Bob Marley and The Wailers’ Redemption Song has surpassed 300 million streams on Spotify. The song was produced by Island Records founder Chris Blackwell for Marley’s “Uprising” Album (1980), the final release in his lifetime. It is Marley’s 7th song to reach the milestone on the platform.
Blackwell in his memoir, “The Islander: My Life In Music and Beyond” reflects on the making of the timeless song.
“That’s one of Bob’s songs I can say I really produced, rather than just being responsible for the mix. He was terribly ill at the time of recording, and not sleeping much, cognizant that his time is coming to an end,” Blackwell stated.
Marley had injured his toe in 1977 and the doctor had advised him to have a check up every three months to make sure there weren’t any lingering complications according to Blackwell but during that time Marley decided to focus more on his music. During that time the injury developed into melanoma and Marley channeled his personal pain into his life’s work.
“His writing and thinking was taking on an intensely contemplative tone,” Blackwell said.
The lyrics for Redemption Song are from a speech made by Marcus Garvey in Sydney Nova Scotia in 1937.
Bob Marley tried out several versions of the song before Blackwell suggested that the song be presented with an acoustic guitar. “Eyes shut, lost in the words, he sang a spare version to me as an audience of one, it sounded hymnal and hypnotic. The understatement of his performance made the song so much more dramatic. I thought it would be amazing if everyone heard Redemption Song the same way..in its simplicity it transcended genre.”
When the song was complete both men contemplated how to put the song on the album because it did not fit naturally into the flow of the Uprising Album.
“It worked beautifully as the last track and what would turn out to be his last album, a summary of everything he stood for and a showcase for how gentle and persuasive he could be even as he was singing something with great power and moral weight,” Blackwell stated.
The song was included in Marley’s last performance in Pittsburg at the Stanley Theatre on the 23rd of September 1980. “Terminally ill, on the verge of collapsing at any moment, he played ‘Redemption Song’…the show ended with Get Up Stand Up as Bob left the stage before the music stopped,” Blackwell recalled.
Marley had collapsed merely forty-eight hours before the Pittsburgh concert in Central Park, New York City, while jogging.
He was subsequently admitted to the hospital where medical professionals conveyed the disheartening news that his previously diagnosed melanoma had metastasized to his brain, liver, and lungs.
Despite this grave prognosis, Marley made the decision to proceed with the performance at Stanley Theater (later renamed Benedum Center), where he delivered his hits including the renowned ‘No Woman, No Cry’.
The promoter of the event, Rich Engler, who managed DiCesare-Engler Productions, found himself grappling with uncertainty about the concert’s feasibility when informed of Marley’s ailing condition, as noted on tribelive.com.
Engler recounted, ‘It wasn’t until years later that I discovered he had collapsed in Central Park before while exercising.’
When Marley entered the stage, Engler reminisced, ‘The Stanley Theatre erupted in a manner unprecedented, pulsating to Marley’s rhythm like never before.’
Marley’s manager Allan “Skill” Cole, Marley’s manager also recalled the excitement at the concert.
“It was a full house of mostly white people… the whole Uprising tour all through Europe was mostly white people. I can’t remember the opening act in Pittsburgh, but the man [Bob] mash up di place. Dem [the audience] loved it,” Cole told the Jamaica Observer.
Cole said he was the one who cancelled the remaining dates for the Uprising Tour due to his observation of Marley’s health condition which included seizures.
“A me call off the tour. A me stop the show. Mi deh wid Bob every day and mi see di man state of mind. I just had to do it. Mi couldn’t mek di man drop down pon stage. Remember, di doctor did give him weeks to live because the cancer had spread throughout his body,” Cole added.
Bob Marley died on the 11th of May 1981 at age 36 in a Miami hospital.
