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Rating: Union. Fusion. Liberation.
Said like this, these three words seem like the tenets of a new creed. Don't worry, I'm not a preacher via the web, I just use these terms to describe an event. Yes, because the concerts of Bob Marley and the Wailers were nothing else but this. An event, a joy, a liberation, a mixture of music and spirituality. Chris Blackwell and Island smartly decided to document all this for those who weren't there and, as evidence, released "Live!" in 1975, composed of pieces from recordings made at the Lyceum Ballroom in London.
The CD, musically speaking, condenses in a little over half an hour the best of Marley's production up to that moment: from "Trenchtown Rock" to "Get Up, Stand Up", passing through "Lively Up Yourself" (welcomed with a roar from the audience), reaching the unforgettable "No Woman, No Cry" (here in its most well-known version). But, as mentioned, here there is no need to analyze the musical side of this live album (which is excellent, with the group captured in a state of pure "trance" throughout the record), but the indescribable strength and symbiosis that is unleashed between the band and its audience; Marley here seems like everything but a singer; he seems more like an incredible crowd leader, a bearer of a message to be listened to and listened to again. And you can feel that the audience present, through the music, the fun, and the emotion it provokes, grasps it, seizes it, and makes it their own. A record that, in reality, could be an oration, a speech from a charismatic figure to a crowd now amused, now astonished. That Reggae is involved matters little.
A glaring example of how music is just a means, not the ultimate goal to achieve, this "Live!" perfectly captures Marley's idea of a concert. On those evenings, Bob had his audience in his grip: he had taken them by the hand and slammed the reality told in his songs in their face. And those who were there understood and let themselves be led by the Wailers to the final shout of "Get Up, Stand Up," sung in one voice by the white Londoners and the Jamaican blacks present at the concert. 30 years later we feel that shout as intense as ever.
The Wailers had conquered, for one night, the capital of Babylon.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Trenchtown Rock (04:24)
One good thing about music, when it hits you (you feel no pain)
Oh, oh, I say, one good thing about music, when it hits you (you feel no pain)
Hit me with music, hit me with music now
This is (Trenchtown rock), don't watch that
(Trenchtown rock), big fish or sprat now
(Trenchtown rock) You reap what you sow
(Trenchtown rock), and only Jah, Jah know
(Trenchtown rock) I'd never turn my back
(Trenchtown rock), I'd give the slum a try
(Trenchtown rock) I'd never let the children cry
(Trenchtown rock), 'cause you got to tell Jah, Jah why
(Groovin') It's Kingston 12
(groovin'), it's Kingston 12
(Groovin') It's Kingston 12 now
(groovin'), it's Kingston 12
No want you come galang so, oh no
(... no want you fe galang so), ska-ba-dip-ska-ba
(You want come cold I up ...) Ska-ba-dibby-dip,
ska-ba-doop, ska-ba-doop (... cold I up)
Oh, oh, I'm groovin', and the world knows by now,
now, now, now, now, now, now, now, y'all
Oh now, I said, you feel no pain now
One good thing about music, when it hits you (you feel no ...) feel no pain
Hit me with music now, oh now, hit me with music now
Hit me with music, harder, brutalize me (... music)
This is (Trenchtown rock), I say, don't watch that
(Trenchtown rock), if you a big fish or sprat
(Trenchtown rock) You reap what you sow
(Trenchtown rock), and everyone know now
(Trenchtown rock) Don't turn your back
(Trenchtown rock), I say, give the slum a try
(Trenchtown rock) Never let the children cry
(Trenchtown rock), or you got to tell Jah, Jah why
(Groovin') It's Kingston 12
(groovin'), it's Kingston 12
(Groovin') I said, it's Kingston 12 now
(groovin'), oh, oh, oh, it's Kingston 12
(No want you fe galang so) Didn't I told you that
(no want you fe galang so) we should leave with love?
(You want come cold I up ...) I'm not gonna do that, man,
nothin' (... come cold I ...), and look deh now
(Groovin') And then it's Kingston
12, uh
(Good God ...) Good God, looky here now, uh
Hit me with music ...
02 Burnin' and Lootin' (05:12)
This morning I woke up in a curfew;
O God, I was a prisoner, too - yeah!
Could not recognize the faces standing over me;
They were all dressed in uniforms of brutality. Eh!
How many rivers do we have to cross,
Before we can talk to the boss? Eh!
All that we got, it seems we have lost;
We must have really paid the cost.
(That's why we gonna be)
Burnin' and a-lootin' tonight;
(Say we gonna burn and loot)
Burnin' and a-lootin' tonight;
(One more thing)
Burnin' all pollution tonight;
(Oh, yeah, yeah)
Burnin' all illusion tonight.
Oh, stop them!
Give me the food and let me grow;
Let the Roots Man take a blow.
All them drugs gonna make you slow now;
It's not the music of the ghetto. Eh!
Weeping and a-wailin' tonight;
(Who can stop the tears?)
Weeping and a-wailin' tonight;
(We've been suffering these long, long-a years!)
Weeping and a-wailin' tonight
(Will you say cheer?)
Weeping and a-wailin' tonight
(But where?)
Give me the food and let me grow;
Let the Roots Man take a blow.
I must say: all them - all them drugs gonna make you slow;
It's not the music of the ghetto.
We gonna be burning and a-looting tonight;
(To survive, yeah!)
