Bob Marley & The Wailers – Exodus (remastered) is available @ iTunes.

by Walter Price

Back in 1977, you’re cruising the drag was soundtracked by the delightful sounds of Steve Miller Band, Supertramp, Fleetwood Mac, and Queen. Which was totally cool. Cool until that one Saturday night when your buddy Gary introduced you to an album that would turn your smalltown world upside down. That album was from a Jamaican outfit calling themselves Bob Marley & Wailers and their album was titled, ‘Exodus’. Reggae? You’d never heard such a thing. Before you knew it you were buying lids of grass, you traded your Ford Falcon for a panel van, and started immersing yourself in the Rastafarian teachings. Beautiful transitions.

Nature, God, and supremacy of life was a perfect fit in your post-hippie world. And one track from this album spoke to you louder than the others. It was the beautiful “Three Little Birds”. A song that is easy interpreted in various personal ways. Even its actual legacy has been up for debate. A friend on Marley, Tony Gilbert, has said, “Bob got inspired by a lot of things around him, he observed life. I remember the three little birds. They were pretty birds, canaries, who would come by the windowsill at Hope Road.”[. While Threes member Marcia Griffiths has claimed, “After the song was written, Bob would always refer to us as the Three Little Birds. After a show, there would be an encore, sometimes people even wanted us to go back onstage four times. Bob would still want to go back and he would say, ‘What is my Three Little Birds saying?'”

But however you’ve found the song to be inspiring, the message was clear, “Every little thing is gonna be alright”… it’s a timeless classic that changed you and pop-culture forever. And you are not alone, its powers have encouraged many artists to have a swing at capturing its je ne sais quoi. Don’t worry about a thing, below, check out three of what I consider to the crème de la crème…

Brendon Urie (Panic! at the Disco)

Toots & the Maytals

Maroon 5

Bob Marley

1945 – 1981

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