Culture, "Black Starliner Must Come" (1977)

(listen)

This was never cut as a single, as far as I know, and on the album it's the seventh of 10 tracks, more or less buried on the second vinyl album side. But somehow it jumped out ahead of all the other songs for me on the seminal reggae album by Culture, Two Sevens Clash. It's charged with energy and clarity, bracing like a blast of oxygen to the face, bright and uptempo in its approach, as indeed the whole album is. It's also a pleasure to sing along with, with the clipped thud-thudding of some points of the phrasing counterpointing the lush and nimble pop song structure: "We are wait - ing on an op - por - tu -ni - ty ... For the Black Starliner shall come." The narrative elements are a confabulation of, first, the Black Star Line, which operated during 1919-1922, created by Marcus Garvey shortly after World War I, self-consciously modeled on the White Star Line, to facilitate goods traded among Africa and Africans throughout the world, and then second, the ongoing theme in Rastafarian culture about getting the fuck out of Babylon. The Garvey business I learned about just now digging around for some scraps of information about the song, but the second part I already knew, the yearning for liberation, as it is a theme that permeates the album as a whole, and it is a seminal reggae album for a reason. The song thus carries a heavy burden, but carries it lightly, setting a jaunty tempo from the start, studded with hooks and interesting features right along, such as that unique phrasing, the way it opens into the chorus, and the lulling chanting melody that keeps it sparkling. It's a real beauty.