BOB MARLEY - CONFESSIONS OF A RASTA MAN

I am pleased to announce that Mr Carl Gayle, a most influential music journalist and publisher of the classic Rastafari magazine, JAHUG, has agreed to write an Introduction to the book, Portrait of a Legend and other Folks.

 

 

The idea for Black Music Magazine was inspired by writer Carl Gayle. Gayle was a Jamaican-born cleric working at the DMV. He wrote an article called “Let it Rock” that was noticed by a new publishing company called IPC. He helped the publishers see a need for a predominately Reggae publication. Gayle introduced the language of Patois to the British population through his writings. He later took his writing skills to the studio, recording several Reggae albums under the alias “Carl I.” His debut album was called 'Keep My Fire Burnin.''

http://racketracket.co.uk/music/black-music-magazine/

 

BOB MARLEY - CONFESSIONS OF A RASTA MAN

By Carl Gayle

When you first started, did you set yourself any ideals to live up to?

You mean if I had any aims! Well no, we didn`t have any direct aims. We didn`t know what it was all about.

How difficult was it just to live then?

Living was easy. We never had any responsibility. I used to live with my mother. But we know we didn`t get any satisfaction from the people who we were dealing with in the music business. But we didn`t suffer. We could tell you how guys robbed us but "living" was always there.

What motivated you?

My intelligence.

What differences are there now for Jamaican musicians?

There are differences but they don`t make any difference to me. I live the same way, how I want to live. My head is not in the material world. I`m a man who sleeps on stone. Go into the hills and rest. That`s my pleasure. I own the earth you know, all things belong to I.

How do you measure success?

I`m as successful as I want to be. Success is being alive and knowing you have to live. We love music and we play music. That`s a hard political question to answer because that`s not where my head is. I live a different life.

Are there any particular things that you couldn`t do early on, that you can do now?

Yes, we can spend more time in the studio, things like that.

You used to sing songs like "What`s New Pussycat"--that sort of pop material. Nowadays your songs have "messages". . . .

Well as time goes by and you grow up, Jah (God) makes you do the work when He wants you to. I used to have to learn to sing y`know. Sometimes when I was singing I didn`t really want to sing the song, I just wanted to sing. But if you can`t write a song to sing then you have to sing some other song.

Weren`t there any influences?

Those things like "What`s New Pussycat" weren`t really my responsibility, Coxon (his label owner) asked me to sing it so I did. It wasn`t as if I dug it.

Would you sing things like that now?

If I felt like it . . . (sings "what`s new pussycat, whoa whoa whoah" and laughs).

You told me last year that Joe Higgs had been a great influence. . . .

Well yeah but since I`ve said that already I don`t want to say it again. But me and Joe Higgs used to just sing together, rehearsing, and he was great.

Have women inspired any of your songs?

Sometimes. But I`m not the broken heart type y`know. I prefer to say "Stir It Up" or "Kinky Reggae" or "Bend Down Low". I don`t really get broken hearted. I feel "man enough" that if I`m even gonna sing a "love" tune I`m gonna show the girl how much I`m gonna break her heart. But still I`m a great lover you know. . . . Hey it`s cause you don`t know y`see. I`m a great great lover you know. . . (laughs). . . . Let all them women tell you. Right now I`m waiting on a woman named . . . to come round here!!!

Is Rita Marley your wife?

Rita is a nice sister, one of my sisters. She`s a female! (laughs heartly).

But she also has your name, are you married to her?

Bob Marley isn`t my name, I don`t even know my name yet. . . .

I know what you mean but . . .

No, I`m not a married man.

Rita, Judy Mowatt, and Marcia Griffiths have been singing together as the I Three. Have they been recording?

Yeah. The group is formed and they`re gonna be recording. And if we`re doing any tours they`re supposed to tour with us. They`re the background singers on our new album.

Would you say you`re a disciplined musician?

We don`t go to school. But it is important that everybody in the group understand each other and try and meet the requirements within the group.

What caused the apparent break up of the group?

The break up is not the breaking up of the group. It hasn`t broken up, the group is there. If I or anyone else wants to do some music by himself we can still do it. If we want to sing together we can sing. If we don`t want to we don`t.

Will Wire (Earl Lindo--keyboards) be playing with you again?

No, I don`t think so.

What about Pete and Bunny?

Yeah, we`ll still play together.

Why aren`t they here in Britain?

