Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

The Bloodfire Posse accompanied by Richie Stephens (second right) go through the latest dance moves at Take Me Away with Richie Stephens and Friends, held at the National Indoor Sports Centre, Independence Park, on Sunday, April 27. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

The Pink Panther Theme by Henry Mancini is indelibly stamped on popular culture not only through the endearing and enduring cartoon figure, but also the movie series starring the bumbling Inspector Closeau (played by Peter Sellers).

But, as often happens with pop culture, there are interpretations which the creator never dreamt of. And in 1984, one year after the band started, the Bloodfire Posse gave the Pink Panther Theme a reggae treatment, complete with rumbling bassline.

Danny Browne, now a gospel producer, said that when they reworked the Pink Panther Theme the average age of the band was about 23 years old. "... if you follow the history of Bloodfire, we believe it, we live it, we navel string cut on rockers," he told The Sunday Gleaner.

"Pink Panther was a popular cartoon and we enjoyed it," he said, adding that he was more exposed to the cartoon than the movie.

when the rythm hits

As the producer in the group, "one day the rhythm hit me". The other members of the band were very enthusiastic and Haldane 'Trapper John' Stewart played the lead on the synthesiser.

There were, in fact, two versions, the first with Stewart and Browne, done at the small Creative Sounds studio, and the other with the full band, done at Music Mountain.

There was, however, an addition to the original, as Browne added some lyrics, the "New York, Jam Down, you've changed, I won't ..." coming through as the rockers rhythm eased up. Further down in the song there was "a jus' cool an deadly" and "a strictly rub a dub we a play".

Browne laughs as he says that the lyrics actually did not mean anything. But they did catch on.

However, when Bloodfire was signed to CBS Records, those lyrics became problematic. "When we got signed to CBS we had to get clearance from Henry Mancini," Browne said. Mancini said no to the lyrics.

So the version that came out in Jamaica as a single had the lyrics, but the one on the CBS album Are You Ready did not.

Crowd favorite

The Pink Panther Theme quickly became an integral part of Bloodfire Posse's live shows, Browne saying it was one of the songs the audience would look forward to. In addition, they had the stage presentation to go with it, Trapper John having a keyboard strapped over his shoulder as he played the lead. And Browne, who pointed out the band's early forays into MIDI technology and sequencing, said "I had a guitar that was a synthesiser as well."

The cartoon endures to this day, along with Henry Mancini's theme. And Bloofire Posse's rockers remake is a guaranteed attention grabber, rumbling bassline, keyboard lead, lyrics and all.

Just cool and deadly.

The 'Best of Bloodfire Posse' album.