Three Songs That Reimagine John Holt’s Iconic ‘Police In Helicopter’

Father-son duo Bamm and Junior Holt have cracked open the reggae vault with their new single Helicopta. Released on June 11, almost 40 years after the original hit and a month shy of the icon’s 74th birthday, the reworked classic ganja anthem is a timely tribute to the late pillar of reggae.

Originally a member of the group the Paragons, John Holt rose to prominence as a soloist and as songwriter of the all-time hit The Tide Is High which gained global notoriety. 

Lovers rock hits like If I Were A Carpenter as well as Stick By Me, the biggest-selling Jamaican record of 1972, were received with wide acclaim, but it was his social commentary on tracks such as Tribal War (another Bamm & Junior Holt remake on the Volts Of Holt album) and Police in Helicopter that anchored his unmistakably radical leanings. 

Police in Helicopter centers around the CIA-funded ganja eradication program implemented by the Jamaican police in the 1980’s. The nationwide campaign involved airborne raids: spraying ganja fields with lethal herbicides and burning the plants with flamethrowers. The move was met with staunch resistance from citizens — canefields integral to the island’s thriving sugar industry similarly went up in smoke, the call to action chronicled in Holt’s defiant lines.   

“Police in helicopter, a search fi marijuana/ Police man in the streets, searching fi collie weed/ Soldiers in the field, burnin the collie weed/ But if you continue to burn up the herbs, we gonna burn down the cane fields,” he sings. 

Beyond recounting the state-level crackdown on marijuana, the protest anthem also serves as an indictment on oppressive forces and environments. Holt’s son and grandson held on to that essence, capturing John’s iconic words while also providing a personal and modern twist to the lyrics.

Junior reprises the original verses with his urgent vocals while Bamm brings a rhyme slinging rap flow to the project. “We don’t want no violence cause we come here fi blaze yeah/ We don’t want no trouble, we jus want di money/ big ‘S’ pon my chest but we jus keep it moving,” he sings. 

Holt never lived to see the relaxing of Jamaica’s ganja laws, or the myriad artists who’ve sampled, covered, and lauded this abiding aspect of his legacy. From Chuck Fenda (Gwaan Plant) to Protoje (Protection), homage paying stars have signalled the track’s timeless quality, some as recently as April of this year, just in time for 4/20.

Reggae rockers Yaadcore and Jah 9 hailed the unofficial smoker’s holiday with a stirring cover featuring Subatomic Sound System. The duo updated the original rhythm with sub bass, drums and dubwise elements with the goal of bringing this classic to a broader and younger audience.

“Nah stop bun di fire pon di system weh ah turn di marijuana farmer inna victim,” Yaadcore declares convincingly. 

Innovative production duo Natural High Music also released a single called Cane Fields last year with the likes of Wayne Marshall, Jesse Royal, and Kabaka Pyramid.

“If that so-called master diss me again I’m gonna burn down the canefields,” Marshall sings in the pre-chorus, while their powerful tones tackle everything from black power to biological warfare and police brutality.