Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Pinkney

When reggae meets romance the result is lover's rock, a sub-genre all in itself with a loyal following from a culture where the toughest of rude boys (at least, the earlier ones before the wave of 'no partner required' dances hit) is wont to rock his lady in a darkened dancehall, Guinness in one hand and girl's gluteus maximus in the other.

Dennis Brown, who died on July 1, 1999, was one of the most outstanding lover's rock men, combined with his commitment to message reggae that underscored his Rastafarian beliefs. These days Revolution and The Foundation are among the few tracks that are popular in the dancehalls, but there was a time when his 'Inseparable' concert series, named after a hit lover's rock song, was a must-go for many a screaming lady.

And long before those 1990s concerts, How Could I Live was one of his standout forays into reggae romance.

Many might not know, though, that it was a cover version, the original done by The Sharks band whose guitarist,Dwight Pinkney, penned the song and also shared lead vocals with drummer Lloyd Robinson.

Pinkney says How Could I Live was written in early 1967 "when I was in Freeport, Grand Bahamas, with my band The Sharks. We were on contract with the Lucayan Beach Hotel".

"We were due to come back to Jamaica for a little vacation and I arranged some recording with Coxsone (Clement Dodd of Studio One). This was one of the songs I prepared which was in my mind to record," Pinkney said.

He said "i wrote it for my girlfriend at the time. Well, you know teenager, you have puppy love." That puppy love was expressed with:

"How could I live

How could I possibly go on

If you should say goodbye

Just like a rose

If you don't water it every morning

It withers and it dies

Promise you won't leave me

Promise you won't hurt me -

It was ordained

That man should leave his mother and cling

To the woman that he loves ..."

The transfer of what he had put together, using his guitar, in the Bahamas to record took place at the famed 13 Brentford Road studio, along with Trevor Lopez and Danny McFarlane on keyboards, and Alfred Crossley on bass.

side a and b

In those days of 'A' and 'B' side records How Could I Live was not a hit. However, Pinkney laughs as he says that it sold as much as the popular Words, done by Marcia Griffiths and Jeff Dixon, which was on the 'A' side of the 45 rpm release.

Dennis Brown's very popular version, done for producer Joe Gibbs, came a decade later. "There is an engineer called Chunney. He introduced our version to Dennis Brown, who did a cover version," Pinkney said. Brown was not the only person to record the song, as Pinkney said "at that time there was a barrage of version". That included one by The Heptones.

However, Pinkney was not consulted about the reworking of How Could I Live, which he said was "basically the same song, same rhythm, just the instrumentation would bedifferent". He was told about it by persons who were in the studio when it was being done, including singer Beres Hammond, producer Willie Lindo and musicians Lloyd Parkes and Sly Dunbar, who played bass and drums, respectively.

"I was not happy about how it was done, but I was happy that it was done because it made it international," Pinkney said about not being consulted before, but How Could I Live being done over by a popular singer.

Pinkney said the Dennis Brown version made the "Melody Makers chart in the U.K. and was on its way up, but due to legal battling the company figured they didn't want to get involved".

Those legal matters came up because Pinkney was not credited as the writer of the song and he took action.

no animosity

There was no animosity between himself and Brown, though, as Pinkney said "He being the artiste, he did not have anything to do with the song. He was presented a song by the producer, who is supposed to get the clearances. We were brethren still. Dennis Brown was an artiste who was much younger than me, but someone that I admire. There was no ill feeling between me and him."

Pinkney said among the singers who have done more recent versions of How Could I Live are Richie Stephens (VP Records) and George Nooks (Tads International), with yet another b Hewitt to come on her album for VP Records. Guitarist Gibby also did a rock version and the band Casual T recorded their cut, but there is one that is close to his heart.

"After I started recording as a solo artiste I put it on my debut album, Jamaican Memories By The Score," Pinkney said. That album was released in 1999.

He plays it in his solo sets on stage to what Pinkney says is "a guaranteed response", and has been included in his set for about three stagings of the Jamaica Association of Vintage Artistes and Affiliates' 'Tribute to Dennis Brown', which this year was combined with a tribute to Bob Marley. Once Nooks came on stage and jammed with him, on another occasion he performed How CouldI Live with Tony Rebel.

There is no doubt, too, about which version he likes best. "The first cut is the deepest," Pinkney says, laughing, naming The Sharks' original of 1967 as the best because of "the newness and the freshness of it". "That is what attracts people to a song, the sincerity. We were the creators, so you got the authentic sound. Is not a carbon copy or an imitation; is from the source," he said.