(transposed by Tammy Beveridge)
Additional infos on : http://reggaelover.free.fr/
CLICK FOR LISTEN AN EXTRACT
C. Welch: Bob this is probably your most political record yet with all you’ve done and a lot of message but your not a singer you’re a story called revolutionary
Bob Marley: Heh heh
CW: How did you feel about this album?
BM-Well I feel very feel very strongly about this album ya know because it for the right cause ya know from bring back beautification of all Africans like Marcus Garvey preach about ya know soh that is what the album really be about unity
CW-I understand also that that the representatives of the African countries of the United Nations gave you an award
BM-Yeahh
CW-How did you feel about receiving that award?
BM-Well you know receiving the award to me was like it was nice it was a nice thing ya know really have a good heart
CW-From Africa
BM-Ya know that was well a well a nice thing comin’ from Africa ha ha
CW- You ok let me put it now this way the album as I said is really political its very inspiring and you brought the flag of the Third World out there
BM-Yeah
CW-Does it bother bother you at all that the western world might feel different about it?
BM-Noh it don’t worry me because the people of today know that what we are sayin’ is true because ya know you can buy a book an a book to read about gangsters an you can buy a book an it tell you about Africa you can buy seh you can buy a book an it tell you about Christopher Columbus soh ya know this record is strictly dealin’ with the unity of all people but the African first fe cause the way it goes is that God giveth three people a gift HIM give to Japheth which is the white man the gift of technology give to Shem most of the wealth give to the black man knowledge wisdom and overstanding soh the black man is the among the conscious whole whole thing about the mind and all God business that wisdom an knowledge an unnerstan that wisdom an knowledge unnerstandin’ that create the earth from the beginning that a black man have well the black man know which is to the you noh call him black man again call him Rastaman cause black man carry prejudice with it but Rasta is fe all people soh is Rasta I deal with this trip ya know
CW-Your album most especially now with all this problem that’s going on it was very prophetic especially all the world is in trouble now all the days
BM-Yess
CW-All this problems What kind of inspiration do you get from His Imperial Majesty?
BM-Well the inspiration from His Majesty is that you know the people must unite not that in Israel but in Israel because when you check the whole the whole truth about the whole thing I mean fe the white man the chinaman the pink man the blue man is that His Majesty’s Christ know I can prove it prove it easy which natural man gotta keep Ethiopia free till 1974 from 19 whatever 1930 ya know till 1978 no man couldn’t do that but God ya know an His Majesty a God an that is what the African have a deal with first he have to identify himself I don’t know much about Africa in a sense a what African government is in Africa but my my ummm likkle knowledge that I get is that majority of the African countries there is that that is badda like bad out an call it Nigeria or Ghana all a them is foreign foreign ideology and nothin’ for the African soh the beauty about it now is that we know in today’s world ask why God create we when you is nobody ya know we don’t wanna be slaves we must be someone an that mean if we someone the man who create we have to tell us who he is well all him seh oh behave an everything cool an that’s what we is we easy ya know what I mean an that were the whole thing come from
CW-Do you have any plans to go to Africa and play
BM-Yeah yeah we have many more plans fe that ya know but again its soh tricky because know my____Africa is I don’t want to go to Africa to sell a million record an a English come today call it the money see I personally don’t like that strategy like comin’ when the queen is sendin’ Christopher Columbus to capture soh we gonna Africa with this record insisting on going out in spiritually it work but materially it gone get away noh we need it in both spiritual an truth it is material an spiritual soh is a very a very ticklish thing ya know all ya find yourself because remember Africa go into slavery you come back an sing about it the white man sell it an make the money off it market ya singin’ about your own oppression what him put you through an when ya sing it an bring it back to him an him sell it an get the money I mean ya know it come in an kinda hurt it hurt ya know ha ha it hurt big ha ha ha ha ha
CW-You know in a lot of newspapers lately they have been sorta making a certain connection between reggae music and new wave and punk, do you see any connections between the two except for the fact that they both started or they had the same space in the roots?
