Top Ten Songs - Number 8

I have few regrets in my life. One of my biggest is that I did not see Bob Marley live in the 70s when I had the chance. I had a ticket in my hand. I traded it for a case of beer. I did not know anything about Reggie or the significance of Bob Marley.  What a fool I was. I can only blame it on youth and inexperience.

Number 8 on my list of top ten songs - Get up, Stand up by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. I'm playing the youtube version from the Legend DVD here, but I prefer the original version from Burnin.

Why?

I was young, dumb and stuck in the USAF in Chanute Illinois. I had limited access to music. I think I heard Freebird a thousand times that hot summer. I can still remember the feeling of the humidity, boredom and isolation as if it were yesterday. It still haunts my dreams.

On one dull Saturday, a guamainian friend named Jerome and I took a long walk to a park off base to pursue a little full contact basketball with the locals. After playing for the better part of a day, Jerome slipped a tape into a boom box he carried every place he went. Instead of Freebird, Bob Marley's Get up, Stand Up, slipped from the speakers and into my soul. I actually shed a tear as the song played. I had never heard anything like it before. Of course, my island friend thought I was totally gay... I knew better, it was all about the music.

There are better Bob Marley songs, but you never forget your first.

Technorati tags: Bob Marley, Music, Reggie