“Finding “Mr. Berry"

“One in the world! You can’t play it!”
Rich Lowe, March 2024

After seventy years, the American rhythm and blues “scratch-off” 78rpm single that Jamaican sound system owner Duke Reid called “Hey, Hey, Mr. Berry” or just “Mr. Berry” has been located and recently confirmed by King Edwards Sound System owner Vin Edwards. 
“Hey, Hey, Mr. Berry” is Ducky Drake’s (Kent Harris) song titled “1992,” released in 1954 on Trend Records. Duke Reid played this American song at Kingston, Jamaica dances in 1954 on into the 1960s. The true title has never been known until now.
 
*We would like to corroborate this finding with another source. Please add comments for anyone old enough to have heard the song played at a Duke Reid dance in Jamaica.
Dimples Harris “Hey, Mr. Jelly” Trend Records (a-side)
Ducky Drake (Kent Harris), “1992,” released in 1954 on Trend Records (B-side)
 
            The title remained unknown for many reasons, but at the core is the desire to eliminate all traces of the original record label to maintain exclusive play in a dance, to declare, “One in the world! You can’t play it!” So, the record label was scratched off to remove all information on the label. By removing labels, 1950s sound system owners thwarted their competitors’ attempts to keep pace with the hot music featured on dominant sound systems. In so doing, the record owner guarded their list of songs, frustrating budding music industry organizers.
 
In writing the book, Two Kings-Jamaica’s King Edwards “The Giant” Sound System, I asked George and Vin Edwards, “They say people never figured out who sang ‘Mr. Berry’ or what they sometimes call the song ‘Hey, Hey Mr. Berry.’ Do you know who sang that song?” Vin replied, “No. You could never know because we generally scrape the song titles off the disc. That is original rhythm and blues.” 
 
I learned from music collector Horace Primo Bartley that Duke Reid took glue and pasted another record onto the B-side of “Mr. Berry” and that it was so scratched off you couldn’t see a trace of the label. It was pure black. The song was hugely popular in dances. People would attend a dance just to hear and celebrate this one song. Duke also played “Mr. Berry” on his Treasure Isle Time radio program. 
 
The first clues on the song's origin came from Jamaican music collector Primo. George Edwards described Primo, “Horace knows everything about the sound system and the recording, from the beginning. He’s an honest fella and a decent gentleman.” I contacted Primo before his passing, and he told me that he had been hunting for “Mr. Berry” for many decades. Over his years of research, he observed that “Mr. Berry” was very similar to the instrumental accompaniment on a couple of songs by a female singer named Dimples Harris (Marcene “Dimples” Harris). Horace thought that the instrumental work on two other songs by the Dimples Harris Trio – one which was “Call Me Daddy (1952)” on the Regent record label, was the same kind of music as “Mr. Berry,” but with a saxophone added. Primo told me, “I suspect from the mere sound, that it makes sense. It’s the same kind of sound she have. I was suspicious, and I wish you would follow it up” (Horace Bartley, interview by author, 26 August 2018). He thought the song could have been on the Trend record label as a 78-rpm disc. 
Primo (who lived in Brooklyn, New York) identified a print source for his findings, commenting, “The same kinda music she had with a sax. Normally, it’s a trio she have, but she added more instruments to this and it came on a label named Trend. One of these books – like a dictionary, I think was made in Canada, lists all of the stuff far back. Make a note of that.” In working with music collector Phil Etgart – who has a long history of researching these Jamaican scratch-off songs (compiling numerous album releases such as “Jump Blues Jamaica Way” on Future Noise Music), cited quite similar feedback he received from Bob Javors in England, who wrote, “I'm fairly certain that ‘Hey Mr. Berry’ is from Dimples Harris' ‘Hey Mr. Jelly’ released in 1954 on Trend 2500 out of Los Angeles” (Phil Etgart, written correspondence, 03 March 2024). 
 
In my searches, I realized Dimples had a brother, but the brother went by three different names: Kent Harris, Ducky Drake, and Boogaloo. I located a record suspiciously titled “Hey Mr. Jelly.” The A-side had the sister Dimples, and the B-side had the brother Ducky Drake. With such a similar title, I suspected this could be “Hey, Hey, Mr. Berry.” In 1954, Kent Harris, as Ducky Drake, cut the song titled “1992.” This song was released as the flipside to his sister Dimples Harris’s “Hey, Mr. Jelly” song on Trend Records. Perhaps Duke Reid pulled his alternative “Hey, Hey, Mr. Berry” title from the other side of the disc.
 
Even with an artist and song title, no copy of the disc could be located. I searched historical records, the Discogs and 45Cat sites, record collector auctions, and rhythm and blues experts for years. At long last, a collector by the name of Barrows emerged with a recently posted Discogs entry for the song. It was the only copy that I could locate, and he kindly made me a digital recording of both sides of the original 78 rpm single. 
 
