Sunday, June 07, 2009

Number 386 - Bob Marley


Number 386

Bob Marley

"Buffalo Soldier"

(1983)
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................Genre: Reggae...............
art by antiemo
Times are tough, the recession in short, has been a bitch. Now that i don't have employment anymore after 28 years of making other people rich, I find myself in jeapoardy of loosing my house and by living in the small town where i live .... the outlook is bleak. So, dear Mr Sting, Dylan, Bono and Gates [or anyone really] here is my bank account number if you feel the urge to save "Definititive 1000" 03 0179 0264849 025 it's a real bank account number and a note to the hackers ... you're welcome to get my $9.25. In the meantime, rest assured, i will think of something to save this motley roof above my head! By the way if anyone makes a donation, I will let you know because i think, i would be absolutely dumbfounded and shocked if anyone would.
Now quick! Lets get back to the music before they take my computer away or worse cut the power!
A posthumous collection produced by Rita Marley, based on work left behind by Bob upon his death. Some of his best post-Wailers work is here, with songs like "Buffalo Soldier," "Chant Down Babylon," and "Blackman Redemption." Given that he wasn't alive to do the production that he usually helped in, this album seems remarkably true to the general vision of Bob Marley's albums. Other somewhat lesser-known tracks also help to fill in all of the cracks with some remarkable material. Case in point: "Jump Nyabinghi," a nice danceable groove with perhaps less of the usual politics mixed in, but with just as much musicality. Overall, any Bob Marley fan ought to own this album. For the uninitiated, Legend is always the starting point, but, after that, this may not be such a bad choice for additions to the collection. [The 2001 reissue offers a remix of "Buffalo Soldier"] ~ [Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide]
What is a Buffalo Soldier?
art by chaos-420 [+ click to expand]
The title and lyrics refer to the black U.S. cavalry regiments, known as "Buffalo Soldiers", that fought in the Indian Wars after 1866. Marley likened their fight to a fight for survival, and recasts it as a symbol of black resistance. The lyrics cannot be interpreted literally due to historical inaccuracies. References to "Stolen from Africa, brought to America, Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival" conflict with the fact that importation of slaves to the United States was banned from 1808 onward, so that the youngest person "stolen from Africa" would have been 58 years old when the Buffalo Soldier regiments were first formed in 1866. Likewise the opening line "Buffalo soldier, dreadlock rasta" is historically inaccurate since the Rastafarian movement was not founded until the 1930s and centers around the person of Haile Selassie, who was not born until 1892. The song's bridge, with the lyrics woy! yoy! yoy!, is similar to the chorus of the Banana Splits' "The Tra-La-La Song", the 1968 theme from their TV show; The Dickies had a #7 hit in the UK in 1979 with a cover of the song. Scholars disagree on whether the complexity of the section is strong enough to be considered plagiarism; the melodic run of 8-6-5 is common on the simple pentatonic scale. There has never been any litigation connected to the similarity. ~ [Source: Wikipedia]
For Bob Dylan see Number 491, #841 & #929
For U2 see Number 661, MM Vol 1 #038 & MM Vol 1 #129
For more Bob Marley see Number 482
What does RS think about Bob?
Tremendously popular in their native Jamaica, where Bob Marley was regarded as a national hero, the Wailers were also reggae music's most effective international emissaries. Bob Marley's songs of determination, rebellion, and faith found an audience all over the world. Marley was a pioneer not only because he single-handedly brought reggae to the world, but because his passionate, socially observant music has become a yardstick against which all reggae will forever be measured. ~ [Source: The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll -Simon and Schuster, 2001]
Rolling Stone magazine deemed their '386th Song of all Time' was "I Know You Got Soul" by Eric B & Rakim. Eric B & Rakim have not appeared in The Definitive 1000.
Other songs with reference to Bob Marley #427, #443, #453, #590, #643, #935
Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Not this song) and the Album ranked at (AND we are not donating to you crowbarred:p)
This song has a Definitive 1000 rating of 79.3 out of 108
Search Artist here:1-2-3-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

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posted by crowbarred at 3:06 pm

2 Comments:

Blogger Alan Heller said...

Bloody recession. Hope things get better soon mate. Work is pretty thin round this side of the globe too - I might have to raid your account for that $9.25 one of these days!

11:29 pm  
Blogger crowbarred said...

You are welcome to old friend, only thing is uh, its less than that now ...maybe we can split a beer?

11:49 pm  

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