All language subtitles for BBC.When.Bob.Marley.Came.to.Britain.1080p.HDTV.x265.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

All the way from Trenchtown,
Jamaica,

Bob Marley And The Wailers!
Come on!

When Marley started to sing,
it's something like outer space.

It was just his energy on stage,
it was electric.

He just blew the roof off
with positive vibration

and some positive reggae music.

For a lot of people,
it was kind of seeing the messiah.

In the 1970s, Bob Marley rose
from humble beginnings to become

a global superstar.

Anywhere you go in the world,
people know Bob Marley.

It was a journey that took place not
just in his homeland of Jamaica,

but also in the country he came
to regard as his second home.

Everything started
right here in England.

# Exodus

# All right... #

Britain set the platform
from which he launched

his international career.

If this didn't happen,

we would not have the Bob Marley
we know today.

Along the way, Marley left an
indelible mark on Great Britain.

So, we're pissed off and angry.

And Bob gave that a soundtrack.

# Movement of Jah people... #

This is the story of Bob Marley's
time in Britain and how he changed

the lives of the people he met here.

# Exodus... #

You still go back and talk
about Bob Marley came to our school.

The excitement is still there.

We never realised we was
in the presence of someone

who would transcend worldwide.

Bob looked back and said,
"You ready, Dennis?" I went, "Yeah."

And the adventure began.

INDISTINCT SPEECH
THROUGH LOUDSPEAKER

1972, a year of national
crisis in the UK.

Violence in Northern Ireland,
mass picketing,

and more than a million unemployed.

It's hard for people to understand
what a dump much of Britain was

in the first half of the '70s.

You know, it still looks
like the remnants of World War II.

You know, I mean, there's still
bombsite damage.

The social and political
and economic climate at the time

was crap for everybody.

If you were black,
multiply that by ten.

Britain was very, for me,
very quite a hostile place.

Growing up here in Leeds,
we felt we couldn't even

leave our communities because
people would...

The racial attacks at the time
and just the slogans on the walls.

And we were only young children.

And so, I think it quite
traumatised us and I think

the atmosphere was very much
that we weren't wanted.

Young black people called the police
the wicked Babylon,

and they felt they were being
persecuted.

We were treated like shit
back in those days.

And we were desperate for something
that would lift us up.

MUSIC: Small Axe
by Bob Marley And The Wailers

# Why boasteth thyself... #

In 1972, Bob Marley arrived
in Britain as part of a tour

he hoped would launch
his international career.

# Playing smart and not being
clever... #

Bob Marley had already had a career
in Jamaica,

which my parents had embraced.

By the time he's arriving,
or we are aware of him

as first-generation black
British-born individuals,

he's in what I would call
second phase of a career.

Marley was collaborating
with Johnny Nash at the time,

and Johnny Nash had already
had hits in the States.

So Marley came over
as part of the Johnny Nash tour.

While Marley saw the Nash tour
as a chance to find an audience

outside Jamaica, his band, The
Wailers, were less enthusiastic.

So, there's tensions in the band
as to why go into Babylon, the UK -

the mother of the colonial
experience

that's been suppressing them
forever -

why are we doing that?

Bob Marley wanted to go out,

wanted to challenge the world,
if you like, with his message.

MUSIC: Duppy Conqueror
by Bob Marley And The Wailers

London soon became
like a second home to Marley,

living in rented flats
in Camden and Bayswater.

# Yes, me friend... #

He found himself mixing
with some of the rising stars

of Britain's own reggae scene...

..including Brinsley Forde,
who later formed Aswad,

and Locksley Gishie,
the guitarist in The Cimarons.

# The bars could not...

# Hold me now!

# No force could not control me
now... #

Bad tune! Bad tune, man!
This tune is like a... You know...

"Keep me down."

When Bob come first, right,

Bob wasn't even Rasta them times,
was he? No, no, no, big afro!

And him used to wear it in plaits
and you'd see it bend and kick up.

Yeah, Soul Rebel, Soul Rebel.

# I'm a rebel, soul rebel! #

So, Bob said to us, "I'm looking for
a band to go do some gigs,

"around London."

If I could do it. I said, "Of
course, man, no problem with that."

And the first gig we did
was alongside Johnny Nash,

was together at the Apollo Club
in Willesden.

I couldn't believe it.

This is the club where you played.
The Apollo, yeah. The London Apollo.

And it's still there! Still there.
Still got the sign and everything.

By the summer of '72,
Marley had been joined in London

by the rest of The Wailers.

# Neasden, you won't be sorry
that you breezed in! #

The band set up base in this quiet
north London suburb.

# Signs all say welcome to the
borough that everybody's pleased in

# Neasden! #

Neasden was really a quiet,
I wouldn't say gentrified,

but it was an
up-and-coming, quiet town.

In 1972, I started to work
at the Co-op in Neasden Lane.

