Wet Dream

Album: Wet Dream (1968)
Charted: 10
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Songfacts®:

  • As the title suggests, the subject of this song is nocturnal emissions. "Wet Dream" is an uptempo reggae number, a genre that is not noted for strong melodies, but this is a rare exception.

    Unsurprisingly it was a hit in Romeo's native Jamaica, where the population were more candid about such matters than in Britain, even during the "Swinging '60s" - it was unsurprisingly banned from airplay by the BBC when it was released in Britain. It is one of a number of records mentioned in passing in the March 11, 1972 issue of Melody Maker which was concerned primarily with a similar ban for an entirely different reason on the MacCartney composition "Give Ireland Back To The Irish."
  • In January 2007, when Max Romeo was interviewed by the leading Jamaican newspaper the Gleaner, he was unrepentant and claimed that he had started the sexual revolution. The song had played twice on BBC radio he said, until some Jamaicans called in and reported it. All the same it stayed on the British charts for 22 weeks. When asked why he had recorded the song, the "original rude boy of reggae" replied: "The devil made me do it."

    Decades later, the lyrics to "Wet Dream" seemed far less shocking. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2

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