..:: audio-music dot info ::..


Main Page     The Desert Island     Copyright Notice
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz


Bob Marley: Survival

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Island Records
Released: 1979.10.02
Time:
 38:05
Category: Reggae
Producer(s): See Artists ...
Rating: *****..... (5/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.bobmarley.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2000.09.02
Price in €: 9,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] So much trouble in the world (B.Marley) - 4:00
[2] Zimbabwe (B.Marley) - 3:49
[3] Top rankin' (B.Marley) - 3:09
[4] Babylon system (B.Marley) - 4:21
[5] Survival (B.Marley) - 3:54
[6] Africa unite (B.Marley) - 2:55
[7] One drop (B.Marley) - 3:52
[8] Ride Natty ride (B.Marley) - 3:53
[9] Ambush in the night (B.Marley) - 3:14
[10] Wake up and live (B.Marley/A.Davis) - 4:5

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


BOB MARLEY - Lead Vocals, Rhythm & Acoustic Guitar, Percussion, Producer

ASTON "Family Man" BARRETT - Fender Bass Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion, Producer
CARLTON BARRETT - Drums, Percussion, Producer
TYRONNE DOWNIE - Keyboard, Percussion, Backing Vocals, Producer
ALVIN "Seeco" PATTERSON - Percussion, Producer
JULIAN "Junior" MARVIN - Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals, Producer
EARL "Wya" LINDO - Keyborads, Percussion, Backing Vocals, Producer
AL ANDERSON - Lead Guitar, Producer

I-Threes:
RITA MARLEY - Backing Vocals
MARCIA GRIFFITHS - Backing Vocals
JUDY MOWATT - Backing Vocals

ALEX SANDKIN - Engieer, Mixing, Producer
ERROL BROWN - Assistant Engineer
DENNIS THOMPSON - Assistant Engineer
CHIAO - Assistant Engineer
PHILIP ZADIE - Assistant Engineer
NEVILLE GARRICK - Cover Design, Graphics
ROB FARMONI - Digital remastering
BARRY DIAMENT - Digital remastering

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Jamaicans have a marvelously vivid word–blueswee–to describe those who are wily and hard to pin down: i.e., the Bob Marleys of the world. In native folklore, these qualities of cunning are personified by Anancy, a legendary figure whose name comes from the Twi anànse, meaning spider. The Anancy stories, derived from the Ashanti and brought to Jamaica in the 1600s on slave ships from the Gold Coast, are fables wherein the small, weak spider man befuddles and outwits a host of adversaries, among them Brer Monkey, Brer Tiger and even Brer Death. Relying on his guile (and a mystical faculty to alter his appearance at will), brave Brer Anancy illustrates the ability of the downtrodden to overcome the mighty–an inspirational bit of symbolism for the thralldom in slavery days.

Like the blueswee spider man, reggae, as played by Bob Marley and the Wailers, is both a wellspring of homespun adages and a canny cultural tool with great facility for adaptation and innovation. Tracing the Wailers' growth from the falsetto vocals and languid R&B/jazz-tinged shuffle of their seminal ska era in the early Sixties, on through the percolating soul of rock steady, the raw, late-Sixties stutter beat of reggae, to the rise of the dub-wise march cadences (dubs are sledgehammer rhythm tracks) popularly referred to as rockers and militant, the band's evolution is so dramatic that one realizes the music has never lingered in any stylistic camp for more than two years. In fact, the Wailers are the only group to have thrived during these many phases, producing reggae as desperate as the souls who fill Jamaica's troubled hills, savannas and ghetto streets. Still, it's surprising to find Marley, on the live Babylon by Bus, turning a new musical corner with an altogether buoyant sound that's religious in its life-affirming Rastafarian underpinnings and universal in its romantic longing.

