Oh Carolina

"Oh Carolina"
Single by Shaggy
from the album Pure Pleasure
B-side	"Bow Wow Wow"
Released	March 22, 1993
Format	CD single
Recorded	1993
Genre	Reggae, reggae fusion
Length	3:10
Label	Virgin, Greensleeves Records
Writer(s)	Henry Mancini, John Folkes
Producer	Shaun Pizzonia
Shaggy singles chronology
"Oh Carolina" (1993) "Nice and Lovely" (1993)

"Oh Carolina" is a song made famous by Shaggy, and released as the lead single from his debut album, Pure Pleasure. Written by John Folkes, produced by Prince Buster and performed by The Folkes Brothers in 1960, "Oh Carolina" was a landmark single in the development of reggae music, especially as a result of its incorporation of African-influenced Niyabinghi-style drumming and chanting.^[1] The song was also recorded in 1973 by Count Ossie (who also provided drumming for the original 1960 record) on his seminal roots reggae album Grounation. It was more recently revived in 1993 by Shaggy and produced by Sting International, becoming an international hit. It was the first of Shaggy's four UK number one singles spending two weeks at the top in March 1993.^[2] The song fared less well in the U.S., peaking at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song received major crossover airplay on American alternative rock radio, and as a result the song peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart.^[3] Following the success of the song, John Folkes was involved in a legal dispute with Prince Buster over the authorship. It was eventually settled in 1994 with Folkes being ruled as the copyright holder.

Tracklisting

CD Single

1. "Oh Carolina" (Radio Version) – 3:12
2. "Oh Carolina" (Raas Bumba Claat Version) – 3:50
3. "Oh Carolina" (Uptown 10001 Version) – 3:18
4. "Bow Wow Wow" – 3:41

Charts and sales

Peak positions Chart (1993) Peak position Australian ARIA Singles Chart[4] 5 Austrian Singles Chart[4] 2 Dutch Top 40[5] 6 French SNEP Singles Chart[4] 33 German Singles Chart[6] 3 Irish Singles Chart[7] 1 New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart[4] 2 Norwegian Singles Chart[4] 4 Swedish Singles Chart[4] 3 Swiss Singles Chart[4] 3 UK Singles Chart[8] 1 U.S. Billboard Hot 100[3] 59 U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Singles[3] 43 U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks[3] 14

End of year charts End of year chart (1993) Position Australian Singles Chart[9] 34 Austrian Singles Chart[10] 14 Dutch Top 40[5] 48 Swiss Singles Chart[11] 29 Certifications Country Certification Date Sales certified Germany[12] Gold 1993 150,000 UK[13] Gold April 1, 1993 400,000

Chart successions

Preceded by "No Limit" by 2 Unlimited	UK number-one single March 20, 1993 – March 27, 1993 (2 weeks)	Succeeded by "Young at Heart" by The Bluebells
	Irish IRMA number-one single April 4, 1993 (1 week)

References

1. ^ Jason Toynbee, Bob Marley, Polity Press, 2007, pp. 121-22.
2. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 491. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Billboard Allmusic.com (Retrieved September 3, 2008)
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "Oh Carolina", in various singles charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved April 3, 2008)
5. ^ ^{a b} "Single top 100 over 1993" (in Dutch) (pdf). Top40. http://www.top40.nl/pdf/Top%20100/top%20100%20-%201993.pdf. Retrieved 15 April 2010. 
6. ^ "Shaggy singles, German Singles Chart" (in German). musicline. http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/artist/Shaggy/single. Retrieved 17 April 2010. 
7. ^ Irish Single Chart Irishcharts.ie (Retrieved April 3, 2008)
8. ^ UK Singles Chart Chartstats.com (Retrieved April 3, 2008)
9. ^ 1993 Australian Singles Chart aria.com (Retrieved September 3, 2008)
10. ^ 1993 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved September 3, 2008)
11. ^ 1993 Swiss Singles Chart Hitparade.ch (Retrieved September 3, 2008)
12. ^ "German certifications – Oh+Carolina" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. http://www.musikindustrie.de/gold_platin_datenbank/?action=suche&strTitel=Oh%2BCarolina&strInterpret=&strTtArt=alle&strAwards=checked. Retrieved September 3, 2008. 
13. ^ "UK certifications, database". Bpi. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx. Retrieved 3 September 2008.