Redemption Song

Song meaning of Redemption Song by Bob Marley

Chris Blackwell, the head of Island Records, proposed that Bob Marley attempt recording this freedom anthem as an acoustic-style folk song after he had already recorded a version of it with his band.

Marley's lyrics, which drew inspiration from Marcus Garvey's writings, present music as a remedy for both mental and physical servitude.

Marley stated, "I would love to do more like that," a few months prior to his death from cancer in 1981 at the age of 36. "Redemption Song" serves as his eulogy as the last song on his final album.

Some key lyrics derived from a speech given by the Pan-Africanist orator Marcus Garvey titled "The Work That Has Been Done."

At the time he wrote the song, circa 1979, Bob Marley had been diagnosed with the cancer in his toe that took his life a couple of years later. According to Rita Marley, "...he was already secretly in a lot of pain and dealt with his own mortality, a feature that is clearly apparent in the album, particularly in this song."

The song urges listeners to "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery," because "None but ourselves can free our minds." These lines were taken from a speech given by Marcus Garvey at Menelik Hall in Sydney, Nova Scotia, during October 1937 and published in his Black Man magazine:

‘We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because whilst others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind. Mind is your only ruler, sovereign. The man who is not able to develop and use his mind is bound to be the slave of the other man who uses his mind ...’

Redemption Song lyrics by Bob Marley

 Old pirates, yes, they rob I

Sold I to the merchant ships

Minutes after they took I

From the bottomless pit

But my hand was made strong

By the hand of the Almighty

We forward in this generation

Triumphantly

Won't you help to sing

These songs of freedom?

'Cause all I ever have

Redemption songs

Redemption songs

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery

None but ourselves can free our minds

Have no fear for atomic energy

'Cause none of them can stop the time

How long shall they kill our prophets

While we stand aside and look? Ooh!

Some say it's just a part of it

We've got to fulfill the book

Won't you help to sing

These songs of freedom?

'Cause all I ever have

Redemption songs

Redemption songs

Redemption songs

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery

None but ourselves can free our minds

Whoa! Have no fear for atomic energy

'Cause none of them-ah can-ah stop-ah the time

How long shall they kill our prophets

While we stand aside and look?

Yes, some say it's just a part of it

We've got to fulfill the book

Won't you help to sing

These songs of freedom?

'Cause all I ever have

Redemption songs

All I ever have

Redemption songs

These songs of freedom

Songs of freedom