Popular songs are normally ephemeral. They are generally like fashion – here today and gone tomorrow despite their impact and success during the time that they command popular acclaim. But many of them rise above that to achieve a stature approaching excellence when they defy time and remain strong in demand, memory and public interest for long periods. When they make a mark and remain strong decades after release they have moved above being popular and are likely to have achieved greatness. That is the case with so many classics by Bob Dylan or Bob Marley, and for Guyanese it is the case with Eddy Grant.
The evergreen hit ‘Not A Blade of Grass’ by Guyanese Dave Martins is one of those. It has not palled since it rocked the nation at the time of its release in the 1970s. It was ‘number one’ on the ‘charts,’and as Martins describes it, “the song took off like a savannah fire.” In his words, “it became a craze” and “at one point it was the first song played on the radio station every day.” (‘So It Go,’ July 29). But from the time “when the song was raging” it has sustained a high profile and has become a fixture in Guyana decades after and is now regarded unofficially as the nation’s second national anthem.
The song was back at the centre of national attention – not that it ever left it – just before the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland in July-August. The BBC featured it in a series called ‘Commonwealth Connections’ aired in July as part of the build-up to the Games. Athletes and other personalities from Commonwealth countries expected to take part in the