“Every need got an ego to feed.”  If that’s not the lyric of a master, than nothing is.  “Pimper’s Paradise,” from 1980’s Uprising LP, is one of Bob’s best songs.  Anyone else obsessed with the way he sings “Well-ell aelll..?”  How about the line, “Now she is blusing when there ain’t no blues…?”  I’m not really sure what he means by that line, but it makes my spine shiver every time…in the good way.  “She loves to smoke, sometimes shifting coke, now she is laughing when their ain’t no joke, a pimper’s paradise.”  My God, this song is genius.  Not that anyone’s comparing or asking, but Bob was every bit the brilliant songwriter that John Lennon or Bob Dylan were.  I’d go even further to say that he was more natural and fiercely unique than those two guys, as it never seemed that Bob, who struggled greatly in his life, never struggled with being himself like Johnny or Zim.  Please vote!

We’re back in the 1974 Catch a Fire sessions as Bob Marley and the Wailers cut a fifth version of “Duppy Conqueror.”  What is a “duppy,” and why is Bob conquering them?  Interesting question.  Well, in Jamaica, duppy is slang for ghost, and Bob was thinking about opening up a Jamaican branch of the Ghostbusters.  Actually, according to legend, i.e. Wikipedia, Bob’s success was bringing a lot of leeches and hangers on, draining his spirit like vampires (duppys.)  Bob was determined to rise above the situation and conqueror them, and presto, a song was born.  The song itself is a beautiful slow harmonized jam about overcoming prisons both mental and physical.  It’s a great abstract metaphor and a great song.  Bob sings it so soulfully, yet again bringing his unique perspective to a universal pop context.  Genius at work here folks.  Enjoy.

Part 55 of my countdown grooves on with Bob Marley’s gem “Stir it Up.”  Written in 1967, this was one of Bob’s first songs to gain international fame when Johnny Nash covered it and made it a top 20 hit in 1972 in both Britain and America.  The song is one of Bob’s incredible love songs, featuring a slow jam rocksteady melody, unpretentious lyrics, and beautiful background harmonies.  There is simply not much to add with words to its already self-evident splendor, but I tell you, this is a marvelous video.  Its just Bob and his band, playing a note perfect rendition of the song with Bob looking utterly iconic of course in all his natural coolness.  I hate that he died so young, him and John Lennon, the two people I’d do anything to see play live.  That’s why these videos mean so much to me, because its all I have of these people that changed my life so completely.  Enjoy.