For a multitude of Jamaicans, Bob Marley is Anancy incarnate, a sagacious shantytown hero whose concerts evince the fearsome ballet of a black widow spider and boast a musical artifice shrewd enough to sidestep Brer Death himself. Indeed, Marley narrowly escaped assassination in December 1976 while rehearsing for an outdoor Smile Jamaica festival in Kingston. But he went on as scheduled, opening the tense, nighttime program with "War," a 1968 speech by the late Haile Selassie that the singer had set to a loping tempo. At evening's end, Marley opened his shirt to show his bullet wounds and then parroted the two-pistoled fast draw of a frontier gunslinger, his dread-locked head thrown back in triumphant laughter.

That was a mythic Marley performance, the spindly singer/songwriter embodying the defiant rudeboys, righteous Rastamen and duppy (evil spirit) conquerors with which he peoples his most ominous compositions. As in the Smile Jamaica show, the highly charged rendition of "War" on Babylon by Bus (now paired with the contrasting "No More Trouble") no longer possesses any of the gloomy solemnity of the version unveiled on Rastaman Vibration (1976), Rather, its tone is one of humble admonishment, fired by an uplifting, rock-oriented fabric of hard guitar, rich organ swells and brisk percussion. It seems, for the time being, that Marley's terrifying brush with fate has helped him exorcise most of his personal demons and caused him to shift his thematic focus from mayhem and apocalypse to the many faces of love and the continuity of life.

Despite the sternness of the material, Rastaman Vibration was Bob Marley's first attempt at joining the immediacy of reggae's volatile social and religious commentary with the visceral release of a unique brand of rockin' soul. On succeeding Wailers albums (Exodus, Kaya), he eschewed the grim dictums of classics like "Concrete Jungle," "Burnin' and Lootin'," "No Woman, No Cry" and "Johnny Was" (in which a ghetto mother weeps for a son killed by a stray bullet) in favor of such songs of hope, affection and fulfillments as "Jamming," "Is This Love" and "Exodus." These last three are given especially joyous treatment on the new double set, Marley's most fully realized record since its polar opposite, 1974's chilling Natty Dread.

As a rule, most reggae programs (with the exception of Toots and the Maytals' untamed soul revue) have little of the hedonistic abandon of the standard rock & roll show, if only because the numbing authority of the former's drunken tick-tock beat instills a kind of mass hypnosis. Since the overwhelming majority of reggae's exponents are devout Rastas, the proceedings build with a reverent unhurriedness that combines the self-absorption of a backwoods Pentecostal service with the chantalong intensity of ritualistic Rastafarian Grounation meetings. The Wailers' previous in-concert LP, Live! (1975), documented this obsessive approach, the band making music so steadfastly angry that the listener was almost afraid to be in a room by himself with it.

A far happier version of "Lively Up Yourself" is the only Live! selection that appears on Babylon by Bus, where it becomes a dervish-like ode to earthy bliss. Of the current album's thirteen tracks, all but two were cut during Marley's June 1978 dates at the Pavillon in Paris. The exceptions, "Stir It Up" (from the London show that produced Live!) and "Rat Race" (recorded in 1976 in the Hammersmith Odeum), contain an air of exhilaration that would reemerge full-blown in the Paris performances.

From the raucous invocation of Selassie's divinity that kicks off "Positive Vibration" on side one to the unabashed good cheer of side four's wrap-up rendition of "Jamming," we hear a new side of Bob Marley–fanciful, lovelorn, vulnerable–that's as riveting as any of his sulfurous early tirades. After the preceding Kaya (until now, his only disc with a cover that shows him smiling), Marley took a lot of critical heat from those who felt that by crooning anthems to the spiritual and temporal raptures of Jah (God), ganja, brotherhood and womankind, he'd betrayed his "roots" rage. (As if anger were a more creditable emotion than joy!) From a technical standpoint, both Kaya and Babylon by Bus surpass any of the Wailers' previous efforts and demonstrate a degree of sophistication that was either unavailable or unattainable in the simple one- and four-track Kingston studios where the group did its real roots recording.

