Week 9 Blog Post - I Shot The Sheriff by Bob Marley


    Bob Marley is another one of my all-time favorite artists. I was introduced to him by my father, who was in a reggae band himself. We always had reggae music playing growing up and this was one of those songs. Not only did I love Marley for his music, but I also loved what he stood for. He was a huge advocate for his people and fought for peace and love. Marley wrote this song about police brutality and how it is unjust, but he also had another meaning behind it and that was birth control. The history of the song itself is interesting to say the least.

    The harmonies of the background singers aren't very blended. I don't know if that was on purpose or not but I think it's fitting for the song. I think it could possibly portray imbalance that Marley saw in the justice system (it's a stretch, I know, but it makes sense). I love Marleys voice, it's very much it;s own style and timbre. You can hear how passionate he is. The Wailers (his band) does a great job coming together. All in all, great song, greater artist. Legendary bop. 

Comments

  1. Madeline HallNovember 5, 2021 at 7:23 PM

    Bob Marley is one of the singers that I grew up listening to with my aunt and uncle when I would be at their house. I Shot the Sheriff was my favorite song by Bob Marley and I still know almost all of the words to the song and I always sing along when it comes on. Whenever I see a video of injustice involving cops I always hear this song pop into my head. I feel like he did put his own views and experiences in the song which makes it even better.

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  2. Grace ParkeNovember 16, 2021 at 12:19 PM

    This is such a great analysis of the song. I love how you included pieces about the musicality of the song itself as well as the social weight that it holds. I agree with your point about how the harmonies aren't blended very well but I think that it was probably intentional, I don't think that they were going for something super technically accurate it's more about the message. :) Thanks for sharing!

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