To find the stories you want to read, and more, in your inbox, click here. Isley, Jasper, Isley could not repeat the success, however, and the partnership dissolved in the late Eighties.įrom news to politics, travel to sport, culture to climate – The Independent has a host of free newsletters to suit your interests. No one was more thrilled than its originators when the Housemartins took “Caravan of Love” to number one at Christmas, 1986. It languished on America’s R&B charts for a full six months, until four white boys from Hull picked it up and made it part of their live a cappella act. Jasper described listening to the playbacks as like hearing a film score unfold. It was recorded at a studio in East Orange, New Jersey, as the title track to their second album, with Jasper taking keyboard and lead vocal duties and Ernie and Marvin on everything else.

“Are you ready for the time of your life?/ It’s time to stand up and fight… The place w here mankind was born/ Is so neglected and torn.” It wasn’t quite William Blake, but tet hered to the exquisite melody that had been bugging Jasper for weeks, the song glides in on a positive note. Sitting with a blank notepad one afternoon, Jasper began scribbling his thoughts. ll join together, with hearts of gold Now the children of the.

Hand in hand well take a caravan To the motherland One by one. “I wasn’t pleased with what I was seeing.” Jasper’s message of hope was written around a tune he been humming for a month. Are you ready for the time of your life Its time to stand. “I had been looking at the world scene quite a bit,” said Jasper. Their enchanting hit, “Caravan of Love”, follows in the tracks of the O’Jays’ “Love Train”: an appeal for all-comers to jump aboard and unite in global amity.

Isley brothers songs caravan of love