The Marley Affect

“One good thing about music when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
The timing was perfect. It was a dry, sunny, humid afternoon in the front seat of my older brothers jet black Ford Ranger, we had the windows rolled down while listening to the roar of traffic with the birds singing in the sky. Head leaned back and enjoying the weather and relaxation, the music on the radio suddenly stopped. Looking to my left I watched my brothers arms move into his glove compartment and pull out a CD case that was designed with green, red and yellow stripes. I didn’t see the front of the album. As we sat at a red light he popped the case open and the reflection of the sun off of the disc left me with a flash of light blindness. I heard the CD float into the disc player and quickly spin. The radio now showed “Track 1”, and then the music hit us.
The first sound was a scratch of guitar strings, being repeated a few times in a manner that brings the sound of “Reg-gae, Reg-gae”, an off rhythm beat that sounds as sweet as a sunny day feels on the skin. Then the infamous clank of the steel drum put the rest of the instruments in motion from the bass, to the drums and the off kilter sound of a lead electric guitar. Perhaps it wasn’t the music that was the sweetest of all, because a chorus of singers began singing with the beat, repeating the words “Stir it Up”, the sound resonating through the speakers grabbed a hold of mind and body. I couldn’t stop tapping my foot with the off beat.
“Do you know who this is?” my brother asked with a slight smirk on his face. Clearly being able to tell I was enjoying myself.
“No, who is it?” I asked reluctantly. He was disturbing my vibe.
“Ever hear of Bob Marley?”
“I’ve heard of him, is this him?”
“Yep, I just picked up this CD the other day. It has two discs with a total of 34 songs on it.”
“I love it,” I replied. I could feel the energy coming from Bob and his band like no one I’ve ever heard before. What’s more, is the lyrics were beautifully written.
“Quench me when I'm thirsty;
Come on and cool me down, baby, when I'm hot.
Your recipe, my darlin' - is so tasty,
When you show and stir your pot.”
Two things occurred to me when I heard those lyrics. The first, is this guy must’ve had the pick of the litter when it came to the ladies. Secondly, I have been given the music from a legend I had never heard of before. I was on a mission to find out not only what Bob Marley sang, but who the legend actually was as a person and what kind of life he lived.

“This is my identity”
The first time anyone lays eyes on Bob Marley, whether it’s in an old Rolling Stone magazine or concert footage, you can’t help but notice his long and thick dreadlocks. This appearance is what he would later call “my identity,” he wanted people to recognize his long flowing locks and notice that something was different about him; because there was something about him that separated himself from everyone.
Bob Marley was a Rastafarian. He believed, as do other Rastafarian’s in Jamaica and all over the world, that Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. This is a belief that is very deeply routed in the Old and New Testament of the Bible. The promise that in two thousand years time a black man from Africa will come back to earth to make things right and lead his people out of Babylon. It was in his teenage years when Bob came back to Jamaica from living in Delaware with his mother that he discovered the Rastafarian way and became hooked to this religion.
While I walked along the dirt roads on my first cruise to Key West and the Caribbean in 2008 (the same year I was introduced to Marley’s music), Bob Marley’s face and voice were everywhere. And when I use the word everywhere, I mean he was on the streets and in shops, his music was played along the beach just outside restaurants by a live band, and when that band wasn’t performing, speakers played full albums on repeat of Bob Marley’s music. It was on this trip when I discovered who this man was and why the Rasta colors (after Ethiopia’s flag) of green, yellow and red were found everywhere in the Caribbean.
As the music became engrained in my head from hearing the songs so much, I realized how political some his songs were and how he integrated the message of hope, love and freedom into his music. It isn’t just about the positive vibrations of the guitar and the island clank of the steel drums; the words matter. One of my favorite songs from this trip was a famous song called "Redemption Song". This song single handedly shows Bob’s true spirit and his identity through the music and the stories he would tell. It shares all of the themes in which he was determined to share throughout his life. The lyrics tell a story of slavery and clinging to the hope of freedom and using music to help stay focused through trying times:
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 'and of the Almighty.
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly.
Won't you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
'Cause all I ever have,
Redemption songs
It wasn’t necessarily the fact that his music was played everywhere and that you can buy a $10 t-shirt with his face on it with Ethiopian colors splashed throughout the fabric. It’s about the message and style that Bob Marley delivered that is so prominent not only in the Caribbean but in the whole world. Marley once said in an interview “My music will go on forever. Maybe it's a fool [to] say that, but when me know facts me can say facts. My music will go on forever.”

Get up Stand up, Don’t Give Up the Fight
After the cruise, I began to flip through magazines and online articles about Bob’s life. It was then when I found out he survived through an assassination attempt one night before a "One Love" peace concert. Bob Marley was shot in his home in Jamaica in 1976. His wife and manager both took shots to the head and lived because of quick and efficient hospital treatment. Bob walked away with a scratch across his chest and a bullet wedged in his left arm. When asked about this event later in interviews, Bob says he knows who shot the gun that night. Asked if the person was ever caught, Bob said “No”.
The night after the shooting, his wife and manager in hospital beds, Marley took to the stage. As he walked off after the security heightened performance, Bob showed the audience the scratch on his chest and the bandage wrapped around his left arm. He then pointed to his bandage and shook his head. No one on earth was going to stop him from delivering his beliefs and message to the human race.
Many questions were asked by my parents when I started wearing black Bob Marley t-shirts and putting posters on my wall. Looking back it’s clear that they always associated Bob Marley with one thing; marijuana. It was recognizably part of Bob’s religious belief. God says in the Bible to “partake of the herb” and so it is very dear to all Rastafarians. They claim you find your true self from the sensation of being high on marijuana. Although I’ve never tried it myself, I have no problem with marijuana or those who smoke the herb. Regardless, it sure made Bob and his band members very happy and relaxed.
As my research continued through many months and listening to everything I could find on Bob Marley, I am forever grateful for the opportunity to know Bob’s music. And in that humid pickup truck on a sunny day in Buffalo, New York it led me to one of my musical heroes. Whether you believe in his identity or personal beliefs doesn’t matter when you listen to Bob because his message about the human race is so profound that it will last forever.
I wasn’t yet born when Bob Marley died from cancer. It was 1980 and it was discovered in his big toe after a cut he received playing soccer. Treatment began and he flew from the United States to Germany and back to the United States where he passed away at a hospital in Miami, Florida. He was trying to get back home to Jamaica. When I saw a documentary on Bob’s life, called "Rebel Music", all of the people who came to see the hearse carrying his body throughout Jamaica lined the streets and sidewalks. Some people were crying, others were dancing and cheering, celebrating his life and believing that he went home to be with Haile Selassie I, King of Ethiopia. A single tear strolled down my left cheek as I watched the way this great hero died. Maybe it was his age, only 36, or perhaps it was the recognition that this man was stolen from the world long before he should’ve gone.
Bob Marley’s music teaches me to never give up, have hope, faith and love for others, and stand up when you believe in something. I listen to his music today and so does the entire world because it’s absolutely timeless. Bob knew his music would last forever. If only people would truly listen, and our world would be much better off.