Released n 1974, Natty Dread was a collecton of old and new songs.
The songs on the album were “Lvely up Yourself,” “No Woman, No Cry,” “Them Belly Full (But We Hungry),” “Rebel Musc (Three O’Clock Road Block),” “So Jah Seh,” “Natty Dread,” “Bend Down Low,” “Talkn’
Blues,” and “Revoluton.” The songs collected for ths release exhbt Bob’s nterests most drectly, as they cast Bob as a Rasta preacher who
s dscussng prophecy and revoluton. Addtonally, Bob llustrated hs Rasta-based dstrust of the Catholc Church. On the song “Talkn’ Blue,”
Bob dscussed bombng a church, as the Rastas beleve that the Pope, and by extenson standard Catholcsm, are part of the system n place to keep them down. Ths negatve system was descrbed by the Rastas wth the Bblcal language of Babylon. Thus, when Rasta sngers dscussed the Babylon system, they were talkng about anythng that was oppressve to the Rastafaran fathful.
Another feature of Rastafaransm that Bob made great use of was the purposeful msuse of the Englsh language. Bob could speak plan Englsh when he chose to, but he often veled hs meanngs by sngng n the Ja-macan dalect or through the Rastafaran practce of alterng language.
For example, Rasta beleved that Hale Selasse I was Jesus rencarnated
to save them from the Babylon system. The fathful took the Roman nu-meral I at the end of Selasse’s name and renterpreted t as the captal letter I. Thus, when Rastas say somethng about “I and I” they are talkng about themselves and ther god. Many of Bob’s songs made use of ths
“I and I” language as a means of affrmng hs fath.
Bob’s growng mltant stance was also evdent on Natty Dread. The song “Revoluton” was self-explanatory. Smply, Bob was sayng that f the youth were gong to create a change n ther lves they had to do
t for themselves, and watng for the government, or anyone else, to do t for them was a waste of tme. “Rebel Musc (Three O’Clock Road Block)”
was another of Bob’s more ncendary songs. The song was
autobograph-cal and descrbed an ncdent n whch Bob and Famly Man got caught
n a road block and knew that ther car would be searched due to ther dreadlocks. As the song went, they had to throw away ther ganja to avod beng arrested. Other lyrcs n the song ncluded Bob tellng the lsteners that they can examne hs lfe because he knows that he s rghteous and fathful to Jah (the word used to refer to the Rastas’ God, Hale Selasse).
After the Natty Dread release, Bob was ntervewed by the Jamacan daly newspaper. The photographer present at the ntervew was a UCLA graduate named Nevlle Garrck. In the ntervew, Bob dscussed the need for more tourng to support the Walers records. After the ntervew, Bob and Garrck struck up a frendshp that resulted n Garrck becomng the art drector for the Walers.
In the wake of Natty Dread, the Walers began recevng some crt-cal acclam n the Unted States. Ths was the type of support that dd not earn them any money n the short term, but lad the groundwork for future success. In late 1974, Bob lcensed the recordng rghts of hs song
“Slave Drver” to Taj Mahal, an Amercan blues snger who was enjoyng a perod of prosperty. Bob also lcensed “Guava Jelly” to Barbra Stresand for her 1974 Butterfly album. Ths dd not brng the band much money, but t certanly ncreased the level of exposure to ts musc. The most
mportant agreement that Bob made that year was grantng Erc Clapton (the Brtsh blues gutar genus) the recordng rghts to the song “I Shot the Sherff,” whch appeared on Clapton’s 1974 album, 461 Ocean Bou-levard. In Clapton’s capable hands, Bob’s song went on to be a number one ht n the Unted States and soared to number nne n the UK. Bob’s musc was played on Amercan and Englsh rado and he ganed serous respect from the rock and roll crtcs.
As Bob’s star contnued to rse, any hope for reconclaton wth the orgnal members of the vocal tro faded nto the dstance. Peter and Bunny were both workng on solo materal of ther own. Peter was layng
the groundwork for the album that would become the 1976 Legalize It, and Bunny was puttng together the songs for hs 1976 Blackheart Man album. Addtonally, Peter launched hs own Intel-Dplo record label (Intel-Dplo standng for Intellgent Dplomat).
Undaunted, Bob Marley and the Walers began 1975 wth a major gg.
The Walers were asked to open for the Jackson Fve when they played a concert n Kngston. Ths was Bob’s frst opportunty to really come to the front of the band and dsplay hs own personalty and charsma. The appearance also featured the debut of Al Anderson on lead gutar and was a huge success. In February 1975, Natty Dread was offcally released as the thrd Island/Walers product and the album receved postve feedback from the press n the UK and the Unted States. Wth ths success, the new and mproved Walers became an nternatonal success.
As the Walers’ fame grew, so dd Bob’s concerns for the management of the band and ts ncreasng revenues. Bob had already worked out a deal wth Don Taylor to become the Walers’ manager, but was concerned wth Taylor takng a cut of the band’s earnngs. Bob’s bad experences wth musc ndustry nsders had tanted hs opnon of Taylor, but he took a chance on the would-be manager. Now Bob also needed to be able to more carefully look after the band’s earnngs. Ths job was taken up by Bob’s Jamacan lawyer Dane Jobson. The Walers also needed an opera-tons headquarters. For ths, Bob essentally took over Blackwell’s house at 56 Hope Road n Kngston. Here the band had rehearsal space and a central locaton for ts headquarters. Wth the band membershp and ts supportng forces establshed, the group prepared to tour n support of Natty Dread.
Actng as the Walers’ manager, Taylor arranged a major North Amercan and a bref Englsh tour for the band. For the purposes of ths tour, Tyrone Downe was agan recruted to work wth the group. As Bob was preparng to feature hs talents on the world stage, he was also ganng notorety wth regard to hs personal lfe. On February 26, 1976, Bob’s eghth chld was born. Ky-Man Marley was the product of Bob’s affar wth Anta Belnavs, who was a well-known Carbbean table tenns champon. Bob was also cultvatng a relatonshp wth the Jamacan beauty queen Cndy Break-speare. Ths relatonshp produced another son n 1978, named Daman, and a huge scandal. Bob and Breakspeare’s relatonshp lasted for several years and n the course of ths tme the beauty queen went on to become Mss World 1976. The meda whrlwnd that surrounded the couple was largely based on race. The mxture of whte and black, and Breakspeare’s beauty queen good looks coupled wth Bob’s ever-lengthenng dread-locks, helped to fuel the meda crcus.
In June 1975, the Walers embarked on the North Amercan leg of the Natty Dread tour. In addton to Bob, the Barrett brothers, Downe, the I-Threes, and Seeco, the Walers’ entourage also ncluded Taylor and Nevlle Garrck (as artstc and lghtng drector). A Rasta elder named Mkey Dan also joned the group to provde Ital food, along wth Dave Harper (equpment manager) and Tony “Tony G” Garnett (dsc jockey and hype man). The huge tourng retnue ndcated the level of fame that the Walers had already acheved. They were now tourng n style wth the type of support that allowed them to ext ther hotel room, be chauffeured