So, I remember one afternoon
this person walked towards me,

in...had a beret.

And, as he came nearer to me,
I mean, it's silly now,

but I asked him the question.
I said, "But you're Peter Tosh."

And he just nodded and...
and he went on.

So, I remember speaking to a good
friend of mine, Delroy Washington,

and he said to me,
"Yeah, it's The Wailers,

"they're actually living not far
from here, just around the corner."

So, I went with him that evening
after finishing work.

And sure enough, at The Circle,

there was Bob Marley, Peter Tosh,
Bunny Wailer.

It was just like I was in a dream.

Here we are in The Circle.

We're coming to it, this is the
house where Bob Marley stayed.

Yeah, it's right here, left. Yeah.

Yeah, man. Look at it!

This is the house. The memories
start coming back now.

Shall we go and take a look? Yeah.

This wasn't like this. No, no.
This wasn't like this.

The door was different.
Yeah, it was all different. Yeah.

And there's a back garden round
there. Remember the back garden?

I don't remember the back garden too
much. Yeah, the garden round there.

So, when Bob then came here,
they...

I mean, to the people of the area,
it was like, what is going on?

Yeah, they didn't know what was
happening, yeah.

Bob and Bunny, they would walk
as a group.

I mean it just looked like, you
know, the picture on Catch A Fire.

Yeah. You'd see them walking
up the main street. Yeah.

I mean, it would be like watching
the Beatles now

walk up a main street, you know,
it was still different.

There was an atmosphere.
There was an aura about them.

For me, being big fans
of the Wailers, it was like

this is...this is not real!

This is not real! Yeah!

MUSIC: No More Trouble
by Bob Marley And The Wailers

We were in there one night, jamming,

and Bob said,
"Give me that guitar there."

And he sat on the bed and started
strumming a tune. Yes.

And I always remember it as being
"we don't need no more trouble".

# We don't need no trouble... #

Bob was really a...
you know, very...

Always thinking,
he's a thinking man.

Sometimes he'd go very quiet.

Sometimes he'd go very, very quiet,
and sometimes he'd be just...

Loud!

We never realised
we was in the presence of someone

who would transcend worldwide.
Worldwide, yeah.

I mean, good memories, you know.
Very good memories.

But in 1972, Bob Marley
was still far from a household name

and had to seek unexpected avenues

in his attempts to reach
a wider audience.

1972, Bob goes to Ronnie Scott's
and he just starts talking

to someone who's there,
who's a teacher.

And he's sort of saying, well,
I can't get anything going here,

it doesn't seem to be happening.

The guy says, "Come and play at
our school to our kids, you know.

"We're in Peckham, it's absolutely
your sort of target area."

So, he does,
and it was kind of a legendary show.

The school I went to was called
Peckham Manor.

It's been renamed
the Damilola Taylor Centre.

One day, our art teacher,
Mr Keith Baugh, came in...

Morning.

..said to us, "Boys, I've got
a great surprise for you guys.

"Johnny Nash and Bob Marley
are coming in to do a session

"in our technical wing."

Most of us West Indian boys
used to listen to Bob Marley,

more so than Johnny Nash.

There are a couple of lads,
I understand,

that will be coming down
to the centre today

who were here at that time.

Will be interesting to catch up
and see how we've all changed

after all that time.

Hello, mate. Hello.

Tony Hagan. I'm George Doyle.

Nice to see you.

I swear these are the same benches
we probably sat on on the day!

This face looks familiar.

Hello, Bev. How are you?
How are you guys?

I'm good. Come here!
Hello there! Nice to see you.

It's been a long time.
March '72, yeah.

Cor, it's unbelievable. Yeah.

When I saw the photograph
of all of us as young men,

I thought,
don't we look so different!

Definitely at that end.
It was a little round stage there.

What it was, we all sat around.

There was people on the outside,
both sides.

But most of us was actually focused
at the front here.

Curved round, wasn't it? Yeah.

# Stir it up

# Little darling, stir it up... #

Do you remember the songs
Bob and Johnny sung?

One was definitely Stir It Up.

I remember the Stir It Up but
I can't remember the second song.

I think I Can See Clearly Now
was the second song,

because that's the one
I went out and bought.

# I can see clearly now
the rain has gone

# I can see all obstacles
in my way... #

For me, it was just
something extraordinary

because I never thought
someone this famous

would have actually come
to our school

because everyone avoided
the school, everyone thought

we were... That's somewhere
that no-one wants to be.

We used to call the school
Peckham Madhouse.

So, the concert ended.

It was the end of the school day,
so we went out into the playground

and just had a kick-around because
it was nearly time to go home.

And this was the tarmac playground.

It would have been around here,
wouldn't it? Yeah.

They walked out from, I think,
either one of the...

Either there and they walked along
towards us.

I've been telling people for years
that I played football

with Johnny Nash and Bob Marley,
and no-one ever believed me!

