Back in 2003 while I was getting ready for work one day, I was watching a day time TV show over here in Australia called “Sunrise.” During the music segment, the album reviewer decided to share his thoughts on the then new album by Ziggy Marley called “Dragonfly.” One thing that stood out in my mind was the fact that it was soleley credited to “Ziggy Marley,” as opposed to “Ziggy Marley & The Melody Makers.” Eventually I discovered that although “The Melody Makers” were Ziggy’s brothers and sisters, they had pretty much gone their separate ways not too long before this album was released. As you can see, I knew very little about Ziggy’s music for quite a while there….unless of course, you count his two biggest hits “Tomorrow People” and “Power To Move Ya,” both of which I thoroughly enjoyed around the time of their respective release dates. I also never bought the “Dragonfly” album until 2008. I guess that was more or less because the reviewer said that it was a very different kind of album, so I suppose, in fairness, I didn’t really know what to expect. When I finally bought the album, it was the perfect time for me to do so, because I finally had a chance to check out Ziggy’s incredible body of work. Ziggy has since become one of my favourite artists of all time. Without a doubt. The man is hella talented. So then, just what is it that’s on this disc? Good question, let’s take a look at what’s inside the box!
Dragonfly: Ziggy begins his debut solo album with a socially conscious message for the masses. He presents this message to us through conversations with the animals which surround him. For instance, he’s looking at a bee and telling it “you remain the same” despite the fact that the world around him is constantly changing. He’s also finding himself having a chat to a dog who is wondering why a common man cannot be trusted, even though this very creature is happy chillin’ out with his supposed arch enemy, the cat. My descriptions may seem a little funny if you’ve never heard this record before, but I can assure you, this is one helluva creative song from Dave Marley. The music itself is very different. Much more acoustic & percussion based.
True To Myself: This song was first brought to my attention some time in 2004, while I was browsing through the tracklist of an Italian music compilation that my cousins had brought with them to Sydney while they were visiting us. I put this song on and was immediately feelin’ the vibes that Ziggy was bringing on the track. It’s a tad bit more reggae orientated than the last one. Lyrically he’s just sending out another conscious message, which is most definitely positive & directed towards the listener. It sort of harks back to what Bob said in “Could You Be Loved.” Bob told us “Don’t let ‘em fool ya, or even try to school ya” whereas Ziggy says, “Just do what you feel & don’t you fool yourself.” Of course the other message is, “Got to be true to myself,” which is the most important thing to do. Other words it’s all about loving and respecting your very own self. I still love this track. Great work there, Ziggy!!!
I Get Out: And now for something completely different from Ziggy Marley: an ear splitting rock tune. Sounds like he was a tad bit cheesed off when he wrote this tune and who the hell can blame him? What he’s more or less expressing here though, are his feelings towards the music industry & especially the critics who are always trying to pigeonhole him as a reggae artist and nothin’ else. He claims that when such things are done, the general public become slaves. Ah, so mental slavery is unfortunately still going on. According to one David “Ziggy” Marley, music is a holy thing. I’m not usually a fan of rock music, but this is pretty darn good stuff.
Looking: I never knew this until much later, but this is actually quite a spiritual and inspirational song. He’s talking about how he’s constantly searching for that certain something in his life. I guess it’s possible that he could be looking for religion, because he mentions how a man was tormented by the devil, but he doesn’t let that get in his way, he gets back up and keeps looking for JAH, or that other higher power that he feels he needs in his life. I think it’s also about searching for a purpose in life as well. Either way, it’s a brilliant track. Again, it’s quite acoustic based, very much like the first song on the album.
Shalom Salaam: The conscious messages just keep on comin’ with this next tune. In case you didn’t know, Shalom and Salaam are the Hebrew and Arabic words for peace. He’s singing about how there’s no peace for Palestine and Israel, but most importantly how there are no children surviving in the world, along with all the other humans out there who are also being blown up by bombs and what not. It really opened my eyes up when I discovered exactly what it was that Ziggy was singing about on this track. As far as the sound of the song is concerned…..well…..let’s just say he’s skankin on his guitar. Cool way to bring forth his message.
In The Name Of God: Continuing on from the last message is this next track, which sees Ziggy showing us all how disgusted he is in all of those folks out there who claim to kill other human beings, brag about how great they are and basically hate everybody in the name of their god. He expresses this message not by yelling, but by singing in his normal voice. He is however, backed by an ear splitting guitar riff or two, which sounds even cooler. This album was released 2 years after September 11th, which is most probably why he had such topics on his mind.
Rainbow In The Sky: Flea and John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers join Ziggy on this next jam, as does an ex back-up singer by the name of Erica Stewart (a.ka. Erica Newell) and his sister, Sharon Marley. As far as I can tell, this song is just all about how there’s still some sense of hope out there in the world, even though there’s a whole lot of bad stuff going on most of the time. He’s chosen to say, “There’s a rainbow in the sky, don’t be blind,” which is of course a much more metaphorical way of saying things. His dad would often sing about rainbows, too, so in that it’s a typical Marley statement.
Melancholy Mood: This next tune sees Ziggy blazin up some Ganja and meditating because the overall state of the world has got him feeling all kinds of down. But, even though he’s not feeling too great about the way things are, he’s also very thankful for being alive at all. To the point where he’s quoting his father’s lyrics: “Everything in life got its purpose, find its reason…” That’s from “Forever Loving Jah” just in case you didn’t know that. Aside from that, it’s another acoustic ballad which, again features Flea on bass guitar. Some folks out there claimed that Ziggy had some jazz on this album. I personally never heard any such music however, the trumpet featured here could perhaps be interpreted as such, being that it’s a somewhat jazzy horn riff.
Good Old Days: The message here, is to basically be glad for the days we have & the time we have here on this Earth, rather than constantly looking back at the past, or even into the future. Seems to be a bit of a sarcastic song, mostly because of the lyric that says, “In five years, these be the good ole days.” Certainly feels like that’s the way the word is nowadays. In my eyes, this is very much a Latin or Afro Beat based song. Pretty cool track.
Never Deny You: If I were to take a stab in the dark, I would say that Ziggy wrote this song about his wife. Even if he didn’t, it’s a song that every single person in the universe can relate to. The title says it all, he’s never going to deny his lady. Ever. Beautiful message! While this is a very rock/pop based ballad, his keyboard player is skankin at the same time….well….it’s really only in a very small portion of the song, but hey even that’s cool. This would be a nice wedding song, I think.
Don’t You Kill Love: To close us out we have yet another acoustic based ballad. In this one, Ziggy’s just talking about how his heart’s been broken many times before by the wars in the world and also by love. Even though that’s the case, he’s absolutely not going to give up on love itself. In fact, he’s encouraging us all to spread it all around. He’s joined by his children who sing backing vocals on the track. Interestingly, his next album was called “Love Is My Religion.”
Verdict: I don’t think too many people out there would know anything about this record and that’s quite a shame because Ziggy definitely had something to say on this album. What’s even better is the fact that he’s mostly backed by real live instrumentation instead of horribly dated drum patterns & keyboard riffs. Another thing that I noticed was that this is overall a very somber type of record, which is another first for Ziggy Marley, which is cool cuz not every day is going to be sunny……right. That said, Ziggy’s not going to dwell on the sadness & what not, cuz that’s not his style. I’m pretty sure Bob’s looking down at his first born son with nothing but a huge grin on his face. And rightly so!
ziggy is the best !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
love is my religion