"Oh Carolina" was covered by Jamaican musician Shaggy and released in January 1993 by Virgin and Greensleeves as the lead single from his debut album, Pure Pleasure (1993).
[10] Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger stated that Shaggy's take on the song "acknowledges its debt to the past right away – sampling the intro from the Folkes Brothers' 1960 original.
Not just a nod of respect, it's a canny move, as the crackling, wheezing shanty-town piano sounded like nothing else on 1993 radio, giving "Oh Carolina" instant cut-through.
"[12] James Masterton wrote in his weekly UK chart commentary, "If there is a dance craze at the moment it certainly has to be this 'dancehall' style of ragga".
"[15] Al Weisel from Rolling Stone remarked that featuring "the hard-hitting rhythms and relentless vocals of dance hall, "Oh Carolina" also harked back to the joyousness and soul that characterized the pre-Rastafarian Jamaican music of the '60s: a sense of fun that's been lost to some extent amid the sexism and violence glorified in a lot of dance hall.
"[16] Charles Aaron from Spin wrote, "His voice a flu-season growl, 24-year-old Shaggy comes off like a bewildered Studio One relic who wandered into a dancehall booby trap of pings, dings, and rattles.
"[17] Christina Pazzanese from Vibe constated that "with its familiar, brassy Peter Gunn riff and goofy singalong lyrics, it's an instant favourite with even the most unwavering of dancehall-haters and seems destined to be the music's next breakthrough American smash.
[2] The Jamaican ska and reggae trombonist Rico Rodriguez recorded an instrumental version entitled "Carolina" as a B-side to his 1980 single, "Sea Cruise".
[75] In 1993, Vic Sotto, Francis Magalona, Richie D'Horsie and Michael V. covered a Tagalog parody version of the same song from the movie Ano Ba Yan?
[76] Jamaican artist Yellowman created a popular cover version on his 1994 album Prayer In February 1995, South Korean pop-group Roo'ra released a Korean version, with the title "날개 잃은 천사" ("Nalgae irun chunsa"; "Angels that lost their wings").