The Story Behind The Song: Reggae Legend Don Carlos Shares How Oversleeping Inspired ‘Mr. Sun’

Reggae legend Don Carlos‘ enduring hit Mr. Sun carries a message of positivity as bright as its namesake. The central idea for the track, as Carlos revealed in a recent interview with DancehallMag, came from the seemingly mundane event of oversleeping one morning in the 1980s.

“I was supposed to go to the studio to check Junjo [producer Henry ‘Junjo’ Lawes] early but mi did kinda wake up late,” the 71-year-old recalled. “And when mi wake up late, it’s like the sun did out, cause the sun come through mi window and shine pon me and wake me really. So it’s like when me get up me a say if the sun never come up, guess what? Mi wouldn’t wake.”

Back then, alarm clocks weren’t as ubiquitous, and mornings in Waterhouse often started with the natural alarm of crowing roosters.

“You wake offa your own, dem times deh if you know you haffi get up certain hours you know you gaw yuh bed early or you never bother sleep,” Don Carlos mused. “That day deh a never no rooster wake me, a the sun wake me, maybe the roosters crow but mi never hear it…a mussi dance mi did go and stay out late and come in late so most likely I think it was a weekend.”

Despite the sun’s intervention that day, he still arrived late to Junjo’s studio.

“By the time me reach nuff artist flock deh already because you know artist wah buss, Ranking Toyan and Little John and dem man deh and Billy Boyo,” Carlos said. “Mi no member if mi did voice nothing tha day deh inno, more time when mi go a the studio and see the place crowded mi will just cool out and listen weh everyman a do cause me love when me a do mi thing mi tek mi time and deal with it proper inno.”

Junjo’s studio was a constant hum of creativity, 24/7, Don Carlos explained. Established artists like Yellowman got the first pick of the fresh rhythms Junjo cooked up. For Carlos, a rising star at the time, it was crucial to get in early. “Mi did wah be one a the first to go in because you know dem say early bird ketch the most worm so mi did waah be one of the firsts fi go in fi choose a good riddim, a nice riddim and mi wudda have more time fi deal wid it too cause mi wudda be the first one so that was mi plan but when me wake bout 8 o clock and the sun a shine through mi window and the heat a touch me and wake me up,” he said.

Added Carlos: “In those days, artists wouldn’t share rhythms. If a man do him song, him no want a next man fi come pon it before him come out because that will stifle him too because if fi him song good and the next man song better the man ago get the push over him.”

While his lateness cost him his pick of riddims that day, the experience stuck with him for six months before he finally voiced Mr. Sun with an important message about punctuality and time management.

“Mi mek the song and the song come out but me never voice it fi Junjo me go voice it fi Niney the Observer, him used to work with Channel One,” Carlos told DancehallMag.

For Mr. Sun, Niney and the Roots Radics Band reimagined the Unchained Riddim, first voiced by Bob Andy for producer Coxsone Dodd in 1968.

This riddim went on to inspire countless tracks over the years, including hits like Garnett Silk and producer Steely & Clevie’s Love Is The Answer (1994), Luciano’s Carry Jah Load (1995), Sanchez and Bobby Digital Dixon’s Unchained (1992), and Barrington Levy and producer Paul ‘Jah Screw’ Love’s Live Good (1985).

Further reflecting on the broader message of Mr. Sun, Carlos emphasized, “Time is important to me because it’s like being late let me lose something because being late mi lose the chance to choose something weh mi did wah choice. Who come first get first served.”

And over four decades later, the sunny anthem remains a staple for him. “The last time I played it was last Sunday in Texas at the Dallas Reggae Festival,” he pointed out.