My first experience with Bob Marley came at the young age of about 10. My dad had the Bob Marley and the Wailers Live at the Roxy Album. We put it on during a long car ride from the South suburbs of Chicago all the way up to the Northern suburbs. I remember sitting in the back seat watching the small, suburban houses slowly turn into large, monstrous skyscrapers as the music played. I believe this was my first exposure to a live album as well, because I recall asking my dad what all that background noise was. He told me it was the crowd, and that he preferred live album because he could “almost feel the energy” in each performance. As soon as heard the first track “Trenchtown Rock” I specifically remember feeling the presence of something I’ve never heard before. The light, upbeat feel of the guitars tied in with the heavy, yet buoyant reggae bass transformed our car into a moving ball of good energy, To this day, no other music has captivated me in such a way.
As the album progressed, tracks 6 and 8 stuck out to me and made me ask more questions to my father. “I Shot the Sheriff” was and still is a great story song that I absolutely loved as a kid. I asked my Dad, “Why is this guy admitting that he shot the sheriff, but not the deputy?“ He calmly explained that he didn’t know for sure, but he gave me his take on it. He explained that maybe the song is a metaphor. That he wasn’t singing about an actual sheriff or a deputy but instead about intolerance and injustice. He thought the sheriff was the police force as a whole. But he also thought that Bob was identifying the difference between the police as an institution and the policemen who do it as a job. He said perhaps Bob doesn’t hate them, but what they stand for.
This blew me away because up until that point, I had always just taken a song for face value. I had never thought that simple words could represent such a powerful idea.
As I grow older, I think there was a truth and insight into my dad’s rationale. Within that song the line "every time I plant a seed, he say 'kill them before they grow'" could mean those in power, in this case the sheriff, were trying to destroy Bob’s ideas, particularly the ones about defending human rights.
Throughout a lifetime, only a few musicians can be proclaimed a voice of that generation, and I believe Bob Marley is one of those. His music is a gateway to a different time, and an excellent source of history and soulful music all in one format: Music. He preached a message of peace and to not settle for what you are given. Bob Marley has had a huge impact on my life, and I thank my lucky stars that I was exposed to him at such a young age.