Then, a few years ago,
the photos surfaced.

That's definitely me there
at the front.

No! You're not there. Where are you?

I'm standing back, I'm out of shot.
I'm out...

That's myself,
with the actual football,

trying to play the keep-me-up,
with...

..with Bob Marley having a look.

I won't forget that smile, mate!

I think some of the excitement
you feel when you still go back

and talk about "Bob Marley and
Johnny Nash came to our school" -

that's still...
excitement is still there.

As young kids,
we were so sort of jolly about it!

For George Dyer,
now a bespoke tailor,

meeting Bob Marley was
a life-changing moment.

I remember reading a story
about Bob,

how Peter and Bunny used
to tease him in growing up -

"the red bwoy".

So, he grew up with his brethren
teasing him about his complexion.

And it's the sort of thing
that I kind of went through

because I'm of a lighter complexion.

"What the white man do here?"
Or "what the red man doin' here?"

Bob was walking through
the playground with his guitar.

It was though his eyes met mine
and he just looked at me

and he said,
"Me know, man. Me know."

Just as if to see that he could
identify with what I was about.

That's what I got from it,
basically,

is that he was feeling
what I was feeling.

Coming to Britain would
have been a big deal for Bob Marley,

in terms of identity, who is he?

And I think, in many ways,
he was working through

what was a very complex relationship
that goes all the way back

to his dad being mixed race
in Jamaica,

growing up in a Jamaican community.

MUSIC: Slave Driver
by Bob Marley And The Wailers

Nesta Robert Marley
was born in 1945

in the rural Saint Ann district
of Jamaica.

# Slave driver,
the table is turn... #

The island was still feeling
the devastating effects of centuries

of British colonial rule.

# So you can get burn
Catch a fire... #

Marley's childhood was spent
in poverty,

and he had little contact
with his father,

a naval officer who worked
for the British Government.

Bob's father, Norval Marley,
is a white Jamaican.

He was what's known as a busher,
which means an estate overseer.

And he's in his early 60s.

Bob's mum, Cedella, is 18.

But, you know, they have
a relationship of sorts

and she becomes pregnant.
He does, in fact, marry her.

But he develops a hernia and riding
on horseback around the estate,

he claims, is impossible.

So, he leaves her
and moves back to Kingston.

It's no secret that
Bob took a lot of flack for being

red skin, light skin, yellow,
whatever you want to call it.

It took a long time for him
to find his feet.

# Catch a fire... #

I think that's probably
what made him the writer

and the artist that he became
because it made him strong.

It made him stand toe-to-toe
with those brothers and say,

you know, we're not the same colour,
but it's the same vibe,

the same feel, the same spirit.
You know what I'm saying?

The UK tour of 1972
had ended in disappointment

and The Wailers returned to Jamaica
having failed to get the airplay

or the bookings
they had been seeking.

MUSIC: Stir It Up
by Bob Marley And The Wailers

Undeterred, Marley returned
the following year with a new album

and a new sound that would
completely transform his career.

# Stir it up... #

May '73 saw The Wailers make
music history

with their television debut
on the BBC.

# Come on, baby... #

What you have to understand is
that, at that point, you know,

a lot of people
really didn't like reggae.

Their ears weren't accustomed to it.

# It's been a long, long time... #

So they had to get over that.

And what was important was
that they played on

The Old Grey Whistle Test,
and they were pretty sensational.

# Come on and stir it up

# Little darling, stir it up

# Come on, baby

# Come on and stir it up

# Little darling, stir it up

# Oh-ah... #

I do remember, sat there, watching,
and Bob Marley came on

and I screamed.

I absolutely screamed,
jumping around the place,

because reggae music
wasn't something

that the radio stations played, or

it wasn't really featured
in British society.

So, to see Bob Marley on The Old
Grey Whistle Test blew my mind.

# All you got to do, baby,
is keep it in

# And stir it up

It was one of those moments
that you never forget.

This is a rock programme.

This is a reggae artist.
It had never happened before.

And up until that point, we haven't
seen this band perform life.

It's been a static image
on an album sleeve.

So really, really,
a powerful performance.

# Stir it up

# Ooh, yeah

# Little darling, stir it up... #

The Wailers had just signed
for Island Records,

owned by businessman
and record producer Chris Blackwell.

It was Blackwell's production
on the Catch A Fire album,

mixed at Island's Basing Street
Studios in Notting Hill,

that had introduced the rock and pop
element to The Wailers' sound.

Marley was at a turning point
in his career.

The investment from Island Records,
a lot of investment in promoting

this artist like a rock star...
transformed his success story.

If this didn't happen
through Island Records,

we would not have the Bob Marley
we know today,

or the relationship even to reggae
that we have today.

Britain provided the platform
to build that international career.

He recognised
that you could have a conversation

through this medium
that the UK provided.

You could have a conversation with
the world, and that was special.

