OK Fred

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title: "OK Fred" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1971-songs", "1971-singles", "1979-singles", "jamaican-reggae-songs", "song-recordings-produced-by-coxsone-dodd", "songs-written-by-john-holt-(singer)"] description: "Reggae song" topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK_Fred" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Reggae song ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]

Field	Value
name	OK Fred
cover	OK Fred.jpg
type	single
artist	John Holt
B-side	Jamaica Bag
released	1971
genre	Reggae
label	Studio One
writer	John Holt
producer	Coxsone Dodd
::

| name = OK Fred | cover = OK Fred.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = John Holt | album = | B-side = Jamaica Bag | released = 1971 | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = Reggae | length = | label = Studio One | writer = John Holt | producer = Coxsone Dodd | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = | next_year = | name = OK Fred | cover = | alt = | type = single | artist = Errol Dunkley | album = | B-side = OK Fred (instrumental version) | released = 1979 | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = Reggae | length = | label = Scope | writer = John Holt | producer = Ossie Hibbert | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = | next_year =

"OK Fred" is a song by Jamaican singer-songwriter John Holt. It was first released as a single in 1971.

Background

Errol Dunkley stated that the song is about an up-town girl who falls for a down-town guy who is a non-conformist in the way he dresses and wants to become care-free like him. Jamaican parents might tell their unkempt children, "Fix up youself, put you shirt in you trousers, you look like a yaga yaga" [sic]. AllMusic gave a different version, saying the song describes the singer's prowess and technique with the opposite sex.

Holt's version features Vin Gordon on trombone. It was produced by Coxsone Dodd.

Chart success

Holt's version did not chart in the UK. Dunkley's version reached No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart in 1979, staying on the chart for 11 weeks.

References

References

1. "OK Fred John Holt".
2. "OK Fred". [[AllMusic]].
3. "OK Fred's Meaning".
4. Jones, Simon. (1988). "Black culture, white youth: the reggae tradition from JA to UK". Macmillan Education.
5. "Errol Dunkley".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::