Why did i resist this guy for so long?

I remember I was 14 and my sister and I were talking to William, a Pentecost boy who we have known since I was about 11. He asked us the all important question. What kind of music are you guys into? At that point I was superficial in my music pickings loving most commercial hits that would fade into obscurity as soon as they dropped out of the top 10. In my defense, I also loved Michael Jackson, which I believe is justified even if it still is abit superficial. I also loved Vatdoro and Reynolds. Anyway, back to my story.

"Pretty much everything," I answered and then asked him what he liked knowing full well the answer.
"Bob Marley"
Figures I thought.
"What, you don't like Bob Marley?"
"Not particularly," I said.
"But reggae is the best!" he exclaimed.

The next time i saw him he was showing me the marijuana plant in his backyard and was talking in a semi-Jamaican accent. I even found him in his room one day drawing pictures of Bob Marley - which i thought was very obsessive.

So even though i hadn't really heard much of Bob's work, I shrugged him off as a craze and an unneccessary bad influence on the future health and wellbeing of Vanuatu's youth.

That was until for some strange reason while shopping the other day, I came across one of his compilation cds.
All i can say...................................................wow.

Now i fully understand why he is possibly the greatest musician who ever lived and is an international superstar and legend...possibly even a rasta prophet!

I'm absolutely in love right now with "Redemption Song" - i shall place the lines in and tell you why:

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.

cause all I ever have:
Songs of freedom
Wont you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
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 its just a part of it:
We've got to fulfil de book.

Wont you help to sing
These songs of freedom? -
Wont you help to sing
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs;

/guitar break/
---
Emancipate ourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our mind.
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 its just a part of it:
Weve got to fulfil the book.
Wont you help to sing
Dese songs of freedom? -
cause all I ever had:
Redemption songs -
All I ever had:
Redemption songs:
These songs of freedom,
Songs of freedom.

I always wondered about why Bob Marley was so loved around the world - surely someone from a small island talking about a religion that is followed by a very small percentage of the world wouldn't sing such important themes?

But he does. He is an incredibly talented individual.

I love the way he words the feeling of oppression - which is common in so many places - and his voice is beautiful and soulful. His songs are true anthems for minority rights and now i see why so many people love him...i think I am becoming one of those people.

I also love the fact that when he sings his lyrics - they are real and forged from experience. We can have all the Bonos' and Michael's in the world singing about poverty etc and overcoming oppression, but the truth of the matter is - Bob Marley sung people's music because he was one of the people. He knew what it was like growing up in Jamaica as a black man or a mixed race person and was able to use his music to illustrate these experiences in true form.

So while I was researching him, I came across this really great quote that I think you will love Chris, cause i'm going to print it up and put it up at work:

"I don't have prejudice against myself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white."

Isn't that amazing? I think he is a true hero for all those misplaced peoples out there, those people who have had their identity's stolen away, who have been oppressed and beaten down. Which is a lot of people.

Anyway, I've had my rant!

I also love Kenneth Babyface Edmunds.

Luv Amy