I've lived in Southern Africa for a long time and people sometimes ask me 'What is a Tokoloshe', for many Africans are still afraid of this evil spirit. My best definition; a Tokoloshe is the African version of our Mother-in-law. Hello to all you Wokers.
Yeah man 1971 was the year i was born i can remember the Happy Monday,s cover of Step on and always thought the Mondays wrote this. Now i think i like this original better.
ich weiß noch gut wie wenn es gestern gewesen wäre ... war mit dem LKW unterwegs und hörte dieses Lied ich war wie Hypnotisiert ..hörte zum schluss nur Kongo... ich habe jeden Plattenladen abgesucht bis einer sich an sowas erinnern konnte, hab dann noch ca. 3 Monate auf die LP warten müssen war verrückt ... habe diesen Schatz noch immer 💓
This is the studio recording. Roger Pope is on the drum kit with Mike Moran on synthesiser, talking drum, earth drum. Producer Gus Dudgeon is on chair squeak, rusty tin, earth drums.
Loved the Happy Mondays cover but this, while I wasn't aware of it until 2 or 3 years ago, has something very special. I am a massive fan of Tokoloshe Man and have been since first hearing it on its release when I was about 9 or 10 years old. I never understood why John Kongos wasn't freakin huge in the UK...so good.
I suspect the reason why he wasn’t a bigger success was due to the fact he wasn’t a great self-publicist. I’ve read that he was somewhat on the shy and quiet side and wasn’t too interested in playing live - you can even see in this video that he’s hiding somewhere at the back. At that time live touring was how you publicised and sold records. From a record company point of view it must have been a nightmare. That’s the only reason I can think of to explain why he wasn’t a bigger success in the U.K., because he recorded some fantastic songs. Great White Lady and Try To Touch Just One are really good, but people only remember Tokoloshe Man and He’s Gonna Step On You Again.
I met John Kongos through an engineer friend named Steve Travell (now aka Trav Munro - trance DJ, music writer) back in the 80’s when I was doing songwriting, vocal sessions and living in London (I’m from the US) who told me he had to see this guy to help him set up his in-home recording studio. We knocked and when the guy opened the door and said hi my jaw dropped and I was gobsmacked! It was JK! I told John that I loved his single when I was a teenager back in the 70’s and bought it when it came out because I loved the rhythm (I’m a drummer and singer) and the message in the song about the Native Americans. I asked him if he knew that people thought he looked like John Lennon on the single cover and that it was Lennon who did this recording under an alias. He said he knew the story and he found it quite amusing. He chuckled talking about it. I asked my friend why he didn’t tell me he knew John and he said he didn’t think I’d know who he was. He was not aware that his single was a chart topper in the US as well as the UK. That was quite a day.
@@carolebarker2195 I wish it had been a chance meeting with John Lennon which actually happened to a friend of mine in Boston. But hey, it was still an exciting moment.
@@melodyebuskin5490 Yes, wouldn't that have been great?! Why, do you live in Boston too? I live not far from Liverpool and did an art course in the 80's and my teacher used to go to art college with John Lennon. He said he was rough and abrasive! Not the peace-loving type back in those days it seems!
@@melodyebuskin5490 Thank you, I'm not on fb but my daughter is so I'll ask her if I can have a look! I love "Les Bicyclettes de Belsize", Anthony May is brilliant in it and Judy Huxtable is beautiful. I think she was married to Peter Cook at one time. You're so lucky to see the Beatles, I was born in 1960 so would have been 6 in 1966. This teacher, Mr John Robinson, knew Stu Sutcliffe as well. He said he was dead easy to get on with, laid-back, unlike John. Not criticising John though, he was my fave Beatle. Thanks for looking at my playlists, yes I'm big on the paranormal and ufos. I put John Kongos on my 71/72 playlist as I remembered it being in the charts in 1971 as an 11 year old, and I always loved the song. Didn't John Kongos come from South Africa originally? I think I remembered reading it somewhere at the time. One of my Fab 208 magazines probably!
Didn't realise the happy Mondays was a cover. Totally forgot about this, I was only six in my defence, but as soon as I started playing it I was god yes, I remember. This is much better than the cover.
