Israelites (song)

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This page is about the song "Israelites". For the ancient people, see Israelite.

"Israelites" is a song which was written by Desmond Dekker and Leslie Kong for Desmond Dekker & The Aces. The song likens the plight of the poor working man to that of the ancient Hebrew slaves -- "the Israelites."

It was the first international hit by a Jamaican artist. In 1969 it reached the Top Ten in the United States and hit number one in the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Jamaica, South Africa, Canada, Sweden and West Germany. The British success came almost two years after Dekker first made his mark with the rude boy song "007".

Whilst Dekker's strong Jamaican accent made his lyrics largely unintelligible to audiences outside of the island, it made little difference to the success of his discs. "Israelites" brought the reggae beat to the British pop fans for the first time since Millie's number two hit "My Boy Lollipop". But 1969 was the right time for reggae to make a breakthrough in the United Kingdom. The Beatles, as always the trendsetters back then, had recorded their own reggae-influenced song, "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" (in which the lyric's mention of "Desmond" refers to Dekker), which the pop group Marmalade subsequently took to number one.

Years later Dekker explained how the song was written. "It all happened so quickly. I didn't write that song sitting around a piano or playing a guitar. I was walking in the park, eating corn. I heard a couple arguing about money. She was saying she needed money and he was saying the work he was doing was not giving him enough. I relate to those things and began to sing a little song - 'You get up in the morning and you slaving for bread.' By the time I got home it was complete."

Desmond Dekker had two more UK Top Ten hits over the next year. "It Miek", which was similarly not only largely unintelligible to non-Jamaicans when sung, but also when written down; and his cover of Jimmy Cliff's song, "You Can Get It If You Really Want".

Dekker recorded on the Pyramid record label, and when its catalogue was acquired by Cactus Records in 1975, "Israelites" was re-issued. Not too unexpectedly in view of the popularity first time around, it reached a respectable Top Ten position in the United Kingdom, a little over six years after the original release.

The song (and a corresponding mondegreen) was used in a 1990 television commercial for Maxell audio cassettes and was parodied in the British commercial for Vitalite spread in the early 1990s. It was also featured on the soundtrack of the Gus Van Sant film Drugstore Cowboy.

The song has been covered by the Swedish punk band Millencolin, and is featured on their single "Lozin' Must" (1997) and album The Melancholy Collection (1999). It was also covered by Madness for their cover album The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1 (2005).