And I think that did change him.

Check out this packaging.

Sort of equal to all the rock stuff

that was going on at the time,
you know?

Right. Check out the sound on this.

MUSIC: Concrete Jungle
by Bob Marley And The Wailers

The arrival of Catch A Fire
was absolutely mind-blowing.

They brought in these American
session musicians

that put on all these different
guitar licks,

these kind of keyboard sounds,

but we'd never heard that
combination on reggae before.

And whilst the purists hated it,
for the young, black, British kids,

growing up in the UK that had
had this kind of weird duality...

You know, we grew up listening to
The Stones, The Beatles, The Kinks,

The Who, Roxy Music, Bowie.

So, our ears pricked up

when we heard these different
influences coming in.

# Instead of concrete jungle... #

Catch A Fire features several tracks
inspired by Marley's experiences

of living in Britain and others
that seemed to resonate

with his new surroundings.

So, Peckings record shop was started
by my dad, the late George Price,

um, the first man to sell Jamaican
music in England from 1960,

when he came here.

Catch A Fire album, that is my
absolute favourite Bob Marley album.

"No sun will shine in my day today."

Cos London was gloomy and grey -
concrete jungle.

You know, he's not used to seeing
so much brick.

# I said there must be somewhere
to be found

# Out there somewhere

# Instead of concrete jungle

# Pollution, confusion

# Concrete jungle

# Your concrete jungle... #

Boosted by their ground-breaking
appearance

on The Old Grey Whistle Test,

the Wailers were now gaining
a wider audience

outside their traditional fan base.

# Concrete jungle

# What, what
do you got for me now? #

So, Chris Blackwell,
owner of Island Records,

saw the possibility of them selling
to the college crowd.

They were the ones buying LPs,
buying them by the droves, you know,

at the time.

So, he aimed them at the colleges,
at the rock pubs,

etc, etc.

And part of that is that they will
do four nights at a club

called the Speakeasy.
It's right in the centre of London.

And it's a kind of spectacular
occasion, really, because it's

kind of packed with kind of serious
groovers, you know, there's, like,

Bianca Jagger there and
Steve Winwood, Bryan Ferry also,

Brian Eno.

It's a real scene,
with an air of great expectation.

# Hear the words
of the Rastaman say... #

The music just comes on,
it sounds like something

from the other side of the moon,
really.

# Babylon, you throne gone down,
gone down

# Babylon, you throne gone down... #

And what they're playing is not
something off Catch A Fire.

It's a tune, Rasta Man Chant,
an old Niyabinghi tune,

which is just seriously percussive.

It was...it was completely
sensational.

I'd read that Bob was coming over
to do his first tour

of England, so I kind of decided
not to go to school that day,

and sort of went to the club, was
a place called the Speakeasy Club,

and he turned up
and I walked up to him

and said, "Can I take your picture?"
And he said, "Yeah, man. Come in."

And he really took to me and said to
me, told me about the tour and said,

"Hey, you want to come along?"
I said, "Yeah!"

In those days there was no tour bus,
it was a Transit van. He was

in the front seat and he looked back
and said,

"You ready, Dennis?" And I went...

CLICKS TONGUE
"Yeah!" And the adventure began.

I wanted to be a photographer.

Nobody was encouraging me,
including my family.

And when I met Bob, he said, "Hey,
you know, Dennis, you can do this.

"You know, you can be
a big photographer, Dennis!"

We had a lot in common, Bob and I,
in terms of I never knew my father,

he never knew his father.

I was a complete outsider
and, you know, as he was.

So, I think that's what, again,
drew us together, I think.

And here in this shot, taken on a
day off from the first tour in 1973,

and he would always,
when he had a day off,

would go shopping and he'd buy lots
of footballs and football kits

and he basically was buying

equipment for the children
in Trenchtown.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

I'd like you to give
a good welcome

to one of the greatest bands
in the world. The Wailers!

From that first tour, the places
they would play were like

a Mecca ballroom or something
like that, you know,

and maybe capacity 2,000,
and maybe 200 people turned up.

And... But he walked out there
as if it was sold out.

Nothing fazed him.

Everything for him was
a way forward, a challenge.

He was on a mission.

at our very small club in
Southampton, the Coach House club.

It was the back of the Fleming Arms.

It was just by accident.

I literally walked into the office
of the booking agent, said,

"Look, we have to fill some dates -
do you have anything?"

And he did mention that there was
this band called The Wailers

that he knew nothing about,
and could we fill the slot?

We even, on the night of the gig,
we had an advert in the local paper,

and we misspelt their name,

as in whalers,
people to go and catch whales,

rather than wailers,
people that wail!

# You're gonna lively up
yourself... #

It was on the Sunday morning,

a friend said, "You guys know that
The Wailers are in Southampton?"

You know, I said, "What?!"

And we were off like a shot.