… Hey rainmaker come away From that man you know He's gonna take away your promised land … Hey good lady He just want what you got You know he'll never stop … Until he's taken the lot Gonna stamp out your fire He can change your desire … Don't you know that he can make You forget you're a man Gonna stamp out your fire … He can change your desire Don't you know that he can make You forget you're a man You're a man He's a man … He's gonna step on you again He's gonna step on you again He's gonna step on you again He's gonna step on you again … Hey rainmaker he got golden plans I tell you he make you A stranger in your land … Hey good lady He got God on his side He got a double tongue … You never think that he lie Gonna stamp out Hey rainmaker come away … From that man you know He's gonna take away your promised land Hey good lady … He got God on his side He got a double tongue You never think that he lie
The sound and electric guitar sounds are similar to the mega sound of the best beat sound: 'My friend Jack' by The Smoke from 67! Best underground music ever
@@paullandry5594 Agree … everything about this track is right.the vocals , modulation , production, heavy back drop… takes me right back to early teens …great band
I love the simplicity of this version, but I absolutely loved the slightly heavier twist that Def Leppard put on it with their version on the Yeah! album
Amazing tune, but why does it remind me of "A Mars A Day Helps You Work Rest And Play"? I know John Kongos wrote ads and jingles too, did he write the Mars one?
🤣 I hadn't heard the original til a couple of years ago, when I did, I thought, "This is a great cover, much better than the original" 🤣 I've heard at least three other covers since.
I get the tribal African comments. But, I think it sounds sounds more like an Indian war dance. "Hey rain-maker"? Africans were taken out of Africa. But, it was the Indians who lost their "promised land". Both lyrics and music are excellent.
It's amazing to realise that basically everything the Mondays version had, is in the original. Stuff you think they might have added but no, it's all there. Everything apart from Bez.
There's many Mondays mixes of this. One is much more faithful to the original with a better take on the tribal drumming. Remember they originally recorded it as a throw away track for an Elektra complilation but when Oakenfold and Osborne remixed it, it had 'hit single' written all over it with that piano loop and they badly needed a big hit. I always hated the call the cops stuff as it was overdone, I love the Mondays and it kind of turned it into too much of a novelty pop record. Can understand why they did it though, it helped the album to go huge. Always thought they should have put the other version on the album. I know it kind of defines them to many people but it's nowhere near their best stuff, not even close. But hey, they paid homage and covered Tokoloshe Man too...
loop recording for backing vocals, Epstein was experimenting with tape reversal/stretch/loop, But the Guinness book of records says this is the first song which used loop/sampling but I'm sure Sgt peppers album did and also revolver back in 66 on float up stream. . . its been covered by lots of people, Mondays, def Leppard, with the party boys doing a rock version of it in 87 but like most things the original is hard to beat. . .
Hey we are watching and listening July 2024 timeless music video 😊great sounds xx
This song with the heavy rhythm just brings out a primeval desire in me to dance and sing when I hear it😊
I've lived in Southern Africa for a long time and people sometimes ask me 'What is a Tokoloshe', for many Africans are still afraid of this evil spirit. My best definition; a Tokoloshe is the African version of our Mother-in-law. Hello to all you Wokers.
👍
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Bruh
1971 was a superbly excellent year for music
Yeah man 1971 was the year i was born i can remember the Happy Monday,s cover of Step on and always thought the Mondays wrote this.
Now i think i like this original better.
This basic stuff that relentless beat carries you along to your destination wherever that may be it is music from the dawn of time
1971 .. 2 of my favourite songs was this & Get it On.. but tons of great songs in 71.
I was 17 when this first came out. I thought it was awesome then and I still do. To my mind cover versions are but pale imitations of this great song.
I was 17 too, and for me my absolute favourite song from 1971!
Drums, rythmns John Congos Guitars and Voices have that timeless effect on me I First heard it 1971 and its still amazing!
Have always stopped doing things to listen to this song no matter what I was doing. Loved it from the 1st time I heard it. Over 50yrs ago.
🗣 My favourite J. K. song .
This song was heard in *Disco clubs* in the 70s 😎
ich weiß noch gut wie wenn es gestern gewesen wäre ... war mit dem LKW unterwegs und hörte dieses Lied ich war wie Hypnotisiert ..hörte zum schluss nur
Kongo... ich habe jeden Plattenladen abgesucht bis einer sich an sowas erinnern konnte, hab dann noch ca. 3 Monate auf die LP warten müssen war verrückt ... habe diesen Schatz noch immer 💓
Henry Spinetti. One of the finest drummers most people have never heard of.
