Marley's harder edge

Right now I am in Poland and have spent a bit of time walking around listening to my ipod and pondering life in general. I have gone back to listen to some of the Bob Marley that I normally pass over... a few of the lesser known tracks. It has been amazing: once I stepped outside the 'best of' I found a series of deep, violent and angry tracks, all played with a calm and calculated reggae rythme.

Favourite tracks of the moment are 'Zimbabwe' and 'Burnin' and Lootin''. Burning and Looting starts of with the crushing line: 'this morning I woke up in a curfew'... geesus... where do you go with that, it's not wonder these tracks aren't played in bars. Burning tells the story of when the police surrounded Trenchtown and placed it under military rule. About feeling alienated in your own community and how, when you have no other choice, you must respond with violence. 'There's going to be some burning and looting tonight'... Deep.

Zimbabwe was written around the time that Robert Mugabe was liberating Rhodesia. It is a joyous song, a song that celebrates a people but has a hard edge. You are going to have to fight if all else fails. This is one of the verses.

To divide and rule
Could only tear us apart
In everyman chest
There beats a heart
So soon we'll find out
Who is the real revolutionaries
And I don't want my people
To be tricked by mercenaries

Brother you're right, you're right
You're right, you're right, you're so right
We gonna fight, we'll have to fight
We gonna fight, fighting for our rights



Today I visted Auschwitz... yeah... not sure what to say. Today was yet another piece in my travels including Anne Frank's House in Amsterdamn, the bombings in Frankfurt, the Jewish ghettos in both Prague and Warsaw and finally this... Auschwitz... I feel like I am worlds away from Germany and the Netherlands... but this is where it all took place.