The legacy of Bob Marley

EXTENDED ESSAY

ENGLISH B HL

Category 2B: culture and society

Cultural artefact: The lyrics

Topic:

The legacy of Bob Marley

Research question:

“To what extent did Bob Marley try to influence his listeners?”

Word count: 2968 words

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Table of content

1. Abstract…………………………………………………………………. 3

2. Introduction…………………………………………………………… 4-6

3. Development…………………………………………………………7-22

        3.1 Biography……………………………………………………..7-11

        3.2 Issues…………………………………………………………12-14

        3.3 Analysis of the lyrics……………………………………15-20

        3.4 His influences………………………………………………22-22

4. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………23

5.Glossary*………………………………………………………………24-25

6. Sources…………………………………………………………………26-27

* A glossary which provides information about specific terms is available at the end of the essay.

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Abstract

In this essay, the study explores the way Robert Nesta Marley being inspired by his life, the society and its problems has decided to use music to communicate with the people to make a change: how he tried and achieved to influence the minds of his listeners and their perspective of human condition through the lyrics of his songs, his talent and his lifestyle. It explores this influence that he had during his life and still has now even after his death on people who understood his philosophy in terms of spiritual revolution that allows a lot of them to find the bravery to fight for their rights, for what they love and to express their ideas. It is with the analysis of his lyrics, the meaning of some of his more powerful songs that we can truly understand what were his ambitions for his public. Thanks to his incredible talent to transmit messages and ideas, he received a lot of support from his fans and the evidence of his influence is incredibly remarkable. It’s by studying this evidence that we have the magnitude of his accomplishments.

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[pic 1]

Figure 1: portrait of Bob Marley (1)

Introduction

In addition to making the people dance, entertain them, to bring them together, make them forget our problems, music is primarily used as a means of communication. As universal language, it’s the purest form of human expression in audio. It is a huge and complex concept that connects peoples and cultures around the world everyday. Through their art, artists can give us an idea, a critical message dissimulated in the lyrics that can be about every subject: war, politics, love and even life itself.                                        4

By receiving those messages, listeners are inspired to care about them, think about them or even act.  What a wonderful substitute for weapons music is to create revolution.

It was the idea of Bob Marley to create songs with the aim of moving people to defend their convictions. It had a particularly important impact in the United States of America, most particularly by promoting racial equality between the white and the black people. The purpose of my extended essay is to explore the extent to which Bob Marley tried to change the minds of his audience during his career and after his death in 1981 by transmitting a range of messages in his lyrics.

I chose this subject because I think that it’s wonderful how music can affect our lives at every level: it directly impact our feelings, our moods, it can strongly connect people just by listening to it. I believe that Bob Marley is perhaps one of the best example to show that an artist can have an international influence on the minds of the people by being fully involved in what he was doing without being afraid to expose to his listeners the different problems of the society and of the politicians that he upset more than once.

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“One good thing about music. When it hits you, you feel no pain” – Bob Marley (2)

Therefore, I believe it makes it a worthy topic as it’s the representation that we don’t need violence, armies but a deep interest in what we are doing and in our convictions and to fight for them with words, not with weapons and armies. It could have a huge positive impact on the society or even on the humanity if everyone could express his ideas being covered by any repercussion. Music as a respected and appreciated means of communication could be one key to reach a more unified society as it can be used to discuss different social issues and being listened.

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