A Black Lives Matter anthem half a century before #BLM, this was a No.6 hit for Greyhound, but its history goes back farther than that.

Back then I had no idea of its important political significance; nor even that it was a cover version of a song written way back in 1954 to celebrate a landmark legal case in the US Supreme Court (Brown v Board of Education) which ended racial segregation in public schools.

The lyrics are by Neil Arkin (father of actor Alan Arkin) and the music by Earl Robinson, who also wrote songs for people ranging from Paul Robeson to Frank Sinatra. Both of them were blacklisted in the McCarthy era for their left-wing views.

The song was first recorded by Pete Seeger in 1956, and by Sammy Davis Jr the following year, and went on to be a US hit for Three Dog Night, but this reggae-lite version is the one I know.

It was the debut single by Greyhound, a British reggae band previously known as Freddie Notes & The Rudies, who rebranded after Freddie left and was replaced as front man by the energetic, effervescent Glenroy Oakley.

Here they are on some sort of German TV show: I love the sheer joy and exuberance he brings to this performance from 1971, dancing, clapping, waving, crouching, wriggling around on the floor – and smoothly dealing with a wardrobe malfunction with his flies at the end.

It’s hard not to feel that Greyhound’s chart career might have lasted longer than a year if they could only improve their timekeeping: hired to perform at Mick Jagger’s wedding, they managed to miss their charter flight to the South of France – and the chance to perform in front of the starriest audience of their lives.

It’s sweet to see that the first two comments below this clip are by Glenroy’s grand-daughter and son. And that, now in his 70s and still performing, he lives on the Costa Blanca in Spain and still appears once a month at The Lounge in Alicante, where on Wednesdays they do a “special English meal” of beef stew, lamb’s liver, sausage & mash and cottage pie for less than a fiver.

Let’s hope Brexit and Covid don’t put the kibosh on that.