Mindful that ska, rock steady and reggae were once emulations of American R&B, soul and rock & roll, I can accept Marley's fascination with Seventies funk and rock idioms. Why shouldn't he and the Wailers continue to grow and expand?

Babylon by Bus offers a fine sampling of material from the group's Seventies repertoire, ranging from the wrathful "Rebel Music" and "Rat Race" to such sultty dance tunes as "Stir It Up." Yet each number is now infused with a sprightly clarity and tenderness that redoubles the emotional impact. Bob Marley's vocals are his most expressive–and least pompous–ever. It's thrilling and often deeply moving to hear the mutually exultant dialogue he establishes with his Parisian audience: a testament to the global appeal of his positive vision. Jamaican guitarist Junior Marvin breaks new ground with spare, stinging leads, and his wisecracking interplay with Tyrone Downey's carnivalesque keyboards on "Lively Up Yourself" is a disarming delight. Even "Kinky Reggae," the haughty sexist cant on 1973's Catch a Fire, becomes a shade more palatable here because Marley's self-mocking singing and the I-Threes' coy backing refrain dismantle the song's macho malarkey.

And there's an improved arrangement of "Punky Reggae Party," an addlepated paean to the British New Wave released last year in Jamaica (and in England as an import) on Marley's Tuff Gong label. The original might well be the Wailers' worst single, eclipsing such memorable ska indiscretions as their cover versions of "A Teenager in Love," "What's New Pussycat?" "Hava Nagila" and a bizarre 1965 Christmas release called "Sound the Trumpet." Marley knows that the words to "Punky Reggae Party" are throwaways, but recognizes the tune's funky danceability. Working with the premier reggae rhythm section of Aston and Carlton Barrett (bass and drums, respectively), he cooks up a pogo sizzler.

Purists will observe–quite correctly–that the overall direction of Babylon by Bus is much too rock-oriented to be called reggae. But before they make disdainful comparisons between, say, ex-Wailer guitarist Peter Tosh's acclaimed "roots" reggae lead on Catch a Fire's "Concrete Jungle" and outsider Junior Marvin's spacious blues noodling on the new record, they should know that the guitar player on the earlier LP wasn't Tosh but an uncredited Wayne Perkins.

Babylon by Bus reverberates with an awesome faith in the power of love in all its difficult and rewarding forms. It's a statement that Bob Marley and the Wailers have been building up to for some time, and it explodes here with a humanity and an urgency as potent as any of the band's previous darker calls to arms. For sheer emotional impact, Marley's strongest song on Live! was a stark, accusatory "Them Belly Full (but We Hungry)," while the most affecting track on the current album is "Is This Love," whose jubilant message of ardor is every bit as stirring as that of its predecessor.

Bob Marley helped invent reggae and now, with stunning effectiveness, he's managed to reinvent it. After a long, uneven period of experimentation, the wily spider man has transcended the genre's limitations and, in the process, established himself as one of the most exciting rock innovators of the late Seventies. Let the word go forth: Babylon by Bus is a work of captivating originality, easily the most intelligent party album in years. And–I can't resist it–Ol' Blue Swee is back.

TIMOTHY WHITE - RS 281
© Copyright 2001 RollingStone.com



"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and cultureis like a tree without roots"

Marcus Garvey



Perhaps Marley's most militant statement, its bare-boned production put many off at first, but it returned him to the political realm in powerful fashion. "One Drop," "So Much Trouble," and "Babylon System" are among his best.

Roger Steffens, All-Music Guide



...on the impassioned 'Survival': "Wake Up and Live" and "Ride Natty Ride" recast familiar messages in fresh musical surroundings, "Redemption Song" closes the album with a heart-stopping acoustic plea.