Well people just do what they want to do. Just the other day we played together on Marvin Gaye`s show in Jamaica. but the thing is that some people don`t like touring because it`s hard. Well sometimes I feel that I have to get out. When I thing of my responsibility I have to make certain moves to secure myself. So if Brother Bunny and brother Peter feel like they don`t wanna tour then. . . . But Jamaica is a little bit too small for me, police will kill me. I can`t allow that, I have to look for some way where I can move.

We sang together for eleven years and right now a man feels like he can cool it for a year and make something for himself. Peter has an album coming out, Bunny has one coming out, and I`m working on one.

Have you ever been accused of selling out, making so called commercial ,music?

We make music that we can play. What is commercial music, music that sells to pop people? How many of my albums sell to pop people? We live in Jamaica. If we were in JA you`d ask me some different questions.

Have you been recording with Scratch (producer Lee Perry) recently?

No. Scratch has a little studio and I went down there one day but we haven`t done anything together recently.

When you recorded things like "Duppy Conqueror" and "Small Axe" with Scratch four years ago, how much did he contribute?

We worked very good together. Anyone who I work with has to contribute to the music `cause I use everyone`s ideas. Even if you didn`t know anything at all, any time we meet it`s music `cause I`m just a music tree. So if you even come to the studio where we`re playing and you can play a little guitar you might have to go and dub on something because it`s music. . . . I don`t feel like I have a bright glow shining `round me. I know that I`m just as ordinary as ordinary can be. That`s how I feel, true true!

Which songs do you prefer from the last LP?

Well I did really love "I Shot The Sherriff" because it was saying something, and I love what Peter and Bunny did. Things like "Hallelujah Time" y`know.

What was "I Shot The Sherriff" really about, was it just a simple story?

It`s a simple story. But y`know I don`t wanna get involved in that too much because. . . . But you can imagine the feeling you have to have to make a song like that. It`s like you`d tell the police . . . well it`s lucky I never said "I shot the police" `cause that`d be a different thing! You just have to switch him quick: "I shot the sherriff" papa, not the police . . . (laughs).

Can a song like that have any physical reprecussions?

I was just expressing feelings, but those kind of songs can have a whole heap of reprecussions.

What was the audience reaction like in America when you were on the bill with Sly And The Family Stone?

The audience never really understood what was going on too well. Only when the sound was right. We went through a little sabotaging you know. But when the sound was right, the PA system, then the audience go off on it. But if you have a guy (sound controller) `round there who don`t know `bout your music and then he`s f . . . around. . . . If he picks up the organ too loud, the bass too loud, and the music sounds. . . . Nobody`s gonna dig that.

What do you do when you`re not touring or recording?

In Jamaica we`re always well occupied. Most of the time we try and help some brethren to do certain things.

What kind of things?

We`re occupied in some different type of way every day. Some movement, or just talking to people and meeting people to maybe try to help them out of trouble y`know.

Are you able to do that because you are the Wailers, because you are Bob Marley?

No. You can only do that because you have the head to do it. Regardless of who I was I`d do it the same way.

Would you agree that the Wailers are very popular?

The Wailers have the two number one spots in Jamaica right now (RJR and JBC radio) with a song named "Road Block" so you can`t be more popular than that.

What is your popularity due to?

I don`t think I`m so popular. People have only heard about me, nobody knows me. I can count the people who know me personally. . . .

But you just said the Wailers were popular?

Well if you`re dealing with popularity in a commercial world in music. . . . To tell the truth we come with music and it`s just the music. King David is the greatest musician so music `ave to play. Now it`s reached the stage where music goes on records and sells and it happened to us because we can do it.

Who are you really communicating to through your music? It must be more specific than "the whole world" because we know that the vast majority don`t even get the chance to listen. . . .

Most of the time I`m communicating to the people. But you`re asking me a political question again and I`m not of politics. It`s righteousness. Don`t put me in those realms. Hey, we could stop coming to England you know! We could go into Africa to. . . . I met Taj Mahal the other day and he said "this music you`re playing man it`s played in Ethiopia." So you can see what kind of music this is. It`s not even my music, this is reggae, the King`s music.

Is it important to you that people like your records?

It`s very important to me that people get the message. People buy the records and some of the music is for dancing. And this thing is not political. Right now I say "never let a politician grant you a favour" and a politician couldn`t say that. So I`m not into politics.

