Old school music is cool!

[Citizen X]

Bob Marley
Duppy Conqueror

Even as a kid I realised that there was much more to Reggae music than it’s moving music. Every single song had some form of historical, religious or mythological significance. The implication was that it ignited a need to know and understand, a real learning process. At the time, the mid 80’s the problem that this posed was apparent, no google! So one had to rely on fellow reggae lovers understanding and interpretation. This simply didn’t cut it for me so I resolved to buy Timothy white’s book , Catch a fire: The life of Bob Marley,” To date this book remains the point of departure for placing individual Marley songs into proper historical, religious and mythological context.
The concept of ghosts and evil spirits ignite interest in all communities. Our South African culture is not without it’s own ‘ghosts.’

In Jamaican folklore, the Jamaica that Marley knew, such spirits are referred to as duppy, “Duppy is a Jamaican Patois word of Northwest African origin meaning ghost or spirit.Much of Caribbean folklore revolves around duppies. Duppies are generally regarded as malevolent spirits.”

You simply cannot separate popular opinion or popular legend from Reggae. “It’s impossible.” In law we refer to this as ‘facts of notoriety.’
Bob Marley

Duppy Conqueror: Bob Marley: 1973
“Yes me friend, me friend
We deh 'pon street again
Yes me friend, me good friend
Dem SET ME free again

The jail bars could not hold me
Force could not control me
They tried to keep me down
But Jah put I around

Yes I've been accused, many times
And wrongly abused now
But through the powers of the Most High
They've got to turn me loose

Don't try to CUT ME OFF on this bridge now
I' ve got to reach Mt. Zion
So if you a BULLBUCKA, let me tell you this
I'm a duppy conqueror, conqueror

Yes me friend, me good frend
We deh'pon street again
Yes me friend me good friend
Dem say we free again

Don't try to CUT ME OFF on this bridge now
Ive got to reach Mt. Zion
So if you a BULLBUCKA, let me tell you this
I'm a duppy conqueror, conqueror.”

I guess I’m a ‘Duppy conqueror!’

God of your understanding? Like poetry, music too is subject to interpretation. You take the best out of the song.
“Yes me friend, me good friend
Dem SET ME free again.”
The ‘Friend,’ that set me free again and again, actually quite a few million times as at today’s date is my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ

[Citizen X]

Trench Town: Bob Marley: Confrontation: 1983(Posthumous)

There’s a rather splendid Biblical verse, somewhere in the Bible, which I spent a couple of hours searching for but to no avail! “ In desolate places I find my bread.”
Sometimes a desolate place, like a desert, is the very best place you can find yourself in…

The Trench Town of today is significantly different from the Trench Town that Bob Marley was familiar with. It was a squatter camp with atrocious living conditions.
“Trench Town is the birthplace of rocksteady and reggae music, as well as the home of reggae and Rastafari ambassador Bob Marley. The neighborhood gets its name from its previous designation as Trench Pen, 400 acres of land once used for livestock by Daniel Power Trench, an Irish immigrant of the 18th century (descendants of the Earls of Clancarty). The Trench family abandoned the land in the late 19th century.”[1]

It’s clear to me why Bob Marley “Pay pay pay tribute to Trench Town, Trench Town
We come from Trench Town, not because we come from Trench Town
Just because we come from Trench Town.”




“Up a cane river to wash my dread
upon a rock I rest my head
There I vision through the seas of oppression
Don't make my life a prison
We come from Trench Town, Trench Town
Most of them come from Trench Town
We free the people with music, sweet music
Can we free the people with music
Can we free our people with music, with music
With music, oh music
“Whoa my head, in desolate places we'll find our bread.”
And everyone see what's taking place
Whoa-yo another page in history
We come from Trench Town, come from Trench Town
We come from Trench Town
Lord we free the people with music
We free the people with music, sweet music
We free our people with music
With music, oh music, oh music
They say it's hard to speak
They feel so strong to say we're weak
But through the eyes the love of our people
Whoa-a they got to repay
We come from Trench Town
We come from Trench Town, Trench, Trench Town
They say can anything good come out of Trench Town?
That's what they say, Trench Town
Say we're the under-privileged people
So they keep us in chains
Pay pay pay tribute to Trench Town, Trench Town
We come from Trench Town, not because we come from Trench Town
Just because we come from Trench Town.”

---

[1] Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trenchtown. Accessed 21 July 2013

[pmbguy]

"Hotel California"

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
"This could be Heaven or this could be Hell"
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (Any time of year)
You can find it here

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the Captain,
"Please bring me my wine"
He said, "We haven't had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine"
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...

Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
They livin' it up at the Hotel California
What a nice surprise (what a nice surprise)
Bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said "We are all just prisoners here, of our own device"
And in the master's chambers,
They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can't kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
"Relax, " said the night man,
"We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave!

[eina26]

I am also into Classic songs. Songs that never gets old and brings back those memories and feelings you have.

Songs today can never compete to songs these days especially those songs from Justin Bieber and Niki Minaj. Geesh..

[eina26]

I am also into Classic songs. Songs that never gets old and brings back those memories and feelings you have.

Songs today can never compete to songs these days especially those songs from Justin Bieber and Niki Minaj. Geesh..

I mean songs these days can't compete to the songs from america, Bee Gees, Michael Jackson, etc.

[Citizen X]

I am also into Classic songs. Songs that never gets old and brings back those memories and feelings you have.

Songs today can never compete to songs these days especially those songs from Justin Bieber and Niki Minaj. Geesh..

Hi Eina26,

Welcome to TFSA

I couldn't agree with you more! You exactly right! The classics are timeless and universal. Please feel free to share your favourite classics and the memories that they ignite..

Have a fanastic day

Vanash

[Dave S]

I mean songs these days can't compete to the songs from america, Bee Gees, Michael Jackson, etc.

Perhaps the word your looking for is "yesteryear", most of the good oldies came out of the UK... Beatles, Rolling Stones, Etc.

[Citizen X]

The Byrds: Turn Turn Turn: 1965


"Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season)", often abbreviated to "Turn! Turn! Turn!", is a song written by Pete Seeger in the late 1950s. The lyrics were adapted almost entirely from verses in the Book of Ecclesiastes, set to music and recorded in 1962…..The lyrics are taken almost verbatim from the Book of Ecclesiastes, as found in the King James Version (1611) of the Bible^[2] (Ecclesiastes 3:1), though the sequence of the words was rearranged for the song. Ecclesiastes is traditionally ascribed to King Solomon.”[1]



"Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season) by The Byrds
To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time of war, a time of peace
A time of love, a time of hate
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing

To everything - turn, turn, turn
There is a season - turn, turn, turn
And a time for every purpose under heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time to love, a time to hate
A time of peace, I swear it's not too late!”

---

[1] Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn!_Turn!_Turn!. Accessed 23 July 2013

[Blurock]

I am also into Classic songs. Songs that never gets old and brings back those memories and feelings you have.

Songs today can never compete to songs these days especially those songs from Justin Bieber and Niki Minaj. Geesh..

Most of today's popular music has no structure or melody. It is just a repetitive noise. That is maybe because the so called musicians can not play any instruments and do not have any musical training. In their search for "a new sound" DJ's and talent scouts promote these freaks as a new craze for the brainless to follow.

What happened to taste and class? There is very little art present in modern music. Having said that, there are still some inspiring young artists such as Dan Patlansky, John Mayer and Marianti. And then we have the old toppies such as Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton and the Strolling Bones to remind us of better times...

[vieome]

Most of today's popular music has no structure or melody. It is just a repetitive noise. That is maybe because the so called musicians can not play any instruments and do not have any musical training. In their search for "a new sound" DJ's and talent scouts promote these freaks as a new craze for the brainless to follow.

What happened to taste and class? There is very little art present in modern music. Having said that, there are still some inspiring young artists such as Dan Patlansky, John Mayer and Marianti. And then we have the old toppies such as Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton and the Strolling Bones to remind us of better times...

Sorry to have to say this, but it is really about age, when I was younger, listening to popular music of the day my father used to say the same thing about the bands then. And I tend to say the same thing about the music my kids listen to , so the taste and class is still there, but most of us oldies taste is stuck in the past. I tried to get my daughters to give Janis Joplin a day in court(trail), but they just said it was boring, and had no meaning. So every generation has its own rebel music, which the older generation cant stand, but which will become the classics of tommorrow, and todays listeners who listen to music that you say has no class will probably say the same thing of their kids music in the future.




The future teaches you to be alone
The present to be afraid and cold
So if I can shoot rabbits
Then I can shoot fascists
Bullets for your brain today
But we'll forget it all again
Monuments put from pen to paper
Turns me into a gutless wonder
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next Will be next, will be next, will be next
Gravity keeps my head down
Or is it maybe shame
At being so young and being so vain

Holes in your head today
But I'm a pacifist
I've walked La Ramblas But not with real intent
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
Will be next, will be next, will be next, will be next
And on the street tonight
an old man plays With newspaper cuttings of his glory days
And if you tolerate this
Then your children will be next
And if you tolerate this Then your children will be next Will be next, will be next, will be next