This is the studio recording. Roger Pope is on the drum kit with Mike Moran on synthesiser, talking drum, earth drum.
Producer Gus Dudgeon is on chair squeak, rusty tin, earth drums.
Spinetti was the drummer on the White Mansions album I think?
Hear the vocal loop in the background??? Every rapper that ever pulled on a pair of long pants owes massive kudos to John!!!
That's a three-note whistle every four seconds.
The original, and best!
Loved the Happy Mondays cover but this, while I wasn't aware of it until 2 or 3 years ago, has something very special.
I am a massive fan of Tokoloshe Man and have been since first hearing it on its release when I was about 9 or 10 years old. I never understood why John Kongos wasn't freakin huge in the UK...so good.
I've only just found out now while over hearing a song playing on the series, Shoestring. And ther was me thinking the Mondays wrote this lol
I suspect the reason why he wasn’t a bigger success was due to the fact he wasn’t a great self-publicist. I’ve read that he was somewhat on the shy and quiet side and wasn’t too interested in playing live - you can even see in this video that he’s hiding somewhere at the back. At that time live touring was how you publicised and sold records. From a record company point of view it must have been a nightmare. That’s the only reason I can think of to explain why he wasn’t a bigger success in the U.K., because he recorded some fantastic songs. Great White Lady and Try To Touch Just One are really good, but people only remember Tokoloshe Man and He’s Gonna Step On You Again.
remember this great beat love even after all these years !
Kingos cemented his legend with just timeless singles.
Great production
ich bekomme nach über 40 Jahren noch immer Hühnerhaut beim hören ...einfach nur spitze
I met John Kongos through an engineer friend named Steve Travell (now aka Trav Munro - trance DJ, music writer) back in the 80’s when I was doing songwriting, vocal sessions and living in London (I’m from the US) who told me he had to see this guy to help him set up his in-home recording studio. We knocked and when the guy opened the door and said hi my jaw dropped and I was gobsmacked! It was JK! I told John that I loved his single when I was a teenager back in the 70’s and bought it when it came out because I loved the rhythm (I’m a drummer and singer) and the message in the song about the Native Americans. I asked him if he knew that people thought he looked like John Lennon on the single cover and that it was Lennon who did this recording under an alias. He said he knew the story and he found it quite amusing. He chuckled talking about it. I asked my friend why he didn’t tell me he knew John and he said he didn’t think I’d know who he was. He was not aware that his single was a chart topper in the US as well as the UK. That was quite a day.
Wow, what a great experience, Melodye! You're so lucky!
@@carolebarker2195 I wish it had been a chance meeting with John Lennon which actually happened to a friend of mine in Boston. But hey, it was still an exciting moment.
@@melodyebuskin5490 Yes, wouldn't that have been great?! Why, do you live in Boston too? I live not far from Liverpool and did an art course in the 80's and my teacher used to go to art college with John Lennon. He said he was rough and abrasive! Not the peace-loving type back in those days it seems!
@@melodyebuskin5490 Thank you for those links, Melodye, I will check them out. Always been a Beatles fan from day one, as a kid in the 60's.
@@melodyebuskin5490 Thank you, I'm not on fb but my daughter is so I'll ask her if I can have a look! I love "Les Bicyclettes de Belsize", Anthony May is brilliant in it and Judy Huxtable is beautiful. I think she was married to Peter Cook at one time. You're so lucky to see the Beatles, I was born in 1960 so would have been 6 in 1966. This teacher, Mr John Robinson, knew Stu Sutcliffe as well. He said he was dead easy to get on with, laid-back, unlike John. Not criticising John though, he was my fave Beatle. Thanks for looking at my playlists, yes I'm big on the paranormal and ufos. I put John Kongos on my 71/72 playlist as I remembered it being in the charts in 1971 as an 11 year old, and I always loved the song. Didn't John Kongos come from South Africa originally? I think I remembered reading it somewhere at the time. One of my Fab 208 magazines probably!
Didn't realise the happy Mondays was a cover. Totally forgot about this, I was only six in my defence, but as soon as I started playing it I was god yes, I remember. This is much better than the cover.
Love this song,never get fed up hearing it.
