‘Twas the year of uptown top rankings
See me in me heels and ting
Dem check sey we hip and ting
True them no know and ting
We have them going and ting
Nah pop no style, a strictly roots
Nah pop no style, a strictly roots
See me pon the road I hear you call out to me
True you see mi inna pants and ting
See mi in a ‘alter back
Sey mi gi’ you heart attack
Gimme likkle bass, make me wine up me waist
Uptown Top Ranking– Althea and Donna
W
ith
their country gripped by political violence in 1977, citizens yearned for a break from gory headlines and ‘badman’ culture. They got some reprieve in Althea and Donna’s feel-good song,
Uptown Top Ranking
.Released in the summer of that year,
Uptown Top Ranking was a radio monster. It was also a popular play at sporting events and helped soothe nerves during a period of political turmoil.Produced by Joe Gibbs, it turned out to be the only hit for schoolgirls Althea Forrest and Donna Reid.
Uptown Top Ranking’s catchy lyrics not only resonated with Jamaicans, it caught on big time in the United Kingdom where it went number one in early 1978.Forty years ago, Althea and Donna were indeed ‘uptowners’ who hit it big with their first recording for Gibbs, then the hottest producer in Jamaica.
Uptown Top Ranking was driven by the beat of Alton Ellis’ lovers rock gem,
I’m Still In Love With You, first done at Studio One in 1967.Gibbs recorded the beat with his house band, The Professionals. Singer Marcia Aitken’s covered Ellis’ song (as
I’m Still In Love With You Boy), while deejay Trinity cut
Three Piece Suit on the rhythm.Both were hits, but nowhere near
Uptown Top Ranking, which took off in the UK after disc jockey John Peel played it on his
BBC 1 radio show. David Rodigan, who would become the John Peel of his generation, remembers Uptown Top Ranking’s impact.
“BBC Radio 1 started playing it because it had this incredibly catchy hook. It started in the reggae world because people were familiar with
I’m Still In Love With You,” he told the
Jamaica Observer.
Uptown Top Ranking stayed at number one in the UK for only one week. It earned Althea and Donna a slot on the top-rated British television show,
Top Of The Pops.The song continued a strong UK run for Jamaican songs in the 1970s. Dave Barker and Ansell Collins’
Double Barrell, Everything I Own by Ken Boothe and Junior Murvin’s
Police And Thieves also entered the British national chart.Althea and Donna recorded an album of the same name in 1978 but it did little. They never had another hit.For Rodigan, their finest moment endures.“It was a massive song, still is. I can play that record at festivals for rock fans and 80,000 people will sing it,” he said.
