Seek Your Redemption, Analyzing Some of Marley's Best Jul 30 '04    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet The Bottom Line Bob Marley and the Wailers gave us a whole new vision to the way we live our lives. We are the ones who must uncover this vision. The Musical Style of Bob Marley and the Wailers Throughout the ages Bob Marley and the Wailers have given us countless classics of redemption and freedom. With little doubt, it is obvious that Bob Marley and the Wailers fall under the musical phylum of Reggae. Reggae first started in the island of Jamaica and Bob Marley popularized it throughout the world. Reggae uses a heavy up-strum beat that doesn’t follow the usual 4/4 or 3/4 time that is used mostly in rock and dance music. It relies heavily on the instruments of the guitar, slide guitar, bass, piano, and drums/bongos. Reggae is essentially an offshoot of Ska which was the prominent music type in Jamaica before Reggae began its rise. Ska differs from Reggae in that it includes more horns and danceable rhythms. However, traces of Ska can be seen in Reggae songs. Bob Marley and the Wailers were keen on incorporating different musical instruments and musical styles into their songs. “Get up, Stand up” written by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh is a clear example of Reggae not fitting the traditional 4/4 or 3/4 beat. It is somewhere in between two and three time which makes Reggae hard to mimic by other music styles. Also, the guitar, thumping bass groove, and drums make up the heart of this song giving a sort of classic Reggae feel. Another more traditional Reggae sound is “Equal Rights” which Peter Tosh did once he left the Wailers. It too fails to fit this 4/4 and 3/4 time and uses very classical Reggae instruments like the piano, light bass, guitar, and drums. “Duppy Conqueror” by Bob Marley also uses this instruments especially the guitar, slide guitar and bass. Bob Marley and the Wailers produced countless songs that have a musical influence besides Reggae that can be heard. The most popular and well-known songs that include musical attributes of other styles are “Buffalo Soldier”, “Exodus”, “Jamming”, “No Woman, No Cry”, “Redemption Song”, “Rasta Man Chant”, and Peter Tosh’s “Stepping Razor”. “Buffalo Soldier” really shows the Ska influence Reggae is based off. As in Ska, “Buffalo Soldier” uses horns in the beginning and in the chorus of the song. Also, this song has a more established beat and seems as if it could be danced to. “Exodus” includes almost every musical style that has reached Jamaica. It combines Reggae, Ska, Rock, and Gospel. Exodus has a very rock-like strum that resounds throughout the song as well as horns that we see in Ska. By including an organ, “Exodus” is also given a very Gospel type sound. We can still hear the attributes of Reggae however, such as the guitar and piano. “Jamming” further shows the fusion of different styles Bob Marley and the Wailers put into their songs. “Jamming” is given a sort of catchy, jazz and swing feeling partly contributed by the keyboard that is often used in Jazz and swing music. However, with its bumbling beat and guitar in the background, this song still retains its essence of Reggae. “No Woman, No Cry” combines the organ in the background which gives it this Gospel type feeling. The drums and beat however, keep it in the bounds of Reggae type music. “Redemption Song” completely defies the rules of Reggae with Bob Marley performing solo with just an acoustic guitar playing mostly chords as he sings a song of redemption and oppression. “Rasta Man Chant” is a traditional Rastafarian song (Bob and the Wailers’ religion) that was rearranged by Marley. The song is given a more established beat but the bongos used give it a sort of Reggae feel. It also includes the use of an ethnic flute which was non-existent in Reggae. “Stepping Razor” by Peter Tosh when he left the Wailers, is a unique blend of Rock and Reggae that gives it an interesting sound. At the very start, there is Reggae beats in the background but an electric guitar is hammering out power chords. This last for about twenty seconds and then fades into a typical Reggae sounding song. Bob Marley and the Wailers fused in musical styles and rhythms from all over the globe. Truly remarkable, this group gave us something new to listen to. Always looking for a new sound or beat, Bob Marley and the Wailers never ceased to elevate their creativity in musical compilation while still giving us the Reggae feel that everybody loved. The Philosophy of Bob Marley and the Wailers The lyrics and message of original Reggae and Bob Marley and the Wailers is all about politics and Rastafarian redemption. Through the times of the sixties through the eighties, Jamaica was facing incredible political oppression from its government. Reggae focused in on this concept of repressing people’s God-given rights and of the corruption that was occurring in their country’s government. Such examples of Bob Marley and the wailers crying out against the oppressive government is in such songs as “Get up, Stand up”, “I Shot the Sheriff”, “Small Axe”, “Burnin’ and Lootin”, and “No Woman, No Cry”. “Get up, Stand up” was written by both Peter Tosh and Bob Marley and speaks of rejecting