Peers Compliment The Gong Bob Marley. Next week marks yet another anniversary of Bob Marleys death which took place in Miami, United States, in 1981. While there will be the inevitable outpouring of emotion and tributes, there is a special aura to someone being honoured when their peers show respect. And Bob Marley got that from his contemporaries, Jimmy Cliff and Joseph Culture Hill (now deceased). To make it even better, Culture sang about Bob Marley twice. One is an uptempo jam which includes lines from popular songs Marley did, while the other pays homage to the pioneering work of The Gong. In Psalm of Bob Marley, Culture sings just that, stating in the chorus Here I chant for you/A Psalm of Bob Marley/Here I chant for you/And for everyone to sing. There is some blending of songs done in the Peter, Bob and Bunny years with those in the solo period. Among the songs Culture does the title of or words from are Get Up Stand Up, No Woman No Cry, Concrete Jungle, So Much Trouble in the World, Natty Dread and Talkin Blues. The slower Brother Bob Marley acknowledges Cultures debt to Marley, while proclaiming his regality. Culture sings that he died and he died for a righteous cause, that of reggae music. But while he was alive, as Culture sings it, Marley trod the road that I and I might walk. If there is not enough, Culture broadens the scope of his brother Marleys impact, singing that he pave a clean way for Rasta/And for every decent one in every society. In doing his song for Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff focuses on the productive life he led. His song is also slow and opens with a wry reference to the slew of publicity around Marley. Cliff sings: Many things have been said about you Some false some true Instantly, he goes on to separate his motive for singing about Bob Marley from the pack: Not because everyone is saying Why I am saying too What I have to say needs to be said Because its true Then Cliff proceeds to sing about Marley serving up the essence of truth in a song. Like Culture, Cliff extends Marleys reach well beyond the personal impact: Your passage through this life Was a great big gift to humanity And then, Cliff announces, Bob you did your job. Still, he comes back to the all-important one-on-one influence: Touched the hearts of so many people Specially the grassroots And you made so many disciples While you touched mine too.
Posted on: Sun, 04 May 2014 11:43:35 +0000
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