Clancy Eccles (9 December 1940, Dean Pen, St. Mary, Jamaica – 30 June 2005, Spanish Town, Jamaica) was a Jamaican ska and reggae singer, songwriter, arranger, promoter, record producer and talent scout. Known mostly for his early reggae works, he brought a political dimension to this music. His house band was known as The Dynamites.
Son of a tailor and builder, Eccles spent his childhood in the countryside of the parish of Saint Mary. Eccles had an itinerant childhood due to his father's need to travel Jamaica seeking work. He used to regularly attend church, and he became influenced by spiritual singing; In his words: "One of my uncles was a spiritual revivalist, who always did this heavy type of spiritual singing, and I got to love that". Eccles's professional singing career began as a teenager, working the north-coast hotel circuit in the mid-1950s. In his late teens, he moved to Ocho Rios, where he performed at night in various shows, with artists such as The Blues Busters, Higgs & Wilson and Buster Brown. He moved to Kingston in 1959, where he started his recording career. He first recorded for Coxsone Dodd, who had organised a talent show in which Eccles took part.
Hello Mother
By Canton Spirituals
I had a dream one night
I dreamed I went home
To live with Jesus
And when I got there
One of the first things I saw was Momma?s face
I began to sing a song that I never sung in my life
And my song said
Hello Mother
I done made it over
Hello Mother
I done made it over
And I don?t know about you
But sometimes I had to cry
But he wiped the tears
From my eyes
And I made it over
And I?m alright now
(One more time)
Hello mother
I done made it over
You know what
I got mistreated sometimes
That?s alright
Still I made it over
I don?t know about ya?ll but
Sometimes I had to cry
Sometimes enemies
Went all the way around me
But I kept on singing
Kept on praying
Kept on praying
(ad-libs)
He wiped the tears
From my eyes
I made it over
I made it over