Sunday Song: Bob Marley Essentials

"One good thing about music: when it hits, you feel no pain." - Bob Marley

Aside from the original "I Shot the Sheriff" and T-shirts with pot leaves on them, I knew nothing of Bob Marley until I went on a family cruise to the Caribbean and talked to the locals a few years ago. They all worshipped Marley and all he stood for. Ever since then, I've had a fascination with him and have been hooked to his music. Sounds cheesy, but I get what the locals were hearing...There's just something about his music that just speaks to people...

So, instead of choosing just one Sunday Song, I am choosing songs that I call the essential Marley 5: Three Little Birds, No Woman No Cry, One Love, Buffalo Soldier and Trenchtown Rock.

Instead of giving a mini biography of this amazing man, I will simply leave you with a wonderful quote from the ever-popular Wyclef Jean:

"What separates Bob Marley from so many other great songwriters? They don't know what it's like for rain to seep into their house. They wouldn't know what to do without their microwaves and stoves -- to make a fire with wood and cook their fish next to the ocean. Marley came from the poverty and injustice in Jamaica, and that manifested itself in his rebel sound. The people were his inspiration. Straight up. Like John Lennon, he brought the idea that through music, empowerment and words, you can really come up with world peace. But it's hard to compare him to other musicians because music was just one part of what he was. He was also a humanitarian and a revolutionary. His impact on Jamaican politics was so strong, there were assassination attempts on his life. Marley was like Moses. When Moses spoke, people moved. When Marley spoke, they moved as well."