Bob Marley
- May 1
- 4 min read
Robert Nesta Marley, also known as Bob Marley, was born on the 6th of February 1945 in Nine Mile, Jamaica. He was a Jamaican reggae singer, guitarist and songwriter. Marley died on the 11th of May 1981 in Miami, USA.
Bob Marley became an international icon through his music. Some of his songs, like Redemption Song and Get Up Stand Up, have become anthems for the common people.
Marley began his musical career in 1963 when he, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer formed a reggae group called The Teenagers, later known as The Wailers Rudeboy, and then The Wailing Wailers, before it was renamed The Wailers.
Bob met his wife, Rita, at Studio One, a recording studio where she also recorded with her group, the Soulettes, before its demise. She introduced him to the Rastafarian faith, a spiritual and cultural movement that influenced his songs and his Pan-Africanism.
In 1972, Bob Marley and the Wailers were signed to Island Records, owned by Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell, a Jamaican-born British recording producer and founder of Island Records.
The group released several albums with Island Records, including Catch a Fire, Burning, Exodus, One Love, and Uprising.
Tosh and Wailer left the band in 1974 due to disagreements with the label. Uprising was Marley’s last album with the band, and it produced two of his popular songs, Redemption Song and Could You Be Loved.
With Rita’s help, Bob’s backup singing group, The I Threes, was formed. The backup vocal group consisted of Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt and Marcia Griffiths. Marley recorded his 7th studio album, Natty Dread, with The I Threes. The album was well received in the UK and went gold, selling over 100,000 copies.
Marley’s posthumous awards include, amongst others, an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award in 2001.
Let’s take a look at his song, Redemption Song.
Redemption Song
Old pirates, yes, they rob I,
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong
By the hand of the Almighty.
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly.
Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs.
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery,
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? Ooh!
Some say it's just a part of it,
We've got to fulfill the Book.
Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs,
Redemption songs.
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery,
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Wo! Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say it's just a part of it,
We've got to fulfill the book.
Won't you have to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever had,
Redemption songs,
All I ever had,
Redemption songs,
These songs of freedom,
Songs of freedom.
Song Analysis of Redemption Song
Redemption Song is a freedom song. Marley’s lyrics mostly centre on the common people because of his passion for social issues like justice, freedom, and equality.
Marley grew up in poverty, so he understood the struggles and hardships of a poor Jamaican. The Jamaica he lived in was full of civil unrest and injustice among the political elite.
So, these experiences may have shaped his character, colouring a few of his songs, such as Buffalo Soldier, No Woman No Cry, and One Love.
‘How long shall they kill our prophets
While we stand aside and look?’
His Rastafarian faith may have influenced these lines above. ‘Prophets’ may symbolise black nationalist leaders or activists who also influenced Marley’s songs. For example, Marcus Garvey, a political activist and black nationalist, used the quote, ‘Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds’, which Marley extracted from one of his speeches for the song.
Overall, Redemption Song is about black emancipation and freedom. Bob Marley could not have left us a better song for a world in need of redemption.
My version of Bob Marley's song is We Are the Hope.
We Are the Hope
Solo 1
The drowning of yesterday’s laughter
Brings fear to our lives
And the miseries that have never been foretold
Slips into the mind.
The war cries are everywhere
Sets us back in time, and we shouldn’t dare.
Chorus
It’s never been easy
Let’s pray it becomes easy.
We’re here to dance to our destinies
Knocking on the doors of hope.
We are the hope, knocking on the doors of hope
We are the hope.
Solo 2
In seven days, the world came to be
From incredible power and energy
We are created for this synergy
By the hands of Jehovah,
To be human in this life
And to be like angels in the afterlife.
Chorus
It’s never been easy
Let’s pray it becomes easy
We’re here to dance to our destinies,
Knocking on the doors of hope
We are the hope, knocking on the doors of hope
We are the hope.
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