Cole Mooney
9/29/19
Lori Bedell
R-CL
Willie Nelson and Bob Marley
Today more than ever, we need peace in our world. Societies around the globe are in unrest: Violent protests, Corrupt Politicians, and hatred for our fellow citizens simply because we disagree of an issue. Our society, America, is more divided now than it has been since the civil war. In times like these, we turn to the wise and reassuring words of peace advocates to guide us out of the darkness of hate and into the light of peace. Willie Nelson and Bob Marley are legendary Musicians who use their fame as a platform to advocate for peace and love through their music by using Kairos, paleolithic ideologies, and common places found in their communities.
Willie nelson is the greatest country music star to have ever lived, with millions of fans worldwide who travel great distances to hear him preform. But Willie Nelson does not just sing about being “On the road again”, he also sings about peace on earth, or rather the lack of it. Willies “Whatever happened to peace on earth?” came out in 2003 as a protest to the war in Iraq. Willie asks the audience “how much oil is one human life worth?” and “Lets just kill’em all and let god sort’em out/ Is this what god wants us to do?”. Willie purposely talks about the sanctity of life to remind his audience that no amount of oil is worth a single human life, and that we must abandon the idea that we must destroy the enemy, rather than make peace with them while on earth, because that is what god would want.
Prior to his anti-war song, Willie had soothed the American people with his rendition of “America the beautiful” after the September eleventh attacks during the “America: A tribute to heroes” Telethon. Although Willie took a stance against the war, He stated in an interview with Larry king that he did it to calm the American people. “We needed to come together as Americans, no matter our stance on the war, to show that no matter what, this great nation will never be wavier in the face of adversity.”. Willie acted as a consoling parent to his fans across America as he sung on stage with other country music stars in solidarity to show that America as a nation is still strong.
In 2006, Nelson released a song titled “Cowboys are frequently, secretly fond of each other”, which depicts the struggles of a gay cowboy coming to terms with his homosexuality. As a gay rights activist, Willie wanted to depict the hardships and persecution that homosexuals face living in a conservative part of the country. Willie uses humor to lighten the situation: “Cowboys like to brag about what they have done with their women/ but those who brag loudest are most likely queer.” And “What did you think all them saddles and boots where about?”, at the same time he touches on more serious matters wen he sings “No small town likes it when a cowboy has feelings for men” and “And there’s always somebody who says what the others just whispered/ and mostly that someone is the first one to get shot down dead.”.
Now we turn to the best of another music genre, Bob Marley. As mentioned in his interview with 60 minutes, Marley has used his reggae music as a rallying cry for the Jamaican people to stand up against the tyrannical government of Jamaica, as well as to promote word peace and love. To Marley and other Rastafarians, Smoking Marijuana is not a privilege, but a right that no government could deny them. In the Rastafarian religion smoking Marijuana is part of their religious beliefs, as it says in the book of revelations to “partake in the herb”. Marley sees the illegalization of Marijuana as not only another way the government has kept the black man down, but as religious persecution as well. As a result, Marley wrote “legalize it” to illustrate his stance on the law, as well as gain support from other Jamaicans to decriminalize Marijuana.
Another song that Marley wrote that depicts the plight of the black man was “The Black survivor”, a song that calls out the government for neglecting the black people of Jamaica. Marley points out the wealth gap and opportunities that the white people of Jamaica have, while the black populace only barley survives. Marley’s message of black oppression resonated greatly in the U.S. as blacks faced the same racial discrimination and the song came as a source of inspiration for blacks across the planet to rise up and fight oppression.
In the 1960’s gang wars and poverty where rampant in the streets of Jamaica’s black communities. Although everybody suffered, Marley knew that the children where the ones who suffered the most and used them to help bring awareness to the kids growing up in the ghettos. Marley wrote a song that was performed by the children of Jamaica called “Children playing in the street” and although it had an uplifting melody, its dark lyrics recreated the stark wasteland where these kids grow up. “Children playing in the streets/ on broken bottles and rubbish heaps…sitting in the darkness searching for the light/ struggling in the ghetto trying to do the right.”. It is heart breaking to think of children playing in trash and trying to make the best of their situation, especially how they could easily be influenced by and fall into the gang violence that surrounds them.
Willie Nelson and Bob Marley both are respected around the world not only because of their music, but also because of their activism they brought to social problems that where present in their societies. Willie focused of the rights of Gays, The Iraq war, as well as the importance of what it meant to be American, While Bob Marley had focused on the oppression of his people and the hardships that the children faced, as well as his own fight for the legalization of Marijuana. Both men where revolutionary for their time, not only for their music, but because they had taken such a strong stance on so many controversial issues, without any fear of what would happen to their careers, because for them, making music was only second to the importance of standing for what you believe in and fighting against injustice.
Reference
(Soon to Come)