UB40

Released: June 30, 1997

Songwriter: UB40

Producer: UB40

Oracabessa moonshine
Is washing over me
The jacaranda tree
And bathing in the sea
Oracabessa sun up
Will chase the night away
Across the lada bay
And back to yesterday
A warm blue mountain raincloud, welcomed by the land
Made the morning cooler, left a rainbow in the sand
Sweet hibiscus lingers in my own backyard
With a million different colours of a hummingbird

Orocabessa sunshine
Is washing over me
The jacaranda tree
And bathing in the sea
Oracabessa sun up

Will chase the night away
Across the lada bay
And back to yesterday

The firefly's romance ignites the evening shade
Makes the twilight dance a moonlight serenade
The smoke sends out a signal above the golden sea
Another day in ladda bay is waiting there for me

Oracabessa moonshine
Is washing over me
The jacaranda tree
And bathing in the sea
Oracabessa sun up
Will chase the night away
Across the lada bay
And back to yesterday

UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart. They have been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times, and in 1984 were nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group. UB40 have sold over 70 million records. The ethnic make-up of the band’s original line-up was diverse, with musicians of English, Irish, Jamaican, Scottish and Yemeni parentage.

Their hit singles include their debut “Food for Thought”, “Red Red Wine” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love”. Both of these also topped the UK Singles Chart, as did the band’s version of “I Got You Babe”. Their two most successful albums, Labour of Love (1983) and Promises and Lies (1993), reached number one on the UK Albums Chart.

On January 24, 2008, it was announced that Ali Campbell would be leaving the group after 30 years. It was reported by some Birmingham newspapers on 13 March 2008, that Maxi Priest would be the new lead singer of UB40 and had recorded a cover of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff” with the band.

more tracks from the album

Guns in the Ghetto

From the album

Guns in the Ghetto (1997)

UB40 popular songs

Oracabessa MoonshineUB40

UB40

Guns in the Ghetto