Tony Matterhorn Recalls How Bounty Killer Rebuffed His Request To Voice ‘Dutty Wine’
The Man from Mars Tony Matterhorn said he had originally approached Bounty Killer to voice his 2007 smash hits Dutty Wine and Goodas fi Dem, but left in a huff after the Warlord rebuked him for using the words “two number one” whilst addressing him.
According to the Billboard-charting music selector, the ideas for the songs came to him in a vision from God, just about the time when his US travel papers had been taken away, and he was mulling some other money-making ideas.
“Mi guh round a di studio an guh link Killa – Bounty. And mi seh ‘mi have two numba one fi yuh’. And at di time, Killa wid him likkle drama self (said): ‘A wha happen to yuh Matterhorn man? Numba eleven man!” Matterhorn said in recounting Bounty’s response during an interview on the Let’s Be Honest podcast.
Matterhorn said he had insisted to use the word “two” which was being heavily shunned in Dancehall circles at the time, (as it was considered a gay reference), as God had used the word when talking to him in his vision.
Matterhorn, whose given name is Dufton Taylor, further relayed how his dramatic encounter with Bounty Killer, which he said took place in a studio yard under a mango tree, and which left him irate, unfolded.
“Suh a sleep mi a sleep enuh an it just come to mi: ‘two numba one’. And mi guh suh bam and di idea come to mi, suh me guh roun a Master Lee studio di next day and si Killa. Mi si Killa and Killa voice up dub fi mi and ray-ray, suh me look pon Killa – Killa under di mango tree, an mi a seh ‘deejay, mi have two numba one’. Bag a people deh deh and some foreigner and Killa seh: ‘a whappen to yuh Matterhorn man? Matterhorn gwaan wid yuh numba 11 man,’” he said.
“And every man start laugh, an mi get mad and cuss up some badwud – you know me a ignorant Pisces people. Killa neva mean nuttn bad by it. Me did get vex and inna mi feelins but mi know Killa neva mean no way, still…,” he added.
Matterhorn said he voiced Dutty Wine the next day at his Long Mountain home on his couch, while Busy Signal and Ding Dong cooked sardines in his kitchen.
“Dutty Wine was never voiced in a studio… The Mbox was there on a coffee table and I sat in my couch… and I didn’t even have a microphone weh professionally hold by itself; I had a hand held Shure mike. And Ding Dong dem deh inna di kitchen. Dem time deh mi live up a Long Mountain,” he said.
Matterhorn, who turned 49 in March, said that after he started singing, his netballer neighbour Nicky and her teammates stopped by and he inserted a line about them into one of the stanzas after the girls started dutty-wining to the beat. According to him, then and there, the lyrics just started flowing.
He said he also inserted the name of the originators of the Dutty Wine dance, Montegonian Dyema, and the Attitude Gyal members into the intro.
When the song hit, Matterhorn’s performance fees went up, as he was in high demand everywhere. Dutty Wine spent 20 weeks on Billboard’s R&B/Hip Hop songs chart and peaked at No. 31. It also topped the charts in Jamaica.
“With, 90 percent a artiste in wi industry neva get a song, or probably never will get a song as big as Dutty Wine,” Matterhorn said.
“Me get natural views pon YouTube when YouTube a YouTube, not when yuh a buy views. Cause ninety percent a people (brag that) ‘mi get a million steams in one week’. Den wha happen to di second week an di third week? How yuh caan pass di million? A wha? Di people dem shut off dem ears afta di first week?” he said sarcastically.
Matterhorn went on to highlight how his second song Goodas fi Dem came into being, again in dramatic fashion with his squealing baby daughter in his arms, albeit in a studio this time and topped national charts, “within months of Dutty Wine going numba one”.
“Memba mi did tell yuh two numba one – Dutty Wine went number one but guess what… Guess how mi voice Goodas fi Dem? Mi voice it round a Coppershot studio with Master Sean – weh own Coppershot,” he said.
“Tonoya was three year old at the time and mi nuh know, shi teck a set pon mi; shi neva waan guh to nobaddy. Suh if if yuh listen Goodas fi Dem inna a proper studio, you will hear Tonoya inna di record. I was this (near) to the mic and she was in mi han. Mi hol har fi di whole time and mi voice Goodas fi Dem straight. A we chop it up,” he recalled.
“Mi did three verses and I only did Goodas Fi dem (hook) once and ‘mi back’ once. Because choo mi have mi daughter, dem seh ‘after di first verse drop it’… Mi seh ‘mi nah stop’. I didn’t stop because she did a gi mi bare problem, and she a hold di microphone…,” he continued.
Added Matterhorn: “Suh Goodas fi Dem became numba one right at the time when Dutty Wine a numba one. Den Collie Budz, Finally Di Herbs Come Around 2007. Suh Goodas fi Dem just come and knock everybody off the ground but going into the summer Dutty Wine went back numba one. That’s why Dutty Wine last suh long.”