All dese governments and dis this and that, these people that say they're here to help, why them say you cannot smoke the herb?Herb... herb is a plant, you know? And when me check it, me can't find no reason. All them say is, 'it make you rebel'. Against what?
As recorded infilmed interview (1979) with Dylan Taite in Aotearoa, New Zealand
Alcohol make you drunk, man. It don't make you meditate, it just make you drunk. Herb is more a consciousness.
As recorded infilmed interview (1979) with Dylan Taite in Aotearoa, New Zealand
We don't have education, we have inspiration; if I was educated I would be a damn fool.
As recorded inTime Will Tell (1992), a documentary by Declan Lowney
Today, people struggle to find what's real. Everything has become so synthetic that a lot of people, all they want is to grasp onto hope.
As quoted inRolling Stone's The Immortals (2004) "Bob"
Possession make you rich? I don't have that type of richness. My richness is Life, forever.
Don't worry about a thing, 'Cos every little thing is gonna be alright.Emancipate yourself frommentalslavery, none butourselves canfree ourmind.They say: only the fittest of the fittest shall survive, stay alive!
One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain.
Trenchtown Rock (single, 1970)
Some people say great God come from the sky take away everything and make everybody feel high, but if you know what life is worth, you will look for yours on earth.
Excuse me while I light my spliff (spliff) Good God I gotta' take a lift (lift) From reality I just can't drift (drift) That's why I am staying with this riff (riff)
Take it easy, easy skanking Got to take it easy, easy skanking.
Life is one big road with lots of signs, So when you riding through the ruts, Don't you complicate your mind Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy Don't bury your thoughts; put your vision to reality
Redemption Song; the song was inspired by a speech byMarcus Garvey in Nova Scotia in October 1937, published in hisBlack Man magazine, Vol. 3, no. 10 (July 1938), pp. 7-11:
We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because whilst others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind. Mind is your only ruler, sovereign. The man who is not able to develop and use his mind is bound to be the slave of the other man who uses his mind.
Won't you help to sing, Thesesongs of freedom? 'Cause all I ever had, Redemption songs.
Who are you to judge the life I live? I know that I'm not perfect and that I don't claim to be, so before you point your fingers make sure your hands are clean.
Say you just can't live that negative way You know what I mean Make way for the positive day Cause it's a new day.
Some famous songs were made popular by Marley, but writing credits were actually given to his close friend Vincent Ford. Ford did not write these lyrics, Marley did, but gave Ford writing credits so he could use the royalty money to help pay for his Trenchtown soup kitchen.[citation needed]
Say you just can't live that negative way You know what I mean Make way for the positive day Cause it's a new day.
Good friends we have had, oh good friends we've lost along the way In this bright future you can't forget your past So dry your tears I say No woman, no cry No woman, no cry Little darlin' don't shed no tears No woman, no cry
Ev'rything's gonna be alright So, no woman, no cry.
I carried Bob Marley’sRedemption Song to every meeting I had with a politician, prime minister, or president. It was for me aprophetic utterance or as Bob would say "the small ax that could fell the big tree". The song reminded me that freedom always comes with a cost, but for those who would prepare to pay it, maybe "emancipation from mental slavery" would be our reward.
Bono, as quoted inMarley Legend: An Illustrated Life of Bob Marley (2006) by James Henke, pg. 57
You just mentioned Bob Marley — I can remember when I was in college,listening — and not agreeing with his whole philosophy necessarily, but raising myawareness of how people outside of our country were thinking about the struggles for jobs anddignity, and freedom.
He had thisidea. It was kind of a virologist idea. He believed that you could cureracism andhate... literally cure it, by injectingmusic andlove into people'slives. When he was scheduled to perform at apeace rally, a gunman came to his house and shot him down. Two days later he walked out on that stage and sang. When they asked him why —He said, "The people who are trying to make this world worse are not taking a day off. How can I? Light up the darkness."
The U.S. empire rests on a grisly foundation: the massacre of millions of indigenous people, the stealing of their lands, and following this, the kidnapping and enslavement of millions of black people from Africa to work that land. Thousands died on the seas while they were being shipped like caged cattle between continents. "Stolen from Africa, brought to America"-Bob Marley's "Buffalo Soldier" contains a whole universe of unspeakable sadness. It tells of the loss of dignity, the loss of wilderness, the loss of freedom, the shattered pride of a people. Genocide and slavery provide the social and economic underpinning of the nation whose fundamental values reject hate, murderers, and evil.
