ON THIS DAY IN 1974 - “REBEL MUSIC” TOOK SHAPE DURING A FOUR-HOUR NIGHT DRIVE THROUGH POLICE ROADBLOCKS

ON THIS DAY IN 1974 — “REBEL MUSIC” TOOK SHAPE DURING A FOUR-HOUR NIGHT DRIVE THROUGH POLICE ROADBLOCKS 🚧

Before it became one of the defining protest songs on Natty Dread, “Rebel Music (3 O’Clock Roadblock)” began inside a car moving through Jamaica late at night. 🌙

Lee Jaffe recalled sitting in the back with Bob Marley while Marley’s cousin Hugh Peart, known as Sledger, drove. Jaffe had his harmonica and was playing as they traveled. Marley began singing, gradually developing the song that would capture the tension surrounding them. 🎶

Over the course of the four- or five-hour journey, the travelers encountered numerous police roadblocks. Rastafarians were being targeted, Jaffe said, and the possibility of arrest was real. Against that immediate backdrop, Marley formed the basic lyrics and melody of “Rebel Music.”

The song was not simply completed on the spot. Marley continued refining it for months before it was recorded in early 1974 at Harry J’s Studio in Kingston. Jaffe returned with his harmonica, bringing into the studio the same instrument he had played during the drive. 🎼

Initially recorded as “Road Block,” the track became “Rebel Music (3 O’Clock Roadblock)” for its appearance on Natty Dread, released on October 25, 1974. The album placed the song’s account of roadblocks, oppression and resistance inside one of Marley’s most socially conscious collections. ✊🏾

Years later, when competing accounts of the song’s creation reached the High Court, the judge accepted Jaffe’s detailed recollection and found that Bob Marley was its composer and author.

Some songs observe history from a distance. “Rebel Music” was shaped while traveling straight through it. 🚗

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