Burning and a-looting tonight;
(Save your baby lives)
Burning all pollution tonight;
(Pollution, yeah, yeah!)
Burning all illusion tonight
(Lord-a, Lord-a, Lord-a, Lord!)
Burning and a-looting tonight;
Burning and a-looting tonight;
Burning all pollution tonight. /fadeout/
03 Them Belly Full (But We Hungry) (04:36)
Them belly full, but we hungry
A hungry mob is a angry mob
A rain a-fall, but the dirt it tough
A pot a-cook, but the food no 'nough
You're gonna dance to Jah music, dance
We're gonna dance to Jah music, dance
Forget your troubles and dance!
Forget your sorrows and dance!
Forget your sickness and dance!
Forget your weakness and dance!
Cost of livin' get so high
Rich and poor, they start to cry
Now the weak must get strong
They say, "Oh, what a tribulation!"
Them belly full, but we hungry
A hungry mob is a angry mob
A fain a-fall, but the dirt it tough
A pot a-cook, but the food no 'nough
We're gonna chuck to Jah Music- chuckin'
We're chuckin' to Jah music- we're chuckin'
A belly full, but them hungry
A hungry mob is a angry mob
A rain a-fall, but the dirt it tough
A pot a-cook, but the food no 'nough
A hungry man is a angry man
A rain a-fall but the dirt it tough
A pot a-cook, but the food no 'nough
A hungry mob is a angry mob
A hungry mob is a angry mob
04 Lively Up Yourself (04:32)
Lively up yourself and don't be no drag
Lively up yourself, 'cause this is the other bag
Hey, lively up yourself and don't be no drag
You lively up yourself, dig it, the other bag
Hey, you rock so, you rock so, like you never did before
You dip so, you dip so, and you can dip thru my door
You come so, you come so, oh yeah, like I do adore you
You skank so, you skank so, and-a I can assure you
You can lively up yourself and don't be no drag
Hey, you lively up yourself, can you dig it?
Hey (you rock so, you rock so), like you never did before
You dip so, you dip so, can you dig it?
You lively up yourself and don't be no drag
You lively up yourself, 'cause this is the other bag
Hey, lively up yourself
Lively up yourself, other bag
Can you dig it? Can you dig it? ...
06 I Shot the Sheriff (05:19)
I shot the sheriff, but I didn't shoot no deputy
Oh, no, oh
I shot the sheriff, but I didn't shoot no deputy
Ooh, ooh, ooh Yeah
All around in my hometown
They're tryin' to track me down, yeah
They say they want to bring me in guilty
For the killing of a deputy, for the life of a deputy
But I say, oh, now, now...
Oh, I shot the sheriff, but I swear it was in self defense
Ooh, ooh, ooh
I said, I shot the sheriff, Oh Lord
And they say it is a capital offense
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Hear this
Sheriff John Brown always hated me
For what I don't know
Ev'ry time I plant a seed
He said, "Kill it before it grows."
He said, "Kill them before they grow."
And so, oh, now, now,
Read it in the news
I shot the sheriff, but I swear it was in self defense
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Where was the deputy?
I said I shot the sheriff but I swear it was in self defense
Freedom came my way one day
And I started out of town, yeah!
All of a sudden I saw Sheriff John Brown
Aiming to shoot me down
So I shot, I shot, I shot him down
And I say, if I am guilty I will pay
I shot the sheriff, but I say, but I didn't shoot no deputy
Ooh, no, oh
I shot the sheriff, but I didn't shoot no deputy
Ooo, ooo, ooh
Reflexes had the better of me
And what is to be must be
Ev'ry day the bucket a-go-a well
One day the bottom a-go drop out
One day the bottom a-go drop out
I say, I, I, ...
I, I shot the sheriff, but I didn't shoot the deputy, no
(Repeat)
07 Get Up, Stand Up (06:29)
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!
Preacherman, don't tell me,
Heaven is under the earth.
I know you don't know
What life is really worth.
It's not all that glitters is gold;
Half the story has never been told:
So now you see the light, eh!
Stand up for your rights. Come on!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!
Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don't give up the fight!
Most people think,
Great God will come from the sky,
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high.
But if you know what life is worth,
You will look for yours on earth:
And now you see the light,
You stand up for your rights((Jah).
Get up, stand up! (Jah! Jah!)
Stand up for your rights! (Oh whoa)
Get up, stand up! (Get up, stand up.)
Don't give up the fight! (Life is your right.)
Get up, stand up! (So we can’t give up the fight.)
Stand up for your rights! (Lord, Lord.)
Get up, stand up! (Keep on struggling on.)
Don't give up the fight! (Yeah!)
We sick an' tired of-a your ism-skism game -
Dyin' 'n' goin' to heaven in-a Jesus' name, Lord.
We know when we understand:
Almighty God is a living man.
You can fool some people sometimes,
But you can't fool all the people all the time.
So now we see the light (What you gonna do?)
We gonna stand up for our rights! (Jah, Jah, Jah!)
So you better:
Get up, stand up! (In the morning)
Stand up for your rights! (In the night)
Get up, stand up!
Don't give up the fight! (Don't give it up, don't give it up!)
Get up, stand up! (Get up, stand up!)
Stand up for your rights! (Get up, stand up!)
Get up, stand up! ( ... in your neighborhood there)
Don't give up the fight!
Get up, stand up! ( ... )
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up!
Don't give up the fight!
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