The Friday Canon: BOB MARLEY

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Every home in the land has a copy of Bob's greatest hits, but which of those greatest hits are the greatest? A relatively small number of UK Top 40 singles means you get just FIVE Bob-ticks to dish out! Rumours that I'm too busy at work to do a longer poll today are completely true.

[Poll #965750]
U2 Canon results to be posted later.

Comments

I refuse to participate

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

Five is not nearly enough, even with the silly posthumous stuff in there. Sorry.

Silly posthumous stuff

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

Who is Funkstar De Luxe and does he do anything other than remix Bob Marley tracks?

Speaking of silly posthumous stuff, when are we going to brave the 2PACANON?

[sbp.livejournal.com]

This was the hardest poll to select. It reads like the greatest hits tracklist, almost.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

iron lion zion is my favourite song after june spoon moon

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I nearly ticked it! But opted for the bosh-Sun-be-Shining instead.

[dubdobdee.livejournal.com]

orig.title = sun be bun be fun

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

I much prefer Three Little Bird (orig. title = Thirdy Birdy Turdy)

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

It was my first - and for a while ONLY tick.

How does Three Little Birds go? I may be thinking of "Three Little Pigs" by Green Jelly.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

How does Exodus go for that matter?

I once cried hearing a Bob Marley song!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

It has one riff, basically, where Bob and his ladies chant over and over again: "Ex-o-dus, movement of Jah People!"

[jeff-worrell.livejournal.com]

only they pronounce it "Ex-see-dus"

3 little birds

[the-roofdog.livejournal.com]

Don't worry... 'bout a thing.
Coz every little thing, gonna be all right.

Title isn't in the chorus, ensuring its place as a pub music quiz perennial.

Re: 3 little birds

[the-roofdog.livejournal.com]

Also, Buffalo Soldier is the theme tune to the Banana Splits.

Say it ain't so!

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Am I the only person with a Zero-Tolerance policy towards Marley?
I will not be able to defend it since this is PURE PREJUDICE.

Re: Say it ain't so!

[byebyepride.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see from the comments that cis agrees.

Re: Say it ain't so!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Like I said, the songs I ticked (plus ILZ) excepted, Bob M & Peter Tosh have put me off exploring post-1975 reggae. Thank heaven there is dub instead! Lee Perry >>>>>>>>>> Bob by miles.

Re: Say it ain't so!

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Awww, but Matisyahu falls into post-1975 reggae, and he is the canine's chocolate salty balls. He was playing to 20,000 people in Tel Aviv on my first night in Israel, but I didn't find out about it in time. Gutted. Was hoping he might get added to the Glasto bill but that seems unlikely given that he's playing three dates in Hawaii and three dates in Alaska (http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/matisyahu/tour_dates.jhtml) (cor!) the week leading up to Glasto.

Re: Say it ain't so!

[umlauts.livejournal.com]

I generally have a zero tolerance policy towards reggae generally. I AM RACIST LOL. I hate Marley and I'm proud. Though I once did win a George Foreman Grill at a trivia night for correctly identifying him in a "Who am I?" question from the clue that he died from a foot-related gangrene-thing or whatever it was.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Bob at worst = slow plodding 'happy' stuff: One Love
Bob at best = Could You Be Loved.

I really really love the latter. "Hou! Hou! Hooo-ou-ou-ou!"

[chezghost.livejournal.com]

agreed. 'Could You Be Loved' is excellent. have a soft spot for 'Waiting In Vain' for some reason also.

[blue-russian.livejournal.com]

I used to really love One Love. A bit tired of it now, I guess, although not as much as @No Woman No Cry@, though.

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

I hate to be all indie about this, but I do much prefer the earlier stuff, which I have been listening to this week as it happens (Fopp had a 4-CD box set of early recordings for like £3!). I like the later stuff as well, but I guess I overreact against his being THE reggae artist, since there are a bunch I love more - I was very exasperated that loads of Jamaican music shops had reggae by no one but him! Also that there are literally hundreds of different crappy Marley souvenir t-shirts and everything else you can think of.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think I've only heard one of the early funny Bob songs - it involved him being menaced by a big crow, it was very good anyway. I should go to Fopp it seems!

MURDERED BY DANNY BAKER

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

When will there be justice?

Re: MURDERED BY DANNY BAKER

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

murdering danny baker, call him by his name!

i'm disappointed that ktee stole my doughnut joke though...

This was very easy

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

Mostly because the ones I really like are streets ahead of the ones I only mildly like, or can't stand hearing ever again (No Woman No Cry mainly). Mercifully Redemption Song wasn't in here.

Tom how is each and every one of these songs not burned into your brain? I thought Bob Marley songs were pretty much omnipresent, especially in the 80s.

Despite not owning a single one of these, and never having been moved to buy them or investigate further, and some of them being among the most overplayed and busker-desecrated records of all time, I still think the best of these are some of the best radio-friendly pop ever.

Re: This was very easy

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

aw, redemption song's alright, bless it.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

How does Bob Marley like his donuts?

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

catsgomioaw has already done this in the comments!!!


which was the only thing stopping me doing it ;)

[mcarratala.livejournal.com]

I'm with the Bob-haters, too. Obviously, he can't directly be blamed for the second-year stoners with blond dreads, but he did indulge himself in the reggae Messiah schtick. Mostly, though, I find the international superstar-era songs really dreary – there's a fascinating Classic Albums doc about Catch A Fire and how Chris Blackwell had it heavied up for the rock audience. Effectively, he courted the international audience by sounding less poppy – the live version of No Woman (which was the bigger hit, post-death) is about three times slower as far as I remember.
There's some terrific 60s Wailers stuff, as Martin says, but I've never delved that far into simply because of my Bob-allergy.

[piratemoggy.livejournal.com]

I forget and periodically remember how much I completely love 'Turn Your Lights Down Low.' I remember nearly throwing my radio out of the window when it lost some kind of phone-in selection thing by some IDIOT who played something rubbish instead (POD I think, it being 2002) and I was cheated of a chance to hometape it.