Jamaican ska vocal group The Maytals became a reggae band in 1971, renamed … Read Full Bio ↴Jamaican ska vocal group The Maytals became a reggae band in 1971, renamed Toots and The Maytals with Toots Hibbert (Frederick Nathaniel Hibbert) as front figure. The band won a 2005 Grammy award for the album True Love. Funky Kingston in early 70s is on Rolling Stone's list The Greatest Albums of All Time. The bass line in "54-46" is one of the most covered in pop music. Songs such as "Monkey Man", "Pressure Drop", "Bam Bam", among others, made them favorites for the early skinhead movement of white working-class youth in UK.

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.

Pain In My Heart
Toots and The Maytals Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Pain in my heart
Is treating me cold
Where can my baby be
Lord no one knows

Pain in my heart
Just won't let me sleep
Where can my baby be

Lord where can she be

And now the days
Has begin to get tough
I say I want you to come back, come back
Come back baby
I had enough
Oh

A little pain in my heart
Just won't let me be
Wake up restless nights
Lord and I can't even sleep

Mmm, mmm yeah
Stop this little pain in my heart

And now the days
Has begin to get rough
I said I want you to love me, love me
Love me baby, till I get enough

Oh

Pain in my heart
Little pain in my heart
Stop this little pain in my heart
Stop this little pain in my heart

Someone stop this pain
Someone stop this pain

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "Pain In My Heart" convey the turmoil and heartbreak that the singer is going through due to a lost love. The pain in his heart is causing him sleepless nights and he yearns for his lover's return, not knowing where she could be. As the days get tougher, he confesses to not being able to endure the pain any longer and begs for her love until he gets enough. The relentless pain in his heart seems to have consumed him and he pleads for someone to stop it.

The lyrics paint a picture of a man who is deeply hurting due to the absence of his lover. The pain is so intense that it has affected every aspect of his life, even causing him to lose sleep. The singer is desperately trying to find solace and relief from the pain but he is powerless. The emotions portrayed in these lyrics are universal and relatable to anyone who has ever experienced the pain of a broken heart.

Line by Line Meaning

Pain in my heart
I am suffering from a deep emotional pain in my heart

Is treating me cold
This pain is affecting me in a cold and unpleasant way

Where can my baby be
I do not know the whereabouts of my loved one

Lord no one knows
I feel helpless and alone in my search for my loved one

Just won't let me sleep
This pain is so persistent that it does not allow me to rest

And now the days
As time passes

Has begin to get tough
Things are becoming more difficult for me to handle

I say I want you to come back, come back
I desire for my loved one to return back to me

Come back baby
I miss my loved one dearly

I had enough
I am at my limit of being without my loved one

A little pain in my heart
The emotional pain I am experiencing is small yet persistent