Of course, the problem with this
place is you look at it

and you think it's quite small,
don't you? Yeah.

But once you got inside,
it was even smaller! Smaller!

I remember at one point,
we were so crushed up,

and I lift one foot up,
and put it back down

and I was standing
on someone else's!

# What you gonna do?

# You rock so, you rock so

# Like you never did before

# You dip so, you dip so

# Dip through my door

# You come so, you come so

# Oh yeah!

# You skank so, you skank so... #

The atmosphere was just electric.
Well, that's... Absolutely electric.

I said they were mesmerised,
including myself!

And I use that same word as well,
it was mesmerising.

It was almost as if they'd pumped
some ganja into the air conditioning

and got everybody high! Oh, yes!

# Oh, reggae is another bag

# You're gonna lively up yourself,
and don't say no

# You've got to lively up yourself
cos I said so... #

He's a prophet.

He's a prophet.
You listen to any of Marley's songs,

and if you're not influenced,
then something's wrong with you.

# Get up, stand up

# Stand up for your rights

# Get up, stand up... #

Marley's presence resonated
with the condition, particularly

of young black people in Southampton
because they were told

for so long they're not good enough,

they can't get jobs,

they were sent to schools
that were supposed to be for people

who were deficient in some way
or the other.

And they saw that the kind
of jobs their parents did,

as good as they may have been,
they wanted to do better.

# We're sick and tired
of your ism-schism game... #

CHANTING

I'm actually a product of
the Windrush generation.

A lot of our parents had kind
of denied their culture

to try and assimilate.

They tried to anglicise themselves,
which obviously didn't work.

And, you know,
we're growing up, teenage kids,

we're seeing our parents
are basically being screwed.

And that's what Bob did
at that moment in time.

He lifted the black youth
of this country.

You know, we're being informed
by what's going on in America

with the whole civil rights thing,
so we're pissed off and angry.

And Bob gave that a soundtrack.

# Stand up for your rights

# Get up, stand up... #

One of the things that I remember
when I first met Bob...

..and we'd be talking
at Speakeasy Club, you know,

he said to me, you know, "Dennis,
you have to remember

"that you're...you're an exotic
tropical plant that's been uprooted

"and replanted on the concrete soil.

"So, you have to be very strong
to push through in that way."

From Teesside to Lancaster,
Bristol to Birmingham,

Marley's message of rebellion
and empowerment

was spreading across Britain.

# Don't give up the fight... #

The next leg of their tour
took them to the USA

before returning to Britain
towards the end of '73

to promote their new album, Burnin'.

But life was far from happy
in the Wailers camp.

It was in the winter and I remember
once one morning, they woke up,

they wanted to play football.

And this is after, like, days

of arguing about the cold and
everything.

One morning they woke up and
they wanted to play football

and they opened the door...

"What that?" So, I say,
"It's snow."

"What you mean, snow?"
I say, "You know, snow."

And Peter Tosh said,

"Sign from Babylon,
we have to leave Babylon now!

And Bunny Wailer said, "Yeah, man,
we have to leave Babylon!"

And there was this arguing between
them, you know,

and so the tour collapsed...
and they went back.

# Stop that train, I'm leaving... #

But despite this setback, Marley's
popularity was soon on the rise,

helped by Eric Clapton's global hit

with a cover of The Wailers'
I Shot The Sheriff.

It was an important crossover
period.

It moves the idea of Bob Marley
from being an underground artist

to just
the potential of a major artist now,

a major touring artist
within a rock context.

By the time Marley returned to
Britain with a new line-up in 1975,

the days of playing pubs and clubs
were long behind him.

And once again,
Britain was to provide the stage

for a major turning point
in his career.

The Natty Dread Tour
kicked off with two dates

at London's Lyceum Ballroom.

There were so many people outside,
people trying to climb on the roof,

trying to get in, a thousand
outside,

and inside it was packed,
packed to capacity.

Very, very hot summer night.

You know, it's thick with ganja
and hash smoke.

It's about 50-50
black and white people.

Felt something had shifted
in the culture.

All the way from Trenchtown,
Jamaica,

Bob Marley And The Wailers! Come on!

I remember when he walked out,
and I looked at him,

I could see him looking at me
in some ways,

and looking at the audience
and saying...

And then...

IMITATES DRUM INTRO
Boom!

And then that bass kicked in
and it was like, whoom!

And everyone's, like, yes!

MUSIC: Trenchtown Rock
by Bob Marley And The Wailers

The music that WE loved,

there we were, seeing it performed
in a way that we hadn't seen it

performed before.

It was just a magical night.

# One good thing about music... #

Reggae had arrived.

Alongside Marley on stage
were three female singers

who had helped transform his sound.

His wife, Rita, Judy Mowatt,
and Marcia Griffiths...

..known collectively
as the I-Threes.

It was like doors were just open
to this music and to this man.

It's like he just blew the roof off

with positive vibration and
some positive reggae music.