We had this on a 90 minute cassette so we could have it on in the car constantly, great days.
👍I had a dream of this song. I believe it was a memory from my early childhood. So, here I looked it up. Sure shit, it's a real memory!!! 😅👍✌
Brilliant stuff x
Awesome, I first heard this in the mid 90s, and I had no idea The Kongos band mates are his sons. They sing Come With Me Now circa 2014
The happy Monday's nicking stuff again 😂😂😂
the sertpent brught me here, but the mondays give it to me first
Serpent was awesome....
me too
@@daniva me too
Me too. Serpent is great! Greetings from Capetown South Africa.
@@NEANOR1 greetings from the south of France
He is a Greek - South African 🇬🇷🇿🇦🇬🇷
That great bass it’s clubbing music the forerunner of trance😮
I love the way the bass goes up a note at the start of each verse and chorus.
So who is listening to this in 2022? HNY from Cape Town South Africa.
Love it. Always have. The sound is natural to me as I am from Africa.
This is such an acid riff!
Sublimisime SPIRIT TEMPO
Love the Monday’s but this is different class
Yep, it took off big in the UK.
Ottima musica per le mie orecchie....la riascolto sempre con vero piacere ...grazie ciao ciao
I never knew Happy Monday's version was a cover.
step on... la Catalina steps on carlos caseneda in the book return to ixthalan...Big shout out to rainmakers everywhere!!
Brilliant musicians 🎸🎸🎸
This is amazing and I'm so glad the the happy Mondays brought this to our attention. Shaun Ryder is a nutcase god haha
I prefer this original version to the happy Mondays anyway.
Good old days great song
I didn’t even know the Happy Mondays version was a remake. Jeez
noch wie vor über 40 jahren ❣💕💞👌👊👊💪💪💪💥💥
He lived in first Avenue Barnes, had s recording studios in the basement of the house
Henry Spinetti on drums
Bought this single when i was 19.❤❤❤
I brought it in 1971 x
@@lizardspoint Our generation is unique.👍
The original & best! '
Fantastic Memories of this great track and Tokoloshee Man!!!
Que de souvenirs ❤❤❤😂😂😂
The drums! Fantastic song almost tribal.
John Kongos was south African and used tribal beats like you say. 👍
First double tracked Brundi drums...
Incredible song
Great blues rocky song 🎵
This is twisting my melon man.
Super John Kongos
The Serpent also brought me here. I was not aware of this version. I only knew the Australian version by The Party Boys.
brings back memories.
… Hey rainmaker come away
From that man you know
He's gonna take away your promised land
… Hey good lady
He just want what you got
You know he'll never stop
… Until he's taken the lot
Gonna stamp out your fire
He can change your desire
… Don't you know that he can make
You forget you're a man
Gonna stamp out your fire
… He can change your desire
Don't you know that he can make
You forget you're a man
You're a man
He's a man
… He's gonna step on you again
He's gonna step on you again
He's gonna step on you again
He's gonna step on you again
… Hey rainmaker he got golden plans
I tell you he make you
A stranger in your land
… Hey good lady
He got God on his side
He got a double tongue
… You never think that he lie
Gonna stamp out
Hey rainmaker come away
… From that man you know
He's gonna take away your promised land
Hey good lady
… He got God on his side
He got a double tongue
You never think that he lie
Thank you! I have such a hard time understanding some of the lyrics, but you got 'em down!
Could be about Boris Johnson.
Excellent! But what does it all mean?
@@yevrahhipstar3902 It’s about the destruction of First Nation tribes by the evangelical European conquest of the American Plains… as I hear it.
@@stephensmith799 Yeah....I can hear that. And I like the song even more betterer now.
Only just now discovering that this wasn't a Happy Mondays original. This is better than that version was.
This brings out the fighting spirit out in me again,loooove it!
Les premières boums que de souvenirs avec ce morceau.🎵🎶👏
Need to get my Denim out of the closet FINALLY. Love it
Cool song. Great drumming.
The sound and electric guitar sounds are similar to the mega sound of the best beat sound: 'My friend Jack' by The Smoke from 67! Best underground music ever
Loved this then. Love it now
Just awesome 👌.
Oh yeh
Thanks a lot 😊
Love the bass guitar on this.....great song.
