but here Marley is glorifying one of the basic tenets in Rasta teaching about marijuana as Gods creation to be enjoyed in the motion of freedom.
In Ride Natty Ride Bob Marley opens the verse with a line, “dready got a job to do.” Dread and natty are words that have taken a new meaning in
Jamaican creole which refer to the Rasta. The song is about the task of the Rasta to fulfill Jah mission in destroying evil system as well as a faithful affirmation of
Jahs guidance. Riding natty may not be a cowboy, instead a righteous force of apocalypse to destroy the wickedness.
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Here he would infuse some biblical references. One of them is final judgment day with apocalypse source of power
fire. Another Jamaican expression is “go deh” which literally means to go there, and to do the punishment.
Bad Cards is a song specifically aims at and to condemn Bob Marley’s ex-manager, Don Taylor, who cheated and betrayed him.
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Taylor had to show his bad card which is his true self.
1.2.3. Spiritual Grounded Metaphor Rasta and Biblical Reference
As his involvement in Rastafarianism grew stronger Bob Marley started to infuse biblical reverences into his lyrics. His strong devotion made him studied
the Bible with the intensity of a priest.
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The same is true to his political awareness.They become the source of inspiration to write songs.
Bob Marley’s lyrics are deeply rooted in Rastafarianism. They are really dense with word play, wit, and deep philosophy of language. Rastafarianism is a
23
Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 276.
24
Moskowitz, David. The Words and Music of Bob Marley, p. 106.
25
Dawes, Kwame. Bob Marley Lyrical Genius, p. 18.
syncretic religion which combines beliefs and practices from many religions.
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However, the writer can see that the dominant influence comes from Christianity. It can be clearly seen as the Rastas would make a lot biblical reference in their
speech and chant. Spirituality usually dichotomizes its concept between good and bad,
between positive and negative. Therefore Bob Marley’s metaphoric expression mainly built based on this concept. Worth in his thesis divided eight metaphoric
categories in Marley’s songs: LightDark, UpDown, Nature, Journey, Babylon, FreeSlave, Poverty, and metaphors from Rastafarian language. However, writer
will only divide it into three categories: LightDark, UpDown, and Biblical reference.
For Bob Marley Jah is light. People who are in the light will be able to see the truth about the state in which they live. Those who walk in the dark endanger
themselves because of the minimum visuality. They are not able to see without the guidance of sight. This LightDark category can be seen in the metaphoric terms
such as light, day, bright, morning, night, sun, moon, new day, and darkness. In Concrete Jungle Bob Marley opens with “No sun will shine in my day
today No sun will shine The high yellow moon won’t come out to play Darkness has covered my light and has changed my day into night.” These lines
depict the underprivileged living in the ghetto among the concrete buildings where the sun and moon cannot expose their light unto the people. Despite their
poor condition Bob Marley assures the people that Jah will prevail over the darkness.
26
Worth, D.S. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 19.
He also emphasizes the same message in Could You Be Loved and in Get Up Stand Up. In the first, he sings“in the darkness there must come out the
light.” Jah as the light is the source of hope for the people in the tribulation. While in the later he sings “Now you see the light and stand up for your rights.” Bob
Marley claims that the people have much long been fooled under the hegemonic power that once they see the light of truth they must stand up against it.
In “Talkin’ Blues” he criticizes the church as many Rasta distrust Christianity and view it as a symbol of religious oppression. Here he sings “I’m
gonna stare in the sun, Let the rays shine in my eyes.” Meaning that he wants to look deep into Jah light and let His shine of wisdom comes upon him. The
mission of a true believer is not to follow other believers but to follow Jah as the source of truth.
Bob Marley sings more about the shadow of oppression in Revolution. The lyrics are as follows, “Can’t trust the shadow of the dark so my friend I wish
you could see.” Living in the dark is scary and full of terror that people cannot move freely but once the sun comes in they are free to move even dancing.
In “Sun is Shining” Bob Marley sings “Sun is shining the weather is sweet,” that it “make you want to move your dancing feet.” Through out more of
other Bob Marley’s songs we will still find this LightDark metaphoric pattern. They basically explain about understanding and living in the truth and goodness
of Jah will lead people to a physical and spiritual freedom. Other than the lightdark symbol, Bob Marley also uses the UpDown
contradiction to describe about Jah God. Jah is also associated with the upward direction while the wickedness is downward. In seeking for Jah’s wisdom, people
are urged to direct their effort upward.
