By Keith Walsh
Ska is a genre that lends itself well to absurdity. From Prince Buster, through Madness to Sublime and the Aquabats, humor has mixed well with the genre. Perhaps it’s no surprise that Tom Cridland’s first ska single “The Palm Tree,” is so perfectly brilliant, with its combination of nonsense lyrics and playful synth-driven downbeats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1_rNDdTNH0
“I’m gonna climb to the top of the palm tree, sing harmony/
I’m gonna climb to the of the palm tree, sing harmony/
I’m gonna eat a big cake, wake and bake, no I’m not gonna cut my hair/
I’m gonna drink all the rum, twiddle my thumbs, sit in the arm chair”
As Cridland explained in an exclusive interview: “I wrote this after interviewing UB40 for the podcast. I had been listening to a lot of reggae. Then I got into the studio and everyone said we needed to make it more ska than reggae, which was a good call I think. I am not remotely qualified to do reggae!”
Mixed by Justin Woodward and featuring organ and synth by Jim Baldock, “The Palm Tree” is a perfect summer song. There’s another feature of its absurdity – over the end sequence Cridland has incorporated a recording of John Lennon defending The Beatles as more revolutionary than The Rolling Stones. As a fan of classic music, and especially of The Beatles, this unexpected reference to his hero shows another side of Cridland’s persona – a more experimental side.
Cridland explains: “The John Lennon soundbite is just one of my favorite of his quotes. I love The Stones but I hate it when people listen to things just because they think it looks cooler to listen to a certain band or act. Like the notion The Stones are more “rock n’ roll’ than The Beatles.”
Cridland continues: “It’s how we’ve ended up in this absurd situation where the current mainstream pop culture has very low levels of genuine soulful artistry and is just the corporate marketing of the stars’ physical good looks, a manufactured “attitude” and vacuous songs written by teams of ten or more people. The idea that a band needs to stand for something to be credible is ridiculous – the only thing musicians should stand for is good music.”
https://www.tomcridland.com/
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Palm Tree Image by Benjamin Voros on Unsplash.com
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