“T’ain’t no big thing”: The Roxy Music song inspired by Caribbean patois

Posted On October 4, 2024October 4, 2024

It is difficult to imagine what the landscape of modern alternative music might look like without the pioneering influence of Roxy Music. From their initial formation in 1970, the Bryan Ferry-fronted outfit consistently challenged the conventions of rock, incorporating a variety of different sounds, influences and innovations into their repertoire. The band blazed a vibrant new trail of art rock that continues to inspire artists to this very day.

Roxy Music, like its frontman, Bryan Ferry, consistently operated on a different wavelength to other rock musicians of the period. While the charts of the time were largely concerned with glam, prog, or self-aggrandising soft rock, Roxy Music created an entirely new sound with which they revolutionised the rock scene of the 1970s. Ferry, in particular, seemed to have a unique ability to soak up inspiration from every avenue; with Roxy Music’s discography touching on everything from art and literature to Ferry’s relationships and everyday life.

Although the band are perhaps best remembered for profound, artistic efforts like ‘In Every Dream Home a Heartache’, inspired by a blending of pop art and erotic romanticism, not all of Ferry’s compositions were so high-brow. The songwriter could find inspiration in the unexpected moments of day-to-day life, and in the people he met along the way. In fact, one of Roxy Music’s behind-the-scenes team provided the inspiration for one of the band’s most recognisable tracks.

“He worked for Roxy doing wardrobe,” Ferry once said of the man who inspired one of his greatest compositions, 1975’s ‘Love Is The Drug’. Reportedly, the song began life as a slow, ethereal effort, before being transformed into the proto-new wave track we all know and love today. Ferry was innovative in his use of disco and funk on this song, styles which had yet to reach the English mainstream at the time.

Seemingly, this move from slow instrumental to funk-ridden smash hit was down to the man who inspired the lyrics. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Ferry revealed, “My lyrics for the song’s opening were inspired by the Caribbean patois of our Trinidadian friend, Christian. He worked for Roxy doing wardrobe.” The composer continued, “Christian was a very amusing, laid-back guy. If there was ever a problem, Christian would say, “T’ain’t no big t’ing.”

Trinidadian patois is formed around a French Creole language, which distinguishes it from the more widely used Jamaican patois. For the lyrics to ‘Love Is The Drug’, Ferry adopted the mannerisms of his friend, Christian, and the patois that he often spoke. “I liked the phrase,” Ferry remembered, “so my opening lyrics to the song were: “T’ain’t no big thing / to wait for the bell to ring / T’ain’t no big thing / the toll of the bell.”

While hearing a white man from County Durham adopt Trinidadian patois is a fairly odd listening experience, and certainly, one that would be looked at as being somewhat problematic within the modern day, Ferry’s rendition of the dialect helped ‘Love Is The Drug’ to stand out. What’s more, the influence of Caribbean culture and language had not been fully adopted by mainstream music in the United Kingdom by 1975, aside from the sounds of ska and rocksteady that had captivated the skinhead subculture. ‘Love Is The Drug’ helped to change that perception. 

Ultimately, ‘Love Is The Drug’ might be one of Roxy Music’s most important anthems. Not only did the song essentially predict the later rise of new wave and disco-influenced rock, but it also helped to subvert expectations of 1970s rock, taking the scene in an entirely new direction that multiple other artists followed.

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