MUSIC: No Woman, No Cry
by Bob Marley And The Wailers

No Woman, No Cry really was
a very, very special song.

It...touched a nerve in everybody.

# No woman, no cry... #

CHEERING

# No woman, no cry... #

When that song started,

oh, my goodness,
it was overwhelming.

# Said I remember
when we used to sit

# In the government yard
in Trenchtown

# Oba-observing the hypocrites... #

As a consequence,

the No Woman, No Cry live single
is released

and becomes Bob's first UK hit.

The whole country knows
who Bob Marley is now.

SONG COMES TO AN END

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Rastafari! Almighty God!

Bob at the Lyceum was like
a religious experience.

I mean, I came out of that gig
a changed man, empowered,

informed and inspired.

I mean, for a lot of people,
it was kind of...

..seeing the messiah.

The Lyceum concerts propelled Bob
Marley into the musical mainstream.

# I shot the sheriff

# Lord, I didn't shoot
no deputy... #

Followed a year later
by his first UK top-ten album

and another sell-out tour.

# I shot the sheriff

# But I didn't shoot the deputy

# Oh, no, no... #

Bob Marley had a concert coming up
in Hammersmith, West London.

I'd bought a ticket.

And would you believe it,
on the day of the actual concert,

I lost my ticket?! I had it
in my pencil case all those months

and I lost it on the actual day.

So, I started crying.

This Rasta guy said, "Why are you
crying? You're really crying."

I said, "I've had this ticket
for so many months.

"And now the concert's here,
I've lost it,"

and he said, "Stay there."
Anyway, we stayed there.

He come out, he gave me, like,
five, six tickets.

I was able to give all my friends
a ticket.

So, they said,
"We're coming with you."

So, after that concert,
they were blown away.

Yeah, that was it.

They were blown away, they were
blown away by the concert.

After the concert, we stayed
behind and just hanging around

as friends, just chatting about it.

Then the same guy who gave me
the tickets for the concert

come up to us and said,
"My name's Mikey."

He said, "I'm the cook
for Bob Marley."

We said, "No way!" He said,
"This is where he's staying."

So, he was staying
in Harrington Gardens. Yeah, yeah.

So, we bunked off school,
and we went.

I've never forgotten it.

The first time I saw Bob, he was
sitting down at a dinner table.

He had a yellow beret on.

And he was eating his dinner and
I went, "Oh, I must be dreaming!"

He went, "Eeh!

"You all right?"

Every time we went, Bob would engage
with us and talk to us,

like his sisters. Yeah, like young
sisters. Little sisters, yeah.

They used to call us
the Three Musketeers.

The Three Musketeers.

So, I was getting into the Rasta
scene and I was,

I did want to locks my hair
and I did sometimes wrap my hair.

My dad wasn't happy.
I'm not going to lie.

And then I remember putting
a picture of Haile Selassie up

in my bedroom wall, and my dad said,

"You take that down
otherwise you're out."

You've got to understand that,
in a strange way,

Bob legitimised Rastafari
because pre-Bob,

for my parents' generation,
it was a strict no-no.

I mean, when I grew my dreadlocks,
my parents kicked me out,

didn't speak to me for four years.

Rastafari at that time was still
seen as a sort of, um, a cult,

I suppose, in some ways.
It was never really taken seriously.

But I think from the success of Bob,
the movement grew

and a lot of people started
taking it seriously.

In between recording and performing
in the UK, Bob Marley made

a number of low-key trips
to Rastafarian meeting places.

There are HQs in
the Twelve Tribes of Israel and

there's different individual houses
across the country

that people would go.

So, if you were a Rasta
and needed somewhere to stay,

you would head for the headquarters
and you'd be fed.

You'd be looked after and
you'd be welcomed.

Bob Marley,
he's a Twelve Tribes member

and he visited one of the meetings
in Manchester

and I got to see him there.

And he came into the meeting
and he said,

"I am here to worship
just like everybody else,"

and, you know,
"and celebrate with everyone else."

And it was just like
he was just one of us.

Marley even performed
secret gigs as part of his visits.

His music was an education.

So, a lot of us didn't have
the access to the books.

Like, now we've got the internet.
You can research anything.

He was like our internet.

Through music, we got educated
and we learned about ourselves

and had a sense of pride
in who we were.

After spending the first half
of 1976 touring Europe

and North America,
Bob Marley returned to Jamaica.

His homeland had been plagued
by unrest ever since gaining

independence in 1962,

and Marley now found himself at the
centre of the political turmoil.

SHOTS FIRED

GLASS SMASHES

Jamaica is in the state
of civil war.

There's the People's National Party,
the left-leaning party,

you know, led by the Prime Minister,
Michael Manley.

The Jamaica Labour Party,
the JLP, led by Edward Seaga.