ROLLING STONE ALBUM GUIDE *** 1/2



The first of an extraordinary musical trilogy that includes Uprising and Confrontation, upon Survival's 1979 release, Marley's ghetto supporters read titles like "Ambush in the Night," referring to the late '76 attempt on his life, and "Zimbabwe," celebrating that African state's liberation from colonial rule, as fiery political declarations. Whether singing songs of love, rebellion, reality, or spirituality, Marley vibrated with uncontainable intelligence that did great things for any listener. While it's impossible to single out any release in the reggae prophet's canon as "the best," his greatest impact came from a rare ability to articulate rebel rage while holding onto the vision of a more noble human reality. Survival's 10 straight up social-political declarations were Marley's boldest to date, and their muscular messages endure today as reggae's most luminous "sufferas" anthems.

Elena Oumano, Amazon.com
 

 L y r i c s


So much trouble in the world

So much trouble in the world
So much trouble in the world

Bless my eyes this morning
Jah sun is on the rise once again
The way earthly thin's are goin'
Anything can happen.

You see men sailing on their ego trip,
Blast off on their spaceship,
Million miles from reality:
No care for you, no care for me.

So much trouble in the world;
So much trouble in the world.
All you got to do: give a little (give a little),
Give a little (give a little), give a little (give a little)!
One more time, ye-ah! (give a little) Ye-ah! (give a little)
Ye-ah! (give a little) Yeah!

So you think you've found the solution,
But it's just another illusion!
(So before you check out this tide),
Don't leave another cornerstone
Standing there behind, eh-eh-eh-eh!
We've got to face the day;
(Ooh) Ooh-wee, come what may:
We the street people talkin',
Yeah, we the people strugglin'.


Now they sitting on a time bomb; (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)
Now I know the time has come: (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)
What goes on up is coming on down, (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)
Goes around and comes around. (Bomb-bomb-bomb! Bomb-bomb-bomb!)

So much trouble in the world;
So much trouble in the world;
So much trouble in the world.
There is so much trouble (so much trouble in the world);
There is so much trouble;
There is so much trouble (so much in the world);
There is so much trouble;
There is so much trouble in the world (so much trouble in the world);
There is (so much in the world);
(So much trouble in the world)


Zimbabwe

Every man gotta right to decide his own destiny,
And in this judgement there is no partiality.
So arm in arms, with arms, we'll fight this little struggle,
'Cause that's the only way we can overcome our little trouble.

Brother, you're right, you're right,
You're right, you're right, you're so right!
We gon' fight (we gon' fight), we'll have to fight (we gon' fight),
We gonna fight (we gon' fight), fight for our rights!

Natty Dread it in-a (Zimbabwe);
Set it up in (Zimbabwe);
Mash it up-a in-a Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
Africans a-liberate (Zimbabwe), yeah.

No more internal power struggle;
We come together to overcome the little trouble.
Soon we'll find out who is the real revolutionary,
'Cause I don't want my people to be contrary.

And, brother, you're right, you're right,
You're right, you're right, you're so right!
We'll 'ave to fight (we gon' fight), we gonna fight (we gon' fight)
We'll 'ave to fight (we gon' fight), fighting for our rights!

Mash it up in-a (Zimbabwe);
Natty trash it in-a (Zimbabwe);
Africans a-liberate Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
I'n'I a-liberate Zimbabwe.

(Brother, you're right,) you're right,
You're right, you're right, you're so right!
We gon' fight (we gon' fight), we'll 'ave to fight (we gon' fight),
We gonna fight (we gon' fight), fighting for our rights!

To divide and rule could only tear us apart;
In everyman chest, mm - there beats a heart.
So soon we'll find out who is the real revolutionaries;
And I don't want my people to be tricked by mercenaries.

Brother, you're right, you're right,
You're right, you're right, you're so right!
We'll 'ave to fight (we gon' fight), we gonna fight (we gon' fight),
We'll 'ave to fight (we gon' fight), fighting for our rights!

