Musicality Matters: "One Drop" - Bob Marley

"One Drop"

It's only fitting that having picked Bob Marley for July's Legend of the Month, I ask the two people in my life that are experts on the man and his music. My Aunt Tina and Uncle Mike are lifelong musicians who have analyzed, enjoyed, and played Bob Marley's music for years. They both currently are a part of the Dani Tribesmen Band, and play on a Reggae Cruise out of Boothbay Harbor in Maine. Find more information on the Sunset Reggae Cruise here: http://www.whaleme.com/tickets.htm

Thank You Aunt Tina for giving us some great insight on the Man & His Music!

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When I was asked to do a review of a Bob Marley song, I was immediately excited about reviewing one of my favorite and dearest artists of all time. The task at hand seemed effortless, but when I started this process of thinking what song, I had a difficult time picking one.

I have been playing his music professionally for over 24 years and I definitely have my favorites. However, as a band we don’t play every song he wrote. My goal was to try to capture all the elements of the reggae style and the essence that is Bob Marley. In his songs he wrote about love, equal rights, freedom, the bible, Jah Rastafari, solidarity, unity, peace and other worldly messages. Reggae as a style has several subcategorizes including “one-drop, steppers, and rockers".

For much of his career Bob focused on the one drop style of reggae. One drop means the snare drum and bass drums hit simultaneously on beats two and four. Unlike rock and roll is the bass drum hits on “one” and “three” and the snare drum hits on “two” and “four”. As I listened to his music, I narrowed it down to one of my favorite albums of all time Survival, one of his most defiant and politically charged albums. One song, which I love to play, is called “One Drop”. It kept on coming back to me because it had all the elements and essence of Bob Marley. It starts off with an intro with the legendary I-Three’s (Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths) singing “Na Na Na Na” with Bob vocalizing “wha yo”. The drummer Carlton Barrett sets up the tune with a traditional reggae style fill, and then the band starts with a medium tempo one-drop groove. The bass player Ashton (Family Man) Barrett plays his parts by outlining the chords changes seamlessly playing it like its own melody part. The song is layered with keyboard, and guitar parts that stress the “skank”part. The skank is the strong, staccato off beat guitar part played on the “ands”. Throughout the song you can hear percussion parts weaving a rhythmic fabric forming a rhythmic counterpoint to the rest of the instruments. Maracas, cowbell and woodblock each take turn playing a segment of the percussion ostinato. The lyrics talk about “feel it in the one drop,” and spiritually saying “ give us the teachings of his majesty, for we no want no devil philosophy”, and “I know Jah never let us down, from your right or wrong”. He also mentions those “who make the world so hard the people are dying.” So the culmination of all these messages and the musicality of it all cover the true essence of what Bob Marley was about. Bob Marley’s music sounds current and relative today as it did during his short life here on earth.

Take a Listen!