Bob Marley: Some Facts About The Legend

The unparalleled impact this man made on the world music is and will be remembered and acknowledged for many years ahead. So much has been said, filmed, sung, written about Bob Marley and his rebellion music that there is hardly much to be added. However, those who are familiar with Marley’s life and work only superficially might find some of these facts curious and useful. I’ve picked a couple of those that seemed lesser known. Enjoy:

• Bob’s original name is actually Nesta Robert, but since comments were made that Nesta sounds quite feminine, his parents swapped the name of the kid. And that’s not the only thing to be ‘false’ in his passport: Bob was in fact born in February, on the 6th, but it took his mom quite a while to register the kid so the passport had it as ‘April, 6th, 1945’.
• Bob Marley used to be able to read palms and surprise people with the things he could see and predict looking at their hands. However, after starting his music career, Marley quit the habit and never got back to it again.
• Bob was born to a white British naval captain and a dark-skinned Jamaican mom. His skin was lighter than that of an average Jamaican boy and that made Marley very uncomfortable as he didn't like being called a “white boy” by his peers. 
• Bob Marley was sure that smoking weed makes you a free person.
• The legend of Jamaica used to be quite a ladies’ man – the official number of his kids is 11, though there were more. “Yuh wan have ma baby?” – one of Bob’s popular phrases.
• Knowing how hard the poverty can be, after earning enough money Bob would often buy his friends houses and offer money to the poor of Jamaica.
• Bob Marley drove a BMW, but not because he liked the mark but because he read the abbreviation his own way: BMW = Bob Marley and the Wailers.
• A devoted Rastafarian, Bob Marley was a vegetarian. Rastafarianism was also the reason for his refusal to amputate the toe when a melanoma was found there. That decision ultimately deprived him of life, when the malignant illness spread further.
• No one still knows what ‘reggae’ actually stands for or how exactly this term had been born.

The music of Bob Marley is still listened to in most countries of the world. This year, in less than a fortnight, on May 11, Bob Marley will be remembered on the 33rd year of his decease (he died on May 11, 1981 in Miami, not being able to make it to his motherland).

The Hobbit: I See Fire by Ed Sheeran

They say the most memorable parts of a work – be it film, book, music piece and so on – are the impressive beginning and the powerful ending. The latter sometimes even more important as it carries the aftertaste that will stay with us for quite a while forming the impression of what we’ve just watched, read or heard. Therefore, director Peter Jackson was quite careful when selecting a person to compose music for “The Hobbit” end-credit song.

The candidacy of Ed Sheeran, a young English singer-songwriter was suggested by Jackson’s daughter, Katie who got her father acquainted with Ed’s music. Being a fan of Tolkien, Ed Sheeran watched the film on the same day. The surprising part is that the song itself, its recording and release were all done ON THAT SAME DAY TOO. Only some overdubbing was added next day and the song was ready to go and capture people’s affection. Ed was so excited about the work that he even learnt to be a ‘violinist’ in a day – through overdubbing.

“I See Fire” was released as a digital download and was soon nominated for Satellite Award. In the video you can follow the whole one-day process of collaboration in a behind-the-scenes style, with Peter Jackson present himself. And, of course, some favorite movie parts are added too. All in all, nice song, great lyrics, good work.