Chase the Devil

"Chase the Devil"
Single by Max Romeo and The Upsetters
from the album War ina Babylon
Released	1976
Genre	Reggae
Length	3:25
Label	Island
Writer(s)	Lee "Scratch" Perry Max Romeo
Producer(s)	Lee "Scratch" Perry Max Romeo
Max Romeo and The Upsetters singles chronology
"Hola Zion" (1976) "Chase the Devil" (1976) "Mr. Jones" (1976)

"Chase the Devil" is a reggae song, recorded in 1976 by Max Romeo, with the backing of Lee "Scratch" Perry's house band, The Upsetters.

Background

Composed by Perry and Romeo, "Chase the Devil" was released on the album War ina Babylon in 1976. Also in 1976, The Upsetters recorded a version with different lyrics. The track, called "Croaking Lizard" and credited to The Upsetters and Prince Jazzbo, was included in their album Super Ape. Later, Perry made a dub remix of both versions, called "Disco Devil".

Meaning

In a BBC interview recorded in 2010 Romeo describes the meaning of the song. He explains that the devil is everything negative in our minds, the iron shirt is our strength of spirit that allows us to cast out the devil.^[1]

Track listing

• 7" UK Single^[2]

A. Max Romeo – "Chase the Devil"

B. The Upsetters featuring Prince Jazzbo – "Croaking Lizard"

• 7" French Single^[3][4]

A. "Chase the Devil" – 3:25

B. "One Step Forward (Oye Oye Reggae)" – 5:00

Samples, covers and appearances

• "Out of Space" by The Prodigy (1992) sampled the song.^[5]
• The same sample was used by Mellow Trax for his 1999 song "Outa Space".^[6]
• Kanye West has used resung samples from "Chase the Devil" to produce Jay Z's hit song "Lucifer", which appeared on Jay-Z's 2003 release, The Black Album.^[7]
• "Iron Shirt" by Dreadzone sampled the song.^[8]
• Madness covered the song for their cover album, The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1, released in 2005.^[9]
• "Iron Shirt" by The Qemists (2006) sampled "Chase the Devil".^[10]
• Earl Sixteen released his version of the song in 2008.^[11]
• "Chase the Devil" was also used in the 2011 film Paul.^[12]
• A sample from the song was used on "Lucifer", a track by Coki, in 2011.^[13]
• The song is featured on the K-Jah West radio station in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.^[14] "Disco Devil", the remix, was later featured on the Blue Ark radio station in Grand Theft Auto V.

References

1. "BBC FOUR – Max Romeo On I Chase The Devil". BBC Online. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
2. "Max Romeo / Upsetters, The Feat Prince Jazzbo – Chase The Devil / Croaking Lizard (Vinyl)". Discogs. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
3. "Max Romeo – Chase The Devil / One Step Forward ( Oye Oye Reggae ) (Vinyl)". Discogs. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
4. "Chase the Devil / One Step Forward (Oye Oye Reggae) by Max Romeo : Reviews and Ratings". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
5. "The Prodigy's Out of Space sample of Max Romeo's Chase the Devil". WhoSampled. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
6. "Mellow Trax's Outa Space sample of Max Romeo's Chase the Devil". WhoSampled. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
7. "Jay Z's Lucifer sample of Max Romeo's Chase the Devil". WhoSampled. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
8. "Dreadzone's Iron Shirt sample of Max Romeo's Chase the Devil". WhoSampled. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
9. Thomas Erlewine, Stephen. "Madness – The Dangermen Sessions, Vol. 1". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
10. "The Qemists's Iron Shirt sample of Max Romeo's Chase the Devil". WhoSampled. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
11. "Earl 16* – Chase The Devil (Vinyl)". Discogs. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
12. Monger, James Christopher. "Original Soundtrack – Paul". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
13. "Coki's Lucifer sample of Max Romeo's Chase the Devil". WhoSampled. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
14. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Original Game Soundtrack – Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 21 May 2014.

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics