Yer Rock & Roll 14

Time for some more music. When I did my earlier posting on reggae, I didn't include any Bob Marley - seemed too obvious. But here he is. Two clips from early Wailers - as opposed to Bob Marley and the Wailers. I touched on my proposition that Marley lost his way when he became a big international star, sang in standard English and parted from Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer before. The early stuff, though, is as good as it gets...

Two clips of early stuff - complete with Bunny Wailer and the Mystic Man. The first is Stir it Up. It's a love song but it's more than just a love song - it's seriously erotic. He did erotic very well...

The second clip - Rastaman Chant - is not rock and roll or indeed reggae at all. It is credited to our old friend 'Traditional' but as Rastafarianism only dates back to the 1930s, it can't be very old. Taken literally, the core beliefs of Rastafarianism are - erm - well - like Haile Selassie was divine?? But it's not really about that - at core it's a black identity thing. I've known and liked a number of Rastas and my own experience is that the genuine article are what they say they are: peaceful men. Mind you, the beard helps. I once met a Rasta at Ochi Rios who greeted me as follows (I write as spoken):

'Yes man! Beard man! De beard is a sacred ting! Moses an' de prophets dem all had beards!'

Ermmm... Quite so...

Rastaman Chant moves - haunting and elegaic.

With Hat Tip to MiMi - if you wondered what the rabbit got up to in his spare time, here is a clip from something called America's Got Talent. No, I'm not giving up the day job ;)