Bob Marley is called
to Michael Manley's office,

who asks him,
as a symbol of national unity,

if he'll play a concert
called the Smile Jamaica Concert.

I begged Bob not to do that concert.

He was never affiliated
in any part of politics,

but because of his innocence,

he decided that he would do
the concert.

Tension was so strong.

Bob comes to be seen
as interlinked with Manley.

And on December 3rd, 1976,

a group of gunmen break into
his headquarters at 56 Hope Road,

7:30pm in the evening,

and suddenly shots are whizzing
around him.

One of the bullets
whizzes past Bob's chest

and lodges in his arm.

He could never believe
that anyone would think

of doing such a thing to him.

That shooting was devastating
to him.

MUSIC: Exodus
by Bob Marley And The Wailers

After that,
Bob comes up to London.

By the middle of January,

they're working on the record
which becomes known as Exodus,

because it's like,
it's like the biblical journey.

You know, it is his exodus.

# Men and people will fight ya down
Tell me why

# When ya see Jah light

# Let me tell you,
if you're not wrong, and why

# Everything is all right

# So we gonna walk, all right

# Through the roads of creation

# We're the generation
Tell me why

# Who trod through great tribulation

# Trod through great tribulation

# Exodus... #

He came back to England
because this is where

everything all happened.

Everything started
right here in England.

# Are you satisfied

# With the life you're living... #

He wasn't running away and he came
here to rejuvenate and to think,

to clear his head
and started writing songs.

# We're leaving Babylon

# We're going to our fatherland... #

Bob, in London, is removed
from the pressures

of the sort of uptown ghetto life.

He's living in Oakley Street
in Chelsea.

MUSIC: Jamming by
Bob Marley And The Wailers

Oakley Street is round the corner
from a shop I was running

called Acme Attractions,

and he come and get me
to help take care of him.

Let's put it that way.

So, for '77...

..I sold Bob weed.

I was not a dealer, but it was a way
to get through his front door.

It's like a Rasta ganja camp!

You know, he's got his cooks
in there,

cooking his Ital food.

And he basically created a little
Jamaica within Oakley Street,

which was quite a weird thing.

Every time I come to England,
there are so many memories

of we walking, Sister Rita
and Sister Judy and myself.

We look forward to getting
shish kebab.

This was our second home.

I think maybe he stayed in Oakley
Street because just across the road,

across the bridge, actually,
was Battersea Park.

And Bob was into his football.

Bob Marley was very skilled
on the football,

very quick movements.

And I think if Bob Marley didn't
come as a great reggae artist,

and wanted to play football,
I think him would get into

one of the big football team
here in England.

He was that skilful.

You couldn't get the ball off him.

You know, it's not that we were
trying to respect him or anything.

It was just
that he just moved too quick!

Bob loved not just playing football
but he loved watching football

and becomes a fan
of Tottenham Hotspurs,

because of the Argentinean player
Ossie Ardilles.

But it wasn't just football
that was keeping Marley busy

during his free time in London.

# I don't wanna wait in vain
for your love... #

He was a ladies' man as well.

I remember, went to Carnival
one time.

And he sends me to get him some
weed, when I come back,

he's trying to pull my girlfriend
at the time, you know!

Yeah. A real ladies' man.

Bob had immediately been joined by
Cindy Breakspeare, his girlfriend.

This, by now, Miss World.

He'd been after her
for about three years.

And in fact, the song Waiting
In Vain is supposedly about her.

# It's been three years
since I'm knocking on your door... #

But she now is his girlfriend.

MUSIC: Pretty Vacant
by The Sex Pistols

The summer of '77 saw millions
of people hold street parties

in celebration of the
Queen's Silver Jubilee.

But not everyone in Britain
was joining in.

I mean, in 1977, punk rock
was exploding all over the UK.

It was total anarchy.

They just wanted to tear
everything down.

Over the last 12 months, punk rock
has become almost a battle cry

in British society.

For many people, it's a bigger
threat to our way of life

than Russian communism
or hyperinflation.

And it certainly generates
more popular excitement

than either of those.

# We're vacant!

# And we're so pretty,
oh, so pretty... #

I've gone around to Oakley Street
to get some money he owed me

and I'm wearing my punk rock gear.

You know, I'm wearing bondage
trousers.

And I walk in to get
this money off Bob,

and he looks at me and he's like,

"Don Letts, you look like one o' dem
nasty bloodclaat punk..."

I'll do it in English!

"Don Letts, you look like a nasty
punk rocker," is what he said.

And I took great offence to this.

I'm like, "Bob, they're
like-minded rebels, you know.

"There's something going on here,
Bob. You're wrong."

# And we don't care! #

And eventually he came to see
that there was some kind of...

..connection, maybe not musically,

but certainly in spirit
and attitude.

MUSIC: Punky Reggae Party
by Bob Marley And The Wailers

So, Bob wrote this particular tune
in the wake of the whole

punk rock explosion.

