Entre las callejuelas de Kingston, Jamaica, en los años 60, surgió una fuerza musical destinada a cambiar el mundo. En 1963, Bob Marley, junto a Bunny Wailer y Peter Tosh, formaron el grupo que pronto sería conocido como The Wailing Wailers. Estos músicos jóvenes, con profundas raíces en la pobreza, comenzaron a tejer un sonido único que capturó la esencia de su entorno y experiencias. La combinación de ritmos de ska, rocksteady, y el naciente reggae, sirvieron como base para sus primeras grabaciones, atrayendo la atención de Coxsone Dodd, un influyente productor local.
A mediados de los años 60, el grupo sufrió cambios en su formación, pero la visión de Marley permaneció intacta. Con la salida de artistas del grupo, nuevos miembros como Aston "Family Man" Barrett y su hermano Carlton Barrett se unieron, solidificando la alineación que llevaría a los Wailers a la fama global. En 1972, el encuentro con Chris Blackwell de Island Records catapultó al grupo a nuevas alturas. Blackwell les dio la oportunidad de grabar un álbum con la intención de atraer tanto al público jamaicano como al internacional, resultando en la creación de Catch a Fire (1973), un disco que pronto se convirtió en un hito del reggae.
Catch a Fire no solo mostró la capacidad del grupo para crear música cautivadora, sino que también abordó temas de injusticia
Ver BiograFia Completa
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
And where have you been, my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin',
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin',
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin',
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin',
I heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin',
I heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
I heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
Oh, what did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
And who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow,
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded in hatred,
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.
And, what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
And, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest dark forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
And the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where the souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it,
And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it,
And I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.