Ginger Williams He’s My Honey Boy (1974)
Roadman, badmon, gyal… Jamaican patois paints such a vivid picture. For example, one is not simply on the way, one is “on road.” The sound and the cadence are so expressive and precise.
There’s even a term for the influence of Jamaican patois along with other creoles and dialects—including Cockney English and Nigerian English—on the dialect of English spoken by many young Londoners. It's called Multicultural London English (MLE) and is categorized as a “sociolect,” a language spoken by people of a particular social group or class. It’s a way for the youth of London to communicate on their own terms, a sort of linguistic cross section of their wide and varied cultures.
The dialects that emerge from the globe’s metropoles are analogous to the music, a mashup of different cultures. People want to connect, to tell their own stories while also feeling part of something new, something they are creating themselves—just as music, a masterful means of communication, also brings us closer together even if it’s just for a moment.
In “He’s My Honey Boy”, Ginger Williams, the first lady of lovers rock, fuses her effortless vocal delivery with reggae sonics to create a really sweet moment and another stellar Jamaican contribution to England.
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