If Bob Marley were alive, today he’d be 69 years old.

Bob Marley scared the pants off the CIA. He threatened violence and suggested “Africa Unite.” Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Michael Manley, in the eyes of the United States, was moving dangerously close to communism. He socialized health care and education and formed a detente with Fidel Castro. The tiny, tropical island of Jamaica became the center of a massive CIA campaign designed to discredit Manley and the People’s National Party. They used common CIA tactics: para-military, propaganda, and economic methods to “make the economy scream.” After one assassination attempt, Carl Colby, son of CIA spook William Colby, gave Bob a pair of boots as a gift. When Bob tried them on he was stabbed in his big toe by a copper wire. The wound metastasized rapidly spreading cancer throughout his body. Bob Marley died and his music was silenced.

Happy Birthday Bob Marley.

“How long shall they kill our prophets, while we stand aside and look?”

Uh! Ya too rude!
Uh! Eh! What a rat race!
Oh, what a rat race!
Oh, what a rat race!
Oh, what a rat race!
This is the rat race! Rat race! (Rat race!)

Some a lawful, some a bastard, some a jacket:
Oh, what a rat race, yeah! Rat race!

Some a gorgon-a, some a hooligan-a, some a guine-gog-a
In this ‘ere rat race, yeah!
Rat race!
I’m singin’ that
When the cat’s away,
The mice will play.
Political violence fill ya city, ye-ah!
Don’t involve Rasta in your say say;
Rasta don’t work for no C.I.A.
Rat race, rat race, rat race! Rat race, I’m sayin’:
When you think is peace and safety:
A sudden destruction.
Collective security for surety, ye-ah!

Don’t forget your history;
Know your destiny:
In the abundance of water,
The fool is thirsty.
Rat race, rat race, rat race!

Rat race!
Oh, it’s a disgrace
To see the human-race
In a rat race, rat race!
You got the horse race;
You got the dog race;
You got the human-race;
But this is a rat race, rat race!