Redemption song Lyrics

Performed by Bob Marley

Producer Bob Marley/Chris Blackwell
Released October 1980
Genre Reggae, folk rock, folk, acoustic ballad
Writer(s) Bob Marley
ength 3:49
Label Island/Tuff Gong

"Redemption Song" is a song by Bob Marley. It is the final track on Bob Marley & the Wailers' ninth album, Uprising, produced by Chris Blackwell and released by Island Records. The song is considered one of Marley's seminal works, with some key lyrics derived from a speech given by the Pan-Africanist orator Marcus Garvey.

At the time he wrote the song, circa 1979, Bob Marley had been diagnosed with the cancer that later was to take his life. 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".

Unlike most of Bob Marley's tracks, it is strictly a solo acoustic recording, consisting of Marley singing and playing an acoustic guitar, without accompaniment.

"Redemption Song" was released as a single in the UK and France in October, 1980, and included a full band rendition of the song. This version has since been included as a bonus track on the 2001 reissue of Uprising, as well as on the 2001 compilation One Love: The Very Best of Bob Marley & The Wailers. Although in live performances the full band was used for the song the solo recorded performance remains the take most familiar to listeners.

In 2004, Rolling Stone placed the song at #66 among The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In 2010, the New Statesman listed it as one of the Top 20 Political Songs. From Wikipedia

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.
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/Guitar break/
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Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our mind.
Wo! Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a 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 have to sing
These songs of freedom? -
'Cause all I ever had:
Redemption songs -
All I ever had:
Redemption songs:
These songs of freedom,
Songs of freedom.

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Thanks to Nwoko Ifeanyi E. (ify_dominion@yahoo.Com) for submitting Redemption song Lyrics.


Beautiful Christian Song | Reviewer: tony | 12/22/11

Bob Marley did not come to beg...he came to conquer.
He did not come to bring peace...his songs are a sword to divide the truth from the lie...
The truth will set you free...if you remove the mental chains that prevent you from accepting it.

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Economic Slavery: The rich get richer and the poor... | Reviewer: Canadian Jim | 11/23/11

The song is beautiful. The first step in thowing off repression is to free our minds. That, by the way, is what the current "Occupy" movement is seeking to do. They seek to make us aware of the growing economic "slavery" that we are experiencing. Bob Marley was, and always be, a visionary. Wake up Philly, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. Go look at the song Universal Soldier, and you are fighting for multi-national corporations.

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Redemption Song is my Anthem | Reviewer: Richard V Mafuta | 10/6/11

Redemption Song is beautiful song. It is a political and revolutionary work of art. But looked at, from another angle, it is an educational piece of work. For me, it calls on all oppressed peoples especially Africans of all ages to redeem themselves from ignorance and darkness of the mind. It is a call for people to seek relevant knowledge. Times are gone when we blamed goverments and parents for our poverty except ourselves. The song is timeless, it was penned in the Industrial Age but applies today, the Information Age.

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Truth needs no apologies | Reviewer: Anonymous | 8/13/11

It's not nice to stir the water, but it seems "Philly" might have a point. Marijuana is the Devil's flower therefore it is a weed in God's garden. Saying that, how many musicians smoke the weed, and pretend they don't? Which is worse again. There are plenty of black musicians who don't smoke the weed just as there are plenty of white musicians who do smoke it. Either way, please don't make the mistake of trying to associate cannabis use with any kind of meaningful or profound insight into anything whatsoever, as it has the exact opposite effect.

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Genius. | Reviewer: Avinash | 4/28/11

The man was a genius. Period. People like "philly" can go shove it. You probably wouldn't know good music if it hit you in the face. And stop the discrimination against someone's habits. What they do, is their problem. You aren't one to judge what's right and what isn't. So think twice before posting such crap about a legend next time.

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Speak only of things you know | Reviewer: Jes | 3/31/11

A review like that of "philly" should not stand alone. I guess you don't have to be very smart to become a police officer, if "philly" is one. I sure hope the force keeps an eye on him, 'cause that kind of stupidity is lethal. That "philly" does not grasp the meaning of this lyric, is not a due to a flaw in the lyric, but rather falls back on the lack of education that "philly" must have gotten. He sure can not have been paying much attention in English lit. Maybe he was too busy playing Quarterback. Thank you Bob Marley, for making this beautiful piece of music, even though you were probably stoned. ;)

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hogwash | Reviewer: philly | 3/25/11

Nothing but broken buzzed out stoned and burned out brain behind lyrics that have no significance to anyone. Reminds me of the stoners I lock up - they make every bit as much sense.

Amazing that anyone could think the babbling of a stoner could have deeper meaning... get real.

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Freedoom | Reviewer: Just Someone | 6/16/10

This song is wonderful but the thing is people those days dont know what freedoom realy is ! freedoom is not comming trough demokraty as yall can se they kill people in iraq for what, demokraty ?? Freedoom ?? thats not freedoom ... where is the freedoom for the religious ones !!

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we all live in mental slavery | Reviewer: sherryl-annette snyder | 1/27/10

Our world has grown small enough to see the broken pieces of humanity. The broken pieces of God make war when they should cast off the mental slavery of their upbringing. Grab hands together and let's raise our hearts to each in respect of our freedom.

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redemption song | Reviewer: begoh | 12/9/09

'no fear for atomic energy' this is serious rebellion my brothers; what someone can really call damn commitment to fulfillment of black rights.even at gun point we going to fight and we will not give up.

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Take it as you may. | Reviewer: Leilani Zepeda | 12/4/09

Wether you input "head" or "hand" the song is beautiful both ways and equally make a lot of sense.
My interpretation of when he uses "hand" is that as slaves their minds were confused and enslaved but they were phisicaly strong.God put them here for a reason.

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About the hand/head controversy | Reviewer: tricky2k | 11/11/09

LG, observer and the anonymous reviewer had already explained the historical meaning of that "hand" instead of "head", but there's also a simplest explanation, the lyrical one, thus the repetition of the word "hand" makes the sentence more powerful for the listener. Marley's lyrics are damn good poems, and no doubt Redemption Song is the best one.

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observation | Reviewer: observer | 11/7/09

guyz who wer arguin earlier saying bob shld hv sayed th ''head'' rather than th ''hand'' so tht it wld make sense, bt to my own opnion n az much az i wld hv loved 2 agree i don think it wld make sense sayin th ''head''. most of u guyz hv taken the literal translation of th e word ''hand'' bt actually if we read inbetween the lines, i think the ''hand'' represents the person as a whole entity. so wat um trying to say iz its the people who were made strong be it mentally, physically or socially by GOD.

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Hand and head explanation. | Reviewer: Anonymous | 10/5/09

U guyz don't get it at all...when bob says 'but my hand was made strong by the hand of the almighty'...he means the slaves were touched by the almighty through their faith n got the strength they needed to free themselves from slavery first then fight for their other rights.he couldn't say 'but head my was made strong by the hand of the almighty...' coz at the time he was witnessing the civil rights movement.it wasn't about mind,it was about hand coz men matched and fought physically for their rights.force was used against them so that should give you an idea..this guy was a genius.

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Submission to Jah | Reviewer: cleophas simiyu | 8/14/09

This song by the King portrays a strong conviction that, man with all his devices and that of all about him can't beat the time. The will of God prevails always. These lines of wisdom taught me to chase the wind no more.

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