LAST NIGHT A RECORD
CHANGED MY LIFE
Dennis Bovell
The UK dub master delights in Argent’s Hold Your Head Up (Epic, 1971).
(
Sings
) “Hold your head up, woman…” I heard it when it came out, on the radio, at parties. I was 18, 19. [Bovell’s British reggae band] Matumbi was just getting signed. Our keyboard player Nick Straker was a deep Rod Argent fan, as was myself. We thought about doing a reggae version, but decided against it, because we didn’t want to do reggae versions of pop songs, as was the norm. The song was like an anthem for women. My reaction was, he’s written the song that I wish I had. Being the brother of six sisters, it was the kind of song I wanted them to hear when they were feeling pressured or compartmentalised and for my mum and my aunties and my sisters, and my friends… because often, women have been sidelined. Who would have thought that it was a pair of black ladies who cracked the code to allow space travel? Women, man. They have to be celebrated.