Natty trash it in-a Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
Mash it up in-a Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
Set it up in-a Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
Africans a-liberate Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
Africans a-liberate Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
Natty dub it in-a Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe).

Set it up in-a Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
Africans a-liberate Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe);
Every man got a right to decide his own destiny.


Top rankin'

They don't want to see us unite:
All they want us to do is keep on fussing and fighting.
They don't want to see us live together:
All they want us to do is keep on killing one another.

Top rankin', top rankin':
Are you skankin' (skankin', skankin')?
Are you skankin' (skankin', skankin')?
Wo-ho, top rankin' (top rankin'), 'Ow, did you mean what you say now?
Are you - 'ow are you (rankin', rankin') -
are ya - Lord, Lord, Lord! (skankin', skankin')?

They say the blood runs;
And it runs through our line,
And our hearts, heart of hearts divine, eh!
And John saw them comin', ooh! - a-with the truth
From an ancient time.

The brotherly love (brotherly love), the sisterly love (sisterly love)
I feel this morning; I feel this morning:
Brotherly love (brotherly love), the sisterly love (sisterly love)
I feel this morning, this morning. Hey!

They don't want us to unite:
All they want us to do is keep on fussing and fighting.
They don't want to see us live together;
All they want us to do is keep on killing one another.

Top rankin' (top rankin')!
Did ya mean what you say now (top rankin')?
Are you skankin' (skankin', skankin')?
Are you skankin' (skankin', skankin')?
Top rankin' (top ranking),
Did you (top rankin') mean what you say (top rankin')?
Are you (rankin', rankin)?
Are you (skankin', skankin')?
Top rankin' (top rankin');
Top rankin' (top rankin');
Are you (skankin', skankin')?
'Ow are you (skankin', skankin')?


Babylon system

We refuse to be
What you wanted us to be;
We are what we are:
That's the way (way) it's going to be. You don't know!
You can't educate I
For no equal opportunity:
(Talkin' 'bout my freedom) Talkin' 'bout my freedom,
People freedom (freedom) and liberty!
Yeah, we've been trodding on the winepress much too long:
Rebel, rebel!
Yes, we've been trodding on the winepress much too long:
Rebel, rebel!

Babylon system is the vampire, yea! (vampire)
Suckin' the children day by day, yeah!
Me say: de Babylon system is the vampire, falling empire,
Suckin' the blood of the sufferers, yea-ea-ea-ea-e-ah!
Building church and university, wo-o-ooh, yeah! -
Deceiving the people continually, yea-ea!
Me say them graduatin' thieves and murderers;
Look out now: they suckin' the blood of the sufferers (sufferers).
Yea-ea-ea! (sufferers)

Tell the children the truth;
Tell the children the truth;
Tell the children the truth right now!
Come on and tell the children the truth;
Tell the children the truth;
Tell the children the truth;
Tell the children the truth;
Come on and tell the children the truth.

'Cause - 'cause we've been trodding on ya winepress much too long:
Rebel, rebel!
And we've been taken for granted much too long:
Rebel, rebel now!

(Trodding on the winepress) Trodding on the winepress (rebel):
got to rebel, y'all (rebel)!
We've been trodding on the winepress much too long - ye-e-ah! (rebel)
Yea-e-ah! (rebel) Yeah! Yeah!

From the very day we left the shores (trodding on the winepress)
Of our Father's land (rebel),
We've been trampled on (rebel),
Oh now! (we've been oppressed, yeah!) Lord, Lord, go to ...

[*Sleeve notes continue:
Now we know everything we got to rebel
Somebody got to pay for the work
We've done, rebel.]


Survival

(Ow, ow-ow-ow-ow!
Ow, ow-ow-ow-ow!)
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
How can you be sitting there
Telling me that you care -
That you care?
When every time I look around,
The people suffer in the suffering
In everyway, in everywhere.

Say: na-na-na-na-na (na-na, na-na!):
We're the survivors, yes: the Black survivors!
I tell you what: some people got everything;
Some people got nothing;
Some people got hopes and dreams;
Some people got ways and means.

