Trenchtown Rock by Bob Marley & the Wailers

Album: Songs Of Freedom (1975)

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Songfacts®:

Trenchtown is a poor area in Kingston, Jamaica where Marley grew up. After a hurricane destroyed many of the homes there in 1951, a new settlement formed around a dump site. It was a difficult way of life, and Marley wrote this about how music was an escape from the poverty and desperation of Trenchtown.
Sublime covered this on their 1997 album Second Hand Smoke. Lead singer Bradley Nowell was a huge fan of Marley and referenced him in many of Sublime's songs. >>>
Suggestion credit:
Megan - Saratoga, NY, for above 2

Comments: 13

Rod from SwitzerlandAs mentioned before, one of the best lines ever: "One good thing about music, when it hits you
Feel no pain - so hit me with music…hit me with music“

So true and beautiful.
Ra from UsThis song lifts me up. One of my favorite song and lyrics.
@ben from Bristol good thought!
Norbert from UgandaLove you Bob wherever you are
Ed from Regina, SkReleased under Marley's Tuff Gong label, Trenchtown Rock sat atop the Jamaican charts for five months in 1971.

The track, which praised the virtues of slum-living and portrayed the poor as the righteous, was the first popular track in Jamaica to speak for their marginalized lower class.

Named in honour of one of Jamaica's most notorious slums, Trenchtown Rock had an enormous social impact and as Peter Tosh remembers brought the Wailers into a twelfth dimension.
Musicmama from New York, NyI agree with Richard of New York: "When it hits you feel no pain" is one of the greatest lines ever written. That alone is worth listening to this song, and to Bob Marley. But there's much more to this song! The lyrics are both sublime and visceral. And another thing I love about the recording is the way the backing guitar chords are light enough to carry--almost float-- it but doesn't make the song weightless. It's as if Bob and the Wailers were expressing how grief and the lightness of being are intertwined. This is definitely a major goosebump-producer!
Hannah from London, EnglandThe first verse of the song 'Hip Hop' by Dead Prez quotes this song fact fans. x
Nattydread from Not Yet Zion, Australiayo i thought we was talkin bout what it means. bob marley was obviously in pain, or was suffering when he was in trenchtown, cos its de main ghetto of kingston, where alot a bad stuff happens. in the line "one good thing bout music, when it hits you ya feel no pain" is that reggae and ska has a good vibe, an it can lift ya spirits even in bad times. when he be talkin bout "you reap what you sow" he talking bout how nothin is for free there, an you gotta woprk for everything you want, cos its hard livin.
Richard from New York, NyBen, I couldn't agree more. "when it hits you feel no pain" one of the greatest lyrics of all time.
Steven from Toledo, OhThis song is referenced in O.A.R.'s song "Anyway." The song pauses and comes back with, 'A wise man once told me he said, 'When music is the one thing that surrounds you, You feel no pain.'
-Steve Toledo,OH
Sammy from New York, NyYou guys should hear the live version of this from the album Live at the Roxy. It's pretty amazing. Let's get more Marley love!
Dan from Irmo, Scthis song is also featured in Jack Johnson's Bob Marely Sublime meledy as the first song he plays
Ben from Bristol, EnglandThis song is my all time favourite Bob Marley song ever

i want the line

"One good thing about music, when it hits you

Feel no pain"

written on my tombstone
Chad from Arvada, CoIf you like Marley, or reggae music, Please check out groundation!!

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