Trivia / Bob Marley

• Approval of God:
  • Bob really liked Eric Clapton's cover of "I Shot The Sheriff" , and it helped his music get taken seriously in the rock world. He also liked Stevie Wonder's homage to him, "Master Blaster".
  • Bob had a near-literal example - whilst he never met Haile Selassie, he did win the approval of his grandson, who became friends with him and gave him some items belonging to Selassie. This connection is part of why Bob is regarded as a prophet in Rasta circles.
• Breakup Breakout: Bob started to gain a lot of success after Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh left the group after 10 years, effectively making it a solo project since the others no longer contributed their songs or harmonies. In fact, many assume all Bob's music is him solo. This was inevitable though, Bob simply was willing to do what the record company wanted to get his music known internationally (even if he did not make great money), whereas the others weren't. His use of female backing vocalists the I-Threes helped add a commercial element to his music and increased the popularity of his live performances.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: A lot of people seem to think he denounced Rasta and became a Christian on his deathbed, particularly because his final words were "Jesus, take me". In actuality, Rastafari is a variation of Christianity - just one that specifically calls Haile Selassie the reincarnation of Jesus.
• Cut Song:
  • Catch a Fire was delivered to Island Records including the songs "High Tide Or Low Tide" and "All Day All Night". Island head Chris Blackwell felt that "High Tide Or Low Tide" was too soft for the militant rock image he thought the group should focus on, and that "All Day All Night" was too similar to other tracks and made the album drag on a bit too long. Bob Marley (who wrote both songs) was ok with this, and the tracks did not receive the overdubbing and editing the rest of the album did. Eventually the tracks were released, but not reinstated till the album as intended until the original mix appeared on the Deluxe Edition many years later. Blackwell said that he loves the tracks and that cutting them was a mistake that made business sense at the time. "High Tide Or Low Tide" has been Vindicated by History from its appearance as a central theme in the Marley movie.
  • Multiple news stories from before Burnin' was released indicate Bunny Wailer's "Reincarnated Souls" and "The Oppressed Song" were going to be included on the album. An early mix of "Reincarnated Souls" had also appeared as the b-side to "Concrete Jungle". They were cut because Bunny already had two songs "Hallelujah Time" and "Pass It On" on the album, and instead saved for his solo album "Blackheart Man". In addition, Bunny says that his dislike of Blackwell's favoritism towards Marley caused him to specifically pull "Reincarnated Souls". Similarly, Peter Tosh cut a version of his old track "No Sympathy" for the album but it was not included, instead being saved for "Legalize It". All the intended album mixes were later released as bonus tracks on the 2001 remaster of Burnin'.
  • He stated before the release of "Rastaman Vibration" that he was going to rerecord "Trenchtown Rock" for the album as he liked the way the "Live!" version had come out. Ultimately he was talked out of it and this version was never released.
  • Rastaman Vibration had 3 outtakes, these being "Roots" (later released as B-Side to "Waiting In Vain") as well as "The Heathen" and "One Love (People Get Ready)" (both of which were completed for his next album "Exodus"). Two further songs of the period, "Jah Live" and "Smile Jamaica" were released as non-album singles, but not recorded during the album sessions.
  • "Chant Down Babylon" was supposed to be the opening track on Uprising, but Bob wrote "Coming In From The Cold" at the last minute. "Chant Down Babylon" later appeared on Confrontation. Give Thanks And Praises" was also intended for Uprising, but replaced by "Redemption Song" due to Chris Blackwell's preference for the latter. On that note, the 'band version' of "Redemption Song" was supposed to be on Uprising'' but replaced by the acoustic version as Chris Blackwell felt it had more crossover potential (which it did). The band version was later a B-Side.
• Dead Person Conversation: Bob's little daughter Cedella dreamed he spoke to her a few days after he died, insisting that he was alive. He asked her to tell her uncle Anthony to stop telling people he was dead. He said "Every time dem call 'pon the phone, him tell people, seh me dead — and me nuh dead!"
• Executive Meddling:
  • Chris Blackwell suggested Bob included the acoustic version of "Redemption Song" on Uprising instead of the band version. This ended up making the song feel much more poignant, and to be seen as a fitting "goodbye" song. It also made it a stand out track on the album, leading to its release as a single, something which probably wouldn't have happened if the band version had been included.
