Jeff's Jukebox: C-5

C-5: "Israelites," Desmond Dekker and the Aces

I can say with near certainty that this was the first reggae song that I ever heard, although at the time I had no idea what "reggae" meant. I'm not sure how high the song charted, but this was a big regional hit in Sacramento around 1969 or so, and was played on the radio almost constantly for a period of several months. Even my dad kind of liked the song, although I think he thought it was called "Mehezzer and I."

The song was produced by the legendary Leslie Kong, early reggae auteur who was honored with the album The "King" Kong Collection - a magnificent album that, to my knowledge, has never been released on CD (which is a crime). If anyone who reads this sees it in some remainder bin somewhere, be sure to drop me a line.