# So please don't be naughty
For it's a punky reggae party

# New wave

# New craze... #

He'd actually name-check some
of the bands like The Clash,

The Damned, and The Jam were
actually mentioned in the song.

# Police and thieves in the street

# Oh yeah... #

When The Clash play their White
Riot tour,

Bob Marley is in the wings
at the Rainbow Show, watching them,

and his presence in London

is very much part of what becomes

known as, you know,
the reggae punk fusion.

# Fighting the nation with their

# Guns and ammunition... #

This is a major change
in British culture.

We can see a direct relationship
between the influence of Bob Marley

at that point and reggae

on the music that then followed,

erm, in terms of
white British youth.

We have The Beat, Madness,
The Specials, artists

even like Police that were once
punk, all responding to reggae

in their own way and the influence
of Bob Marley.

It's a key component in the
soundtrack to multiculturalism

and it still resonates today.

With Marley at the peak
of his creative powers, he embarked

on a European tour in support
of the Exodus album.

But things took an unexpected turn

when he suffered an injury
playing football.

In Paris,

on...I think it's May the 10th,
he, erm...

..he's playing a game and he was
on Astroturf in the shadow of the

Eiffel Tower against a team
of, kind of, media people.

And one of them stands on his toe.

Took the nail out of his big
toe and it wouldn't heal,

and it started from there.

This is the beginning
of a big problem.

When he does four nights
at the Rainbow,

which are sensational shows, but
with incredibly heavy security...

..one of those nights

he comes offstage, takes his boots
off and the boot's full of blood.

The Rainbow Theatre shows
were cut short

and the rest of the tour cancelled.

A biopsy revealed
why the toe wouldn't heal -

a rare form of skin cancer.

There's denial, absolute denial,
that Bob had cancer.

Information about just how ill
he was,

um, was difficult to ascertain.

News footage was curtailed.

Any photographs of him

being ill were removed,

and so it became word of mouth.
It became...

..almost gossip.

The cancer spread.

And on the 13th of July, 1980,

Bob Marley would play his last-ever
show in Great Britain

at New Bingley Hall in Stafford.

I'd like to ask you now
about how you find your relationship

with the British audience.

Yeah, England is really a good
feeling.

England's a place, man, you know?

It must be happening in England!

BOB LAUGHS

What must be happening?

The music!

If the people in England don't
like it, in other places, people

aren't going to like it! In truth!

The last time I met him
was in London.

He was very subdued and he wasn't
his usual vibey self,

springy self, electric self.

Bob was just full of electricity.

You know, he was just a live wire

and, erm, it wasn't very nice.

Not very.

And then, eventually, you know,
he picked up the guitar and started

playing a song, I didn't
really notice what it was,

but it turned out it was Redemption
Song. I think I was probably

one of the first person
to hear it.

Was very sad. Very, very sad song.

And, of course, it has a very deep
meaning for me.

# Old pirates, yes, they rob I

# Sold I to the merchant ships

# Minutes after they took I

# From the bottomless pit

# But my... #

Bob Marley was no
ordinary pop singer.

He was just 36 when he died
of cancer.

# By the 'and of the almighty...#

It was in the morning, early,
and suddenly, there was newsflash.

Bob Marley had died.

I broke down in tears.

I just knew that it was,

it was over. You know?

It was over.

# Redemption songs

# Redemption songs. #

It's like losing one of your family
members. Yes, it was.

Miss him so much. We all do.
And, every day,

he's always in my mind, in my heart.

Not one day goes past without me
thinking of him.

# Songs of freedom. #

# Let's get together
to fight this Holy Armageddon

# When the men come

# There will be no doom

# Have pity on those
whose chances grow slimmer

# There ain't no hiding place

# From the father of creation

# Singing...

# One love

# One heart

# Let's get together
and feel all right

# Hear the children... #

The I think what Bob brought
to Britain,

I think he brought acceptance,

well, he helped to bring
acceptance through music.

# And I will feel all right

# Saying let's get together
and feel all right

# Wow-wow-wow-wow... #

Bob's early life would have been
totally dominated

by British colonialism and he would
have seen the negative

sides of all of that.

And yet, he comes here with love
and a wicked bassline,

and uses his culture, to readjust
all those injustices.

Bob came here to heal the nation.

# Let's get together
and feel all right

# As it was in the beginning

# One love

# So shall it be in the end... #

The message that he was giving
whilst he was here

physically is still here
spiritually.

Bob Marley definitely changed
Britain and that message

of unity and love,

I think we need his music
more now than ever.

# Let's get together
and feel all right... #

I always got from him that he knew
he was going to make

it, no matter how, where, when,
but he was going to make it.

And he instilled that in me,
if you've got enough conviction,

enough belief in yourself,
you will make it.

# One heart

# Give thanks and praise to the Lord

# And I will feel all right...

# Let's get together

# And feel all right

# Amen! #