BM-I don’t see no connection or anything else sense of that big correction ya know is just like the offspring a reggae in a sense cause because is reggae influence them but even the white man have a right to seh if he know that Haile Selassie is God an defend HIM ya know soh as long as em know him is Rasta it noh make sense until him feel Rasta because although it can make sense ya know I’ll do whatever a just everyday thinkin’ like how how rebellious in England because England really want them youth of a be lawyers an doctors an big ya know big political thing when him change becomes like this punk seh it can a rock the English monarchy like he’s hurtin the English monarchy
CW-If you weren’t a musician do you think you would have been some sort of a freedom fighter?
BM-Yeahh I be a revolutionary right with a heh yeah
CW-Does the episode about you know when you were shot at in Jamaica what did it make you feel?
BM-Well is the whole of the _____ is that them plan the whole thing is the people who is plannin’ these things them is friends an they know them still up soh I’m playin’ down in the ghetto soh as long as them cannot be youth fightin’ against one another everything is all right because them really unnerstand the solution soh but during that time it was a very umm it was a very ticklish time but we still have to take our stance ya know because if nobody ever do anything it would all weird because I know if I come with a Smile Jamaica then politics today in Jamaica would a be just like what it was 2 years ago 2 years ago ya know but 1 year ago it change because them shoot after we the youth who hide cause them noh she come shoot after an them no take no action because the only action I coulda take was to go to one side an that wouldn’t be that would just be a trap to me ya know ha ha ha soh leave it
CW-In your lifetime Bob do you see a Rastafarian holding a high office in Jamaica?
BM-Yesss
CW-Maybe the primeminister of Jamaica?
BM-Yes we see that if we no rule Jamaica we can not go to Africa an speak of Rastafari because where we comin from ya must example set there that mean we know exactly what we dealin’ with soh the government is to can be them can beat them can run or leave the country until Rastaman take it or them can wait until the big war cause whatever it go the black of all people have to be free ya know an Jamaica ya can’t really tell them something must be ya see the whole thing is that the people you can’t tell them must be Russian Cuban or American because them is Rasta them take that voting is like like when a man create something you know seh everything else will change but this them create ya can’t change them say Rasta stay can’t change cause from 1930 if you count them Rasta them kill from 1939 to 79 man you will find the majority a people who die in the street in Jamaica is Rasta all accident everything is Rasta soh whatever dread but what I know is the time of the spirit that pon the earth that mean from you small soh till ya big soh you Rasta in this time because the spirit of the earth ya know soh every youth them kill pon the street when em have dreadlocks or where I am as long as the youth the Rasta them kill because if him grow fe mature him gonna be a Rasta but them try kill them young ya know yeah seh kill them before they grow
CW-A lot of people have a problem understanding reggae of some people say it’s a way of life some people say ummm it’s a dance you know an sometimes it even bothers me when some groups like 10cc go to Jamaica maybe for a month you know and they have that beat beat and they call it reggae, now your responsible for bringing reggae out into this world as far as your concerned really what is reggae?
BM-Reggae is a vehicle a vehicle used to transmit a message of redemption to the people on earth today we use it fe that now the next one use it for that dance ya know but we use fe to convey a message because I don’t see no other music can carry message as good as it is like a heavy duty machine ya know ha ha yes that’s what we use it fe
CW-One thing also that puzzles a lot of us here is that your music has been accepted by predominately really white people as opposed to the black people
BM-Yes
CW-Why is that? When you are talking the same thing that the black people were talking in the ___
BM-Well it is it is very good I would seh because if the white man can get to learn what the black man really is then him respect the black man fe what the black man really is soh if we just go on just like then everyone just take everyone fe granted an nobody no care like oh I mean I I me personally me can’t be prejudice me can’t even think of life that way because figure if your prejudice that mean you have a hate if ya have a hate inside of ya ya can’t be righteous soh the thing is is that whoever deal with Rasta whether your china Indian white man black man because you gonna have a lot of black man who is not Rasta a lot of white people who is not Rasta a lot a Indian who is not Rasta ya know a lot a china too but out of them you gonna find some that is real an that gonna be the thing
CW-What do you find wrong though, the way I looked at it is ya know it passed certain phases you know during the civil rights ya know your music is pretty much the same thing what was happening then and now it seems to me that here the fire of the revolution the fire of
BM-Is gone
CW- change for the better is gone you know its like they have accepted the fact in joining the existing system don’t you think?