  • Blackwell allegedly told the group to tone down the lyrics to 'Revolution' or they would not get released.
  • This led to the split of the original Wailers, although indirectly. Bunny Wailer did not want to play 'freak clubs' to attract an audience the US, leading him to return to Jamaica (he had really never wanted to tour at all, and refused to leave Jamaica again after that). Peter Tosh stayed on the tour, though became agitated when Island refused to release his record 'Legalize It' and so he signed to CBS. The two of them did agree to sing on Natty Dread , though the I Threes, who had already appeared as guests late in the Burnin' Tour, were added to the LP instead to make it more marketable. Peter and Bunny frequently would argue with Bob about his pursuit of fame especially as they felt they were increasingly seen as background musicians. The Wailers did not officially split until 1975 after a reunion concert where it was evident they were all growing apart musically. Apparently, Peter and Bunny viewed Bob's solo version of "Get Up Stand Up" on Live! as an attempt to erase them from history, so promptly recorded their own solo versions. Peter did reunite with Bob one more time in 1978, though otherwise neither of them spoke to him again.
  • According to Bunny Wailer, The Wailers did not rate "Simmer Down" highly, but Clement Coxsone Dodd insisted on releasing it as their official debut. It would appear that "It Hurts To Be Alone" was the group's first choice, which is why there has been some dispute over this. The decision did however pay off, as "Simmer Down" was an instant hit in Jamaica.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • A large number of home recorded tapes dating from the late 60s through to 1980 were stolen from Marley's mother's house after his death, and bootlegged. Furthermore, some tapes were leaked courtesy of ex-musicians. Only a very small handful of home recordings have seen official release, such as the Acoustic Medley from 1971 as well as "Cry On" and "Down By The River" from 1980.
  • Marley released a very limited dubplate "Babylon Feel This One" in 1979, which Island have never released. Around this time he also produced dubplates of "Jump Nyabinghi" (then named "Dancing From Within") and "Mix Up Mix Up", although these songs did receive overdubs and appear on Confrontation after his death. All three of these dubplate mixes have leaked, although far from official quality. A good amount more Survival/Uprising outtakes have leaked too with many fans incredulous as to why they have not seen official release given most of them are complete songs.
  • Some of Island's releases have not appeared on CD, for example the original b-side mix of "Reincarnated Souls", three Natty Dread tracks "Lively Up Yourself", "No Woman No Cry" and "Bend Down Low" with male harmony vocals, the original single versions (with male harmonies) of "Blackman Redemption" and "Rastaman Live Up", and the 12" mixes of "I Know" and "Trenchtown".
  • During his Island career Bob rearranged older songs for live or rehearsal performance that never appeared on a studio album. These include "Walk The Proud Land (AKA Rude Boy or Rebel's Hop)", "Trenchtown Rock", "Simmer Down", "Soul Rebel", "Soul Shakedown Party" and "Hypocrites". Of these, only the first two have seen official release of such recordings (on 1991's Talkin Blues and 1975's Live! respectively), the rest having leaked. In addition, Bob performed some originals live that were never heard before or since, for example "So Long Rastafari Call You", "Keep The Faith" and "Conquering Lion Of Judah". Much to the frustration of fans, none of the live shows chosen for official release have included these tracks.
• Missing Episode:
  • "Terror", from 1962. Intended to be the B Side of "One Cup Of Coffee", but the tape was lost and has still not appeared after 50 years. It is often erroneously described as a follow-up single that Island never picked up.
  • "Sophisticated Psychedelication", from 1970. A Best Of The Wailers outtake that never came out. The group did not pick the final tracklisting for this LP as they left Leslie Kong due to disatisfaction with most of the results, so it is possible have they might have chosen to include it.
  • "Lick It Back", from 1970. A self-pressed single that Bob never sold, but only gave copies of to friends. Extracts from it are circulating. The same goes for an early version of "High Tide Or Low Tide" from 1968, except that there aren't any extracts from this.
  • The 1968 recording of "Rock It Baby", which supposedly lies in the vaults somewhere.
