Officially in stores on June 10, 1980, Uprising was the last Bob Marley and the Wailers album released during Marley’s life. On May 11, 1981, less than one year after the release of Uprising, Marley would succumb to cancer that had apparently plagued his body for years. The last track on his last album is Redemption Song, a beautiful farewell by the reggae superstar who became an icon and legend in the more than thirty years since his untimely death. Without attempting to present a complete history of the song or the album, this article looks at the background and origins of Marley’s Redemption Song. It concludes with a collection of videos by other artists who have made their own versions of Redemption Song.

Redemption Song is generally considered to be one of Marley’s best works. It skilfully describes and discusses the Atlantic slave trade, the dangers of the nuclear age, and, crucially, the idea that Africans in the Diaspora and on the continent itself must emancipate themselves from mental slavery.¹ Especially with the March 11, 2011 (nuclear) disaster in Fukushima (Japan) in mind, Marley’s lyrics seem as relevant as ever. It comes as no surprise, then, that Redemption Song has remained a much acclaimed song in the more than thirty years since its initial release. “Redemption Song came after all the essential parts of Bob Marley’s brilliant career. Redemption Song stands at the apex of his career: there was nothing more for him to write. It was as if he had written his own eulogy by which he wished to be remembered.”.² At the time Marley wrote the song, he had already been diagnosed with the cancer that would eventually take his life. Rita Marley, his wife, would later say that, “he was already secretly in a lot of pain and dealt with his own mortality, a feature that is clearly apparent in the album, particularly in this song”.³.

Interestingly enough, many commentators have written that Redemption Song was not, or perhaps much more than, a ‘normal’ reggae song. Timothy White, one of Marley’s earliest and most read and cited biographers, describes Redemption Song for example as “a plaintive, almost Dylanesque acoustic spiritual, devoid of any trace of reggae. When he sang it, he wore the expression of a playful child, but his voice bore the authority of a Biblical patriarch.”.⁴ Another prominent biographer, Stephen Davis, writes that the song is “a total departure, a deeply personal verse sung to the bright-sounding acoustic strumming of Bob’s Ovation Adamis guitar.”.⁵ Unlike most of Marley’s songs, Redemption Song is strictly a solo acoustic performance, with Marley singing and playing his acoustic guitar without any accompaniment from his band, the Wailers. Responsible for the fact that the song was initially recorded and released as an acoustic song (the 2001 reissue of Uprising includes a full band rendition as a bonus track) was Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records. Blackwell had signed Marley and the Wailers to his label in 1972 and consequently released all Marley albums. Thus, in the words of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Blackwell can be regarded as “the single person most responsible for turning the world on to reggae music”.⁶ Blackwell writes in a 2010 essay about producing songs for Marley: “The only one I produced is a great one – that’s Redemption Song: I’d heard his version of it, with the band. And I felt it would be much better with just him on guitar. I talked him into doing it: he was a little reluctant.”.⁷ And so Redemption Song appeared on Uprising as a unique acoustic song, distinctly different from Marley’s many other works in his long career. During live performances of Redemption Song the Wailers did support Marley. Despite different releases and versions, the acoustic version remains by far the most familiar and popular recording. In 2004, for example, the authorative American music magazine Rolling Stone put Redemption Song at #66 among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, while British magazine the New Statesman listed it in 2010 as one of the Top 20 Political Songs.

The origins of Redemption Song are less familiar however. Biographer Timothy White writes: “When Chris Blackwell first heard the tapes for Uprising [...] he stunned the band by telling Bob he felt he had something more to give to the album. [...] Marley smiled, uncomplaining, and returned the next day with two new compositions, Coming in from the Cold and Redemption Song.”.⁸ In his book Bob Marley. The Untold Story, Chris Salewicz adds: “The next day the musician played Blackwell a tape of Redemption Song, the song he had been working on sporadically for over a year. A folk ballad, played on an acoustic guitar, the song had a crystalline beauty that was like a summation of the entire philosophy of Bob Marley, an elegiac work whose haunting qualities came to dominate the album when positioned as its closing track”.⁹ In a 2010 essay, Robert A. Hill, professor of History at the University of California, Los Angeles, sheds further light on the history and origins of Redemption Song and his own involvement which might have lead to its creation.