BM-Is a trick ya know all them do here is the first thing them start ya know is there black man start a movie seen then black man start a movie then the youth want to be a movie star right away soh an then differently them a make a black man their mayor them a make a black man their ambassador soh all a these things ya know kinda cool off the fire because people sit down an seh but nothin goin on but them is only it is just a ____ya know an not because not one of them can exist you know them a deal with it cannot happen them wanna go there an that’s the way it trick the people is what put out the fire too much guys go bow a bow for material instead a really deal with what’s goin’ on an I I wonder if them don’t know what I’m doin’ ya know because it easy you don’t have to hate no one the white man get the gift of technology him have the right fe build whatever him want build with him technology the black man get the gift of knowledge wisdom an understanding that mean when the white man have a wrong the black man must show him seh that can’t work because is the black man have that wisdom fe more agwan an that’s that an the other man him have the wealth an the _____ all a dat as energy soh what we really want is that the people that want come together which is not easy ya know it is not very easy because to some people belly full you know them protest for the system they will fight for the system because them cool them belly full but you have a lotta poor a lotta hungry people ya know well them coulda full them belly if them want them coulda fight fe the system an full their belly but them prefer being hungry them fight fe freedom more than fe _____belly full heh ya know what I mean ha ha yeah that is their fight heh heh
CW-When you were recording Exodus you know you had a few songs that were love songs human songs you know
BM-Yeah
CW-But the critics did not allow you to do that you know they sort of said that the moment you started to sing love songs you were you was almost like setting out you know
BM-Well you know I I I use what I’m doing ya know a very positive because what I’m did now was that all records before that I did no attention was given to it no attention was given to what I no attention was given to what I did before an then I do Kaya them start to seh watch him do this and do that an do that an do that an do that an the whole can’t do this now seen soh if I just keep on it wouldn’t be soh important like today Kaya ya know what I mean Kaya is the whole thing an there you come with Survival you know I can seh is really even from there to everywhere is Survival is really a Survival yeahh
CW-When the Wailers started out you know there were 3 wise men one from the East one from the West and one from the Center
BM-Yeah
CW-Do you are you still in touch with each other or do you still
BM- Yeah we in touch with each other ya know but might have what ere ya call it the differences in teachins’ of Rastafari I believe that every house what His Majesty have must be united some man believe that only this house right an that one wrong an that one wrong an all the rest wrong well I know that God never make a mistake soh if HIM have a Twelve Tribe an Him have a Nyabinghi an Him have a _____an Him have a ____ man an him must have this there must be a man somewhere that can bring all a dis thing together seen soh dis is what kinda cause a thing because some people ya know some Rastaman is more like some Rasta goes to the work in a sense of do the work I personally believe that I must help an do the work some man believe seh why all a this leave everything to God noh I don’t believe like that to ya I believe in God helps those who help themselves that mean if something is going on I must make a move to change it ya know soh although we is Rasta but ummm what we a call it commitment is not all of us have the right amount of commitment some people have individual commitment you know who wanna whole who wanna get the whole thing together soh ya know that is a causin a thing
CW-Is there anything besides you know what your doing musically that you want to do that you haven’t done?
