I grew up in Jamaica QUEENS, New York City, not the other Jamaica. By 1968 I'd been bussed across town to predominantly White and Jewish Parsons Junior HIgh. In late 1968 I began to hear this funny sounding tune on the AM Stations. It was completely unintelligble save for one word in the Chorus... "The Isrealites". Try as we might we couldn't make heads nor tails of it still the song was rocketing up the charts... And even more bizarre, little Jewish kids in my class who had previously only discussed the Beatles, Monkees etc... before (Motown was STILL a mystery to them) could be seen and heard boppin' to this strange tune.

Now I've an uncle by marriage (RIP Uncle Lance) who was straight from Yard, Kingston, Jamaica born and bred. One weekend we were visiting him and my Aunt Marie and I asked him what the hell was going on with that record "The Isrealites". He laughed and proceeded to explain to me the difference between Calypso (Belafante et al), Ska, and Reggae Music. As for the song, he told me that it had nothin' to do with the nation state of Isreal but was simply a tune wherein a Rasta is bemoaning the troubles of his life. As he said "dem a buy it but dem nah ketch it". With this in mind I nominate Desmond Dekker and the Aces "The Isrealites" as the most least understood hit song of all times.

Worf