Song for Dennis Brown
Lyrics
On the day that Dennis Brown's lung collapsed
Spring rain was misting down on Kingston
And down at the harbor
Local cops were intercepting an inbound shipment
And for a while there it was chaos
As they handcuffed and then roughed up some sailors
On the day my lung collapses
It's not gonna be much different
On the day that Dennis Brown's habits caught up with him
Schoolchildren sang in choirs
And out behind the Chinese restaurants
Guys were jumping into dumpsters
And the stench was overbearing
But they were past the point of caring
On the day my habits catch up with me
I'll be down among the jumpers
And when the birds come home in spring
We will fill them full of buckshot
And jets of contaminated blood
Will cloud the rivers and the lakes
It took all the coke in town
To bring down Dennis Brown
On the day my lung collapses
We'll see just how much it takes
Banter
- This was on the Sunset Tree. It's a song - I have told this story more than once this tour, and because I am the purest of the pure of the 90s generation, I feel guilty if I tell the same story twice to anybody. But just inc ase you haven't heard, Dennis Brown, I'm not actually related to him. There have been some people out there who think that he's my stepfather. But he was Bob Marley's favorite reggae singer. If my stepfather had been Bob Marley's favorite reggae singer, I suspect I would have had a whole different set of issues. I think I would probably still have issues. I dunno what I would do without my sisues to be quite honest with you. Dennis Brown was a singer, and his voice was like a thin stream of honey cascading down a waterfall over some rocks, and he was the most awesome singer. And he developed a terrible [audience member yells] - I strive to be worthy of you ma'am - he developed a terrible drug habit, and this is called Song for Dennis Brown. (2009-12-01 Webster Hall)
Live Performances
Footnotes