STORY OF THE SONG: 'I'll Do Anything For You' does it for Denroy Morgan

Mel Cooke, Sunday Gleaner Writer

The decidedly disco of Denroy Morgan's 1981 hit I'll Do Anything For You, recorded in New York City, United States, is totally out of his roots-reggae musical character. However, he has no regrets about doing the uptempo promise of undying loyalty and always going the distance to satisfy.

This is even in the face of criticism from onlookers, as Morgan sings:

"They think I'm a fool

Cause I do so many things for you

But they don't know the reason

Why I do all the things I do for you

They will never see

The things you do for me

The way you make me strong

Whenever things go wrong

When you stand by my side

How you relax my mind ..."

In the chorus he promises:

"I'll do anything for you

I'll give the world to you

If you want me to"

There is also the note of optimism that the love will be received:

"I hope you will see very soon

All the love I have for you

I've been holding some inside

For I thought it was too much for you

The love I have inside

I will no longer hide ..."

I'll Do Anything For You was the quintessential success story after disappointment, as Morgan said "Burt Reid and I had recorded a song, Sweet Tender Love, that I wrote. We were running around the city trying to get a deal and nothing was happening."

Then, "Burt said 'I think I should write you a song'. A few days later he called from Yonkers and said 'I have the song'". However, there was a critical difference between what Reid had and the song Morgan recorded. "He had 'I'll Do Anything For The Lord'," he said. However, not only did the music not fit the now sacred title, but it seemed a bit exclusionary.

executive producer's role

"We said how could we make it relate to everybody," Morgan said. "We came up with I'll Do Anything For You, which is a cliché sort of line." Morgan took on the executive producer's role, booking time at Right Tracks studio in Manhattan and assembling the musicians, including guitarist Ronny Miller who had a hand in the composition.

At first the disco was problematic for Morgan. He was just breaking up with his reggae group, The Black Eagles, which he said was one of the first outfits to play "roots and culture reggae in New York, one-drop vibe and Rasta. I was very vibrant about Rasta and bun everything".

However, he said, "I knew it was a transition period for me, spiritually and culturally, and I knew it had to be musically". Also, Morgan insists that the 'you' he would do anything for is the Almighty.

"As an artiste you would love for everything you do to be a hit. I am no different. But I did not know it would become such, and I did not know what it was like to have a hit," Morgan said. He would soon find out - and Reid had an early word of encouragement about the popularity potential of I'll Do Anything For You.

Morgan said: "I remember when I was in the booth recording. I had just finished the first verse and Burt came and said we going to put some handclaps, but be confident, you are singing on a hit record". The hot was needed, as Morgan said "I was another black man with my family and a little band a carry through roots and culture music. I never expected this commercial success".

And the success came quickly. "We recorded the song in March and in April we got a deal and the song was playing in the nightclubs before the deal was closed," Morgan said. Although the speed was reassuring, Morgan now says "I regret we did not go to another record company".

Much of that regret comes from the fact that the only returns Denroy Morgan has seen from I'll Do Anything For You have come through performances, although he does note that the US$2,000 he spent on studio time and musicians was repaid to him.

And there were "things that happened for me because of that record", chief among those developments, a deal with the label RCA.

Thirty years after the financial letdown, Morgan reflects, "I would not say it hurts anymore, but it is disappointing. It hurt when I realised what happened and I could not do anything about it. It is still an unfair deal that I have got, and I have to highlight that". Through it all, though, Morgan said I'll Do Anything For You changed his life.

"I kept my family together. I could have a career, and now I can say I am teaching the word of God."