10 Save Ferris “Come On Eileen”

I like Ska. I like 1st, 2nd, and 3rd wave Ska. 

I didn’t at first. I had a close friend introduce me to 3rd wave and I dismissed it pretty quickly. But hearing a few more bands and recognizing that I was already into some 2nd wave Ska from groups like Madness and The (English) Beat, I came around. 

If you’re unfamiliar with the waves of Ska, here’s my take. (As I tell my students all the time, “I may be wrong about everything – except on your exams. There, I am always correct.”)

1st wave Ska is the original music taking place in Jamaica in the, hmm, I’m not sure, 60s seems right. The main components are the use of a syncopated off beat rhythm for the emphasis. Most pop and rock music emphasizes what’s known as the backbeat. If you’re counting 1, 2, 3, 4, the emphasis is on 2 and 4. Before the backbeat became the standard for popular music, the emphasis was either on 1, or on all four counts. Placing the emphasis on 2 and 4, the music gets that driving feeling as it is off of where the pattern begins. 

Ska takes that off beat feel and moves it to being off of every beat, generally done by the rhythm guitar. The emphasis would be on the “and” in the following – 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and… The tempo would be fairly quick as well, though not as quick as much of 3rd wave would take it. Reggae would emerge from 1st wave ska by adding an extra emphasis on the 3 count and keeping the tempo a bit slower. We’ll hear some 1st wave later.

2nd wave Ska was when a few British acts started to incorporate ska sounds into their pop rock music. This is where we get to bands like Madness, The (English) Beat, and The Specials. We’ll hear from all these folks later as well. A key feature of many 2nd wave Ska bands is a complete disdain for any racism. For my fellow Americans who may have forgotten, THIS IS A GOOD THING! RACISM IS BAD!

3rd wave Ska was a meeting of another group that hated racism, punk rock. This didn’t stop skin-head dopes from trying to make punk theirs, but at its core punk rock is the culmination of the rock and roll aesthetic of anyone can do it, so just get to doing it. Plus punk acts like The Clash and The Police (yes early Police was very punk – see Urgh! A Music War) also played and were influenced by Ska.

Save Ferris was a part of the 3rd wave ska and I saw them perform at some ska and punk festival in DC, along with NOFX, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, and Mighty Mighty Bosstones, to name a few. The name of the festival escapes me, Warp Tour or something like that. I remember Save Ferris the best from that and I particularly remember their playing this cover of the 80s hit “Come On Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runners.