February of 2024 is upon us as the year starts to get really into the swing. Spring seems around the corner as the weather seems to have given us all of winter within a few weeks. Whatever the weather, I’m making sure to embrace what there is. In Erie, the weather here is unpredictable, so I’ve learned it’s best to be open minded to the unpredictability. With February being the month of Black History Month and the month of Valentine’s Day, I figured I’d pick a song that encompassed both of these ideologies. This month we’re going to take a look at the reggae masterpiece, “Redemption Song” by the iconic King of reggae, Bob Marley.
“Old pirates, yes, they rob I
Sold I to the merchant ships”
I love a lot of Bob Marley’s music; the positive energy in it, the calmness, everything about a Bob Marley song brings relaxation, peace, and all around great energy. This one in particular stood out to me for this month because of the theme of freedom and simplicity, which I see as being love, and being a song by such a monumental peaceful black activist work together perfectly.
“But my hand was made strong
By the hand of the Almighty
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly”
While the song does start out with Bob Marley singing about what seems like himself, he is speaking as black people as a whole being sold to merchant ships and being given a heart as strong as God’s and to do the work needed by his hands. He closes the second verse by singing how ‘triumphantly’ black people have come from being at such a low point.
“Won’t you help to sing
These songs of freedom?”
The chorus of this song encourages the listener to sing along with Bob’s songs of freedom, mentioning that they are ‘all [he] ever [has]’. I believe that the chorus of this powerfully uplifting acoustic song also was a reflection on his artistic legacy. Bob Marley’s music moved people and helped change the world while he sang about peace, happiness, freedom, and love. This is what God’s message to us ever has been; how to love each other. The idea of redemption to Rastafarians is for all people to return back to Africa in the way Africa was before colonialism. Rastafarians spiritually refer to this version of Africa as Zion. To Christians, we would seek redemption to the time before sin entered the Garden of Eden and people lived with God.
“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds”
In the second and third verse we hear Bob mentioning the freeing of our minds from mental slavery. Even today we all experience this fight, it can be in things like addictions to social media, or even things like peer pressure, which can affect us at any point in our lives. Like Bob says, only we can free ourselves. Bob also mentions not to fear “atomic energy”, which is a reference to atomic bombs. This song was written around the time of the Cold War when there were threats of atomic bombs between Russia and the United States. The other part of this line is that “none of them can stop the time” in which Bob Marley could mean that even though there are threats of who has the biggest war device, the testament of time is greater and that only God controls that. In the next part, Bob questions how long we must stand by while prophets are killed. Bob Marley considers people like Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, and Marcus Garvey (even though Marcus Garvey wasn’t murdered) as being prophets against oppression. Bob believed that just as we carry on the legacy that Jesus left behind, we should carry the righteous beliefs of equality that Martin Luther King, Malcom X, Marcus Garvey believed in. The unfortunate truth is that some people do say that unjust killings of the righteous is part of how life works sometimes, but the Bible tells us God sees the greater meanings, the greater ending to the story; it’s up to us as God’s people to fulfill the promises God has made to us.
“Ooh, some say it’s just a part of it
We’ve got to fulfill the book”
This beautiful song was Bob Marley’s last song he wrote and the lyrics also captured some of his own mortality. Unpredictability is part of life; you can’t get wrapped up too much in the past nor far into the future, but it is very important to cherish the current moment in what there is. What this song and Bob’s other musical works had in common was the message of love whether it was for oneself, a lover, or all of humanity. So while you’re sitting-wherever you’re sitting, and while you’re doing-what it is you’re doing, I hope you aren’t too busy to help to sing this song of freedom.
References:
Marley, Bob. “Bob Marley & The Wailers – Redemption Song (Official Music Video).” YouTube, 5 Feb. 2020. Accessed 29 Jan. 2024.
Marley, Bob. “Bob Marley & The Wailers – Redemption Song Lyrics.” Genius, Bob Marley, 1979. Accessed 29 Jan. 2024.