The portrayal of Bob Marley as a singer of love songs has never really been properly documented, or has he been given due recognition by musicologists and music historians for his work in that area.
Marley has, almost invariably, been depicted as the ultimate revolutionary – the man whose musical lyrics provide solace, comfort and hope for the downtrodden.
Songs like, Redemption Song, Blackman’s Redemption, We and Them, Who The Cap Fit, Get Up, Stand Up, Survival and Babylon System, conveyed the message of hope that triggered the resilience that many needed to survive.
At the international level, songs like Revolution, from the album Natty Dread; War from the album, Rastaman Vibration; Africa Unite andZimbabwe from the album Survival, provided guidance to world leaders in efforts geared towards the dismantling of apartheid, and general equality and justice for all.
In 1980, Marley was hailed as a peace agent in Africa, and was invited to perform in Zimbabwe (previously white-ruled Rhodesia) at an epicconcert, marking their Independence in April of that year. Exactly two years earlier, April 22, 1978, Marley performed his famous heroics – the ‘Manley-Seaga joining of hands’, after they were invited onstage, at a somewhat similar concert, labelled ‘The One Love Peace Concert’, atJamaica’s National Stadium.
Geared towards easing the tension between political factions at the time, the act shocked many, including the invitees, who were caught totally by surprise. The move, however, seemed to have somewhat achieved its objective.
Marley’s early years, growing up under tough ghetto conditions in Trench Town, seemed to have moulded him into the character that he became. He quickly learned to defend himself against Trench Town’s rude boys, and soon earned for himself the respectful moniker, ‘Tuff Gong’, from his formidable street-fighting skills.
Tuff Gong, in fact became a record label that was established in 1971 by Marley and his best friend and manager, Alan ‘Skill’ Cole. Its first releaseTrench Town Rock – the Trench Town anthem, was the No. 1 record in Jamaica in 1971.
While speaking to a packed room at the third International Reggae Conference at the University of the West Indies in February, Cole uncovered other character traits of the ‘Gong’, that helped to mould him into the no-nonsense individual he became. Cole described The Gong, as a workaholic who was religiously dedicated to his work, and one who never slept much, as it was his view that ‘any man who sleep too much, miss out’.
Cole said Marley was such a perfectionist, that during the recording session of Rat Race, he destroyed three stampers because they weren’t precisely the way he wanted it.
Marley’s very first recording, titled Judge Not, a solo piece, backed by the Drumbago All Stars, for producer Leslie Kong’s Beverley’s label, although not a hit at the time, should not be taken too lightly in these deliberations.
It may very well be the first and most important indication of the direction in which he was heading when he proclaimed:
Judge not, who are you to judge me and the life that I live,
I know that I’m not perfect, and that I don’t claim to be
So before you point your fingers, be sure your hands are clean.
Judge not before you judge yourself.
The road of life is rocky and you may stumble too
So while you talk about me, someone else is judging you.
With so much emphasis being placed on the serious side of Bob Marley’s life – his revolutionary songs, his workaholic character and his meticulousness, the lighter side may easily have been sidelined.
This side included numerous love songs with deep emotional content.
I’m still Waiting, performed with the Wailing Wailers in the early 1960s, for producer Clement Dodd, was perhaps the earliest. In it, he admits:
My feet won’t keep me up anymore
With every little beat, my heart beats girl, it’s at your door.
I just wanna love, and I’m never gonna hurt you girl
So why wont you come out to me girl
Can’t you see I’m under your spell.
Lonesome Feeling, for the same producer, was the No. 11 song in 1965. In it, Marley seemed heartbroken as he sang along with the Wailers:
Tried to run away, but the road leads back to you
Tried to forget you, but the memories linger on.
It’s a lonesome feeling
Other romantic recordings that Marley did during the ska era includedLove and Affection, Just Another Dance, How Many Times, Love Won’t Be Mine, and I don’t Need Your Love, all for Studio One.
ALBUM OF THE CENTURY
The album Exodus, voted, the album of the century, contained two of Marley’s most romantic efforts. In track two on side two, his patience seemed to have been tested to the limit when he laments:
I don’t wanna wait in vain for
your love.
From the very first time I blessed
my eyes on you girl, my heart
said follow through
But I know now I’m way down
on your line
But the waiting game is fine
Don’t treat me like a puppet on a
string
For I know how to do my thing
Marley’s romantic urgings soars to new heights in track 3:
Turn your lights down low, and pull your window curtains
Oh let Jah moon come shining in, into our life again.
I wanna give you some loving, some good good loving
Turn your lamps down low
Never try to resist oh no.
Kaya, the album of lovesongs, contains Is This Love, which ran in part:
I wanna love you and treat you right
I wanna love you every day and every night
We’ll be together, with a roof right over our heads.
It also contains the tearjerker She’s Gone:
My woman is gone
She had left me a note, hanging on my door
She said she couldn’t take it anymore
The pressure around me, just couldn’t see
She felt like a prisoner who needs to be free.
From the album Rastaman Vibration, comes the cut Cry To Me – a call for a cheater to face retribution:
Walk back through the heartaches
walk back through the pain
shed those lonely teardrops
the reaction of your cheating game.
– broyal_2008@yahoo.com
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