Guiltiness

This was written about "babylon" and the western world. For me it is about "other people" - who lead lives in "sin" and misery - don't follow them. You don't have to go with the flow. Be true to yourself !

This song is about nothing more than greed, be it a corporation or an individual. It's the classic tale of the "big fish" rich, and manipulative people, who build their opulent lifestyle on the poor and desperate people who scrape pennies from the dollar of the capitalists, who are either born into their position or acquired it through ruthless or shady means. The hope and promise of the song is that these people will eventually get what's coming to them, a consequence of their own decadence and hedonism, they eventually "eat the bread of sorrow" Think of every socialite, talentless celeb, legacy politician, for the most part they're talentless, undeserving, scum, who despite their bank roll, are miserable. There are biblical connotations as well of course, but the way this song portrays these soulless jerks and the fact that power and wealth do not guarantee happiness, is brilliant, simple and true! This is one of my favorite songs ever!

This was about what Bob Marley was experiencing in his life at the time. This was written in the run up to the presidential election in Jamaica, and Bob was disgusted with the politicians who were always promising things to people, but not delivering and only enriching themselves. Jamaica was very poor, Marley had grown up in poverty, and still lived among the poor, though the most famous Jamaican already, he was not the richest. He told an interviewer: "We have to share. No one needs $100 million dollars".

Eventually the election tensions boiled over, a free conceert Bob Marley had planned to bring people together became contentious, and Bob was shot by intruders in his own house, carrying a bullet in his arm for the rest of his life.