I love the way the bass goes up a note as an introduction to each verse and chorus.
@@paullandry5594 Agree … everything about this track is right.the vocals , modulation , production, heavy back drop… takes me right back to early teens …great band
.... There is always a Greek in every myth!!!!!
everything about this so good that it became a great cover by happy mondays 20 years later.
Just listened to the Happy Mondays version. No where near as good as the original
@@ianburgess1436 check out The Party Boys cover
Who knew this one could be a tune for Madchester.
And what a tune - Step On to the roofs
The original version and best
I love the simplicity of this version, but I absolutely loved the slightly heavier twist that Def Leppard put on it with their version on the Yeah! album
You're twisting my melon man....!! 😉
Def Leppard, Def Schmeppard, The Kongas rules this is exceptional and essence of the early 70s
mondays rulez
Amazing tune, but why does it remind me of "A Mars A Day Helps You Work Rest And Play"? I know John Kongos wrote ads and jingles too, did he write the Mars one?
Happy Mondays Step On 😄 But I like this one more
Yay! Thank you!
Call the cops!
67 2day still love it
Me too 😜
Quel plaisir d avoir entendu ce morceau dans lle serpent.
Oh really. Oh well..Konga. Shut the band.... Love this. J. Xxxxxxxx
Who knew that years after The Happy Mondays a hipster band would cover their Step On hit?
Marginalis Yes. Hipsters. They’ve all got beards, haven’t they?
Hopefully you're joking. If not, this is the original from 1971, ya numbnuts
Eamonn Byrne what do you think?
🤣 I hadn't heard the original til a couple of years ago, when I did, I thought, "This is a great cover, much better than the original" 🤣 I've heard at least three other covers since.
I love both versions
First record I ever bought
Classic.
Le serpent 👍
great upload Edi
Soooo cool
Pretty cool!
Great tune. Sounds like I Am The Walrus
I get the tribal African comments. But, I think it sounds sounds more like an Indian war dance. "Hey rain-maker"? Africans were taken out of Africa. But, it was the Indians who lost their "promised land".
Both lyrics and music are excellent.
Another good version was the Party Boys from Australia 1987
Great record,remind me of my youth 👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️
Glad you enjoyed it
Ah the days of Blue Osley!
Hey hey hey! Hey hey hey!
👍👍👍
I was 13😂😂😂
Mondays version,whilst showing their appreciation of it,fucken murdered it.Steven Boswell.edinburgh
It's amazing to realise that basically everything the Mondays version had, is in the original. Stuff you think they might have added but no, it's all there. Everything apart from Bez.
@@greenaum "Twisting my melon" ?
Call the cops 🚔👮♂️
There's many Mondays mixes of this. One is much more faithful to the original with a better take on the tribal drumming. Remember they originally recorded it as a throw away track for an Elektra complilation but when Oakenfold and Osborne remixed it, it had 'hit single' written all over it with that piano loop and they badly needed a big hit. I always hated the call the cops stuff as it was overdone, I love the Mondays and it kind of turned it into too much of a novelty pop record. Can understand why they did it though, it helped the album to go huge. Always thought they should have put the other version on the album. I know it kind of defines them to many people but it's nowhere near their best stuff, not even close. But hey, they paid homage and covered Tokoloshe Man too...
@@greenaum no "twisting ma melon man" in this version though and no "he he he hay"
😂😂❤❤😮😮
Este cover que lo hace Def leppard en yeah 2006 genial
Kall the Kops
loop recording for backing vocals, Epstein was experimenting with tape reversal/stretch/loop, But the Guinness book of records says this is the first song which used loop/sampling but I'm sure Sgt peppers album did and also revolver back in 66 on float up stream. . . its been covered by lots of people, Mondays, def Leppard, with the party boys doing a rock version of it in 87 but like most things the original is hard to beat. . .
Yeah, the Beatles started the whole tape loop thing.
Excuse you, madam, I happen to be kicking it old school.
I had no idea the Happy Mondays version was a cover of this! Thanks to UA-cam commenters I have learned something new.
Thanks for listening
happy Mondays sent some people here.
About lucifer by the sounds of it....
Mad how some Manchester scallys introduced the ecstasy generation to John Kongos
prachtig gr anna
WAY better than the happy Mondays version #Pure_Blood xxx
Hope they payed Chuck Berry