  • The 1968 recordings of "Soul Shakedown Party" and "Soul Almighty", whose lyrics and tunes are supposedly quite different.
  • The 1968 recording "You Think I Have No Feelings", the vocals from which were used for a remix in the mid 90s, but the original version has never been released.
  • The 1968 recording of "One Love", that is listed on the tape titled Morely. All the other tracks from that have been released. It is not to be confused with the track "One Love, True Love", which is a demo.
  • The 1968 recordings of "It Hurts To Be Alone", "I'm Still Waiting", and "Lonesome Feelings", without the overdubs made in the 1980s.
  • Early versions of "She's Gone", the song itself dating back to 1972 (likely intended for the unreleased JAD LP).
• Money, Dear Boy: Bob's attempts at pop-reggae for the Western market, with Johnny Nash in 1968 and 1972 respectively, both of which made no money and were promptly disowned. Ironically, when a remixed selection of both called "Chances Are" was released soon after his death, it was a huge seller.
• No-Hit Wonder: In the United States, that is. His only song to make the Billboard Hot 100 was "Roots, Rock, Reggae" from Rastaman Vibration, and it only climbed up to #51. Compare that to the UK where he had eight Top 10 hits.
• Out of Order:
  • The Studio One singles from 1963 to 1965 were frequently not released in the order recorded, which is really noticeable due to the higher voices (check out, for example, "Your Love" used as the b-side to "Playboy" it was recorded at least a year previously). In addition, there are conflicting reports as to whether "Simmer Down" was the Wailers' first single or if it was just the first to have label copies (in Jamaica, white labels - then known as blanks - were a common way to gauge interest in particular songs at sound systems). Some say for example that all the Junior Braithwaite material (such as "It Hurts To Be Alone", "Straight And Narrow Way" and "Habits") was the earliest Wailers material as they considered him lead singer at the time and his leaving early led Bob to voice more tracks. Others say that the group came straight to Coxsone with "Simmer Down" and he released it in late 1963.
  • The group's first dedicated album recorded for Beverley's, "The Best Of The Wailers", despite being recorded in early 1970 was not released till mid-1971, after their next LP 'Soul Rebels' and whilst the group was having success with various self-released singles including "Trenchtown Rock". The group was not happy that old unreleased material was coming out purporting to be their best, especially when their musical style had evolved over that time.
• Parental Substitute: Chris Blackwell was in many regards the father Norval Marley could never be. He gave Bob a lot of help and career guidance, provided housing for him, and encouraged him in a lot of ways. Not by coincidence, he was also a white Jamaican with links to the UK, who helped Bob enter the upper class society he had been denied by his father (and indeed, the white Marleys suddenly took an interest in Bob when he made it big). Chris said that whilst he and Bob spent lots of time together they insisted on not being photographed together, lest it give the impression Chris was the mastermind behind Bob's career.
• The Pete Best: The early Wailers had an additional singer, Junior Braithwaite, who left the group after only a few months and pretty much retired from music. His biggest contribution was "It Hurts To Be Alone", which the group continued to perform for years after he left the band, before he reemerged as a backing musician on some Bunny Wailer material in The '80s, before being murdered in 1999. The band members and label both spoke highly of his contributions to the band years after the fact, and it's hard not to wonder what could have been.
• Remade for the Export:
  • Bob re-recorded a fair amount of early Jamaican material for his Island albums. This was partly to make it easier for international listeners to get hold of tracks he was playing live, and partly so Bob could make money from them, as many of his Jamaican releases had been put out internationally without him receiving any royalties. Some of the rerecordings, such as "Concrete Jungle", "Who The Cap Fit", "One Love (People Get Ready)", and "Satisfy My Soul [Don't Rock My Boat]" are often regarded as even better than the originals.
  • The original Jamaican LP of Survival has "Wake Up And Live" at the start of its side, though neither side is marked as the A or B side. The US version followed this, though explicitly stated the "Wake Up And Live" side as the A-Side as that was the current single at the time (Bob stated he picked it as a single because his message was specifically directed at the African American market). For the rest of the world (also the Jamaican cassette), however, "Wake Up And Live" is at the end of its parent side, marked B Side, with the "So Much Trouble In The World" side as the A-Side - as that was the single in most places. This version has been canon since the first CD issues.