BM-Heh
CW-Is there anything
BM-Musically
CW-No besides the music you know that you want to do that you done maybe a film project you know now which would be which would have the same message as the more recent I mean the albums
BM-Yeah well we have some idea about them thing ya know but is that it don’t come up fe yet you know it don’t come right up yet but we still have the ideas about doing a film______an thing all most people come over an do a film a joke thing don’t really carry the the sense ya know
CW-ummm I don’t usually but it really want to bring this into like a __________type situation but it really is damaging when there was a article in I think was Rolling Stone or somewhere to the effect of a you and Peter Tosh were not really good times uh sort of like your competing although there is a lot of space for everybody, is there any truth in that?
BM-Well I don’t compete you know I don’t compete ha ha I don’t compete ha ha
CW- I know your gonna be
BM-Top Rankin’ is a song that call fe the youth of Jamaica who is the leader of the community as badman whatere you call it really the only time of the peace all all them come together so treat everyone you know as all if they was only jokin’ because them check it now seh our blood run through seh the blood run through our line that mean from Solomon lineage of that blood an our hearts is pure an the prophets seh Rasta comin’ ama long a time ya know soh ya call it it kinda come upon a man conscious fe that’s what we really a deal with as one a our type a people then yeah Ambush a direct political strategy go off in a Jamaica were an you go off everywhere the world were politics is control there yeah them seh you gonna fight your brother an why you fightin’ not because you truly believe in what you are doing but because you want to get some food you know if you don’t fightin’ you don’t get noh food hah hah ya know what I mean heh heh soh we wanna make them move soh we have something which is Rastafari soh ya know politics is out yeah you have So Much Trouble In The World still soh much trouble ya know now Babylon System is a vampire cause plenty a people believe in a vampire in a sense of spiritual vampire but the only vampire I know about is the system I call it the vampire ha ha
CW-Sucks your blood
BM-Yeah
CW-_____________________
BM-hmmmmm
CW-I understand you’re an ardent soccer player
BM-Yeah like soccer play a lot a soccer
CW-Do you have any project for example that your producing some_______or maybe even havin in your own record label
BM-We have a record in the studio in Jamaica now ya know 24 track umm an we have a distribute only music down there but call it an international market it can’t be done it but can’t be done because it is controlled ya know we could only do this in Africa like we a could only do the real thing in Africa because then Africa is fe African America run by America gangsterism soh everything is controlled
CW-Well Africa has a population of 350,000,000 people and its really been neglected by the entire world now you have really brought in you give us pride pride Jamaicas _________specially as when we feel when we have not really respected His Majesty as much as you have
BM-Yeah
CW-an truly a tremendous _________
BM-True true mon His Majesty a God mon His Majesty a God Almighty prove it in every way everything fe we the black people of the West when we speak of Africa when we speak of Africa runnin’ by a by a Russiannns we of Africa we got Africa ruled by black people an we don’t want to go ______but still in Jamaica an leave Jamaica an go a live there an see a whiteman law but ya know it don’t make sense Africa fe Africans yeah
CW-It’s an African movement
BM-Yeah
CW-Started by His Majesty _______the organization of African
BM-Yeah mon long time them fight them fight it___to the people because is the people most now that I deal with you know as a way a going out is that God noh play game ya know in the surreal it wouldn’t just____ we know all them people those men a kinda mass movement an must bring people an us change everybody mind as a everybody just in the state that a were there ya know HIM send back make man a thing more than image that mean HIM make man almost like like HIM himself that mean HIM a give man more a freedom fe a take a life or a death soh I know is soh
CW-Do you have any maybe thoughts in the future to maybe maybe to record an Ethiopian songs in your album?