Na-na-na-na-na (na-na, na-na!):
We're the survivors, yes: the Black survivors!
Yes, we're the survivors, like Daniel out of the lions' den
(Black survivors) Survivors, survivors!
So I Idren, I sistren,
A-which way will we choose?
We better hurry; oh, hurry; oh, hurry; wo, now!
'Cause we got no time to lose.
Some people got facts and claims;
Some people got pride and shame;
Some people got the plots and schemes;
Some people got no aim it seems!

Na-na-na-na-na, na-na, na!
We're the survivors, yes: the Black survivors!
Tell you what: we're the survivors, yeah! - the Black survivors, yeah!
We're the survivors, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
(Black survivors),
Thrown in the fire, but-a never get burn.
So I Idren, I-sistren,
The preaching and talkin' is done;
We've gotta live up, wo now, wo now! -
'Cause the Father's time has come.
Some people put the best outside;
Some people keep the best inside;
Some people can't stand up strong;
Some people won't wait for long.

(Na-na-na-na-na!) Na-na-na, na-na-na na!
We're the survivors
In this age of technological inhumanity (Black survival),
Scientific atrocity (survivors),
Atomic misphilosophy (Black survival),
Nuclear misenergy (survivors):
It's a world that forces lifelong insecurity (Black survival).

Together now:
(Na-na-na-na-na!) Na na-na na na! (Na na-na na na!)
We're the survivors, yeah!
We're the survivors!
Yes, the Black survivors!
We're the survivors:
A good man is never honoured (survivors)
in his own yountry (Black survival).
Nothing change, nothing strange (survivors).
Nothing change, nothing strange (Black survivors).
We got to survive, y'all! (survivors) -

[*Sleeve notes:
But to live as one equal in the eyes
Of the Almighty.]


Africa Unite

Ziya-po ya-ya, pa-pa-ya-pa!
Ti-da-lee, na po-po pu-du-loo!
Ste-na-peh na-na po po-ro po!
Africa unite:
'Cause we're moving right out of Babylon,
And we're going to our Father's land, yea-ea.

How good and how pleasant it would be before God and man, yea-eah! -
To see the unification of all Africans, yeah! -
As it's been said a'ready, let it be done, yeah!
We are the children of the Rastaman;
We are the children of the Iyaman.

So-o, Africa unite:
'Cause the children (Africa unite) wanna come home.
Africa unite:
'Cause we're moving right out of Babylon, yea,
And we're grooving to our Father's land, yea-ea.

How good and how pleasant it would be before God and man
To see the unification of all Rastaman, yeah.
As it's been said a'ready, let it be done!
I tell you who we are under the sun:
We are the children of the Rastaman;
We are the children of the Iyaman.

So-o: Africa unite,
Afri - Africa unite, yeah!
Unite for the benefit (Africa unite) for the benefit of your people!
Unite for it's later (Africa unite) than you think!
Unite for the benefit (Africa unite) of my children!
Unite for it's later (Africa uniting) than you think!
Africa awaits (Africa unite) its creators!
Africa awaiting (Africa uniting) its Creator!
Africa, you're my (Africa unite) forefather cornerstone!
Unite for the Africans (Africa uniting) abroad!
Unite for the Africans (Africa unite) a yard!


One drop

Oo-oo-ooh, yea-ah. Wo-yoy! Wo-yoy! Wo-yoy! Wo-yoy-yoy-yoy!
Feel it in the one drop;
And we'll still find time to rap;
We're makin' the one stop,
The generation gap;
Now feel this drumbeat
As it beats within,
Playin' a riddim,
Resisting against the system, ooh-wee!

