Bob Marley – Redemption Song – a critique.

Old pirates, yes, they rob I;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong
By the ‘and of the Almighty.
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly.

It starts with the harking back to the terrible days of slavery. In a sense I don’t have a problem with this but in another sense I do. The narrative is that the terrible white slavers did this to the black people. Yes they did. But it wasn’t quite as simple as that. Slavery was in reality a black, brown and white problem. It was black tribes who captured members of other black tribes and sold them to Arab traders who then sold them to the white merchants. They were all implicit in the terrible treatment. Does the song simplify it too much?

Then there is the God thing. No. It wasn’t God that stopped slavery or emancipated the black people. It was the work of people like Wilberforce who strove hard to decry the obscenity of slavery and have it banned. It was the hard work and courage of the civil rights workers, some of whom – like King himself and Chaney, Schwerner and Goodman – laid down their lives for it.

Won’t you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
‘Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.

Yes I will definitely join in the singing of redemption songs and any songs of freedom.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
‘Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? Ooh!
Some say it’s just a part of it:
We’ve got to fulfill the book.

Yes we do have to free ourselves of the attitudes and limitations that create racism, xenophobia and oppression. We shouldn’t be oppressed by racism or negative attitudes.

But we do have to fear for atomic energy. We must allow progress but not allow it to run rampant over everyone. Only by being vigilant can we stop the capitalists selling the planet for their own selfish gain.

Yes we have to stop them killing the people who speak out against injustice. We have to speak out. But no it is not ordained in any book.

Won’t you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
‘Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.[Guitar break]

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our mind.
Wo! Have no fear for atomic energy,
‘Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say it’s just a part of it:
We’ve got to fulfill the book.

Won’t you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
‘Cause all I ever had:
Redemption songs
All I ever had:
Redemption songs:
These songs of freedom,
Songs of freedom.

So yes I will join in singing this great song. I want freedom and equality. But I don’t want religion or fatalism. And I don’t want to reinforce the negatives of the past. I want to move on towards a new age of equality and freedom.