gregory isaacs night nurse is this true?

[mghifi]

first off, there was no crack in 1981. second, the man is one of the best songwriters ever. what ever he has gotten into since his heyday is irrelevent to one who appreciates his huge catalog of great songs. stop making shit up and enjoy what is before you, a vast collection of great records. the song is about a woman. if you are into rumors and gossip, follow britney spears or amy whinehouse.

[DonBanyan]

What's the movie where Rodney Dangerfield goes back to college? Back To School, maybe?

Anyway, he's super rich, and he hires Kurt Vonnegut to write a term paper on himself. When he turns it in as his own work, the professor calls it a pile of rubbish.

I know that this was just scripted, but it kinda goes to show that once something is released to the scrutiny of others, the intended meaning is no longer the only one. Paul and John always said that "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" was not about LSD, but I think the masses are doubtful. Also, weren't we all intrigued by Grace Slick's interpretation of Alice In Wonderland in "White Rabbit?"

I feel like I've missed a lot of this conversation, but I'm not claiming to know Gregory's intended meaning. He's not teaching Jim how to spell New York, but like I said, I can see the possibile drug references. Either way, the superb lyricism has obviously captivated a lot of people's imagination, sparked a lively discussion, and has me listening to an album I've been passing over for a long time.

DB

[DonBanyan]

Don't wanna see no doc? There's no perscription for you? No worry, Night Nurse is available over the counter!

http://www.tellyads.com/show_movie.php? ... t%20Nurse/

That is pretty funny.

DB

[ACEtone]

nah, I would still take this to mean what I heard the first few times i heard it back then, nudge, nudge, wink, sly sexy talk and innuendo. People try too much to read all sorts of things into lyrics. This to me is a track that despite its shallow intent, has held up incredibly well for all of these years - yeah Gregory, I get you - you wan get sexy with a lady - I want to do that too - it is an intimate song - boys talk - they were probably laughing their arses off in the studio.

It all holds together - Radics backing solid, production sweet...
Definitely have a soft spot for the entire album.
How about 'Stranger in Your Town' any double meanings for that? Sweet tune, same album. In fact there's little to suggest anything pertaining to drugs of any sort.

Whatever Gregory's weaknesses in recent years i think he was at his best on the Night Nurse album (and certainly lots of previous stuff) - crack allegations are just silly and chronologically impossible.

Give the man a break.
And anyway, whatever a man or woman is going through it is not that big a deal to clean up for a week or two and perform in the studio. It's a moment in time.

Gossip is just that Nuff a dat blood clot gossip...

[ACEtone]

ah come on Leggo! you're ragging on tobacco and alcohol?
So I'm ruined then...

A lot of these guys we hold in high esteem for their musical efforts are actually human and do stuff that humans do.

I think it is a shame to hold them to some higher ideals when often lyrically they may have been and probably were singing not in prophetic terms as in what will come to pass but in wishful thinking terms as in what I hope can come to pass.

How many Jamaicans have gone back 'home' to Africa? It is indeed a beautiful thing to contemplate reparations for past crimes and transgressions in lyric and song, but futile to expect such wishes to become manifest.

Gregory was and is a musician and an important one. I understand that he has his own personal gripes and demons and is not a very personable man - but he wrought an image and a repertoire at odds with his own self. Pretty typical for any performer. The cool ruler was actually an angry pissed of punter. Big deal.

Troubled people for some reason are often best at producing works of beauty.

Give the man a break I say.

[=Nilo82=]

Right on, ACEtone..
I think the problem especially with jamaican roots artists is, that their songs transport loads of ideals (more than in other styles of music) cause of rastafarian influence and -if you want to call it like this- the rastafarian memeplex. So when those guys do hard drugs or whatever, the gap between the transported ideals and themselves is bigger than elsewhere in musicbiz.
And as much as is might damage their moral integrity,their works remain the same.
In modern literature you just look at the text, not at the author (anymore). The same should be done with music. If you listen to night nurse without even knowing the man gregory, how many of you would suggest it's a song bout coke?

[Return of Jesco]

@Leggo, a day without beer is a day wasted! (IMH and ale-fuelled O of course)

[ACEtone]

See there you have it - Gregory is a man of the people after all and not a mega-celebrity who has forgotten his roots. Instead of spending countless thousands of $ on dental implants in a posh New York dental clinic (as author Martin Amis did when the demise of his teeth loomed) Gregory chose to live a profligate life - hit the pipe real hard, had the offending tombstones yanked out and replaced with cheap ill-fitting fake gnashers - very working class!
Bravo Mr. Isaacs - exemplary...

Still, being serious, I'll always think of him at his best moments and not expect too much musically from him and perhaps hope to be secretly surprised at some later date...and again, give the man a break - we could all be so troubled...

[ACEtone]

@Leggo - you haven't given him a hard time but you've been a bit dismissive of him and you are perfectly entitled to do so. I'm just trying to weigh in with a bit of worldly acceptance of the true reality for these people.

Music is really a funny (strange) thing - people really believe that they know and love their favourite artist and if he/she does something good it is something to make their lives so much better - if they fall on hard times they either do the rejection thing or they do the doggedly loyal thing - and really it is all so silly. The less you know about the artist the better - if you are a serious music listener. But the kiddies (some of them are quite a bit older than that) still crave the pseudo involvement, the pop fanclub crap. The 'connection' with the artist.

Gregory just had a dump. What do you think of that girls? Gregory is human...

He doesn't know who most of the people on Roots Archive are and he presumably couldn't give a crap. And rightly so...

[Jah Glu]

Yes i have heard rumours about it too. I do think it refers to crack...