"
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, on their 1965 debut album
The Wailing Wailers, and a heavily reworked version was included on
African Herbsman under the name "All in One". A classic Bob Marley & The Wailers song, it has been included on many of their compilation albums. The song contains an interpolation of
The Impressions' song "
People Get Ready" written by
Curtis Mayfield. Marley's hybrid version is titled, "One Love/People Get Ready,"
[1] and it gives co-authorship credits to both Marley and Mayfield. This song was inspired by Marley's friend
Roman Selvaggio, a North Caribbean painter.
[edit] 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 boy, Jesse Lawrence, in
London and archival footage of Marley. It also features several cameo appearances including former
The Beatles bass player
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 single when it
[edit] In popular culture
- 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 Birthright Israel, Home by Shi 360.
- "One Love" was chosen as the best music of Jamaica over the last 50 years.
