The Revolutionary Words Of Bob Marley’s “Get Up Stand Up”

12 Pages 2911 Words

inancial support, the Captain seldom saw his son who grew up in rural surroundings of St. Anne to the north of the island.
For country people in Jamaica, the capital Kingston was the city of their dreams, the land of opportunity. The reality was that Kingston had little work to offer, yet through the 50s and 60s people flooded the city. The newcomers, despite their rapid disillusion with the capital, seldom returned to the rural life. Instead, they settled in the shanty towns that grew up in the western Kingston, the most notorious of which was “Trench Town” (named because it was built over a ditch that drained the sewage of old Kingston.)
Bob Marley, barely into his teens, moved to Kingston in the late 50’s. Like many before them, Marley and his mother eventually settled in Trench Town. His friends were other street youths, also impatient with their place in Jamaican society. One friend in particular was Neville O’Riley Livingston, known as Bunny, with whom, “Bob took his first hesitant musical steps (Makin, 25.)”
The two youths were fascinated by the extraordinary music they could pick up from American radio station. In particular there was one New Orleans station broadcasting the latest tunes by such artists Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Curtis Mayfield, and Brooke Benton. Bob and Bunny also paid close attention to the black vocal groups, such as the “Drifters”, who where extremely popular in Jamaica.
When Bob quit school he seemed to have but one ambition: music. Although he took a job in a wielding shop, Bob spent all his free time with Bunny, perfecting their vocal abilities (Makin, 31.) They were helped by one of “Trench Town’s” famous residents, the singer Joe Higgs who held informal lessons for aspiring vocalists in the tenement yards. It was at one of those sessions Bob and Bunny met Peter McIntosh, another youth with big musical ambitions (Makin, 34).
In 1962 Bob Marley auditioned for a local music...