I know Jah's never let us down;
Pull your rights from wrong
(I know Jah would never let us down)
Oh, no! Oh, no! Oh, no!
They made their world so hard (so hard):
Every day we got to keep on fighting (fighting);
They made their world so hard (so hard):
Every day the people are dyin' (dying), yeah!
(It dread, dread) For hunger (dread, dread) and starvation
(dread, dread, dread, dread),
Lamentation (dread dread),
But read it in Revelation (dread, dread, dread, dread):
You'll find your redemption
And then you give us the teachings of His Majesty,
For we no want no devil philosophy;
A you fe give us the teachings of His Majesty,
A we no want no devil philosophy:

Feel it in the one drop;
And we still find time to rap;
We're making the one stop,
And we filling the gap:
So feel this drumbeat
As it beats within
Playing a riddim, uh!
Fighting against ism and skism,

Singing: I know Jah's never let us down;
Pull your rights from wrong:
I know Jah's never let us down.
Oh, no! Oh, no! Oh, no!
They made their world so hard
Every day (we got to keep on fighting), every day;
They made their world so hard
Every day (the people are dying), eh!
(dread, dread, it dread, dread) Oh, whoa! Make dem a-go on so:
(dread, dread, it dread on dread) Ah, whoa!
(dread, dread) I'll walk (it dread, dread)
Ah, whoa! Frighten dem, ah whoa!
(dread, dread) Ah, whoa! Frighten dem, eh!
Give us the teachings of His Majesty - with a stick-up!
We no want no devil philosophy. Can you hear?
Give us the teachings of His Majesty,
For we no want no devil philosophy.

We feel it in the one drop; you're lucky!
For we still got time to rap,
And we're making the one stop
Let me tell ya: this generation gap.
So feel this drumbeat;
I tell you what: it's beating within
Feel you heart playing a riddim -

[*Sleeve notes:
And you know it's resisting against ism and skism,
Singing: I know Jah would never let us down.]


Ride natty ride

Rub, rub, rubby-doo-day;
Rum-pum-pum a-rum-pum-pum-pum!
Dready got a job to do
And he's got to fulfill that mission
To see his hurt is their greatest ambition, yeah!
But-a we will survive in this world of competition,
'Cause no matter what they do
Natty keep on comin'through,
And no matter what they say-ay-ay-ay,
Natty de deh every day. yeah!
Natty Dread rides again,
Through the mystics of tomorrow,
Natty Dread rides again:
Have no fear, have no sorrow, yeah!

All and all you see a-gwan
Is to fight against Rastaman.
So they build their world in great confusion
To force on us the devil's illusion.
But the stone that the builder refuse
Shall be the head cornerstone,
And no matter what game they play,
Eh, we got something they could never take away;
We got something they could never take away:

And it's the fire (fire), it's the fire (fire)
That's burning down everything:
Feel that fire (fire), the fire (fire);
Only the birds have their wings, yeah!
No time to be deceived.
Oh, brothers, you should know and not believe:
Jah say this judgement - it could never be with water,
No water could put out this fire (fire):
This fire (fire), this fire (fire),
This fire (fire), a yaga y'all! Ride, Natty, ride!
Go deh, Dready, go deh,
'Cause now the fire is out of control,
Panic in the city, wicked weeping for their gold!
Everywhere this fiyah is burning,
Destroying and melting their gold,
Destroying and waisting their souls.

Go ride, Natty, ride!
Go deh, Dready! Go deh!

Tell you what: now the people gather on the beach
And the leader try to make a speech,
But the Dreadies understandin' that it's too late:
Fire is burning;
Man, pull your own weight!
Fiyah is burning;
Man, pull your own weight!
Natty Dread rides again (Natty Dread rides again);
And me say, Go deh, Dready! Go deh! (go deh, go deh)
Oh ride, Natty, ride! (Dread rides again)
And go deh, Dready! (Go deh, go deh)
Ridin' through the storm,
Riding through the calm (go deh, go deh).
Oh ride, Natty, ride!
Go deh, Dready, go deh!
Ride, Natty, ride!
Go deh, Dready, do deh!

