Bob Marley and the Wailer’s run of 11 albums in 11 years culminated with 1980’s Uprising, the last work they would record before Marley’s death.
Marley was sick with cancer when writing and recording this album, and the songs’ focus on spirituality and salvation feels appropriate for his final musical statement. But it isn’t a somber album. The band goes to exciting new places musically here, including the disco stylings of ‘Could You Be Loved,’ one of their biggest hits.
Following nine tracks of Marley and the Wailers at their best, Uprising ends with one of the most poignant and powerful moments in Marley’s career. ‘Redemption Song,’ featuring Marley singing alone while playing an acoustic guitar, is an anthem for the oppressed, and a moment of pure grace.
As the final song on the final album he recorded, it’s hard to imagine a more fitting epitaph.
Marley and the Wailers toured Europe and the United States to support Uprising, even as his health deteriorated. He performed his last show in Philadelphia, in September of 1980, then flew to Germany to undergo treatment for the invasive cancer spreading throughout his body.
After months of treatment, it was clear he wouldn’t survive the illness, so Marley planned to travel back home to Jamaica. He never made it. His worsening condition required hospitalization when the plane landed in Miami, and he died there on May 11, 1981. He was 36 years old.
Could you be loved and be love?
Could you be loved and be love?
[Verse 1]
Don’t let them fool ya
Or even try to school ya! Oh, no!
We’ve got a mind of our own
So go to hell, if what you’re thinking isn’t right!
Love would never leave us alone
A-in the darkness, there must come out to light
[Chorus: Bob Marley]
Could you be loved and be love?
Could you be loved, wo yeah! – and be loved?
Could you be loved and be loved?
Could you be loved, wo yeah! – and be loved?
[Bridge: I Threes]
The road of life is rocky and you may stumble too
So while you point your fingers someone else is judging you
[Refrain: Bob Marley and I Threes]
Love your brotherman!
Could you be, could you be, could you be loved?
Could you be, could you be loved?
Could you be, could you be, could you be loved?
Could you be, could you be loved?
[Verse 2: Bob Marley and (I Threes)]
Don’t let them change ya, oh!
(Scat singing)
Or even rearrange ya!
(Scat singing)
Oh, no!
We’ve got a life to live
(Ooh, ooh, ooohh)
They say, Only… Only
Only the fittest of the fittest shall survive –
Stay alive! Ehh!
[Chorus: Bob Marley]
Could you be loved and be loved?
Could you be loved, woah yeah! – and be loved?
[Bridge: I Threes]
Never miss your water until your well runs dry
No matter how you treat him, the man will never be satisfied
[Outro: Bob Marley and (I Threes)]
Say something! (Could you be – could you be – could you be loved?
Could you be – could you be loved?)
Say something! Say something!
(Could you be – could you be – could you be loved?)
Say something!
Say something! Say something! Say something!
Say something! Say something! (Could you be loved?)
Say something! Say something! Reggae, reggae!
Say something! Rockers, rockers!
Say something! Reggae, reggae!
Say something! Rockers, rockers!
Say something! (Could you be loved?)
Say something! Uh!
Say something! Come on!
Say something! (Could you be – could you be – could you be loved?)
Say something! (Could you be – could you be loved?)
Say something! (Could you be – could you be – could you be loved?)
Say something!
Say something
Meet Me In Montauk 
I attended one of the final concerts on that 1980 tour, at the Hynes Auditorium in Boston. Definitely not a made-for-concerts venue – seating was metal folding chairs on a concrete floor. It didn’t matter. The audience was one organism that night, bobbing and weaving to the rhythms, mentally somewhere else entirely. Without a doubt, the best concert experience of my life. Thank you Bob, and rest in peace.
Closing his last album with the beautiful and poignant “Redemption Song.” What a great way to go out!
So sad. He was so young 😢