Redemption Song derives some of its key lyrics from a speech given in 1937 by Marcus Garvey, the Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who advocated Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements and who has been an inspiration for many (Jamaican) reggae artists. In 2001, Hill recognized, after a suggestion by a fellow professor, that the now famous lines “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds…” in Redemption Song were actually taken by Marley from a speech by Marcus Garvey. It is quite surprising that it took Hill this long to realize, as he is a leading authority on Garvey and compiled and republished Garvey’s speeches and writings in a book in 1975. After returning home, Hill indeed found the speech by Garvey, delivered in Sydney, Nova Scotia, in October 1937, back in his own book.

Hill explains how it was he who gave Marley the 1975 republication of Garvey’s speeches. “This part of the story dates to the spring of 1976 and is set in Chicago when Bob Marley performed there on his second U.S. tour. [...] Don Taylor, Bob’s manager, contacted me to invite me to the concert. [...] At the conclusion of Marley’s concert in Chicago, I went backstage to meet Taylor and to thank him for the tickets. Marley’s performance was a revelation to me and I told Taylor that I had something that I wanted him to give to Marley as a gift and a token of my appreciation and respect. Taylor said he would be happy to oblige. The next day, I sent via Don Taylor a copy of The Black Man [the collection of Garvey’s speeches and writings] inscribed to Bob Marley.”¹⁰. It is thus highly likely that Hill’s book provided Marley with Garvey’s speeches and inspiration for Redemption Song. Remarkably, it took Hill 25 years to realize this probable connection between his book and the singers magnificent farewell, Redemption Song.

Whether these events and Redemption Song are directly connected or not, “with the stripped down accompaniment of acoustic guitar heightening the powerful immediacy of his voice, Bob Marley is still speaking to us, as it were, from beyond the grave.”.¹¹ Not surprisingly, Marley’s magnificent song has been covered by a wide variety of internationally recognized artists throughout the years. Below is a small selection of what I consider to be the best or most beautiful renditions. Of course, the first three are by Marley himself.

Redemption Song by Bob Marley, as released on the 1980 album Uprising.

Redemption Song by Bob Marley performed during an interview at Essex House, New York, a few days before collapsing in Central Park while jogging as a result of his cancer.

Redemption Song live in Dortmund during the European Uprising tour, June 12, 1980.

A 2011 version of Redemption Song by Stephen Marley (son of Bob Marley) and various artists for Playing For Change, an organisation with the goal of creating positive change in the world through music and arts education.

Johnny Cash & Joe Strummer – Redemption Song.

Irish folk music band The Chieftains recorded Redemption Song with Ziggy Marley, another son of Marley, for their 2002 album The Wide World Over: A 40 Year Celebration.

In January 2010, Rihanna released Redemption Song as a charity cover song for the Hope For Haiti Now campaign.

Lastly, a live version of Redemption Song by Cultura Profectica, a band from Puerto Rico, from their 2007 album Tribute To The Legend Bob Marley.

References:

Blackwell, C. (2010). Bob Marley: “Absolutely, Truly Natural”. Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas 43:2, 150-154.

Chris Blackwell Biography (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, from The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website: http://rockhall.com/inductees/chris-blackwell/bio/

Davis, S. (1990). Bob Marley (Rev. Ed.). Rochester: Schenkman Books.

Hill, R.A. (2010). Redemption Works: From “African Redemption” to “Redemption Song”. Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas 43:2, 200-207.

Walker, K. (2006). Dubwise: Reasoning From the Reggae Underground. Toronto: Insomniac Press.

White, T. (2006). Catch a Fire. The life of Bob Marley. The Definitive Edition – Revised and Updated. New York: Owl Books. Henry Holt and Company.

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