[*Sleeve notes:
We riding thru the thick;
We riding thru the thin;
Ride Natty, ride Natty.]


Ambush in the night

(Ooh-wee, ooh-wee, ooh-wa!)
See them fighting for power (ooh-wee, ooh-wee, ooh-wa!),
But they know not the hour (ooh-wee, ooh-wee, ooh-wa!),;
So they bribing with their guns, spare-parts and money,
Trying to belittle our
Integrity now.
They say what we know
Is just what they teach us;
And we're so ignorant
'Cause every time they can reach us (shoobe, doo-wa)
Through political strategy (shoo-be, doo-wa);
They keep us hungry (shoobe, doo-wa),
And when you gonna get some food (shoobe, doo-wa),
Your brother got to be your enemy, we-e-ell!

Ambush in the night,
All guns aiming at me;
Ambush in the night,
They opened fire on me now.
Ambush in the night,
Protected by His Majesty.
Ooh-wee, ooh-wee. Ooh-wa-ooh!
(Ooh-wee) Ooh-wee, ooh-wee (ooh-wa), Ooh-wa!
Ooh-wee, ooh-wee, ooh wa-ooh!
Ooh-wee, ooh-wee, ooh wa-ah!

Well, what we know
Is not what they tell us;
We're not ignorant, I mean it,
And they just cannot touch us;
Through the powers of the Most-I (shoobe, doo-wa),
We keep on surfacin' (shoobe, doo-wa);
Thru the powers of the Most-I (shoobe, doo-wa),
We keep on survivin'.

Yeah, this ambush in the night
Planned by society;
Ambush in the night;
They tryin' to conquer me;
Ambush in the night
Anyt'ing money can bring;
Ambush in the night
Planned by society;
Ambush in the night -


Wake up and live

One, two, three, four!

Wake up and live, y'all,
Wake up and live!
Wake up and live now!
Wake up and live!

Life is one big road with lots of signs,
So when you riding through the ruts, don't you complicate your mind:
Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy!
Don't bury your thoughts; put your vision to reality, yeah!

All together now:
Wake up and live (wake up and live, y'all),
Wake up and live (wake up and live),
wake up and wake up and live, yeah! (wake up and live now),
Wake up and (wake up and live) - wake up and live!
Rise ye mighty people, ye-ah!
There's work to be done,
So let's do it-a little by little:
Rise from your sleepless slumber! Yes, yeah! Yes, yeah!
We're more than sand on the seashore,
We're more than numbers.
All together now:
Wake up and live now, y'all!
(Wake up and live) Wake up and live!
Wake up and live, y'all!
(Wake up and live) Wake up and live now!
You see, one - one cocoa full a basket,
Whey they use you live big today: tomorrow you buried in-a casket.
One - one cocoa full a basket, yeah, yes!
Whey they use you live big today: tomorrow you bury in-a casket.

W'all together now:
(Wake up and live now!) Wake up and live! Oh! Yeah-eah!
(Wake up and live!) Uh!
(Wake up and live now!) Wake up and live!
(Wake up and live) Keep on playin'!
(Wake up and live, y'all) Uh! Yeah! Yeah!
(Wake up and live!)
(Wake up and live now!)
(Wake up and live!) Break it down!

[Saxophone solo]
Come on, man!
How is it feelin' over there?
(Wake up and live now) All right!
(Wake up and live!) Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Uh!
Come on, man!
You gotta wake up and live!

Life is one big road with lots of signs, yes!
So when you riding through the ruts, don't you complicate your mind:
Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy!
Don't bury your thoughts; put your dream to reality, yeah!

W'all together now:
(Wake up and live, y'all)
(Wake up and live!) Wake up and live, yea-eah!
(Wake up and live now!)
(Wake up and live!)
Wake up and live now!
(Wake up and live) Wo-oh!
Wake up and live now!
Wake up and live

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


Currently no Samples available!