You say it`s not political but songs like "Slave Driver" and "Trench Town Rock" definitely have political messages. Your new album also has a song called "Revolution"

Well what about "right" and "wrong"? It takes a revolution to make a solution. Never let a politician grant you a favour.

Is itimportant to you to be regarded as the best?

Not to me but to the Wailers. It is important that we play good music. It is important because we travel and play in England and in America. And it works out right!

If you were rich would you still tour and make music?

I have enough money y`know. But I don`t believe in this individual elf thing. Right now there are about 600 people in Jamaic dying to see me come home and they`re not musicians, they`re just my brethren. That`s how we live. So when you see me here I just come to play music. The amount of music we have within us nobody can buy it out.

What motivates you still?

I love music so I play. Nothing can stop me. Only Jah can make me stop. regardless of what people might think fortune and fame is . . . I don`t care about that. I`ll go anywhere and play music.

What are your goals now?

To be in Africa. But not to run away and leave 600 or 6,000 of my brethren just because I can afford it. we want repatriation. We might not be doing anything towards it but we`re playing music. And it`s a revolution we`re dealing with in that respect. But we`re not political revolutionaries.

What do you mean when you say you`re a rasta man?

Don`t I look like a rasta man to you?

Surely it`s not just what you look like?

No. You have to live up to certain principles to be a rasta man You have to know that His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haille Selassie is the true and living God. If you can really know that and do good things for yourself and others then you are rasta . . . I`m not a leader y`know, I`m just an ordinary sheep in the pasture. So I couldn`t know what`s going to happen. All I know is that rasta man is of the twelve tribes of Israel and they`re coming back together. Now His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haille Selassie, has granted them this Ethiopian World Federation so that the black man can come home. I`m a member of Charter 24, the twelve tribes of Israel. Sometimes we go to meetings y`know. . . . So I`m a rasta man playing some music. I love sound in music and the music helps.

Why do you have your hair in locks?

Plenty reasons!

Such as?

The first thing is, when you take the vow to be a rastafarian no razor nor scissor must come to your head. You must let the locks of your head grow, that`s what the Bible says.

What music do you listen to?

Let me tell you. right now I couldn`t afford to buy a record changer and sit down in my yard and have a selection of records and play and listen to and all that. That`s not my trip. My trip is I just get up and walk. I might hear some music playing in a dance hall and I go over there and a fight breaks out and I`m gone. It`s like that.

My grandfather now, used to have a sound system, that`s where I used to listen to most of my music when I wanted to. He used to play a whole heap of calypso and one or two meringue. Everybody in my family was musical. . . . The most thing I listen to is reggae. But they play the music too loud at dances and I can`t stand loud music.

How was it that you, the Wailers, got the chance to record with Island?

We were over here with Johnny Nash and we didn`t like what they (Trojan) were doing so we checked Island and did a deal with them. . . . We were in Jamaica and we heard that Trojan released our records. We came over to check Trojan and we can`t find the guys there. Imagine, we`re in Jamaica, we don`t know these people over here. We make our records, spend our money, put them out. They just take one of our records, bring it to Britain and cut records off it and sell it. plenty of them man! And not even the real quality! Even "Trench Town Rock", the majority of them. The only ones they should have are the ones where they did a deal with Lee Perry. So the only thing I could do was check out Island.

How much better is the deal with Island?

Right now I don`t really understand them too good. It`s like they`re trying to show us that they built us and bla, bla, bla. . . . And I can show them that there are companies in America who`re offering us half a million dollars to come to them. But I still, through my conscience, will let them have another album. But I don`t really like the way they handle the business that much. But we have a lawyer coming to check out what`s really going on.

Do you think that Island has had an influence on the way you make your music now?

No they can`t influence the music.

What are your thoughts on the new album?
It`s coming closer to what we really want to deal with. Sometimes I just let go myself y`know and take what I get. Sometimes I`m just afraid to say do that . . . I hear something going wrong and I can`t say it! But I think this one really comes nearer to what we want.

What effect has the Wailers` music had on the rest of Jamaican music?

It`s made them think bigger. You know, show them that we`re no underdogs. We`re just big! Even the youth can respect himself and love his dreadlocks. Plenty guys can`t do this (points to his hair) but I`m glad I can do it. And I don`t feel like it`s a burden.

What have you achieved through music that you`re proud of?

My direction. Music keeps me calm. If I wasn`t music the Earth would be upside down. Music is the highest in the realms. I know I was born with a price on my head in them ways. I felt it from I was very very small.