The Specials - Why?
This b-side to ‘Ghost Town_ - one of two stellar songs accompanying the number one single, the other being ‘Friday Night, Saturday Morning_ - was written by Specials guitarist Lynval Golding after he suffered a racist attack that left him hospitalised.
I know I am black
You know you are white
I’m proud of my black skin
And you are proud of your white, so
Why did you try to hurt me?
It’s a pure, simple, straightforward plea for tolerance that sounds just as current today as it did on release over 30 years ago. Perhaps a line like “We don’t need no British Movement” will, sadly, always ring true.