One Love/People Get Ready

	The Wailers "One Love/People Get Ready" 20 seconds of "One Love/People Get Ready" by The Wailers
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"One Love/People Get Ready" is a reggae/rhythm and blues song by Bob Marley & The Wailers from their 1977 album Exodus. It was first recorded in a ska style by Marley's original group, The Wailers in 1965 and was released as a single. This version was later included on their first singles compilation The Wailing Wailers in 1966. It was rerecorded as part of the 1970 medley All In One, which contained reggae reworkings of their early ska songs. This was released as a single and is also included on the compilation African Herbsman under the name "All in One". The version on Exodus was not released as a single until 9 April 1984, promoting the forthcoming greatest hits album Legend. However, the single became one of his biggest hits and has been included on many of Marley and the Wailers subsequent compilation albums.

The song contains an interpretation of The Impressions' song "People Get Ready" written by Curtis Mayfield. The original recording of the song does not credit Mayfield's song and is simply titled "One Love" - this because copyright law was not enforced for Jamaican recordings at this time. When the famous version was recorded for Island in 1977 it was titled "One Love/People Get Ready" and credited Mayfield (as Island wanted to avoid copyright problems) and it gives co-authorship credits to both Marley and Mayfield. The original song was published in the key of Bb major, but it has now been transposed so it is in the key of C major.

Music video

A posthumous music video was created for the song in 1984 to accompany the Bob Marley & The Wailers compilation album, Legend. It combines footage of a young British-Jamaican boy, Jesse Lawrence, in London and archival footage of Marley (from the "Is This Love" music video). It also features several cameo appearances including Paul McCartney, two members of Bananarama, the members of the reggae group, Musical Youth, and Suggs and Chas Smash of Madness; some of the short clips in this video are also in Madness' video for their song "The Return of the Los Palmas 7". The song was also released alongside the video and gave Marley a posthumous UK hit when it reached number 5 in May 1984.^[1]

A second video for "One Love" was produced by Marley's estate in 2014, with fans submitting video ideas through Tongal and then ultimately compiling a video of diverse contributors lip-syncing and dancing to the song.^[2]

In popular culture

• The song has been featured in Jamaica Tourist Board television advertisements since 1994.^[3] In 2007, Stephen Marley and Richard Branson re-recorded the song in Jamaica to promote Branson's Virgin Airways flights to Jamaica.^[4]
• One Love is also the title of a romantic reggae film from 2003, starring Ky-Mani Marley, one of Marley's sons.
• The song appears on the film Marley & Me. When the song is heard on the radio, it inspires the character to name the dog Marley.
• The chorus was also sampled in the promotional song for the not-for-profit educational organization Birthright Israel, "Home" by rapper SHI 360.
• The song was recorded by Antonio Banderas for the 2010 animated film, Shrek Forever After.
• "One Love" was chosen as the best music of Jamaica over the last 50 years.
• "One Love/People Get Ready" was named song of the millennium by the BBC.
• "One Love/People Get Ready" was sung on Glee by Mark Salling (Noah Puckerman) and Kevin McHale (Artie Abrams) in the episode "Never Been Kissed".

References

External links

• Music video at MTV.com (Windows Media Video format)