to see the light of day, including Babylon Feel This One, She Used To Call Me Daddy and Jingling Keys.

"He never got a chance to release these songs. A matter of fact, he recorded the three of them, but he only sang on Babylon Feel This One and She Used To Call Me Daddy, while I sang Jingling Keys.

After that experience with the 'Gong', Sangie Davis in time became A&R (Artiste and Records) manager at Tuff Gong.

GIRLIE GIRLIE

Sophia George's Girlie Girlie came about following a reprimand by Davis' baby mother when she found him one day in the company of a number of school girls and greeted him with admonition. "Why all the time I come around you I just see all these school girls. How you so girlie girlie?"

Davis said in less than 10 minutes after that admonition he completed the song and was singing it when Piggy (Ronald Chung), who was the manager for Sophia George, just walked up and listened for about five minutes and he said, "Sangie let Sophia sing that song deh, mon. It's a hit-song."

"And from the first time it was played on the air, it jus gone. For about 14 weeks it was number one in Jamaica. It's Sophia's first and biggest hit all over the world and it's the biggest pay day for me too. Girlie Girlie has been recorded in about four different languages.

They just did it over in Germany the other day, it is also recorded in Spanish and Portuguese. Even the label it was recorded on, Winner, is we made it up, me and Piggy created this label for ourselves, it was really a winner," Davis recalled.

No Weyh No Betta Dan Yawd

"It was during festival season and mi jus sey to miself; I'm going to write a festival song. You know what gave me the idea about the festival song, is the lampshade with "Home Sweet Home" written on it. And as soon as Tinga heard my song he said it must win so he went back and withdrew his original entry.

Sangie Davis also wrote for Nadine Sutherland Hands and Hearts and Harmony, which came second the following year in the Festival Contest, as well as Young Ones Like Me and Starvation in addition to the I-Three's Jealousy.

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