NANNY GOAT
Larry & Alvin’s 1968 Studio One cut sits right on the fault line between rocksteady and reggae. It is one of the strongest contenders for “first reggae record” — and one reason that title should stay contested.
“Nanny Goat” was recorded by Larry Marshall and Alvin Leslie for Clement “Coxsone” Dodd in 1968 as Jamaican musicians were rapidly changing the rocksteady beat. Its guitar, organ shuffle and altered rhythmic feel made it sound different enough that Dodd and later writers championed it as the first true reggae recording. But reggae did not arrive by certificate. “Baby Why,” “No More Heartaches,” “Bangarang” and other recordings from late 1967–68 carry their own claims, and musicians who were there remembered the transition differently. “Nanny Goat” matters not because it wins the argument, but because you can hear the argument happening inside the record.