The Trend, The Time and Bob Marley

Old pirates yes they rob I
sold I to the merchant ships
minutes after the took I
from the bottomless pit
but my hand was made strong
by the hand of the Almighty

we forward in this generation
triuphantly
won't you help to sing
the songs of freedom
'cuz' all I only have
redemption song...redemption song

emancipate yourself from mental slavery
none but ourselves can free our minds
have no fear for atomic energy
'cuz' none of them can stop the time
how long shall they kill our prophets
while we stand aside and look

some say it's just a part of it
\we got to fulfill the book
won't you help to sing
the songs of freedom
'cuz' all I only have
redemption song...

"Yes, the lyrics is baked in my genes from the moment the album was released. And I 'dunno' if this is becoming craziness. But, no, I am trying to figure out how it all popped up, and of what origin am beginning to sense that this is not something new or probably I may be losing it because the lyrics itself had a whole lot to do about my being,and specifically the pirates who had thought they were doing my being a favor which led to the mess that seemingly has consumed the world today, and certainly a world that continues to be troubled."

"Hey, man, what's wrong with you and what the hell are you talking about... are you alright, man!?"

"Oh, yeah, 'am alright. It's just that something is baked in my genes and it continues to give me that natural high. I really 'dunno' what it is."

"What's going on and what exactly is baked in your genes?"

"Well, I just gave you a hint and it's not rocket science. Simple and clear, but since you are too dumb like Fred Sanford would tell his son when they ran the salvage company, Sanford & Son, let's try it again. It's called 'The Trend and The Time", not Morris Day & The Time, perhaps before "Purple Rain." Did you get it?"

"Nope."

"So what do you want me to do? Stuff it?"

"What are you talking about for goodness sake?"

"Here we go again, he wants to know everything."

"Of course, I do. Have you been smoking some weed or something?"

And, what's that... you see what I mean? Each time something pops up, it's all about weed."

"Look, man, I'm through with you."

"Really?!"

"Really!"

"Ok, let's see, have you ever heard of Bob Marley?"

"Of course, who doesn't know Bob Marley, the legend."

"Here you go. You are becoming a good boy and I am proud of you. But let me ask you, though, did he ever made sense to you?"

"Yep, and now what?"

"This is the deal, and make sure you take notes when I lecture."

Funny and confusing, huh? It all depends on which way you look at it. Not much happenned for the gone week but I did chew on some few stuff. Too many books popped up about Bob Marley, though I haven't made time to check them out at the bookstores, but I read the review, "The Bob Marley Story", well-done by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro in the April 9, 2009 edition of the of The New York Review of Books. Summing it all up, to one essay, Schapiro provided a lot of information from the following: "Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley", by Christopher John Farley; "Bob Marley: Herald of the Postcolonial World," by Jason Toynbee; "The Book of Exodus: The Making and Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailers' Album of the CEntury", by Vivien Goldman; and "Soul Rebel: An Intimate Portrait of Bob Marley", by David Burnett.

Good piece and in-depth, and Schapiro writes;

"Marley is the only third world performer to be elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1999, the BBC named his "One Love" the "Song of the Millennium", the same year Time Magazine declared his 1977 "Exodus" the "Best Album of the Twentieth Century" voted the third greates songwriter of all time in 2001 by BBC poll (behind Bob Dylan and John Lennon...)"

Bob Marley was something else. He changed everything about reggae which evolved from ska, rocksteady and prophesy after his neigborhood buddies, Winston McIntosh and Neville "Bunny" Wailer" Livingstoe would join him in forming the Wailers. McIntosh went by the name of Peter Tosh while Livingstone would be Bunny Wailer. And, the rest would be history.

"The Harder They Come" and the Venice Film Festival. Jimmy Cliff. Perry Henzell. Rita Anderson (Marley's wife). Christopher Blackwell, the brain behind Island Records. Lee "Scratch" Perry, the gem behind reggae explosion. Desmond Dekker, the first reggae artist whose album "Israelites" catapulted reggae to the top. Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF freedom fighters and independence for Zimbabwe. And, all in all, Blackwell was the man. And reggae came to stay, and the vibe would change the world; and of course, the flow made sense.

And as it goes, so I found myself knowing more stuff about the legend. There was Aston "Family man" Barrett who claimed to have fathered 52 children; there was Bruce Dunbar in the era of the reggae explosion; there was Coxsone Dodds label that paid poorly; there was the American group, The Drifters, Marley listened to growing up in Jamaica and there was a group that admired the works of Marcus Garvey and celebrating "the 1930 coronation of Haile Selassie 1 as emperor of Ethiopia as a fulfilment of Garvey's supposed prophecy to 'look to the East for the crowning of the African King'"

Marley, the legend, you did stuff and you changed the world. Your legacy lives.