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This UpDown category can be seen in metaphorical expression like Zion, higher, lift, up, above, and sky.
Zion is taken from the Bible. It’s King David’s dwelling palace which was on top of a hill. Up is associated with dwelling place of Jah. It is also a hierarchy
status of Jah who is above humans and that He is superior. It can be seen in Jammin when Bob Marley proclaims “Holly Mount Zion Jah sitteth in Mount
Zion and rules all creation.” In No More Trouble Bob Marley sings “If you hope good down from above.” The hope for goodness comes from Jah that will make
you strong and be able to help the weak as he adds in the next line “Help the weak if you are strong.”
The confession of Jah protection and superiority is shown by Bob Marley in Ambush in the Night, as he sings “Through the power of the Most High we
keep on surviving.” It is a song addressed to Bob Marley attackers in his house at fifty six Hope Road where he was gun shot but eventually survived because of Jah
protection. The word “up” is also a metaphor to show the peoples effort to reach the
righteousness of Jah as it is shown in Get Up Stand Up. Once people know the truth they must stand up and not to bow down. The emphasis on peoples
relentless efforts to beat oppression by relying in Jahs help can also be seen in Jamming “no bullet can stop us now we neither beg nor we won’t bow. Then
also in Survival, in which he sings We’ve gotta live up ‘cause the Father’s time has come.”
The word “up” is contrasted with negative qualities i.e. “down”. This
27
Worth, D.S. Rastaman Vibration: The Rhetoric of Bob Marley, p. 74.
expression can be seen in “Concrete Jungle” as he sings “I’ve got to pick myself up from the ground.” He has to get up from the state of being on the ground to
reach his freedom. Down metaphoric expression is very significant in Rastafarian language. The word downpress means oppression. The word oppression
phonologically sounds like up-press, therefore it is changed to down-press to match its negative connotation. It can be seen in Exodus as he sings “Jah come
to break downpression,” and in Guiltiness “Woe to the downpression.” Basically UpDown category describes the holiness and righteousness of Jah and its
contradiction to the wickedness of Babylon or oppression. It is about Bob Marley’s rhetoric upon positive and negative quality. Jah and Zion are described
as being up, while Babylon or oppression is described as being down. It can be observed that Bob Marley’s lyrics are also very biblical. Directly
or indirectly he uses the Bible as a reference in most of his songs. Bible is an essential text for the Rasta. Bob Marleys exposure to the routine practice of Bible
reading affects many of his songs. Direct biblical reference can be seen in Hallelujah. Here Bob Marley
uses biblical terms such as hallelujah, and sheep. Hallelujah means praising God while sheep usually refers to Jesus followers, while Jesus Himself is the shepherd.
The song contains affirmation of Jahs guidance and hymn of praise by Jah children.
In another song called Survival Bob Marley glorifies Jahs protection as he equates the Black survival out of the oppression to the story of Daniel and his
friends Shadrach, Michach, and Abednego to defy the hubris of King Nebuchadnezzar when he sings “We’re the survivors like Daniel out of the lions’
den” and “We’re the survivors like Shadrach, Michach, and Abednego thrown in the fire, but a-never get burn.”
Meanwhile in So Much Things To Say Bob Marley recalls the story of betrayal in Jesus crucifiction as he sings “I’ll never forget no way they crucified
Jesus Christ.” While in Exodus he equates the repatriation to Africa to the biblical account of Moses and Israelites as they were led out of Egypt
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when he sings “Send us another brother Moses, from across the Red Sea.”
In another song, Johnny Was Bob Marley paraphrases the book of Romans 6:23 when he sings “Now she knows that the wages of sin is death gift
of Jah is life.” In Small Axe Bob Marley quotes the Bible as he opens the verse with Proverbs 22:8 in line “You’re working iniquity to achieve vanity” And in the
second verse he paraphrases the book of Psalm 7:15 and Proverbs 26:27 in the line “And whosoever diggeth a pit, shall fall in it.” Basically the inclusion of
biblical reference is to show the affirmation of Bob Marley’s devotion to Jah God.
1.3. Bob Marleys Lyrical Form
