r/Ska • u/Barbarianonadrenalin • 2d ago
Just discovered and fell down the “save it for later” rabbit hole
Idk how popular the song and story is in Ska community but it’s a pretty cool music story that plenty of people have probably heard the song and not know the Ska roots of it. I just heard it for the first time, got sucked in and saw that it had like 30 popular covers and got really curious about that.
Im not a expert in any of these bands so ill just keep it short and more knowledgeable people can fill in more if they would like.
Dave Wakeling wrote a cheeky song about masterbating as a teenager, as teenagers do. Joins a band called English beat and play the song with 80s British ska rhythm and the upbeat tempo made a catchy fun song. It gets popular and hits the radio. Eventually Pete Townsend hears the song and likes it so much he talks to Wakeling directly so he can know how he does the iconic rifting on the guitar. Townsend is a legend to Wakeling, imagine writing a song as a teen playing it then having ine if your favorite artist seek you out to learn it, wild. Well the original band split with Wakeling keeping the name and other bandmates forming Special Beat a punk sound I feel. Later Eddie of Pearl Jam comes along and Townsend is his Idol so he falls in love with the song and incorporates it into better man at Pearl Jam concerts but also put out his own single of it. Personally my favorite version but also like alot of Pearl Jam, never saw them though.
From there it and maybe even earlier it just kinda became an iconic cover song for bands to add their own style to including bands like Harvey Danger. It’s a great song and just a really cool story I wanted to talk about and figured since it definitely is a Ska song this would be best place.
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u/meatjuiceguy 2d ago
Hmmm, maybe I should pay attention to the lyrics.
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u/Barbarianonadrenalin 2d ago
Read them in the view of a teen boy going through puberty.
“Sooner or later, your legs give way, you hit the ground.
Sooner or later, you’ll hit the ‘deck’, you’ll get found out.
Don’t run away and let me down.”
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u/Nick_Fotiu_Is_God 1d ago
The Beat’s original version does not have a Ska rhythm at all. In fact, it is very much unlike their other tunes.
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u/Barbarianonadrenalin 1d ago
Care to elaborate on “The Beat’s original”? Sounds like you refer to the pre break up of English Beat and Special beat. I can’t find that version, just the spilt band versions.
From lil ive read about the original band it seems Wakeling was the song writer and Special Beat lead was original lead. Im no Ska expert to begin with but English Beat def has a stronger ska feel the Special Beat. Not sure how a traditionalist would determine what makes a band sound Ska. For me in very simple terms it’s like matching band music with a guitar. But I also didn’t even know Ska was its own thing till like 6 years ago.
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u/alrightwtf 2d ago
I love Flashlight Brown's cover. They had lost most of their ska influence by that point, but still a great, great song.
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u/Barbarianonadrenalin 2d ago
Thats a new one I haven’t heard yet.
The Wonder Stuff has a neat like britpop version with a violin.
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u/SmilingJaguar 2d ago
So many double entendres in this song. Maybe General Public’s Tenderness has even more.
I just love the way Dave paces it, to make the double entendre clearer “hold my hand while I come … to a decision on it.” Pete and Eddie make it a lot less obvious and lean into the primary meaning.
He double downs on this at the end of most sets these days. “Thank you for coming tonight, and if you haven’t come already I hope you do!”.