Redemption Song

"Redemption Song"
Single by Bob Marley and the Wailers
from the album Uprising
B-side	"Redemption Song" (Band version) "I Shot the Sheriff" (Live)
Released	October 1980
Genre	Folk
Length	3:49
Label	Island/Tuff Gong
Writer(s)	Bob Marley
Producer(s)	Bob Marley, Chris Blackwell

"Redemption Song" is a song by Bob Marley. It is the final track on Bob Marley & the Wailers' ninth album, Uprising, produced by Chris Blackwell and released by Island Records. The song is considered one of Marley's greatest works. Some key lyrics derived from a speech given by the Pan-Africanist orator Marcus Garvey entitled "The Work That Has Been Done".

At his concert in Westfalenhallen, Dortmund, Germany, on 13 June 1980, Bob Marley introduced this song with the words: "This song is called 'The Pirates Yes They Rob I, Sold I to the Merchant Ship'."

At the time he wrote the song, circa 1979, Bob Marley had been diagnosed with the cancer in his toe that later took his life. According to Rita Marley, "he was already secretly in a lot of pain and dealt with his own mortality, a feature that is clearly apparent in the album, particularly in this song".

Unlike most of Bob Marley's tracks, it is strictly a solo acoustic recording, consisting of him singing and playing an acoustic guitar, without accompaniment. The song is in the key of G major.

"Redemption Song" was released as a single in the UK and France in October 1980, and included a full band rendering of the song. This version has since been included as a bonus track on the 2001 reissue of Uprising, as well as on the 2001 compilation One Love: The Very Best of Bob Marley & The Wailers. Although in live performances the full band was used for the song the solo recorded performance remains the take most familiar to listeners.

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Wikipedia