Remember, that to verify the authenticity of the song via the ear, only someone who heard the song at a Reid’s Sound System dance would know the song, and those witnesses are few. Coxson supporter and sound system owner Fitzroy Murray heard “Hey, Hey, Mr. Berry” play on many occasions and commented that the song was not a great tune. Murray explained that the song had a terrific beginning, but as the song played, it was disappointing. He made clear that this was the reason why Duke’s selectors would rewind the song every time and not played all the way through. Sadly, Fitzroy passed away during the writing of the King Edwards book, as did Primo Bartley. There were two other dancehall men in our group that were known the have heard the song played in dances: George Edwards and Vin Edwards; now in their nineties. I asked George and Vin, “Would you recognize “Mr. Berry” if you heard it again after all these years?” They responded simultaneously, “Oh yes. Yes, man!” I quickly sent copies of the record to the brothers in Jamaica. Upon receipt, both brothers called me the same morning.
 
            I was disappointed when George reported that he didn’t remember ever hearing the song, even though Primo had told me that he was present when George played the song at a King Edwards dance “in the west” on loan from Duke Reid, “I remember an incident; Duke Reid send the same ‘Mr. Berry’ with one of his guys to let him [George] play it”  (Horace Bartley, interview by author, 26 August 2018). Next was Vin Edwards, and I asked him if he had listened to the two sides of the old 78 rpm I sent. He replied:
 
(Vin) It an American tune. Both of them. You shoulda known that man, from when you heard that tune. The talk and the whole arrangement was more professional than what we produce here.  I can’t get the artist name because we used to scratch the American tune.
Q: Did you ever hear “Mr. Berry” that Duke Reid used to play?
(Vin) Yeah man! Yeah man! It was one of the given name tune like “Sweepstake” and “The Hop.” Is not a local tune. There was the question that “Mr. Berry” was a local tune (recorded in Jamaica), but it is a foreign tune. Because it named “Mr. Berry,” we were unable to popularize it outside of the sound system. 
What is the reason why you have so much interest in ‘Mr. Berry?’
Q: I was thinking that one of the two rhythm and blues songs I sent you was “Mr. Berry.” Did you hear it at a Duke Reid dance?
(Vin) I’m going by the one you send me y’know. Yes. George said that you sent him a copy too. 
I cannot give you the right name of the tune, but I know the tune, and listen to it, and dance to it, and Duke popularize it. That’s the same song. Yes, man. I know the tune y’know. 
Same song Duke Reid used to play. 
Q: This one is from 1954 on Trend Records by Ducky Drake and they called it “1992.”
(Vin) So, tell me somethin’. What label it on?
Q: It’s on Trend Records from California. It has the guitar intro and the saxophone you described. Do you think finding this song from over 69 years ago has significance, or is it just old news?
(Vin) Most of the songs we were playing were made in the forties. When we found them, we found them in the stock room of the record shop. All of our tunes were Louie Jordan and Joe Turner. These tunes didn’t reach Jamaica. We went and looked for them and brought them here. We were playing tunes that were made ten and twelve years before, but they never reach Jamaica.”
“Mr. Berry” wasn’t like “Sweepstakes” and a “Hop,” but it was a popular tune. Anybody could sing it. They don’t know the name. They don’t know the artist, [but] they sing the tune.
Q:  Should I tell people this is the original “Mr. Berry”?
(Vin) Yes! You gonna reprint it? [press the record] 
Q: I’m gonna write about it. What message would you send to people about the song?
(Vin) Tell ‘em it a foreign tune done by Duke Reid. Nobody don’t have it (Vin Edwards, interview by author, 8 February 2024).
 
Although Vin Edwards confirmed the song, it would be valuable to have others who attended a Reid’s Sound System dance to chime in with their memories. Regarding another point I wrote about in the King Edwards book: In our searches, Primo mentioned Dimples Harris, and it was unclear if the a-side of “Hey, Mr. Jelly” was the correct song or her brother Kent’s B-side tune. Primo knew the song well, described hearing it in the dance, and, as a lifetime record collector, had been hunting for it for years. In revisiting my recorded interview with Primo, he clearly stated that it was “the same kinda music” and “the same kind of sound she [Dimples] have.” I feel confident he was referring to the studio sound, and Vin Edwards identified the song as sung by a male vocalist when he listened to a recording in 2024. While writing the book, Vin had previously told me that it was a male voice on the track. 
​
Thanks to:
Fitzroy “Juke” Murry (The High Priest)
Horace “Primo” Bartley
Lloyd “Matador” Daley
George and Vin Edwards (King Edwards Sound System)
Bill Dahl (Rhythm and blues historian)
A. Barrows (Owner of the original copy of the Trend Records 78rpm single)
Kenneth Bilby, PhD (Ethnomusicologist)
Phil Etgart (Music Collector)
 
Want More?
This comprehensive book of 563 pages covers our early searches for “Hey, Hey, Mr. Berry,” 1940s and 1950s sound system history, music production, and Vin Edwards’s horse racing and political careers. Fifty photographs and four maps of Kingston areas answer questions and fill gaps in knowledge. Readers can follow the steps by Vin Edwards and Duke Reid on their searches in America for Coxson Dodd’s exclusive music, “Coxson Hop,” “Sweepstakes,” and “Downbeat Shuffle.”
 
Two Kings-Jamaica’s King Edwards “The Giant” Sound System: The Era of The King, The Duke, & The Sir 
is available worldwide via Amazon.com (US)$34.95. 
By Rich Opre Lowe, ISBN: 978-1-7323825-6-5
 
Media Contact:
E-mail: [email protected]
For more information, visit www.ReggaeJamaicaWay.com

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Listen To "Mr. Berry"