"Night Boat to Cairo" is a song by British ska/pop band Madness from their debut 1979 album One Step Beyond.... It was written by Mike Barson and Suggs and was also included on the 1980 EP Work Rest and Play, which peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart and reached the top 30 in Belgium, Ireland and the Netherlands. The song was later re-issued in the UK in 1993 following the success of the re-issued version of "It Must Be Love" but failed to reach the top 40, peaking at number 56. It was remixed slightly for inclusion on the band's eponymous 1983 album compiled for the United States. The song is featured in the 2011 Wii video game Just Dance 3.
Artwork for 1993 UK rerelease
Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. It was developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when Stranger Cole, Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems to play American rhythm and blues and then began recording their own songs. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods and with many skinheads.
Madness performing in 2005
The Specials
Fishbone playing in Los Angeles
Desorden Publico, which are from Caracas, Venezuela formed in 1985.