• Singing Voice Dissonance: Bob's interviews are at times incomprehensible to someone without a strong knowledge of Jamaican patois. His singing, particularly in the latter part of his career, is mostly in plain English with a scattering of patois here and there. He modelled his singing voice after American soul singers, and so didn't have as strong of a Jamaican accent as numerous other musicians (for example, Toots And The Maytals). His typical speaking voice does come out occasionally in songs like "Simmer Down" and "So Much Things To Say".
• Spiritual Successor: Whilst the two are distinct songs, Bob regarded "Waiting In Vain" as this to his Studio One era song "I'm Still Waiting", and noted around the time of Exodus that it had been around a while.
• Trailer Delay: Bob, Rita and Peter recorded an album for JAD in 1968 to break The Wailers to a US audience. One single, "Bend Down Low / Mellow Mood" got released in the US, Canada and France. However, the album was scrapped for three reasons - the failure of the single, the group's general dislike of the poppier arrangements of their songs, and the return of Bunny from prison, who was unhappy they had recorded material without him. Most of the tracks, therefore, didn't receive the overdubs that JAD would have used on them. Some of the tracks were released on vinyl in the 80s, and others were mixed in 1990 for unknown reasons. It wasn't known until the Fy-Ah Fy-Ah box set that this was intended as an album - the tape box can be seen in it. Almost all the tracks recorded for the abandoned album have since been released, with the exception of a version of "One Love". After this, the group attempted a session with JAD with Bunny which produced completed arrangements of songs, but none were released at the time.
• Unperson: He had his first son in 1963, but the mother's parents disapproved due to their young ages, and stopped him seeing her as a result. Because of this, he had no part in the son's upbringing and it isn't even known what his name is. It wasn't until 1967 that he had another child, this time with Rita Marley who he had been married to the year before. The first son is mentioned in the book "Before The Legend" by Christopher Farley, which uncovered a large amount of background information about Bob's extended family compared to other books.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Bob survived an assassination attempt in 1976, which, if it had killed him, would have meant many of his most famous songs would never have been written. His former bandmates Peter Tosh and Junior Braithwaite were not so lucky.
  • At one time he was considered for nomination as Jamaica's eighth National Hero. The idea was shot down very quickly. These days he would easily win this place. He is the reason the general public has heard of Jamaica, and tourism off his image has stimulated the economy, which previously relied mainly on sugar and moderate amounts of tourism.
  • Prior to Catch a Fire, Bob had toured with Johnny Nash for a few months, resulting in getting signed to CBS. The plan was to make it internationally as a solo artist in the soft-reggae vein of Nash (who had recorded some of Bob's songs). Several songs were recorded, but the lead single "Reggae On Broadway" flopped. An attempt was made to have The Wailers sign to CBS as a group instead, for which a tour happened, but for a number of reasons, the group decided to sign to Island instead. Some of the songs used on Catch A Fire, such as "Stir It Up", "Rock It Babe" and "High Tide Or Low Tide" are likely to have appeared on the JAD LP had it seen release.
  • Confrontation was supposed to be an album rather than a rarities compilation, but Bob only cut a handful of demos for it before he died. Likely candidates would have been "Slogans" (which was eventually overdubbed and released on the Africa Unite compilation) and "Bass Is Heavy (Real Good Time)", a leaked jam that includes the word "confrontation" in the lyrics.
• Working Title: It was common for a song to be titled one way on a single, then changed for the inclusion of the song on an album. "Baby Baby I've Got A Date" was "Rock It Babe", "Burnin' And Lootin'" was "Curfew", "Rastaman Chant" was "Chant I", "Rebel Music (3 O Clock Road Block)" was "Road Block". Bob used to continue to refer to these songs live under those names.
• Modern reissues of The Best Of The Wailers (Beverleys) have a beige background when it should be white. The reason for this is that most original vinyl copies of the album have yellowed over time due to the card used, and the cover was touched up by someone who didn't realise this. On the rare occasion a sealed original has appeared, the cover is clearly white.

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