Let the dead bury the dead
- Thread starter mjp
- Start date
The Bunny Wailer version has infested my head for years.
The lyrics don't make any sense to me, but the song still works.
Nice hearing Tosh's version.
Completely different tune though.
Can you fill me in on the song's background mjp?
The lyrics don't make any sense to me, but the song still works.
Nice hearing Tosh's version.
Completely different tune though.
Can you fill me in on the song's background mjp?
mjp
Founding member
The whole song can be summed up like so:
The singer was asked to attend the funeral ("them want I fe come a dem funeral") of a very important person ("them claim say them a the General"). His response is that 'very important people' are usually corrupt and evil ("you rob everything you can find, you even rob the blind"), and in reality they are no more important than anyone else ("this man and that man, they are the same man"). And a Rastaman doesn't attend funerals anyway ("natty nah go to no one burial"), so piss off.
"I ain't got no time to waste on you, I'm a living man, I've got work to do."
One of Tosh's many great songs, it pretty neatly sums up his attitude toward everything in "Babylon."
The singer was asked to attend the funeral ("them want I fe come a dem funeral") of a very important person ("them claim say them a the General"). His response is that 'very important people' are usually corrupt and evil ("you rob everything you can find, you even rob the blind"), and in reality they are no more important than anyone else ("this man and that man, they are the same man"). And a Rastaman doesn't attend funerals anyway ("natty nah go to no one burial"), so piss off.
"I ain't got no time to waste on you, I'm a living man, I've got work to do."
One of Tosh's many great songs, it pretty neatly sums up his attitude toward everything in "Babylon."
Apparently mjp speaks jive.
Dost thou have a thing for Barbara Billingsley, maychance?
mjp
Founding member
Yes, Billingsley speaks the jive, that's established fact. It's a handy skill for any housewife to have. Especially if you allow your son to be called Beaver. But she was a little uptight for me, even as a TV mom.
I mean a television mom, not a transvestite mom. As a transvestite mom she would have been awesome.
I mean a television mom, not a transvestite mom. As a transvestite mom she would have been awesome.
Thanks again mjp almighty!
Believe it or not, you have freed my mind from the shackles of the Bunny Wailer version.
Bunny doesn't have the line: ""you rob everything you can find, you even rob the blind"
I always thought the line "this man and that man, they are the same man" was a reference to Bunny himself, for some reason or other.
'Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.'
Believe it or not, you have freed my mind from the shackles of the Bunny Wailer version.
Bunny doesn't have the line: ""you rob everything you can find, you even rob the blind"
I always thought the line "this man and that man, they are the same man" was a reference to Bunny himself, for some reason or other.
'Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.'
mjp
Founding member
I like all of Bunny's remakes of old Wailers songs. But he did make Burial a bit too...bouncy, didn't he.
That's Bunny singing backup on the Tosh version, by the way. And Tosh and Marley sang backup on a song on Bunny's Blackheart Man album. They quit performing together as a trio in the early 70s, but they still played on each other's records from time to time.
The last time Tosh performed with Marley was here in Los Angeles. He came out and did his verse on Get up, stand up at a show in Burbank. Afterward Marley said to him, "Boy, the Pope feel that one!" Meaning that it was such a powerful performance that it was felt in the very seat of Babylon: The Vatican.
Two weeks later, Pope Paul was dead.
That's Bunny singing backup on the Tosh version, by the way. And Tosh and Marley sang backup on a song on Bunny's Blackheart Man album. They quit performing together as a trio in the early 70s, but they still played on each other's records from time to time.
The last time Tosh performed with Marley was here in Los Angeles. He came out and did his verse on Get up, stand up at a show in Burbank. Afterward Marley said to him, "Boy, the Pope feel that one!" Meaning that it was such a powerful performance that it was felt in the very seat of Babylon: The Vatican.
Two weeks later, Pope Paul was dead.