Buddy Bye

Recorded in 1985 over the Sleng Teng riddim and issued on Jammys, with Lloyd ‘King Jammy’ James producing. Johnny Osbourne later said he cut the hook in a 42nd Street, Manhattan studio, which explains the song’s long-running alternate phrasing as “put it by.” The track became one of the best-known cuts on the digital Sleng Teng riddim and helped define the mid-1980s dancehall transition to computerized production. It sat alongside other key Jammys releases that marked the format’s breakthrough. ‘Buddy Bye’ remains one of Johnny Osbourne’s signature songs and one of the most famous Sleng Teng versions, with later remixes and compilations keeping it in circulation. Its association with the digital dancehall breakthrough gives it lasting historical importance in reggae.