Shanty town

A shanty town or squatter area is a settlement of plywood, corrugated metal, sheets of plastic, and cardboard boxes. Such settlements are usually found on the periphery of cities, in public parks, or near railroad tracks, rivers, lagoons or city trash dump sites. Sometimes called a squatter, informal or spontaneous settlement, a typical shanty town often lacks proper sanitation, safe water supply, electricity, hygienic streets, or other basic human necessities.

Shanty towns are mostly found in developing nations, but also in some parts of developed nations.

Etymology

Shanty is probably from Canadian French chantier, a winter station established for the organization of lumberjacks.

Another possible derivation is from the Irish language sean tí meaning old house.

Hutment means an "encampment of huts". When the term is used by the military, it means "temporary living quarters specially built by the army for soldiers". The term is also a synonym for shanty town, particularly in developing countries.

007 (Shanty Town)

"007 (Shanty Town)" is a 1967 rocksteady song by Jamaican band Desmond Dekker and the Aces, released as a single from their debut album of the same name. It was also a hit for Musical Youth in 1983. "007 (Shanty Town)" has been called "the most enduring and archetypal" rude boy song. Its title and lyrics refer to the cool imagery of films such as the James Bond series and Ocean's 11, admired by "rudies."

Desmond Dekker version

The original recording of "007 (Shanty Town)" was produced by Leslie Kong and originally released as a single on the Pyramid label. The single featured Roland Alphonso's "El Torro" on the B-side.

Dekker wrote the song after watching news coverage of a student demonstration against government plans to build an industrial complex on land close to the beach, which descended into violence. In Dekker's words:

The song also deals with a 'rude boy' who after being released from prison continues to commit crime. Despite its cautionary sentiment, it cemented Dekker's popularity among rude boys in Jamaica, in contrast to Dekker's earlier music, which espoused traditional morals such as filial piety and the importance of education.