Gaylords – I Man Suffering

The Gaylords' I man suffering: origin, second version… and interview!
There are the things we are looking for. Stubbornly, precisely, for an hour or all his life, in record stores, and on the internet. And then there are the things we find. Or who find you. Unexpectedly, like that, before even having been able to suspect its existence ...

Sleepless night, I'm on Discogs, clicking on every hypertext that lets me do it. I come across this record , at random. Distracted glance at the tracklist, a detail catches my attention: track 3 is called “ I man suffering” and is decked out with a “ written by Gaylords Power Union” . Many diggers engaged in reggae-quest know (and drool) this holy grail of Gaylords, I man suffering . But impossible, I say to myself: this song was only released on an obscure English pre-release from the early 70's, what would a cover do on a Dominican record released several years later?

I'm trying to hear this song from Ophelia right away. Obviously, no trace on the internet, no way to confirm the intuition that this is a cover of the - now mythical - piece of the Gaylords . To be clear, I'll have to buy the record muted. I do so, realizing that the coincidence between title, credits and provenance is surely too great… to be one.

And what do I hear?

This is indeed a second version of this obscure butchery! I have the throbbing who gets excited, a smile blocked in my ears. I send a sample to all of my musical friends who might be interested, and a ton of questions arise in my skull. Especially this one: how, how the fuck, how is it possible that this esoteric songbeen famous enough that someone wanted to take it back? She who, I repeat, only came out on an unmissable English 45? I turn it around in my head and see only one reasonable answer: a member of the Gaylords - Dominicans like Ophelia - is on this record and will have brought him the song. The time had come to put on my raincoat and stroll through the empty streets of the Internet to try to confirm this hypothesis, and to unmask the culprit (tintintin…).

So I gathered information on the group behind the song, these famous Gaylords. The Gaylords Power Union is a Dominican group, a hotel live band , which from the late 60's to the beginning of the 70's traveled all over the Caribbean to play their Calypso, Soul, Spouge and, sometimes, Reggae. No mention anywhere of this “ I man Suffering” which intrigues me so much. Not even in the (fairly exhaustive) compilation of their best songs. I continue the research, and come across a first decisive element :

“In 1973, they toured the United Kingdom together with John Holt […]. They returned to the UK in 1974 for another tour, and split up in September 1974, when founder member and lead singer, Greg Breaker decided to go solo »

In French, the Gaylords made two tours in the United Kingdom, in 73 and 74. And precisely, this I man suffering , which is not mentioned anywhere and only released on a pre-release UK, sounds exactly like something that could have been recorded in London in 73 or 74, during a tour. It could even be, suddenly, one of their very last pieces, never really edited, which would explain why it is never mentioned in the group's discographies. I feel that I am heating up, but I'm not quite there yet: all of this is logical, but purely speculative.

And there, revelation! I came across an unknown combination of circumstances (or key words) on an interview with a member of the Gaylords, Clayton Julien Guiste (yes I found that, you can imagine the depth of this thing called the internet ). He says :

“[In 1974] we were back in the UK. During that period between '74 and '75, several recordings were made, including a reggae tune called 'I man Suffering' which I wrote and produced. The singer was the late Starrett Francois, and it was released on a UK based label, Cosmos Records, founded by Bertram John, a Grenadian businessman, who was instrumental in taking us and John Holt on those UK Tours »

Can you imagine my reaction when I read this? It's all there: who wrote it, the occasion, the identity of the lead-singer , the year, the producer, the distributor… I never thought I would find so much information on this rare piece. Let’s sum up for the French exclusives: the Gaylords' morcif “ I man suffering” was recorded on the occasion of a tour in England in 1974. The lead-singer , this so special voice, is Anthony Starett François , a small Dominican celebrity, who sings a song written by his companion of band Clayton Julian Guiste. Everything was edited by Bertram Johns, a businessman from Granada at the origin of this English tour. It now remained to identify the missing link: the member common to the Gaylords and the record of Ophelia, which would have brought this piece to the singer. Let's compare the line-ups:

Members of the Gaylords included Greg Breaker, Clayton 'Baby Julie' Guiste, Crispin Seaman, Dennis Joseph, Tony 'Bingo' Henderson, Alwin 'Cocky' Polydore, Lionel Pinard, Fitzroy 'Fat Cap' Williams , Starret Francois, Archie Francis, Walter Cooke and Julian Gibson

And on the back of Ophelia's cover, who do we find?

IMG_5885The same Fitzroy Williams ! This rascal! Provisional conclusion: no doubt he considered that this song, never really published during its first recording in England, deserved a second life. And proposed it to his friend Ophelia, a few years later, back in Dominica.

