Perry began his career in the late 1950s working with Clement Coxsone Dodd's sound system. He eventually performed a variety of important tasks at Studio One as well as recording about thirty songs, but the pair eventually stopped working together due to personality and financial conflicts.
Working with Joe Gibbs, Perry continued his recording career, but once again, financial problems caused conflict. Perry broke ranks with Gibbs and formed his own label, Upsetter, in 1968. His first single "People Funny Boy", which was an insult directed at Gibbs, sold very well. It is notable for its innovative use of a sample (a crying baby) as well as a fast, chugging beat that would soon become identifiable as "reggae" (the new sound did not really have a name at this time). During the 1970s, Perry released numerous recordings on a variety of record labels that he controlled, and many of his songs were popular in both Jamaica and the U.K. He soon became known for his innovative production techniques as well as his eccentric character.
In the early 1970s, Perry was one of the producers whose mixing board experiments resulted in the creation of dub. In 1973, Perry built a studio in his back yard, The Black Ark, to have more control over his productions and continued to produce notable musicians such as Bob Marley & the Wailers, Junior Byles, The Heptones, and Max Romeo. With his own studio at his disposal, Perry's productions became more lavish, as the energetic producer was able to spend as much time as he wanted on the music he produced. It is important to note that virtually everything Perry recorded in The Black Ark was done using rather basic recording equipment; through sonic sleight-of-hand, Perry made it sound completely unique. Perry remained behind the mixing desk for many years, producing songs and albums that stand out as a high point in reggae history. By 1978, stress and unwanted outside influences began to take their toll: both Perry and The Black Ark quickly fell into a state of disrepair. Eventually, the studio burned to the ground. Perry has constantly insisted that he burned the Black Ark himself in a fit of rage, but it was most likely an accident caused by faulty wiring. After the demise of the Black Ark in the early 1980s, Perry spent time in England and the United States, performing live and making erratic records with a variety of collaborators. It was not until the late 1980s that Perry's career began to get back on solid ground again, after working with British producers Adrian Sherwood and Neil Fraser, better known as Mad Professor.
Perry lived in Switzerland for a while with his wife Mireille Campbell-Rüegg and two children. He continued to record and perform to enthusiastic audiences in Europe and North America late into his life. His later music is a far cry from his reggae days in Jamaica; many saw this part of Perry's career as more of a performance artist in several respects. In 2003, Perry won a Grammy for Best Reggae Album with the album Jamaican ET. He teamed up with a group of Swiss musicians and perform under the name Lee Perry and the White Belly Rats. in 2015, Perry’s recording studio in Switzerland was damaged by a fire that destroyed various unreleased recordings and some of his stage gear. In 2020 Perry moved with his wife to Jamaica, where he died on 29 August 2021.
Public Enemy Number One
Lee "Scratch" Perry Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴
Wanted dead or alive for all the crimes on this land
Killing God's children one by one
Casting affliction upon the innocent man
But as it were in the beginning
So shall it be in the end
God's righteous people must rule again
For it's easier for a camel
To go through the eye of a needle
Than for wicked, wickedness
To enter the Kingdom of God, I say
Look what you've done to mankind
You planted the seed of crime in our children's mind
Even the suckling on the breast
Now becoming an awful test
For it's easier for a camel
To go through the eye of a needle
Than for wicked, wickedness
To enter the Kingdom of God, I say
Satan is public enemy number one
Wanted dead or alive for all the crimes on this land
Killing God's children one by one
Casting affliction on the innocent man
Beelzebub, I say
You
are the source of all evil
Your destruction is near
For the righteous will never fear
In your face we will spit
For your reign of terror is unfit
Your days are numbered, Satan
And your kingdom will soon be forsaken
In this song, Lee "Scratch" Perry is painting a picture of Satan as the enemy of humanity. He describes Satan as the number one public enemy who is responsible for all the crimes committed on the land. Perry creates an image of Satan as a vile and evil creature who is killing innocent people and causing affliction in the world. He speaks of Satan's crimes against God's children and the affliction he causes to the innocent man. Perry also alludes to the fact that Satan is the one responsible for planting the seed of crime in children's minds, which is now becoming an awful test.
The song also talks about the end of Satan's reign of terror. Perry describes how God's righteous people will rule again and Satan will be captured in the end. He suggests that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for wickedness to enter the Kingdom of God. The song ends on a victorious note with Perry referring to Satan as Beelzebub, and expressing that Satan's days are numbered and his kingdom will soon be forsaken by the righteous.
Lyrics © Royalty Network Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@HutxyShaAk
Yeah !!! Great One !!! Love this TUNE !!!
@Slaj-wf7ry
Originall hit tune ❤❤❤❤
@marcsl1974
Cherry oh baby riddim
@TerryMarineBMF
Angie Angel.... Supergirl Supergirl u rule da worl' Dis Riddim: "Build Your House On A Strong Foundation" by Gwen and Ray So u seh.... u rule again and tek da weak-heart in an lettem begin to win... Gaawwd hep me be humble an nah fumble 1000%ROCKSTEADY POWA-GIRL !!!
@elizabethhann4028
[11 July 2022] I'm listening to this solely because it has Lee Perry's name attached to it. I must confess, though, that I'm not as amazed by it as I usually am by Perry's productions. But maybe I just don't like Max Romeo. Or, more to the point, maybe it's just because I'm not used to hearing pop songs wherein people proclaim "Satan is Public Enemy Number One", seemingly without irony (I mean, the phrase sounds like something out of one of those Evangelical comic-book tracts that nonbelievers like myself like to take the pss out of, you know what I mean?). I'll confess, I only just started getting into reggae music quite recently, and sometimes I don't know what to make of it. The lyrics to "Public Enemy Number One" - like a lot of the classic reggae lyrics I've heard - remind me of the (to my mind, at least) alarming fact that, in terms of lyrical content, a lot of '70's-era reggae would seem to have more in common with (can it be?) Christian rock (or, if that's not fair, with gospel) than with contemporaneous Black American soul music or R&B, let alone with contemporaneous rock 'n' roll. I sometimes find myself suspecting that, just in the way he looked at the world, Max Romeo (and possibly even Lee Perry himself) might have had more in common with Larry Norman (considered by many to be the founder of so-called Christian Rock) than with, say, George Clinton or August Darnell. And as someone who (for better or worse) doesn't really believe in anything - except in art, for art's sake, I suppose - and who always found the idea of Christian pop music to be no more and no less than a sickly joke, I don't know how I feel about that. To be irresistibly drawn to the sheer SOUND of a genre of music, while being baffled (and vaguely unnerved) by the lyrics...for someone who's usually always paid more attention to lyrics than to sound, I feel like I'm in strange territory.