Johnny Was
Johnny was a good boy. This song was Bob's declaration that he refused to be directly political: Rasta don't work for the "shitstem", or for the CIA - should Bob have wondered that he became number one on the CIA's "Most Observed" list in Jamaica? If you lived in the ghetto it was commonplace to rub shoulders with the neighbourhood's ranking gunmen; in the years to come various friends and associates in that line of work were shot to death - among them Bucky Marshall, Frowser, and Claudie Massop, at whose funeral in Tivoli Gardens, Kingston, this song was played. The "Johnny" in the song title was believed to be Carlton "Bat Man" Wilson, brother of singer Delroy Wilson; his habit of disarming wrongdoers under threat of his own twin barrels had finally brought about its inevitable last act. Bat Man was gunned down in a bar and left for dead. When he eventually recovered, Bat Man heeded the prevailing wind and left Kingston for the safer climes of Brooklyn.
