A 4 o’clock drop with a difference today. ‘If You Don’t Know, Now You Know’ is going to be a place for us to drop little bits of music history or trivia that some people will know, and others won’t.
#1 – WAR by Bob Marley
This is one of Bob Marley’s best known songs, for it’s catchy riddim and incredibly powerful lyrics. When Bob sings like this, not even Zach from Rage Against the Machine can match the raw power.
But not so many people know that the lyrics are derived almost completely from a speech given by former Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I. Selassie gave this speech to the United Nations in 1963, addressing the racial injustice that was so prominent in Africa as well as much of the world at that point.
Here’s the excerpt from the speech:
“…until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned: That until there are no longer first-class and second class citizens of any nation; That until the color of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes; That until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; That until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained; And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique and in South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed; Until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and good-will; Until all Africans stand and speak as free beings, equal in the eyes of all men, as they are in the eyes of Heaven; Until that day, the African continent will not know peace. We Africans will fight, if necessary, and we know that we shall win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil…”
IF YOU DON’T KNOW, NOW YOU KNOW.
