Chase the Devil
"Chase the Devil" is a reggae song, recorded in 1976 by Max Romeo, with the backing of Lee "Scratch" Perry's house band, The Upsetters.
| "Chase the Devil" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Max Romeo and The Upsetters | ||||
| from the album War Ina Babylon | ||||
| Released | 1976 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:25 | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) |
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| Max Romeo and The Upsetters singles chronology | ||||
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Background
Composed by Perry and Romeo, "Chase the Devil" was released on the album War Ina Babylon in 1976. Also in 1976, The Upsetters recorded a version with different lyrics. The track, called "Croaking Lizard" and credited to The Upsetters and Prince Jazzbo, was included in their album Super Ape. Later, Perry made a dub remix of both versions, called "Disco Devil".
In a BBC interview recorded in 2010 Romeo describes the meaning of the song. He explains that the devil is everything negative in our minds, the iron shirt is our strength of spirit that allows us to cast out the devil.[2]
Track listing
- 7" UK Single[3]
- A. Max Romeo – "Chase the Devil"
- B. The Upsetters featuring Prince Jazzbo – "Croaking Lizard"
- A. "Chase the Devil" – 3:25
- B. "One Step Forward (Oye Oye Reggae)" – 5:00
Cover versions
- "Out of Space" by The Prodigy (1992) sampled the song.[6]
- Kanye West has used resung samples from "Chase the Devil" to produce Jay Z's song "Lucifer", which appeared on Jay Z's 2003 release, The Black Album.[6]
- Madness covered the song for their cover album, The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1, released in 2005.[7]
- Dreadzone sampled the song for their 2006 track "Iron Shirt".[8]
- Earl Sixteen covered the song in 2008: other reggae acts who have recorded their own versions include Macka B, Susan Cadogan and Mad Professor.[8]
References
- Pitchfork Staff (22 August 2016). "The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s". Pitchfork. Retrieved 13 October 2022.
Perry essentially released a dub version of the Romeo and Jazzbo tracks, then followed it with a dub of the dub.
- "BBC Four - Reggae Britannia, Max Romeo on I Chase the Devil". BBC Online. 4 February 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- "Max Romeo / Upsetters, The Feat Prince Jazzbo – Chase the Devil / Croaking Lizard (Vinyl)". Discogs. 1976. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
- "Max Romeo – Chase the Devil / One Step Forward (Oye Oye Reggae) (Vinyl)". Discogs. 1976. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
- "Chase the Devil / One Step Forward (Oye Oye Reggae) by Max Romeo : Reviews and Ratings". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
- Kulkarni, Neil (26 April 2016). "One Step Forward Two Steps Backward: 1976, Reggae & Critical Amnesia". The Quietus. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
- Thomas Erlewine, Stephen. "Madness – The Dangermen Sessions, Vol. 1". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
- McCann, Ian (16 September 2019). "Chase the Devil — when Max Romeo declared war on Lucifer". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 17 September 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
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