Chase the Devil

Background

Composed by Perry and Romeo, "Chase the Devil" was released on the album War ina Babylon in 1976. Also in 1976, The Upsetters recorded a version with different lyrics. The track, called "Croaking Lizard" and credited to The Upsetters and Prince Jazzbo, was included in their album Super Ape. Later, Perry made a dub remix of both versions, called "Disco Devil".

Meaning

In a BBC interview recorded in 2010 Romeo describes the meaning of the song. He explains that the devil is everything negative in our minds, the iron shirt is our strength of spirit that allows us to cast out the devil.

Track listing

7" UK Single

A. Max Romeo – "Chase the Devil" B. The Upsetters featuring Prince Jazzbo – "Croaking Lizard"

7" French Single

A. "Chase the Devil" – 3:25 B. "One Step Forward (Oye Oye Reggae)" – 5:00

Samples, covers and appearances

"Out of Space" by The Prodigy (1992) sampled the song.

The same sample was used by Mellow Trax for his 1999 song "Outa Space".

Kanye West has used resung samples from "Chase the Devil" to produce Jay Z's song "Lucifer", which appeared on Jay Z's 2003 release, The Black Album.

Madness covered the song for their cover album, The Dangermen Sessions Vol. 1, released in 2005.

"Chase the Devil" was also used in the 2011 film Paul.

A sample from the song was used on "Lucifer", a track by Coki, in 2011.

The song is featured on the K-Jah West radio station in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. "Disco Devil", the remix, was later featured on the Blue Ark radio station in Grand Theft Auto V.