1001 Songs Challenge #916: Gimme the Light (2002)

On 11 February 2019 I set myself the challenge of reading 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery (ed.) and following the book’s advice to the letter. I’ve previously read 1001 Films… and started 1001 Albums… but felt 1001 Songs… would be a sensible place to start for what I have in mind here.

My challenge is to read about one song per day and listen to it (YouTube and Spotify, I need you tonight!) before sharing my own thoughts. Some songs I will love, others I’ll hate, and I’m sure there will be those that leave me perplexed but listen to them I shall.

I’ll also try, and most likely fail, to pinpoint the best song from the 1001 on offer but I’m nothing if not foolhardy. Instead of one song, I’m predicting I’ll have about 100 favourites by the end and may have to resort to a Top 10 so far to maintain any semblance of sanity.

So long as I post every day (including Christmas) then this challenge should come to an end on Wednesday 8 November 2021. Staying with the Barney Stinson theme I am hoping that the whole experience will prove to be… legendary!

 

Sean Paul – Gimme the Light (2002)

 

 

We’re leaving the Netherlands today, dear reader, and making our way across the Atlantic Ocean and all the way to Jamaica. It’s always a pleasure to visit this amazing island. Sean Paul began his career in 1994 and was steadily immersed into the music industry with his debut album, Stage One, coming in 2000. We join him in 2002 with the release of his second album, Dutty Rock, and from there 1001 Songs have gone with the track, Gimme the Light. 

Gimme the Light dates back to 2001 when a Jamaican outfit known as Black Shadow created a riddim known as The Buzz and multiple singers put vocals to this music with Sean Paul being the most successful in 2002. The song itself takes place in a nightclub with the crowds dancing, drinking and smoking marijuana. Sean Paul observes the scenes, is taking in the rhythm of the music and his eyes are searching for a woman that is to his liking. It seems like the women here are streetwise though, not suffering fools gladly and not falling for lies or tricks from the guys who only want them for one thing.  

Sean Paul is another name I have come across over the years but I could not have told you anything about him prior to this challenge. Gimme the Light is an interesting track, its genre hard to pin down on first listen. Further research concluded that this is dancehall, a variant of reggae and that comes through in the lyrics which I had to read through a few times to garner the full meaning of what Paul is saying. Dutty Rock would be the album that fired Sean Paul to global stardom and he now has seven albums to his name with an eighth due in 2021.

 

Favourite songs so far:

The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (1964)

Simon & Garfunkel – The Sounds of Silence (1965)

The Beatles – A Day in the Life (1967)

The Doors – The End (1967)

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)

Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell (1977)

Tracy Chapman – Fast Car (1988)

U2 – One (1991)

Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah (1994)

Radiohead – Paranoid Android (1997)