Introduction
Politics has its different faces and its presence is felt even in the mainstream media. There are popular songs of our time that conveys political insights that are often concealed by the catchy melodies, unless the lyrics are closely scrutinized. Songs such as “Imagine” by John Lennon and “Redemption Song” by Bob Marley are two examples of politically inspired music. Although both songs are different in genres, one is of reggae while the other one is more of a rock ballad., but their context is the same. The political elements incorporated in the songs of the two great artists convey a political stand on capitalism, nationalism and religion, while the other one talk about social injustice and a statement of protest against mental slavery.
“Imagine”
John Lennon’s timeless hit “Imagine” was written in 19871 and since then gained worldwide popularity as one of the Beatles’ anthems. Geoffrey Guiliano wrote in his book “Lennon in America”, an autobiography of the Beatles that the song was sugarcoated, but in reality talks about anti-capitalism, anti-nationalism and anti-religious. In the middle of the protests against the war, John Lennon delivered a catchy tune that talks about imagining the society where there is nothing to kill for and no religion too. This line can be found the chorus of the song, which at first appears to be a call for peace and humility amongst the people of the world. However, looking closely at the song analyzing its context, it generally refers to prevalence of several factors that causes world conflicts such as religion, nationalism and capitalism.
On the historical point of view, nationalism is considered to be one of the main ingredients that spark a war. Historians distinguished World War 1 as the result of a massive uprising rooted from the assassination of the Austria-Hungarian crown prince Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The involvement of citizenry in the efforts to align the people to the agendas of the politics of the land leads to the people taking arms and participate in the cause for redemption. This idea signifies nationalism when a political party of interest allegedly harmed a country’s leader. Since the political leaders are considered by the people as symbols of their nation particularly in countries with monarchial system of government. It is apparent that when a political leader was compromised on the grounds of political interest, the people will uphold their nationalist’s ideology to fend off external threats. This in return results to war and events that was described by John Lennon in his lyrics of the song about killing and loss of brotherhood.
The same goes with religion as Palestine and Israel engages in a long battle for political supremacy rooted from the claim of ownership of a holy site. The almost never-ending conflict between the two regions has already claimed hundreds of lives just because of strong upheaval to religious beliefs. One common example is allegations of hate crimes committed by Muslims towards Christians. In one the famous lines in Lennon’s song “Imagine if there is no religion”. He is truing to insinuate an idea that religion creates a divide among people and if religion can be put aside for even once; there is an assurance that death-causing conflicts would also be halted. Capitalism on the other hand is also regarded as a cause of political instability. Karl Marx’s claims that capitalism creates unequal distribution of wealth causing the poor to get poorer and the rich to become even richer is part of ideologies integrated into the lyrics of the song.
“Redemption Song”
While John Lennon focused the subject of his song in a more generalized political standpoint, Bob Marley on the other hand created a song that directly stipulates the political structure that insinuates social division. The song was inspired by the speech of Marcus Garvey, a pan-Africanist who is calling on to the people to be emancipated from the so-called mental slavery. The relevant context of the song can be associated to a protest against tyranny of the ruling government during Bob Marley’s time. There is an evident mix of spirituality and call for protest against the tyranny of the political system against his people. In real life, Marley struggles in from his cancer illness and at the same time the prevailing social inequality instigated by the system itself.
Political tyranny is distinguished by the presence of hysteria rooted from the society’s perception of unreasonable authority. For example, the United States political structure separates individuals according to groups, which articulates a mentality described as “us” versus “them”. It is apparent in the current political structure in the country being that Democrats separates themselves from the Republicans and similarly Conservatives vs. Liberals. This is called Tribal View, a separation of groups of people according to beliefs, traditions and political views and contradicted by another group with a different set of ideologies. Tyranny emerges in politics as one group tries to suppress another in order to obtain supremacy. It is apparent in Western countries where a person’s ethnic orientation becomes an issue and a reason for discrimination due to the upheld idea that one race is more supreme than the other. This ideology results to the occurrences of racial discrimination that can be perceived in analyzing the lyrics of Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song”.
Despotism and Tyranny is considered as the same. However, the current political system defines despotism trough political actions that draws ruling by force or without initial consent of the greater public. For instance, the Democrats in the United States senate will propose a new national budget structure that emphasizes budget cuts on unnecessary programs. On the other hand, the Republicans will do everything in its intellectual disposal to counter propositions of the Democrats. As a result, the two parties will engage in a heated debate for the sake of their own contentment and display of political dominance.
However, as the two parties engage in the debates over a budget, they tend to forget the most important thing to ask and that is what the people really want. This idea of political divide also reflects on the society as people also separate themselves from other groups. The difference between Bob Marley’s song and John Lennon’s is the nature of political dilemmas in which Bob Marley was able to clearly address. At one point John Lennon address several political issues in his song, but most of them are generalized and does not constitute a clear standpoint as compared to Bob Marley’s song, which stipulates the main political problem more specific than John Lennon’s.
Conclusion
Comparing the two song “Imagine” by John Lennon and “Redemption Song” by Bob Marley, it appears that the latter showed more profound articulation of the political problem that realistically more practical for resolution. John Lennon’s song is more of contemplation than being a statement of protest to a prevailing political system. The political stand points presented by each artist in their music. John Lennon appears to present his political argument in way that people can immediately accept, while Bob Marley does it in a more symbolic approach.
Bibliography
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Hamilton, Richard F., and Holger H. Herwig. "Austria-Hungary." In The Origins of World War I, 112. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
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Smith, Ian K. "Top 20 Political Songs: Redemption Song | Bob Marley and the Wailers | 1980." New Statesman. Last modified March 25, 2010. Accessed March 18, 2013. http://www.newstatesman.com/music/2010/03/bob-marley-redemption-song.
Thompson, Jennifer. "Top 20 Political Songs: Imagine | John Lennon | 1971." New Statesman. Last modified March 25, 2010. Accessed March 18, 2013. http://www.newstatesman.com/music/2010/03/lennon-imagine-political.
