Do you understand reggae music?

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When I hear a reggae song on the radio I can't understand I thing that they are saying but I like the beat and the bass. It's like their accents is hard for me to comprehend even when listening over and over again on youtube.

I like Reggae music, yes being Jamaican in origin the singers often use a West Indian dialect or Patois which can be difficult to understand.
It is well worth a browse around Wikipedia on the subject.

I can understand what they're singing with no issues.

Hearing them actually talk, though...


then again, most of the Jamaican reggae musicians are Rastas and they're known for lighting up on the ganja.

When I listen to a song, the music is always more important to me than the lyrics. I enjoy listening to world music where they are singing in an entirely different language than my own. If someone sang a song about stomping puppies if I liked the music I would still be tapping my foot. If I heard a song where I really related to the lyrics but didn't like the music I wouldn't listen to it.

I concur, and reggae isn't just Jamaican, it's all throughout the Carribean, and the dialect of english varies from island to island, and some of it is also in Spanish. FWIW, from a production aspect, Reggae is very much like Hip-Hop and rap; --The bassline carries the song, so it must be at the front of the mix.

I generally think it's boring. A "forced calm" if you will. It usually gets me angry.

I quite like reggae, dancehall and dub most of all. and I *love* Jamaican accent, it's hilarious. hard to understand at first but it really goes with the music

Old Reggae, Ska and Rocksteady are easier to understand.

Ragga, Dancehall are harder to understand

Paradoxically Mento/Calipso can sometimes be the toughest to understand. Being especially old Caribbean folk music.

I use to live in Jamaica so remember a little patois, not much.

yes,
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEK9UmCBOjw[/youtube]
isn't it obvious what they're saying? This one is about being really f*****g cool and knowing it

I like it when its done right, hard to find the good stuff though.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXnT3LFTc-s[/youtube]

Mega-classic! Sick-tight flows from 1983

Can't forget Dawn Penn either...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy2Gctc11FE[/youtube]

Reggae is great, it's all about the band.

Like all music you gotta find a good band.

My favorite reggae is old school like Bob Marley.

Seriously, his music is amazing and touches my soul.

Smoke some green and listen to the grooves.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87HqYVb_mvA[/youtube]

The first reggae song I ever heard- most americans ever heard- was a lovely marley hit that sounded like "Celia- my darling. Celia".

He was actually singing "Stir it Up, My darling, stir it up."( or 'Steer-it-Up")

So what- it - and alot of reggae is great.

One of the few "tribute albums" thats actually good- is "Is it Rolling Bob? A Reggae tribute to Bob Dylan". Various artists doing reggae versions of dylan. The words are quite understandable. And somehow Dylan goes with Reggae like rum with coke.

If you ever listen to Sublime you notice they grabbed the same thing. The way I've come to understand it though, its a hardened optimism, a bit more like stoicism 'I've been through hell and still have it in me to hold a smile'. From that angle at least I was able to gain a bit more appreciation for where it was coming from, that and - Bob Marley regardless of how great of a talent he was, still too gleeful for my taste.

I used to listen to reggae a bit. The lyrics, when you can make them out, often seem to contain lots of rastafarian imagery, which doesn't really mean much to someone of my background. Maybe that's why I stopped listening.
On the other hand, pop music lyrics almost never speak to me on any level, even in the case of supposed poets like Bob Dylan.

The most played reggae record on the radio in the UK would probably be Bob Marley's 'No woman no cry', which I really can't stand. I much preferred 'Could you be loved'. My favourite reggae record would probably be 'Here I come again' by Dennis Brown. Great bassline!
I like 'Skylarking' by Horace Andy too.

I can see where Haywire is coming from though. I just got a bit bored with reggae in the end.

(PS - The best ska record surely has to be 'My boy lollipop' by Millie Small. You know it makes sense!)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=thrid+world&search_type=&aq=f[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQriZQbTcjk[/youtube]

I have no trouble understanding reggae. Bob Marley was a great artist, by the way.