BM-Yess I tryin’ to write one see but want to know is have certain amount of the words like leggashun agai rieashuan nonetheless leggashun asigoshweh Ethiopia menesh you know like Ethiopia what’s happenin’ can you wipe out 2000 years of history you know a thing like that 2000 years of history cannot be wiped away so easily you know cause that ____used to seh it come from that but I want I want want want want a next verse _____an lineage you wanna stand fe each that men gets to realize that people ought to know where were gwan ya know because we want to____to sell out the black people to the Russian then him will fight against America seh you know His Majesty will never join America or Russia I look a little closer to America cause there are soh many black people in America soh it must closer to America because of em people ya know just as easy as that but them can’t see it ya know them want to see pon some whore whoredom business sodomism like mens get to marry to Russia an a course America His Majesty you know that His Majesty coulda above all a that
CW-above all that who is the Father of all Africa the elder statesman of the entire world You you used to have a lot of problem here especially when Chief Davis was the chief of police in Los Angeles, has has that changed a little bit for you?
BM-Yeah it change I don’t I don’t hear anything much happenin’ change ya know but I don’t pay them noh mind because the fighter we train already we get we are well trained because during my time growin’ up in Jamaica from I reach 16, 17 from I reach 18 I never stop runnin’ from police till I get 32 ya hear me I never stop runnin’ from police from I was 18 till I become 32 never stop keep runnin’ from police everyday soh ya see were well trained an the police noh we can like a Jamaica police see because we look pon them an them black same we an them live pon little island them noh seh the queen we are England where they work here fe the queen heh ya know cause all them do just is defend the queen ya know
CW-That’s basically been your story
BM-Yeah
CW-they conquered it all
BM-Yeah mon can’t do nothin about it can’t really do nothin’
CW-I remember the time you when you know when you had Get Up Stand Up for your
BM-Seen
CW-It was not even allowed in this country an now yesterday I read you have the best review in America this summer
BM-Yeah
CW-All those big ______of rock didn’t do their thing yesterday yeah yesterdays newspaper
BM-Yeah
CW-Best thing in the world so you have conquered you overcome
BM-Yeah Yeah mon Tricky we just want to have people fe to meet together because seh them can make the publicity let them feel like see all them organize already cause I have to watch the publicity ya know there’s a lotta war strategy ya know a lotta hate a lotta diplomatic war strategy because them can not write up an the people just feel at ease seh them give a write up better them fe seh funny things but the people wanna hear if its true more than other people fe lots again ya know heh it is a strategy ha who watch them mon tricky very tricky ya know very tricky
CW-Do you have to make any compromises musically lets say
BM-I don’t compromise fe music noh only I I totally do what I want in music because if it was my record company I run I run they won’t ever make a album Kaya cause them didn’t noh seh it was gonna bring bad thing an I ignored to cause even before record come out them sayin’ Bob a too soft can’t watch that dere’s a people out there we need this Kaya to bring them to this stage soh if ya know what I mean is here I do the same kinda work from in a Jamaica where I a wrote where I a wrote everything get hot we have to a cool it down Iself because is a all a one people where we build them doesn’t make them secure if we build them again you know there’s get them frustrated an right out ya know COOL soh if you have to survive they wanna stay go do a thing like Kaya get the whole thing an start check what happen before Kaya soh everybody have a good idea soh when you ____an go again see them is really all is not to do ha ya know what I mean
CW-I understand your married, are you married?
BM-Noh
CW-Do you have any children?
BM-Yeah have a couple children in Jamaica but you know maybe in the western they seh I can’t deal with the western the western ways of life if I must live by law it must be the laws of His Majesty if its not the laws of His Majesty then I can make my own law you know what I mean I don’t seh that I can seh I gotta make love me you know its either HIS Majesty law or I can make my own because once I know is that all them other laws that is makin’ is mainly men an I am a man too ya know what I mean that mean I don’t think a great law for me
CW-You’ve never met His Majesty have you?
BM-Not really in physical flesh but spiritually
CW-Thank you very much Bob
BM-Irie
CW-Next time around you come we’ll do this again
BM-True true Rasta
CW-Thank you very much
BobMarleyarchive by Emmanuel all rights reserved 2010