oppression and standing up for your rights as the song goes, “Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights/Get up, stand up, don’t give up the fight.” Marley then sings the verse, “Preacher man don’t tell me heaven is under earth/I know you don’t know what life is really worth/Is not all that glitters in gold and/Half the story has never been told/So now you see the light, aay/Stand up for your rights.” Seldom does any Rastafarian or Reggae music speak out with such audacity as “Get up, Stand up”. “I Shot the Sheriff” continues Marley’s singing of the oppressive world in the Jamaican ghettos. He sings, “All around in my hometown/They trying to track me down/ They say they want to bring me in guilty/For the killing of a deputy, for the life of a deputy/ But I say, I shot the sheriff, but I didn’t shoot no deputy.” “Small Axe” is again another one of Bob’s more political songs. Bob wrote “Small Axe” as a rebellion against the three major record companies in Jamaica. It goes, “I you are a big tree/We are the small axe/Sharpened to cut you down, ready to cut you down.” Bob and those you thirst for human rights represent the axe as the record companies represent the tree. It is also interesting to point out that in Jamaica, “three” is pronounced as “tree”. Bob was always clever in his songs. “Burnin and Lootin” is a beautiful and melancholy song Bob wrote about a riot that took place in the ghetto of Trenchtown, Jamaica. The police brutalized the unarmed people trying to stand up for their beliefs. The song goes, “This morning I woke up in a curfew/Oh God, I was a prisoner too/Yeah, could not recognize the faces standing over me/They were all dressed in uniforms of brutality.” In “No Woman, No Cry”, Marley sings about his days in Trenchtown with an optimistic message that the government will pull itself together and everything will be all right. The song goes, “I remember, when we use to sit/In the government yards at Trenchtown/Oba, ob-serving the hypocrites/As they would mingle with the good people they meet/Good friends we have had, good friends we’ve lost along the way/In this bright future, you can’t forget the past/So dry your tears I say.” The Wailers’ pride of African heritage led them to produce such songs as “Buffalo Soldier” which speaks of black men in the Union Army during the Civil War who were hired to kill Native Americans. The song is full of irony and stories of black men being taken away from Africa and into slavery. It goes, “Buffalo soldier/Dreadlock Rasta/There was a buffalo soldier/In the heart of America/Stolen from Africa, brought to America/Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival.” Other songs of African pride include one by Peter Tosh called “African” of which he speaks of African pride and heritage. Bob Marley and the Wailers not only address the concept of the oppressive Jamaican government, but also of the Rastafarian redemption as it was followed by the three members, Bob, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer. Rastafarian, in short, is the belief of a natural and joyous life. This religion includes concepts of smoking grass and eating food in the rawest form possible. Monotheistic, Rastafarian refers to God as Jah. It also speaks against cutting your hair as well as washing it. That is why Rastafarians wear dreadlocks. Bob’s belief in Rastafarian, naturally led him to pursue redemption by going home to Mount Zion which is in Ethiopia. Well known songs that talk about Bob’s and the Wailers’ dedication to redemption are “Redemption Song”, “Duppy Conqueror” “Rasta Man Chant”. “Redemption Song” is done solely by Bob Marley playing on the acoustic guitar as he sing this song of freedom and redemption. The song goes, “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 had/Redemption songs, redemption songs. “Duppy Conqueror” has the underlying message that Rastafarians are so tough, then can even beat Duppies, which are ghosts. Additionally, the song speaks of getting home to Zion now that they are free. It goes, “The bars could not hold me/Force could not control me/they try to keep me down but Jah put I around…Don’t try to cold me up on this bridge, now/I’ve got to reach Mount Zion-the highest region/So if you’re a bull-bucker/Let me tell you this-I’m a Duppy Conqueror.” “Rasta Man Chant” is a traditional Rastafarian song that Bob Marley rearranged with different instruments. “Rasta Man Chant” is all about fulfilling the dream of returning to Mount Zion for our redemption once we’ve passed away. This song clearly defines the beliefs of Rastafarianism as well as the best example of Marley’s thirst for Rastafarian redemption even in the afterlife. The song goes, “I say fly away home to Zion/fly away home/I say fly away to Zion/fly away home/One bright morning when my work is over/Man will fly away home”. The evocative and beautiful message Bob Marley and the Wailers give us through this stunning array of lyrical achievement goes unprecedented in the history of Reggae, Ska, and Rastafarianism music. They gave us the idea to think and fell for yourselves and not let someone else dictate your being. We are souls seeking redemption, and Bob Marley and the Wailers showed us the path.

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