"Big Seven" is a song and

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

written by

Bunny Lee Edward O'Sullivan Lee OD (23 August 1941 – 6 October 2020), better known as Bunny "Striker" Lee, was a Jamaican record producer. He was known as a pioneer of the United Kingdom reggae market, licensing his productions to Trojan Records i ...

, Ed Lemon and

Judge Dread Alexander Minto Hughes (2 May 1945 – 13 March 1998), better known as Judge Dread, was an English reggae and ska musician. He was the first white recording artist to have a reggae hit in Jamaica, and the BBC has banned more of his songs from ...

performed by Dread and released in 1972. "Big Seven" was Dread's second UK hit single and biggest hit. It made 8 on the UK Singles Charts in 1972 staying in the charts for 18 weeks.

Origin

The basis for "Big Seven" was

Slim Smith Slim Smith (born Keith Smith; 1948 in Kingston, Jamaica – 1972) was a ska, rocksteady and reggae singer. In their book ''Reggae: The Rough Guide'' (1997), Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton described Smith as "the greatest vocalist to emerge ...

's "My Conversation", already familiar to audiences in Jamaica. As with his previous single, " Big Six", "Big Seven" is in the form of a reggae tune with Dread toasting crude and innuendo filled lyrics over the tune. As with "Big Six", this song was also banned by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

References

{{authority control 1972 songs 1972 singles Jamaican reggae songs Songs written by Bunny Lee Novelty songs Judge Dread songs Songs banned by the BBC