If that's not the exact truth, I think we're at least getting closer. In any case, that's enough for me to put my raincoat on the coat rack: case closed.

Edit: by the way, you've probably noticed, Ophelia's version is interesting, but not in comparison with the original Gaylords UFO. The orchestration is excellent, but I must admit reluctance on the voice. This in no way detracts from the exceptional nature of this discovery that I hasten to share with you! I hope you enjoy reading all of this as much as I did doing the survey! It is for this kind of story that we “dig”, what joy when they happen!

IMG_5895Sources : I've already put them in links above, but here are my main sources:
- Gaylords Power Union Greatest hits
- Starrett François of the Gaylors dies at age 60 (The Dominican, Feb 2008)
- Interview Clayton Julian Guiste (Othersounds , Apr 2011)

part 2The story, in fact, does not end there. Internet glory, pipe magic, I managed to find, thanks to the social-network-whose-name-must-not-be-pronounced, Julien Clayton-Guiste himself. The song's author, original member of the Gaylords. I come across an infinitely nice man, who had not heard his song since he recorded it in 1975. Obviously, a thousand places to imagine that it continues to be played all over the world. He agreed to answer my few questions:

oooooooKillers Without Fillers : Greetings Julien! So it is you: you are the author of this beautiful, deep song, I Man Suffering. Did you know it had gained cult status, and was so highly-rated amongst record collectors, 40 years after you recorded it?

Julien Clayton-Guiste : I had absolutely no idea! I'am shocked to hear that it has achieved such status!

KWF : You recorded this song in London .. You were there for a tour, right? Can you tell me more about the circumstances?

JC-G : We were in London in 1973 for a joint UK tour with the late John Holt, as well as our own tour of England, as we had a lot of dominicans wanting to see us as well. At the end of this tour we re-recorded “hit me with music” our carribean hit single. On returning home we were invited back to the UK for another tour, this time on our own, in 1974. We returned, but at the end of that tour the band split up. The band's frontman, Greg Breaker Bannis, went solo. The rest of us tried to stay together for a while, but split into two groups after a year. During that year, we recorded few tracks, including “Dream of Africa” and “I man suffering”. To be honest, this was a one-off. I wrote other songs, on our albums and singles, but I man suffering was written to be a filler to put on the back of Starret's ingle “Dreams of Africa”.

KWF : I'd like to ask you about those vocal harmonies: “Aaaaaa aaaaaaa aaaaaa, I man suffering” . They seem to fall from the moon! Outstanding! Is it the Gaylords doing the backing vocals?

JC-G : That was a unique feature of The Gaylords. This group, of wich I was a founder member, in 1968, started off as a quartet of vocal harmonies, usually musically backed by a local band. The group later increased it's line-up, by two, to include a drummer and keyboardist. I was assigned to learn to play bass guitar. One of the original four already played guitar. But Throughought the life of the group the emphasis was always on maintaining excellent harmonies. Obviously, over the years, the line-up evolved, and members came and went. By the time of the UK tour, one of our members was blind keyboardist, now deceased, Starett François. This guy had this sensational high pitched, haunting voice. He led on “Dream of Africa” and “I man suffering” among other hits. So, on this track, he and I teamed up and did all the backing vocals.

KWF : This song is very deep, very touching, and kinda sad… What were you living at the time, that made you write those terrible words, this cry of suffering? (maybe it's too personal, I'll understand if you don't want to answer this question)

JC-G : To be honest, at that time, because we had been visitors to London, we had no right of stay in this country, no right to work, since the band had finished the tour and work permit had expired. Even though some of us had family living here, we couldn't rely on them for existence. So it was a continual struggle to live daily for most of the band.

KWF : At the time, did you know what happen to the song after you recorded it? It seems that it has only been release as a “pre-release” on a “one shot” label, Cosmos… And, it's rare as hen's teeth!

JC-G : Jeremie, those were the days of exploitation. In those days, few unknown artists had any control over their work. So, some stuff we did, we never saw, heard of, or received any credit or payment for. So, no. After that time, we had moved on and never heard about it again.

KWF : Were you aware of the existence of a cover-version by Ophelia? I noticed on the Ophelia's LP a common member with the Gaylords: Fitzroy 'fat cap' Williams. My hypothesis is he brought her the song? Am I far from the truth?

JC-G : I did not know it has been re-recorded by Ophelia. It is possible that either Fitzroy 'Fat Cap' Williams or the producer, Gordon Henderson, may have suggested the song.

KWF : Thank you very much for the musical gift to the world Julien, and for taking time to answer my questions.

JC-G : You are welcome, my friend. Thanks for bringing it to my notice.