Marley Page #3

you're in-between.

You're black and white, so they're...

"You're not even black."

I think he always felt

like an outsider...

because he was a half breed.

And when Mortimer Planno took him in,

well, that automatically

gave him acceptance.

Mortimer Planno was

a Rasta spiritual leader who taught Bob.

- He was like a preacher.

He preached Rastafarianism,

and he had a following.

He hooked up

with Bob as a young boy.

I think that they gelled together.

Bob looked up to him?

- Yes.

Rastafarian were

the only true Afrocentric black people.

Who preached self-reliance,

who preached self-confidence.

But we interpret

the Bible a different way.

Most of these places that they're telling

you about in the Bible is in Africa.

The Garden of Eden is in Africa.

The teaching that we get

from the elders then...

is that we always have to look upon

a black man as God.

For we, somebody

that we can identify with.

Emperor Haile Selassie I

is the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

He's our God. Rasta God.

Rasta said the purpose of life

is to be happy.

Everybody's supposed to be happy...

and live in peace, love and unity.

Yeah, mon.

I think when him start take it serious

now as a Rastaman...

was when him start growing dreadlocks.

- Locks meant that you were a Rastafarian

and you've taken a vow...

Nazarite vow not to cut or comb

your hair for a certain length of time,

and it has a significance

and is not to be taken lightly.

- How important are the dreadlocks?

- This? This is my identity, mon.

- Is that part of being a Rasta?

- Yeah, this is my identity.

- Then you go through

all the various rules...

for living as set out by the Bible.

How you eat, how you live,

how you treat other people.

And he believed that, um,

if you practice these things,

well, life will be better.

Not only for you,

but for everyone else.

Got to have kaya now

Got to have kaya now

Got to have kaya now

For the rain is falling

Marijuana's illegal in Jamaica,

but the Rastas say they smoke it

because the Bible tells them to.

The Book of Revelations

says to "partake of the herb."

- The herb was like

a sacramental food to us.

We take it for reasons,

not just to get high.

It put us in a holy, peaceful,

happy, inspirational mood.

Were you born as a Rasta?

When I was born, you know,

and growing,

there was a certain amount

of consciousness...

in the higher self...

that, you know,

it was always a lonely world,

not finding people who might

think like me, you know?

So off I'm going on, and going on

and I come to Kingston,

meet some more people.

Them people is Rasta.

It's after that I find out

it's the same thing I have inside.

It's the same thing.

- How old were you

when this started to happen?

This is about 17, 18, you know?

- I think in the belief or knowledge...

of Haile Selassie,

Bob found his real father,

which he'd never really knew.

- I think he saw himself now.

This is where he found himself, yes.

No more about being

half white or half black.

It's just one... one love.

One love

One heart

Let's join together

and I'll feel all right

One love

One heart

Let's join together

and I will feel all right

Undaunted by the driving rain,

a sea of faces awaited...

at the Palisadoes Airport

the arrival of a living legend.

For some,

he was the King of Kings.

The Lion of Judah...

even a god.

Members of a local cult,

the Rastafarians,

who worship this figure as a deity,

were present in full force.

His Imperial Majesty,

Haile Selassie I,

Emperor of Ethiopia, arrived.

When the plane landed,

thousands ran out and surrounded the plane.

Some of them smoking.

Our police were powerless.

And Selassie came to the door

of the plane, I remember,

and after about 20 minutes

and he just looked and went back in.

It took a long time

to get him off the plane.

So he came off the plane

and he greet, and I say...

I say, "Wait, but this is a little man.

There is this little man they say is God.

Them crazy."

- I sit there on my bicycle,

waiting on him.

And when him come up,

he look right in my face.

It was like him look

into everybody face.

But he look upon everyone.

I remember, I see that.

And he just

turn his head around...

and he was looking straight at me.

And he did like this.

And I look and I look,

and I saw his hand,

and I saw a mark in his hand.

And believe you, my brother,

when I saw that I went crazy.

I run all the way back

to Trench Town.

Take your troubles to Selassie

He is the only King of Kings

King of Kings

King of Kings Selassie

The deeper Bob got

into the faith... the Rastafarian faith...

the more his music

became entwined.

- He was very into the social

commentary side of the music.

Mr. Dodd didn't like that because

it wasn't commercial enough.

So he was a little frustrated

because he couldn't do the music...

the way he really wanted it to be done.

And also at that time,

money was a problem.

Coxsone wasn't the kind of person

at the time to argue money with,

unless you were willing

to go to war.

When you go

and ask him for your money,

he usually like to bring off

some bad boy style.

'Cause he has his thugs around him.

You know what I mean?

Enforcer type of guys.

- It was traditional in those days...

that artists who recorded

never made money...

because the record company

who collected the money...

never gave the artist any money.

- Yeah, we got paid

like minimum wage.

Three pounds a week, that's it.

Each.

- You couldn't live off it.

Could Bob live off it?

- Nah, mon.

That's why Bob had to leave

and start doing his own thing.

So Robert left the group

to go to Delaware,

to the United States.

To migrate.

Gotta hold on to

this feeling we got

We gonna blow blow blow

'Cause we love love love you now

- Yeah, well that was a marriage

that I wasn't invited to, nor Peter.

But because he's our brother

we lived with it.

We got married, like,

on the 11th.

And he left on the 12th of February.

Run for cover

Run for cover

Rain is taking over

Taking over

He came here...

his mother wants him here.

Bob loved his mother.

He got a job at the du Pont Hotel

vacuuming the floor.

Then he got a job at Chrysler.

- When he was working there,

he used to...

I think he used to drive

one of the forklift.

I think he have a song out

of that driving the forklift all night.

I'm working all night

Got to be all right

See I work for my bread

All right

Night and day

All night

Work for my pay

All right

Night and day

No no no no no no

No no no no no no

Can you feel it

No no no no no no

- Well, he was just very humble,

very loving,

and he was very quiet, really.

Was he smoking

a lot of ganja then?

- Yeah, he was growing it too,

man, in his backyard,

and he had a row of herb plants,

I mean towering in the air,

and I couldn't believe it.

'Cause at that time

in Wilmington, Delaware,

man, they were kicking

people's doors in for a little joint.

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