Toots and The Maytals are from Kingston, Jamaica. It was the producer Byron Lee who 1971 renamed them Toots & the Maytals. Frederick "Toots" Hibbert, the leader of the group and the lead singer, was born in May Pen in the Parish of Clarendon, Jamaica. He was the youngest of seven children. He grew up singing gospel music in a church choir, but moved to Kingston in 1961 at the age of sixteen.
In Kingston, he met Henry "Raleigh" Gordon and Nathaniel "Jerry" McCarthy, forming a group whose early recordings were attributed to "The Flames" and, possibly, "The Vikings". Having renamed the group the Maytals, the vocal trio recorded their first album, "Never Grow Old - presenting the Maytals", for producer Clement "Coxsone" Dodd at Studio One in 1962-63. With musical backing from Dodd's house band, the legendary Skatalites, the Maytals' close-harmony gospel singing ensured instant success for the 1964 release, overshadowing Dodd's other up-and-coming gospel trio, The Wailers. The original album augmented by studio out-takes from the Studio One sessions was re-released by Heartbeat/Rounder Records in 1997, and is essential listening for Maytals and Skatalites fans.
After staying at Studio One for about two years, the group moved on to do sessions for Prince Buster (released in 1974) before recording their second album produced by Byron Lee in 1965. However, the band's musical career was rudely interrupted in late 1966 when Hibbert was arrested and imprisoned on drug possession charges.
Following Hibbert's release from jail towards the end of 1967, the band began working with Chinese-Jamaican producer Leslie Kong, a collaboration which produced three classic albums and a string of hits throughout the late sixties and early seventies -- "Do the Reggay", a 1968 single widely credited with coining the word "reggae", "Pressure Drop", "54-46" and "Monkey Man", the group's first international hit in 1970. The group was featured in one of reggae's greatest breakthrough events -- The Harder They Come, the 1972 film and soundtrack starring Jimmy Cliff.
Following Kong's death in 1971, the group continued to record with Kong's former sound engineer, Warwick Lyn; produced by Lyn and Chris Blackwell of Island Records, the group released three best-selling albums, and enjoyed international hits with Funky Kingston in 1973 and Reggae Got Soul in 1976.
Toots and the Maytals' compositions would be given a second airing in 1978-80 during the reggae-punk and ska revival period in the UK, when the Specials included "Monkey Man" on their 1979 debut album and the Clash produced their version of "Pressure Drop", with other Maytals' covers being recorded by Sublime. Having toured throughout the world for many years, Toots and the Maytals disbanded in the early 1980s, but reformed in the early 90s to continue touring and recording successfully.
In 2005, the band won a Grammy award for best reggae album for True Love, consisting of re-recorded versions of their classics alongside legendary musicians such as Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, and Keith Richards, as well as popular artists such as No Doubt, Ben Harper, The Roots, and Shaggy.
They also contributed to the Easy Star All-Stars album 'Radiodread' (a dub tribute to Radiohead's OK Computer).
In 2016 Toots and the Maytals announced a return to the stage with their first tour in 3 years,[35] and on June 15 at The Observatory North Park in San Diego the group returned to the stage for the first time since 2013.
In 2017 Toots and the Maytals played Coachella Fest April 16 and 23 at 4:20 pm. They became the second reggae-based group to perform at the Coachella festival, after Chronixx in 2016.
In 2018, Toots and the Maytals launched a 50th anniversary tour with concert appearances in North America from April to August, moving to dates in the UK starting in October.
On July 25, 2018 Toots and the Maytals debuted an original song entitled "Marley" live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and also played the classic "Funky Kingston".
On August 24, 2018 Toots and the Maytals performed at Lockn’ Festival in Arrington, Virginia, where guest Taj Mahal accompanied them on the song “Monkey Man”.
Frontman "Toots" Hibbert died on 12 September 2020.
