Cherry Oh Baby

UB40’s 1983 cover of “Cherry Oh Baby” not only gave an unexpected twist to a song already well-known in Jamaica, but also ended up being the perfect closing track for an album that turned their fortunes around. The original track, recorded in 1971 by Eric Donaldson at Dynamic Sounds Studios in Kingston, was already a hit in its own right: it won the Jamaica Song Festival that same year and became the label’s best-selling record. But when UB40 adapted it for *Labour of Love*, they infused it with that laid-back dub vibe and their signature drumming—a combination that resonated strongly in the United Kingdom. The result was a single that, although it didn’t make the top 10 on the British charts, stood out as one of the four most notable tracks on an album that ultimately propelled them to the top in several countries.

The interesting thing is that *Labour of Love* didn’t start out as a cover album, but as a risky gamble. In 1983, UB40 had already been playing in Birmingham pubs for years with a mix of reggae, punk, and dub, but their first massive hit came with “Red Red Wine,” a song that wasn’t even theirs. The album, recorded in England with borrowed equipment and without any pretensions of grandeur, ended up being their ticket to international fame: it reached number one in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the Netherlands, and although it went unnoticed in the United States at first, it re-entered the charts years later thanks to the very same song that had launched them. “Cherry Oh Baby” fell by the wayside, but their version proved that, sometimes, the simplest songs are the ones that best suit a style.