Today's three will be played in the order in which the original tracks were recorded.

First up; Paul Desmond's "Take 5" was recorded by the Dave Brubeck Quintet in 1959. Since Desmond's death, the royalties are paid to the American Red Cross. It's not only one of the last standards to come directly out of the jazz scene, but a relatively rare pop hit in 5/4 time. This reggae cut (which I found at http://rootsfromyard.blogspot.com) was produced by Jacob "Killer" Miller, and released on the "Jaques" label about 1979-80, credited to Jah Devon, who was in fact Dean "Youth Sax" Fraser, backed by the Fatman Rhyhm Section. It's a decent production (I've tacked on the dub "5 of Them"), which makes it all the sadder to recall that Miller died in a road accident not long afterwards, when his car hit a stop light in Kingston.

Tommy Hunt's first recording of Bacharach and David's "I Just Don't Know What Do With Myself" in 1962 is one of the lesser known versions of a song that was a hit for Dusty Springfield, Gary Puckett and The White Stripes. and featured in the repertoires of Chuck Jackson, Isaac Hayes, Linda Ronstadt, Demis Roussos and Tina Arena. Here it is performed by former lead vocalist of the Techniques Pat Kelly, produced by Edward "Bunny" Lee.

Finally, a song that needs no introduction. Here is Jackie Mittoo at Studio One stretching one of my most hated songs out over five minutes, backed by Sound Dimension and (I suspect) Denzil Laing on nyabinghi percussion; there's a similar style cut to be found on Lennie Hibbert's "Creation" LP from the same period, so these slow grooves were not uncommon in Mittoo sessions. This manages to make "Eleanor Rigby" sound almost sinister...