Marley Page #5

- They told us to go away.

They know nothing

about Norval having a baby.

- Knowing my father, as I do, um,

I don't know how strong

the word rejected is.

But he might have

been rejected, for sure,

because, um, a different era

and my father was a disciplinarian,

and he was quite

a stern man in his own way.

In those days Rastafarians weren't

as socially accepted as they are now.

- He said to me, "When all this happened,

it gave me more strength...

because I went to write a song."

You know, write a song.

I said "What song?"

He said, "Try to pick it up."

He said, "The stone the builder refuse.

I'm the stone. I'm the one."

I just wanted to play you a song...

which we were told, Bob,

after he went to see your father

and he felt rejected,

he wrote this song

about that experience.

I'm just very curious to know

what you think of it.

- Really? I'd be interested.

I'd be interested to hear it.

The stone that the builder refused

Will always be the head cornerstone

Sing it brother

- Nice song.

You're a builder baby

Here I am a stone

Don't you pick and refuse me

'Cause the things people refuse

Are the things they should use

Do you hear me

Hear what I say

- I've heard this song before,

but I never placed any significance in it.

But I can see where

what you're saying could be so.

Mm-hmm.

- Am I allowed to talk?

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah, how true that is.

'Cause Bob put the Marley name

in the world, you know?

He filled the world with the Marleys

by all his music and his children's.

And he now becomes the Marley.

You know what I mean?

He now becomes the Marley,

and nobody knows what happened

to the rest that used to be so...

adored and wonderful.

They're in the background now,

and he's in the forefront.

Isn't that amazing?

Yes. Yes. Truly.

The stone that the builder refused

Will always be the head cornerstone

- I think what happened to him...

that rejection...

that is why he was able

to reach the world.

And I think there are so many people

out there that are hurting.

So many people out there that have felt

what I have been through,

and I have a message that can bring change

and transformation.

No woman no cry

No woman no cry

No woman no cry

No woman no cry

'Cause 'cause

'Cause I remember

when we used to sit

In the government yard

in Trench Town

Oba observing

the hypocrites yeah

Mingle with the good people

we meet yeah

Good friends we have

Good friends we've lost

Along the way yeah

In this great future

you can't forget your past

So dry your tears I say

Yeah

Everything's gonna be all right

Everything's gonna be all right

Everything's gonna be all right

Everything's gonna be all right

Everything's gonna be all right

Everything's gonna be all right

Everything's gonna be all right

Everything's gonna be all right

Everything's gonna be all right

Everything's gonna be all right

Everything's gonna be all right

Everything's gonna be all right

Everything's gonna be all right

Somebody rang me and said,

"By the way,

Bob Marley and the Wailers are in London.

Would you like to meet them?"

I was intrigued to meet them

because, you know,

you'd heard a lot about them by now.

When they came in the office,

they were just really impressive.

Very charismatic.

I just said to go make an album

and asked them how much they thought.

They told me, and I gave them

the money to do that.

We took 4,000 pounds and

did the Catch a Fire album.

I was trying to get across

that this is a black rock act.

That's how I wanted it

to be perceived.

Get up stand up

Stand up for your rights

Get up stand up

Stand up for your rights

Get up stand up

And don't give up the fight

My sense is that Bob

was ready to give it a try,

and that the others weren't that keen.

The frame of mind that Bob was in,

he didn't mind it.

He said, "I had to start somewhere."

He always said it.

"If you don't start somewhere,

you're not gonna get nowhere."

Get up stand up

Stand up for your rights

Get up stand up

Bob wanted it to reach

not just the Jamaicans...

Bob wanted it to reach

the American market.

He wanted it to reach

the European market.

And in order to do that,

you had to flavor it that way.

Stand up for your rights

Get up stand up

And don't give up the fight

Ital.

Irie.

The first record

is easily the most,

for want of a better word, pasteurized.

I added sort of different things into it.

- All those guitars and the keyboards

are all overdubs.

No sun will shine in my day today

No sun will shine

The high yellow moon

won't come out to play

Won't come out to play

I said darkness

has covered my light

And has changed my day

into night yeah

Where is the love to be found

Won't someone tell me

I had no doubt

that it would succeed.

I had no doubt.

The only thing that

could stop it succeeding...

is if I couldn't get them to tour.

That was my only fear.

Concrete jungle

I say where the living is hardest

They went on this famous tour,

and things went wrong.

Things went sour.

- We did a tour of England

of the Catch a Fire album,

but no one told us that

it was a promotional tour,

so we wouldn't be getting any money.

You're top group in Jamaica now,

and you probably think that going

to England is going to be the same.

Bob was more real.

'Cause he said to me,

"Nobody know the Wailers."

- I think Bob recognized he needed

to get out there and do it,

and I think the others were not sure.

It's like grassroots, you know?

You're on a bus all night,

schlepping up and down the motorway,

eating terrible food.

You know, it's rough.

In the case of Bunny, I think he just

didn't want to be in the cold and the snow.

He just... it just wasn't worth it to him.

Bob wanted success.

Bunny and Peter were more militant.

People wanted to separate them...

because they didn't want

to deal with Bunny and Peter.

- When you say people,

do you mean Island Records?

- Of course.

- The American leg was next.

So I said, "Are we going to get

some money out of this leg?"

Chris Blackwell said, no, because

you're gonna be doing freak clubs.

You know, a place where

all kinds of immoral, mix-up things.

I say, "Chris

you know that we are Rastas.

Why are you exposing us

to them kind of situations there?"

"Well, if the Wailers don't do those clubs,

they're nobody."

So I said, "Yeah?

So I'm not going on this tour.

This leg, I'm coming off."

And my brothers, I thought,

would have done the same...

as the conversation affected them both.

But I was left to look as if

I was the only cold front.

So I hold my position anyway,

and still holds my position.

Stop that train I'm leaving

Stop that train I'm leaving

Peter was

a militant type of guy.

And I think he didn't like

Chris Blackwell too much.

He figured Chris Blackwell

was ripping them off.

- Well, the time came about '74...

when we did two L.P.'s

with Chris "Whitewell."

And the way he intend to handle us...

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