Montego Bay (song)

"Montego Bay" is a song by Bobby Bloom about the city in Jamaica. The song was a Top 10 hit for Bloom in September 1970 on both sides of the Atlantic. It reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart, #5 on the Canadian RPM 100 Singles Chart,^[1] #7 on the Australian Go-Set Singles Chart and #8 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song was co-written and produced by Jeff Barry. In the master tape of the song, Bloom breaks into a verse of "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" at the end of the recording, but the single version fades out before that. Apparently, that was done to avoid paying royalties for use of the Rodgers & Hammerstein song (although the full version does appear on the Bobby Bloom Album and has received frequent airplay). The song features a whistler, as well as Jamaican instruments to illustrate the section called "Montego Bay", in a Calypso genre.

New Zealander Jon Stevens' cover version of the song hit #1 in his native country on January 18, 1980.^[2]

Covers

• (1970) Freddie Notes & The Rudies - (Trojan Records)
• (1971) Bar-Kays on their album, Black Rock
• (1971) James Last on his album, Happyning
• (1978) Sugar Cane - a minor UK disco hit for the U.S. male/female vocal group - highest position in UK Singles Chart - #54
• (1980) Jon Stevens - a number one hit in his home country New Zealand.
• (1983) Allniters - a Top 20 hit for an Australian ska band.
• (1986) Amazulu - It became a minor hit in the U.S. in September 1986, but was a #16 hit in the UK and reached #6 in Canada.
• (2005) Les Fradkin - on his CD Under The Covers.

References