Music / War Ina Babylon

One major step forward!

War Ina Babylon is the masterpiece of Reggae artist Max Romeo, released in 1976. Romeo is backed by The Upsetters, the backing band of Lee Scratch Perry, who was also the Record Producer. The album is best known for hits such as "One Step Forward", "War Ina Babylon" and "Chase the Devil" (later sampled by The Prodigy as "Out of Space")

Tracklist

Side One

1. "One Step Forward" (5:15)
2. "Uptown Babies" (5:00)
3. "Chase the Devil" (3:27)
4. "War ina Babylon" (4:51)

Side Two

1. "Norman" (4:50)
2. "Stealin'" (3:04)
3. "Tan and See" (4:36)
4. "Smokey Room" (3:03)
5. "Smile Out Of Style" (3:32)

Personnel

• Max Romeo: vocals
• Barry Llewellyn, Earl Morgan: male harmony vocals
• Cynthia Scholas, Marcia Griffiths: female harmony vocals

War Ina Babylon provides examples of:

• Album Title Drop:
  War ina Babylon. Tribal war ina Babylon
• Badass Boast and Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: "Chase the Devil"
  I'm gonna put on an iron shirt
  And chase the devil out of Earth
  I'm gonna sent him outta space
  To find another race
• Capitalism Is Bad: "Norman"
  Occupation, house master
  Who lives off the less
  Running from the east to the west
  Ah, let me tell you so
  Norman never lose, always wins
  Yet Norman never give a way bit
  If you ask for a less, he said he wants more
  More, more
• Corrupt Church: "Stealin'"
  My father's house of worship has become a den of thieves
  Stealin' in the name of the lord
• Design Student's Orgasm: The album cover, designed by Tony Wright.
• Despair Event Horizon: The person on the album cover.
• Ode to Intoxication: "Smokey Room", an ode to marihuana.
• One-Man Song: "Norman".
• Pep-Talk Song: "Chase the Devil", "Smile Out Of Style"
• Perpetual Poverty: "Uptown Babies".
  You can hear her mama saying
  It ain't easy, ain't easy
  Ain't easy when you're poor, you see
  And speaking of life in the ghetto
  Where survival is the motto
  And putting it to you
  Poverty is a sin
  Uptown babies don't cry
  They don't know what hungry is like.
  Uptown babies don't cry
  They don't know what suffering is like.
• Record Producer: Lee Scratch Perry.
• Shout-Out: The Prodigy sampled "Chase the Devil" in their song "Out of Space".
  I'm gonna sent him outta space
  To find another race
• Silly Walk: "One Step Forward"
  One step forward, two step backward
• Sucky School: "Smile Out Of Style"
  Don't blame the children
  Blame the teachers, they taught the children
• War Is Hell: "War ina Babylon" criticizes the war in our present day world.

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