The most distinct feature that the songs “People Get Ready” by Curtis Mayfield and Bob Marley’s One Love”, is the message that they are trying to communicate to the audience. Bob Marley talks about one love and one heart for all mankind. He preaches for love and peace between everyone irrespective of the differences we may have. Curtis Mayfield’s song on the other hand is talking of people going to a better place where there is peace and serenity without any baggage from their lives. It talks of a train where people get in without any tickets i.e. discrimination of any sort as it also picks passengers from coast to coast (every race).
The connection that exists between these two songs is the motivation for their composition. Curtis Mayfield and Bob Marley are both Jamaicans and they lived in Kingston at a time when the biggest percentage of the population lived in the slums. Apart from being bogged down by unemployment, the people were also divided and there were rampant gang wars between them. (BobMarley.com,2008). There was a need for hope for the poor hopeless and the warring factions needed to live in peace with one another. The two artists also composed the songs in a place where Rastafarianism had taken root. This was a big influence on the kinds of songs that they produced, mainly addressing social issues.
Marley’s song does not exactly come across as a copy of Mayfield’s song. The Lyrics are worlds apart, though there may be a connection in the message they are passing across. Apart from that, the influences that may have made them compose the songs are common and can only be attributed to Mayfield.
Sampling is the act of “electronically copying bits of sound from another artist’s recordings” (Sheila Rule, 1992). Brandon describes it as the procedure whereby an artist or composer uses a bit of another artist’s song, modifies it and uses it to make a new song. This practice has been prevalent mainly in the rap music industry, where it is viewed as essential in the culture. The origin of sampling is traced to the urban quarters where most of the inhabitants were poor, and as a result, it became acceptable for one to borrow some parts of songs from other artists’ songs to make their own, (Sheila, 1992).
This sampling could have been acceptable in the earlier years when it started, but times have changed. Some of the problems most notable are that when sampling artists are left to ride free, they sometimes make lots of money, while the original composers of the songs may not make much themselves, and therefore legislation has been put in place to ensure that those who want to sample should at least pay. (Bari, 1993). This has been viewed by some people as making the production of music too expensive and discouraging many artists.
The reason for the institution of copyright law is that people can be encouraged to employ creativity in coming up with unique ideas and also reward the originators of new ideas through royalties (Brandon, 2004).
As with some courts currently, when an artist uses part of another artist’s work, but too insignificant levels that it is not outstanding, the sampling artist may be protected by the quotation of fair use of that property.(Brandon, 2004). Though some courts insist that the use of another artist’s work, however small is an infringement of the copyright law and therefore viewed as illegal. The issue of sampling is not relevant in the case of Bob Marley and Mayfield. This is because Bob was not in the same circumstance as other samplers who simply had no ideas on creating new work.
The song “one love/People Get Ready” was later co-authored by Bob Marley and Mayfield. The ideas that they had had in their songs were brought together to come up with this song. Composer credits have been given to the artists to that effect. The song was sung by Bob Marley and the Wailers. (wikipedia, 2008)
References
BOBMARLEY.com. His Story. The Life and Legacy of Bob Marley. 2008. Web.
Brandon Kennedy. Rap Music Finally Caught Up. 2004. Web.
Bari Scott. Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Art and Music Sampling: The Death of Creativity”. 1993.
Sheila Rule. 1992. Record Companies Are Challenging ‘Sampling’ in Rap. Web.
Wikipedia. Bob Marley (Bob Marley song). One Love/ People get ready. 2008.