1978 Althea & Donna: Uptown Top Ranking

And from one song that confused me no end as a boy to another, albeit for different reasons. But before any of that, some history will be useful; 'Uptown Top Ranking' borrows its backing track hook and line from Marcia Aitken's 'I'm Still In Love With You', which was itself a re-recording of Anton Ellis' 'I'm Still In Love' from 1967. To add another layer to the cake, Aitken's tune was then 'liberated' by toaster Trinity on 'Three Piece Suit' for him to brag over about how sharp he looked in his new whistle.

Anything the men can boast about the girls can boast about better and 'Uptown Top Ranking' is a recorded response to Trinity where Althea and Donna themselves brag about how good THEY look as they strut around turning male heads ("See me 'pon the road I hear you call out to me") in their "alter back'" and "heels and ting". Such a patchwork of mix and match influences could have easily resulted in a curates egg of a song, but the fact is they don't. And the fact they don't is mainly down to simple youthful exuberance.

Not that you need to know any of the above to enjoy the song, but I think the history is important because not that many listeners in 1978 would have known what was going on here. I know I didn't - the patois slang was a code as foreign to me as Esperanto and I had no more idea what they were on about than I understood the popularity of 'Mull Of Kintyre'. But while the scales have fallen from McCartney's ditty, my gender, race and age mean that 'Uptown Top Ranking' remains a closed book to a certain extent. And that's fine, because my ignorance has not dented my enjoyment of the song one iota.

And enjoyment is very much the key word, it's why 'Uptown Top Ranking' works so well. Youthful exuberance see? On one hand you can take the girls as a novelty act peddling another Jamaican one hit wonder a la Millie that manages to crossover to people who don't normally listen to reggae. And on that level it's harmless enough. But flip the coin and it's an uplifting celebration of black youth mixed with an awareness of feminine sexuality and the power it holds - subjects that perhaps weren't that high on most people's agendas in dour late seventies Britain. Certainly not topics most would have appreciated being shoved in their faces on prime time television.

But there's no danger here, nothing malicious or manipulative about the song. Althea (17) and Donna (18) had the street smarts, but they were more inclined to slay you with a sharp put down ("Nah pop no style") instead of pulling a knife. At heart here are two young girls enjoying their youth, not looking for trouble - after all, "Love is all I bring inna me khaki suit and ting". Neither is there any of the gender confrontation of, for example, their contemporaries The Slits, four girls of similar age and musical persuasion who scared the life out of me when I saw them perform on video footage.

Watching this duo on Top Of The Pops clips, they come across as gawky, giggling schoolgirls and not militant Black Panthers sowing seeds of unrest or the hard nosed super confidence of latter day rap stars - 'Uptown Top Ranking' is as much the authentic sound of the streets as anything (to pick a usual suspect at random) Lil Kim et al rapped about, but it comes wrapped up in sunshine rather than bitches, bling and beefs. Another time and another place maybe, but there's a joyous innocence about the whole that's infectious, and it's this infection that makes this such a sheer delight.