The Beatles wrote many great  songs. However one song, "Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da", stands out as being very different from their other songs. 
I first met Jimmy Scott through the Shakespearean Nigerian actor and playwright Yemi Ajibade in the mid 1970's. I played and performed with him from the late 70's to the mid 1980's.  Jimmy Scott  was born Jimmy Anonmuogharan Scott Emuakor and came from a Yoruba  family in Nigeria. Later on his brother was made a minister and worked for the Nigerian government. Sadly, musicians are not highly regarded in Western Africa. A few things about Jimmy's life that I have gleaned: Jimmy arrived in Britain for the first time on a cargo ship in 1948. He first worked as a conga player with the late band leader Edmundo Ros. Later on Jimmy joined the original Blue Flames to back Georgie Fame on a number of his hits including "Yeah Yeah" and "Bonnie and Clyde". He also played in a number of films. You can see him performing as the tall man in Ginger Johnson's African Drummers in the film record of the Rolling Stones free concert in Hyde Park. For a long time Jimmy performed in the West End as a conga player in "Jesus Christ Superstar" and always carried the sticker on his congas. 
The recording I am sharing here was taken from a worn 7 inch 45 vinyl record Jimmy gave me permission to share. This recording was made from a well used record transferred to a cassette tape that was later digitalised. Whilst the quality of this copy is poor and not up to today's standards, I hope that you enjoy the brilliance of this unique recording.
I am sharing this song to put the matter straight. Jimmy was one of the most talented percussionists around whose work was possibly an inspiration to the Cuban conga player Mongo Santamaria and the Nigerian musician and band leader Fela Kuti in the music he made with his 'Africa '70' band. 
In my view, apart from sharing the same title, on musical grounds Paul McCartney's song bears no relation to Jimmy's original composition. I recommend you listen closely to the demo version of Paul McCartney's song as released in the 3rd anthology double CD, to the drum patterns on the hand drums and ask yourself: was this played by one of the Beatles or by a competent West African musician? 

https://soundcloud.com/shinri/uncle-jimmy

Jimmy Scott - Obladeoblada (orginal)

My musical influences are fairly eclectic and I enjoy music from around the world and in different time periods.

I am a mainly self taught musician and sound creator after being as asked to leave my school class music lessons (which consisted of our percussive accompaniment of military band march tunes) for being a bit creative. I have learned a lot from the musicians I have met and have been lucky enough to play with musicians from all over the world in many different styles.

My music is mainly improvised at first. Then I sometimes develop it. Where possible I like to mix musical styles.

Most of my public performances have not been recorded at all, those that were, were mainly recorded on audio cassettes. I consider that cassette recordings have both their advantages and disadvantages (which are many).

The main advantage for musicians when they were available is that they were not intrusive. In the same way that with some cameras, such as the Twin Lens Reflect, where the photographer does not have direct eye contact with the subject who can relax in order to make a better image.

My one claim to musical fame is that John Peel (the legendary Radio DJ) played both sides of my one and only vinyl single AN AMAZING GRACE\SPACE BOOGIE on his BBC Radio One show. I also had a cup of tea with him in his London flat. John Peel RIP.
Perhaps more later . . .

Slightly more than ten hours of free music, just use your ears and move your body to get there.

All Artwork created by Keith Armstrong.

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