I Need Your Love
Toots and The Maytals Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The sky was yellow
And the grass was gray
We signed the papers
And we drove away
I do it for your love
The rooms were musty
All that winter we shared a cold
Drank all the orange juice
That we could hold
I do it for your love
Found a rug
In an old junk shop
And I brought it home to you
Along the way the colors ran
The orange bled the blue
The sting of reason
The splash of tears
The northern and the southern
Hemispheres
Love emerges
And it disappears
I do it for your love
I do it for your love
The opening lines of the song, "We were married on a rainy day, the sky was yellow and the grass was gray" sets a tone of melancholy and gloom. This suggests that the singer is not in a happy place in their relationship. The rain is a symbol of sadness, and the yellow sky and gray grass show that things are not as cheerful as they should be on a wedding day. It could also imply that this couple is not like others, they are unique and special in their own way.
The next verse reveals that they drove away after signing the papers. The couple is making a new beginning, but the imagery of driving away shows that they are leaving something behind. The line "I do it for your love" is repeated after each verse, which may signify that the singer is doing everything, including getting married, for the love of their partner. The chorus shows that the couple may be struggling to make ends meet, living in a house with musty rooms and old pipes, particularly during winter.
The latter half of the song talks about a rug that was bought in a junk shop. The line "The colors ran, the orange bled the blue" suggests that the rug was not of good quality and didn't live up to the expectations of the singer. This symbolizes the couple's relationship; it's not perfect, but they keep making an effort to keep it going. The last two verses seem to talk about the highs and lows of love, how it emerges and disappears. The line "I do it for your love" here could show that despite the struggles, the singer is determined to keep the relationship alive, continuing to do everything for the love of their partner.
Line by Line Meaning
We were married on a rainy day
Our wedding day was full of sadness and gloom
The sky was yellow
The sky wasn't blue, it was yellow which showed something was wrong
And the grass was gray
The grass wasn't green, it was gray which also showed something was wrong
We signed the papers
We signed the marriage documents even though things weren't perfect
And we drove away
We left the wedding venue but the sadness and gloom remained
I do it for your love
I go through all this for the sake of love
The rooms were musty
The rooms we lived in were damp and smelled bad
And the pipes were old
The pipes in the house were outdated and needed to be changed
All that winter we shared a cold
We were sick throughout the winter and had each other to get through it
Drank all the orange juice
We consumed all the orange juice available to deal with our colds
That we could hold
We drank as much orange juice as we could to fight off the sickness
Found a rug
We discovered a carpet
In an old junk shop
We found the rug in a thrift store
And I brought it home to you
I bought the rug and brought it home for you
Along the way the colors ran
On our way home, the colors of the rug started bleeding
The orange bled the blue
The orange color from the rug ran onto the blue parts
The sting of reason
The painful realization of logic
The splash of tears
The sudden outburst of emotions
The northern and the southern
Both the northern and southern hemispheres of the brain (logic and emotions)
Hemispheres
Two psychological states
Love emerges
Love comes to the surface
And it disappears
Love can also disappear just as quickly
I do it for your love
Despite everything, I do it all for the sake of love
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: PAUL SIMON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@gabrielre69ae72
R&B/Oldies Jamaicanos são os melhores ❤💘
@milianagaslopez891
Quelques années sans l'écouter et ... ça prend toujours là où il faut ;)
@mikevallen999
Deep soulful performance by Toots and The Maytals ....very fine indeed .
@beautifulstranger101
i walked down the aisle to this song
@charmainestewart1363
they don't make them like this anymore...so much soul.
@BraddahsCuzin
Haven't heard this song in 25+ years. It's just one of them songs!
@babi639
Haven't shed a tear in years until I listened to this song tonight. It broke me so bad that I feel relieved. This is fucking music!!! Thank you !!!
@cindywachira5629
Me too....so so good. I have no words.
@rtarbinar
It broke me too bro...
@susanaatemafileo861
Here because of series of Black Cake ❤❤❤