Information AboutIsraelites (song) |
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"Israelites" is a song which was written by Desmond Dekker and Leslie Kong for Desmond Dekker & The Aces . It was the first international hit by a Jamaica n artist. It reached the top ten in the United States , and by April 1969 it was number one in the United Kingdom , The Netherlands , Jamaica, South Africa , Canada , Sweden and West Germany . The British success came almost two years after Dekker first made his mark with the Rude Boy classic song, " 007 ". Whilst Dekker's diction was all that came to be expected of the reggae stars; largely unintelligible, it made little difference to the success of his discs. "Israelites" brought the reggae beat to the British pop fans for the first time since Millie 's number two hit " My Boy Lollipop ". But 1969 was the right time for reggae to make the breakthrough in the UK . The Beatles , as always the trendsetters back then, had recorded their own reggae influenced song - " Ob La Di Ob La Da ", which the Pop Group Marmalade subsequently took to number one. Desmond Dekker had two more UK Top Ten hits over the next year. " It Miek ", which was similarly not only unintelligible when sung, but also when written down; and " You Can Get It If You Really Want ". Dekker recorded on the Pyramid record label, and when its catalogue was acquired by Cactus Records in 1975 , it was inevitable that "Israelites" would be re-issued. It was, and not too unexpectedly in view of the popularity first time around, it reached a respectable top ten position, a little over six years after the original release. The song was then used in a 1990 Television Commercial for Maxell Audio Cassettes , and was also parodied in the British commercial for Vitalite spread in the early 1990s . It was also featured on the soundtrack of the Gus Van Sant film " Drugstore Cowboy ". REFERENCES
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