Songs written for Montego Bay City: A Musical Exploration of MoBay!

My Top 9 Montego Bay Songs

The history of Montego Bay Music and Montego Bay in Music is a very long and storied one. A history too long for this post I have intended... At this moment I wanna peep at songs written for MY CITY, Montego Bay City! Why investigate the city by song you ask? Well...rumor has it that there is a song for every city in America. Many such songs never get further than the city limits others became international hits. Gerard Kenny’s 1978 ode to his hometown ‘New York, New York - So Good They Named It Twice’ spelled the re-birth of America’s largest metropolis after it almost went bankrupt in 1975 and one year after a city-wide blackout shut it down for 25 hours. So the ethos and the brand and the identity of a city we see can be inextricably linked to song and music. In Jamaica the focus is mostly on Kingston, granted Negril gets some good mileage in "Cottage in Negril," and "I want to go to Negril", Linstead is indelibly etched into Jamaican memory via the folk hit "Laad What a Night.. what a Satiday nite!"

Memphis, Tennessee is touted to be mentioned in more songs than any other city in the world, “Walking in Memphis” by Marc Cohn is the one that readily springs to most people’s minds, and coincidentally is the song that inspired me to write a million unsung Mobay songs... but here are some songs titled and inspired by Montego Bay

Before Kartel ever did the Mobay Anthem there was Crazy Chris' anthem... "Welcome to the Second City". A song that marked the fact that western Jamaica was taking the dancehall by storm and never step back from the limelight. This lyrical story is a gritty tale of the guns in the community of Montego Bay, its edgy, rough and raw!

Hezron has this year join the list of artistes that are championing Mobay!

In this next grimy song, by Vybz Kartel though not from Montego Bay, takes us on his detailed and "informative" tour of crime ridden Mobay communities as well as listing all the dons much like a crime noir novella!

 

Popcaan, while in Kartel's tow, seems to have picked up some affection for the second city as well!

 

This Montego Bay song by Queen Ifrica is to The Montegonian, the definitive Montego Bay song. Folksy, yet reggae and pop-ish, it has strong lyrics, vivid site choices in the city, it is grassroot and has local authority!

 

My next favourite Mobay song is by none other than the lyrically profuse and verbose, Lij Tafari... This Montego Bay talent I think is easily on par with Damian Marley lyrically, and is as fresh as Kabaka Pyramid and Protoje.

 

Bobby Bloom as a North American came to Jamaica and found his inspiration in which city?

The rest of the songs that follow are covers of Bobby Bloom's song and give unique and various sonic signatures to the song that make it somewhat their own...