Bob Marley at 80 -- One Love

 

One Love! One Heart!

Let's get together and feel all right.
Hear the children cryin' (One Love!);
Hear the children cryin' (One Heart!),
Sayin': give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right;
Sayin': let's get together and feel all right. Wo wo-wo wo-wo!

Let them all pass all their dirty remarks (One Love!);
There is one question I'd really love to ask (One Heart!):
Is there a place for the hopeless sinner,
Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own beliefs?

One Love! What about the one heart? One Heart!
What about -? Let's get together and feel all right
As it was in the beginning (One Love!);
So shall it be in the end (One Heart!),
All right!
Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right;
Let's get together and feel all right.
One more thing!

This is Bob Marley Day and I'm tempted to just shrug my shoulders and carry on. I understand that Marley was a seminal figure in the rise of reggae music and that this genre not only influenced subsequent styles it opened us to other forms of World Music. While the music of Bob Marley and the Wailers was infectious it just wasn't all that appealing to me at the time. I liked One Love, but who didn't? I hadn't realized that the lyrics contained so much religious imagery. 

 It is remarkable that Marley rose from modest beginnings in Jamaica to global acclaim. Near the end of his brief life he played a concert in London, Great Britain, with 100,000 fans in attendance. Since his untimely death at the age of 36 I've become more aware and appreciative of his sense of social justice and uniting peoples of African descent. 

Marley was both spiritual and religous. He began life in a Christian background but became a member of the Rastafari movement in which Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia was an incarnation of God. I recall thinking that was just weird and Bob's love of weed turned me off in my earnest youth. 

Marley eventually converted to Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity and was baptised into that tradition shortly before his death. Sadly, his beliefs led him to ignore medical assistance for his cancer until it was too late. He was given a state funeral in Jamaica with Orthodox and Rastafarian elements and with him in the coffin were his Les Paul guitar (nooo!), a sprig of cannabis, and a bible, opened to Psalm 23 . Bob Marley would have turned 80 in 2025 so there will be a year of celebrating his legacy. It will be interesting to see what unfolds in the midst of Unholy geo-politcal chaos. 

Let's get together to fight this Holy Armagiddyon (One Love!),
So when the Man comes there will be no, no doom (One Song!).
Have pity on those whose chances grows t'inner;
There ain't no hiding place from the Father of Creation.

Sayin': One Love! What about the One Heart? (One Heart!)
What about the -? Let's get together and feel all right.
I'm pleadin' to mankind! (One Love!);
Oh, Lord! (One Heart) Wo-ooh!

Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right;
Let's get together and feel all right.
Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right;
Let's get together and feel all right.